by Sloan Storm
As it turned out, Katy never flushed my keys. In my stupor, I hadn’t noticed she slipped them in her bra. Oh well, it was for the best because, uh, did I act like an ass. Everyone does it from time-to-time, of course, except my ‘times’ we’re getting closer and closer together and lasting for lengthier and lengthier periods.
Yet I got ready as fast as possible and decided to chance it with my makeup and put it on in the car. I threw open my bedroom door, broke into a half-run, but almost as soon as I reached the end of the hallway, I stopped dead.
Not more than ten feet ahead of me, Grey lay there sound asleep on the couch, with one arm and leg hanging off of it. I looked at him for a moment. He seemed so peaceful sleeping there. His breath rose and fell in a steady cadence.
I almost, almost, almost forgot how mad I was at him last night until I saw the wine bottle underneath the couch and remembered. I thinned my lips and refocused myself. Clutching at my purse strap, I tugged the heavy bag up over my shoulder and walked over towards him.
“Grey,” I began. “Get up.”
Now the man was a heavy sleeper, but this was ridiculous. Not so much as a flinch from him.
“Grey!” I yelled. I reached down and poked him. “Wake up!”
“Unnhh,” he grunted. He lifted his head up from the sofa and as he did, I noticed the imprint of the couch design had transferred itself to his face. As mad as I was, I couldn’t help myself and started to giggle. Here before me was one of the country’s richest men, asleep in his dress shirt and slacks, looking up at me with a face that looked the inside of a waffle iron.
“What?” he said as he rubbed his eyes and stretched at the same time. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s nothing,” I said, as I attempted to paint a scowl back on my face. “You have to go. I’m late.”
“Hmm?” he said, as he sat up and stretched. “Late? Late for what?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
The morning sun cut across his cheek as he looked up at me. Even with a waffle face, he looked so damn adorable. His usually perfect hair was ragged from a night on the sofa. Unshaven, a rugged swath of stubble cut across his face making him look extra squeezable. Ugh, it’s the same reason I couldn’t get a dog. I could never stay mad at something cute. One of my tragic flaws.
“Oh right, the audition,” he nodded as he leaned back into the sofa. He propped his feet up on the table and continued, “That’s canceled.”
What little bit of weakness I felt for him evaporated in that instant.
“What?” I said in a mix of confusion and disbelief. “Canceled? Why? How do you know about it?”
He smiled as he looked up at me. “Well because I had it canceled, Maddie. You’re not going.”
My eyes scanned for something in the room, anything, I could beat him with. Instead, I balled my fists and fired back, “What do you mean, you canceled it? Goddamn you, Grey!”
Just then, I yanked my bag off my shoulder and hurled it at him. He ducked to the left as it just missed him. As the bag collided with the wall, a large picture that hung over the couch shifted, threatening to fall on his head.
I spun in position and marched back down the hall towards my bedroom.
“Maddie!” Grey yelled. “Wait! You don’t understand!”
I slammed the door, ran across the room and leapt through the air onto my bed. As I did, I buried my face in a pillow and screamed into it. A moment later, I heard the door to the bedroom open and as the tears began to moisten the pillow beneath my face, I heard Grey walk towards me.
I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t fight him any longer. I was exhausted and on the verge of drinking myself to death over it. I felt his hand touch my back. I pushed myself and screamed as I slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Shut up, Maddie, goddamn it!” he yelled. “Shut your fucking mouth and listen to me. Jesus!”
I’d never seen him like this before. Grey’s entire body flexed as he glared down at me. Wiping the tears away from my face, I hugged my knees to my chest as he rubbed his chin and began to talk.
“If you would just listen to me. Fuck. Will you let me say what I need to say without going insane?”
I swallowed hard as I looked up at him for several seconds.
“Well?”
“Yes,” I muttered into my kneecaps.
“What?” he exclaimed.
I lifted my head up. “Yes, I will listen.”
Over the next fifteen minutes or so, Grey explained everything to me. He’d canceled the audition because he’d made the decision that he would fund the movie after all. The very same one he’d canceled after I got the part weeks ago. I didn’t know what to make of it or how to feel, but I didn’t want his charity or worse, his pity. And as he finished talking, I let him know it.
“I can get roles on my own, Grey. I don’t need your help.”
“Maddie, I’ve seen your work,” he said, as he sat down on the bed. “I’m not saying you can’t. What I’m saying is I’m willing to put money into the picture, get it going again and give you the role you deserve. I was wrong about you. You are… a great fucking actress and I’m sorry for not believing in you.”
A lump formed in my throat. Still hugging my knees to my chest, I turned my head towards him and looked at him in silence for several seconds.
Exhaling, I asked, “Did you mean what you said?”
“Yeah, of course,” he nodded as he looked at me. “I think you have a ton of talent and…”
“No, no,” I said, interrupting him. “Last night. You told me you missed me. You called me your lover and your friend. Did you mean that?”
“Yeah,” he replied without hesitation. “Absolutely. Fuck Maddie, I’m here aren’t I? Doesn’t that count for something?”
As he finished speaking, I allowed my arms to fall away as I turned towards him and kissed him on the cheek.
Grey smiled a little. “What was that for?”
“For being honest with me.”
“I’ve always been honest with you, Maddie,” he replied. “Always.”
“I know you have. And although I don’t always like it, I do respect it. Thank you.”
He nodded as I finished, but I didn’t reply. I tugged my hair behind my ears and asked, “So what happens now? When does shooting begin?”
Grey’s tongue slipped out from between his lips. “Right, about that. I forgot to mention that I’m the Executive Producer on this picture as well.”
As he spoke, I felt a smile come the edges of my lips. “Oh yes? Is that a fact?”
“It is.” He nodded. A smile came to his lips as well.
As he spoke, I got up from the bed and circled around in front of him.
“Casting couch type of thing then, is it?” I said, as I began to peel my clothes off.
Grey looked up at me as I stripped before him and nodded. “Afraid so. It’s a tough town, Maddie. You need to be prepared to do whatever it takes to get ahead.”
I smiled as I slid out of the last of my clothing. Now fully nude, I reached down towards his pants.
“Oh, do I now? Whatever it takes, huh?” I asked. Biting my lip, I loosened Grey’s belt and as I dragged the teeth of his zipper open, I continued, “Sorry, did you say ‘get head’? I must have misunderstood you. I guess I’m just a little nervous.”
“You don’t seem to be,” he began. “I think you’re doing…”
Grey’s breath caught in his throat and his words stopped, as I reached down and grabbed hold of his erection after freeing it from his boxer briefs. Wordless, I straddled him and with a single smooth motion, slid down on top of him.
As I did, Grey reached up to me and squeezed my tits. They were sensitive and tender in a way they’d never been before. It was a strange mix of pain and pleasure that intensified as I began to move up and down on him.
As much as I’d wanted to bury my desires with drinking, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been crazy hor
ny. I am not even kidding. I’d never felt like more of a freak than I had in the past couple of weeks. It was just such a relief to have him inside me once again. As I began to increase the speed of my hips, I realized I didn’t care if we fought, so long as he fucked me.
He squeezed my waist as I moved up and down on his rock hard cock. Grey continued thrusting harder inside me each time, eventually drawing my focus down to his face. I bent at the waist and angled my upper body down towards his. As I did, I slid my fingers into his hair when our lips met at last.
I inhaled as we kissed, inviting the remnants of his cologne to delight my sense of smell. My head rolled from side-to-side as our tongues explored each other. Across my naked back, the warmth of the morning sun kissed my skin as Grey did the same to my lips.
Just then, Grey’s eyes flipped open as a grunt of need escaped from him.
I nodded and smiled as he squeezed me with force. His dick pulsed inside me as I sensed his moment approach. I peppered tiny kisses all over his face as he bit his lip. He hardened within me even more as I descended towards his neck, dragging my hair across him in the process.
With one hand still on my hip, Grey’s other hand raced up my backside and found its way to the middle of my scalp where he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked. Surrendering to the force of his pull, I bent my head back and as I did, a deep moan escaped from me.
My back arched as Grey’s torso hardened like stone beneath me. He began to slam his pelvis upwards against mine and with each stroke, his grunts grew louder as his cock went deeper. I mewled in return as my own desperate need for release overwhelmed me until at last, we both cried out, our bodies frozen in the peak of rapture for a blissful instant.
And then over the next several seconds as wave after wave of climax swallowed us, Grey flipped me over and pinned me beneath him. My head rolled from side-to-side as he drove inside of me, emptying himself into me completely and then after a final thrust, collapsing on the bed to my left.
We remained there for several minutes, taking turns caressing one another in silence.
At last, I propped myself up on my elbow.
“Well, Mr. Sinclair,” I began, as I dragged a fingernail down the center of his chest. “Did I get the part?”
Grey shook his head and furrowed his brow. Shoving me back down, he spread my legs and as he did, I felt the hard tip of his wet cock brush along the inside of my leg.
“No,” he said with a stern tone. “I think we’re gonna need to shoot that scene again.”
GREY
Despite her best efforts to thwart me, I was glad to give Maddie the news about the picture. I hoped it would snap her out her downward spiral and, for now anyway, it seemed to have done just that.
She seemed to be drinking next to nothing anymore which was more like the Maddie I’d met. And even though her free time dwindled down to almost zero, I saw it as a good thing. She pretty much had two full-time jobs now — acting in a lead role and running a successful business.
We both relied on Carmen for the day-to-day things around LA, since her change in attitude meant she’d gotten on board with my expansion ideas. Anyway, the end result was that on days when she wasn’t on the set for rehearsals, she was on the road traveling to cities like New York, Miami, Houston and pretty much everywhere in-between, networking and putting together the infrastructure for growing the business.
Stressful though it was, she seemed to enjoy it if for no other reason than things between us were better. They weren’t what she wanted, I’m certain, but I didn’t have interest in anyone else at the moment. And anyway, if I did, I’d have the balls to go to her face and tell her so and not treat her like her ex did when he cheated on her. A woman didn’t have to like my choice, but she could trust me. Always.
As far as the movie production, I couldn’t have been happier. The schedule was tough, but so far everything was on track for a nationwide release within the next year. Everyone we worked with were consummate professionals, dedicated to the craft and to putting out a goddamn first-rate product.
Of course, I wouldn’t have assembled anything less than a stellar team. But I wanted to be doubly fucking sure screw ups would be kept to a minimum, since it was Maddie’s first film. A starring role was stressful enough. That was made all the more difficult if the people running it weren’t up to the task. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about any of that with this crew.
To be honest, there were still days where Maddie admitted to me that she pinched herself in disbelief at her good fortune.
And speaking of pinching her…
We had the most incredible food on the set. It was fucking delicious. I had half a mind to setup my operation from there during the filming, it was so goddamn good.
Ridiculous food.
I said the food was terrific, right?
Anyway, the thing was that as the weeks went by, I began to think my starlet might be enjoying it a bit too much. I wasn’t normally obsessive about weight per se, but I did keep an eye on her. After all, this was Hollywood. It’s just part of what comes with the business.
And the hell of it was she was only twenty-three. Everyone says it starts getting harder for women to keep it off after twenty-five, but I was already starting to see her, well, grow into her new acting and business roles and not in a good way. Of course she hadn’t been exercising much and between the time she spent on the road and on the set, keeping the weight off for anyone would be tough.
Which brings me back to the subject of pinching her.
See, I wouldn’t care about a bit of weight. Hell, I like a little curve as much as the next guy. But the other night at dinner, I pinched her at the waist and kind of raised my eyebrows at her as a joke. She complained I made some smart ass comment, which is entirely possible, but to be honest I don’t remember.
I mention all that to say Maddie hadn’t been too thrilled with it and in light of how well we’d been doing recently, I wanted to do what I could to keep that on track. So before I got ready to leave the office and head back out to the coast for the weekend, I decided I’d give her a quick call and smooth her ruffled feathers a bit.
But no sooner did I make up my mind than my cell phone rang. Reaching inside my coat pocket, I pulled it out to see it was Katy.
I swiped it and answered.
“Katy. How are you?”
“Grey…” she began, as she gasped. “Where are you? Are you in LA?”
I felt my forehead wrinkle as her tone focused my attention.
“No, I’m in Chicago. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she replied. Still searching for a steady rhythm in her breath, she continued, “It’s Maddie!”
I shot to my feet. “Maddie? What is it?”
In the background, I heard a variety of ambient sounds. People talking, a voice over a loud speaker but I couldn’t make any sense of it. It was a jumble.
“Katy!” I exclaimed. “What is going with Maddie? Is she hurt? Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Just then I listened as Katy covered the phone speaker, muffling a discussion she was having with someone else.
Now pacing across the office, I ran a hand through my hair.
“Katy!” I yelled. “Katy!”
After what seemed like for-fucking-ever, her voice crackled over the line.
“You need to get here as soon as you can, Grey. Maddie’s at LA General. She passed out on the set and she’s still unconscious. Hurry Grey, please.”
MADDIE
“Grey…” I pleaded. “Why? This doesn’t make any sense. Things have been going so well. I don’t understand.”
Grey waved me off as he slipped his suit coat on and snapped his elbows, sliding it in place.
Straightening his tie, he shook his head and replied, “No that’s it, Maddie. We’re done. I can’t deal with your behavior anymore. My attorneys will be in touch with you as it relates to our business affairs. I will ensure you are treated fairly. As f
ar as you and me, this is the end of our time together.”
Panicked, I ran down the hallway of our apartment and pressed my back against the door. The cool feel of the door against my backside sent yet another jolt into my already rattled mental state.
“Please don’t do this, Grey!” I screamed as he walked down the hall towards me. “I promise I can change. It will be better. I will be better.”
He drew close and as he did, his scent overwhelmed me. Glaring down in my direction, Grey straightened his tie.
“Maddie. Don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be.”
I collapsed into him, clutching the lapels of his jacket. Wordless, Grey grabbed hold of my upper arms and forced my grip loose with a shove against the wall. As I fell into it, I looked at him in disbelief. It couldn’t be. Why?
My lip quivered as I searched my mind for any words that might convince him to stay. But before I could utter a sound, Grey yanked the front door open.
“Good luck, Maddie and goodbye.”
And just like that, the door closed and Grey Sinclair was out my life. My legs felt weak as I lurched towards the door, slamming my hands against it in grief. I slid down the length of it until I collapsed in the hall and wept.
For several minutes, I sat there, overwhelmed, broken. When I’d cried all the tears I could for the time being, another emotion swelled up inside of me. Balling my fists, I staggered back to a standing position and ran down the hall in the direction of the bedroom.
Within minutes, I’d half-packed everything I owned. I jammed the last of my things in my suitcase as I prepared to get the hell out of there, when from behind, I heard him.
“Maddie.”
I thinned my lips and spun around to face Grey, but he wasn’t there.
“Not funny, Grey!” I yelled. “If you’ve got something to say, say it. Otherwise, leave me the hell alone!”
Storming out of the bedroom, I looked around and even walked to the living room, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“You’re an asshole!” I screamed. “Fuck you, Grey!”
