A Love That Heals Page 7

  Thank you once again for saving Elizabeth and this movie.

  Gary McKenzie,

  Director.

  As I finished reading the note, I could not help but feel a little proud of myself. It wasn’t the first time that I had saved someone on the set from a serious injury, and also not the first time that I myself had escaped from the jaws of death, but seeing Elizabeth’s note made me feel different. It brought a smile to my face, which had never crept on my face while reading a thank you note before.

  I folded the pretty pink note, and stretched on the couch, staring at the snowflakes wafting through the air and falling on the windowsill outside.

  The first snow of winter was always a welcome sight, and I was one of those people that liked the chill of winters more than the ferocity of summer, and as exhaustion finally assailed my body, and I felt my eyelids become heavy, I thought back to the face of Elizabeth as she was being taken away by the medics, and I tried to remember the feel of her embrace after we had survived the accident, and the smile on my face grew wider.

  I now knew that Elizabeth was entirely how the media portrayed her to be. There was a side of her that I needed to explore, a side that might help save the troubled actress and bring her out of her misery.

  Perhaps tomorrow, when I would visit her, I could try and talk to her about her life, about her aspirations and her thoughts, perhaps she might open up to the woman who saved her life.

  ***

  I had never actually been in a limousine before. I had seen many fake limousines being blown up by action directors and had always wondered what it would be like to sit in a real one, and now when I was sitting inside one, I thought how it was just another car with more leg space and a fridge for your drinks.

  I was currently on my way to St.Regis, one of the most luxurious hotels in New York, where I was to meet Elizabeth in her room. I had received a call from her assistant early in the morning, informing me about Elizabeth’s wish to meet me as soon as possible, and when I agreed, she had sent her limo to pick me up in the next one hour.

  The car arrived at the gates of the hotel in the next fifteen minutes, and a man dressed all in black opened the door for me and led me inside the hotel.

  Inside, the hotel was one big glittery hall of diamond studded chandeliers, golden pillars, marble flooring, and opulent furniture. I was led through the reception area, and then inside the elevator which took me all the way to the twenty-sixth floor.

  “Please proceed to room 456, which you will find down the corridor to your right,” the lanky, good-looking fellow in the black Armani suit told me with a smile, and began my walk to Elizabeth’s room with a thumping heart and butterflies in my stomach.

  I had met the actress before, and at that time, my hatred had taken the center stage, allowing me to face the charismatic actress without feeling vulnerable or awed.

  But this time, I was going as a friend, someone who wanted to help another young woman out of her predicaments, and the thought made me jittery.

  I rang the bell to room 456, and in an instant, the door was opened by Elizabeth herself, dressed in just a bathrobe, with her hair wet, and smelling like soap and shampoo.

  “Megan!” she squealed with delight and hugged me, almost knocking me over.

  “My hero, my savior, my princess in shining armor. Please come inside and make yourself comfortable,” said Elizabeth and let go of me.

  I stepped inside the carpeted suite and was instantly blown away by the size and grandeur of the room I had just walked into.

  “Would you like to sit in the living room, or in my bedroom?” asked Elizabeth, closing the door behind her and walking up to me with a million dollar smile on her face.

  “Living room would be fine,” I said and handed my overcoat to Elizabeth.

  “As you say, Braveheart.”

  “You have to stop calling me these fancy names, Elizabeth. I did what anybody in my position would have done,” I said, sitting down on the comfortable velvet sofas that were placed in the center of the living area, like majestic thrones in the royal palace of a king.

  “But it wasn’t ‘anyone’ who was present in that warehouse to save me. It was you. And that too after I had been unprofessional with you. You really do have a heart of gold.”

  I looked down at my feet with a blush creeping on my cheeks.

  “Well, you were kinda unprofessional, and a little too handsy,” I said with a slight hint of a smile playing on my lips.

  “Was I? I am really sorry about that. You must have heard about my reputation as a womanizer of the cast and crew. And you are a really pretty girl yourself,” said Elizabeth, joining me on the couch.

  “How are you so open regarding your sexuality on a movie set and so reserved in the public? Aren’t you afraid one of these girls might spill your secret?”

  “No, because I make them sign an NDA. If they spill anything, then I will make sure they never find work ever again, and in any case, rumors of my sexuality have already been doing the rounds, as they do whenever a big movie star is concerned, but the only time they would be legitimized would be when I walk out in public with a girl on my arm, which is never happening.”

  Anger tried to rush back to the surface as I heard what Elizabeth said, but I suppressed it, keeping the bigger picture in mind. I was here to help the girl, and for that, I needed to understand her reasons for acting the way she did in the first place.

  “And why is that?” I asked, a little too excitedly.

  “Aren’t you a curious little kitty? I have my reasons, Megan, and although you did save my life and I should tell you everything that you ask me, but this is something I cannot tell you. I hope you understand.”

  I had run into a roadblock before I had even begun to accelerate. I guess I now needed to take a detour.

  “I understand,” I said with a nod, “So, how are you feeling? And what is the latest update regarding the movie?”

  “I am feeling like a person who has just been handed a second life. And I think you haven’t seen the news today, have you?” asked Elizabeth with an eyebrow raised.

  “No.”

  “Well, allow me to summarize it for you. Media is blaming the production house for the disaster, the production house is blaming the director, and the director is blaming no one because he is too much of a sweetheart to blame anyone else. I believe it was him who wrote the note that you must have received along with the bouquets. Did you like them?” Elizabeth asked in a sultry voice, while slowly trailing her fingers across her cheeks.

  “I loved them. I could not recognize some of the flowers. Were they too exotic?”

  “Not as exotic as you,” Elizabeth tilted her head to the side and said in barely a whisper.

  The atmosphere of the room suddenly changed, and I felt the sexual tension begin to sizzle in the room.

  What was this idiot trying to do? I thought she had called me here to thank me and to have a friendly conversation. Was she thinking of sex one day after having escaped death?

  “Do you want anything to drink?” Elizabeth broke my chain of thought with her sexy as hell voice, and I blinked a few times before comprehending what she was saying.

  “No, I am fine, thank you.”

  “Oh please, don’t be such a prude. They say every friendship begins with a glass of wine and deepens with whiskey, so what would you like, to start a friendship or to already deepen whatever it is that we have going over here?”

  What did she think we had going on?

  “Wine then,” I said.

  I knew I would only be able to survive this meeting with a bit of alcohol in my system.

  “Great choice,” said Elizabeth and walked over to the minibar in the corner of the room, and returned with two glasses of sparkling white wine in a matter of minutes.

  When she returned, I saw that her bathrobe had slipped over her shoulders, and the wet strands of her hair were sticking the deep valley of her cleavage.

  “Why did yo
u call me here, Elizabeth, and be honest with me,” I asked the blonde actress as she placed the two glasses of wine on the black marble table before us.

  “To thank you, why else?”

  “In what way?”

  “Any way that you like.”

  “Does it involve sleeping with you?”

  I had caught Elizabeth by surprise, and for a few brief seconds, I had won this little game of cat and mouse that Elizabeth had been playing with me ever since I had entered her suite.

  “Would it be so bad if I wanted that?”

  “Yes. It would be,” I was furious, and my voice rose more than I intended it to be, “do you ever think about anything other than just having sex and drinking alcohol? Do you even know people who you have not had sex with? Do you even have friends?”

  Elizabeth smirked, and shifted nearer to me. The close proximity suddenly caught me off guard and the expression on my face changed from that of anger to sudden nervousness.

  “I have always wanted to make out with myself, you know. And you are the closest I can get to that. And the way you saved me that day, and the way you jumped off that tower and crashed into that windshield, damn, my pussy has never been this wet,” Elizabeth’s face was centimeters away from mine, and I could see the pupils of her eyes dilate as she gazed into my eyes.

  All of a sudden, her hand was on my leg, and I felt goosebumps rise on my arm.

  I was beginning to feel the heat between my legs, as my breathing quickened and my eyes locked with Elizabeth’s.

  “Let me kiss these lips, baby, let me thank you the way it is meant to be. Let me rock. Your. World,” said Elizabeth, emphasizing each word while rolling her tongue in her mouth and then licking her lips.

  Her hand moved up my thigh, taking my skirt along with it, and exposing my skin.

  A battle was raging inside me. A battle between my body and my brain, and I was caught in the middle. This was not how it was supposed to go. I was supposed to be the one to talk some sense into Elizabeth, and not be seduced like a high school girl spending some alone time with the captain of the football team.

  I had to snap out of the magic that Elizabeth was unleashing over my body with the help of her naughty fingers.

  I finally managed to push her hand away, and spoke in a stern voice, “Listen, I do not want to sleep with you. I came here because I was concerned about you. And as the person who saved your life, I thought would be able to talk to you about your life, and the way you have been living it.”

  “So you came here to lecture me? You do realize I can live my life however I want? Why did you find the need to come and talk to me about it? What have I done that you think has been so out of line?”

  “I have read the articles about you…”

  “And you thought I was a troubled young girl that needed saving? You thought if you can save me from death, then you can also save me from my so-called ‘evil ways’? I am happy the way I am, Megan, and I do not need saving here.”

  Elizabeth had shifted away from me on the couch, and I knew there was nothing else I could do. The girl was so fixed in her ways that nothing and nobody would ever make her see the right way.

  An awkward silence fell between us. I took a sip of wine, and felt the cold liquid flow down my throat, while Elizabeth’s cold eyes were staring at the ground, unmoving and unblinking.

  “I think I should go now,” I said, having had enough of the awkwardness.

  Elizabeth did not reply. It was as if she was lost somewhere in her thoughts, too zoned out to pay attention to what I was saying. I repeated myself a little louder, and she looked up at me and I saw the sadness in her eyes.

  “I am sorry for what happened right now. You are right, I don’t know anyone that I haven’t had sex with, and now, it is too late for me to quit this lifestyle. I am a closeted lesbian, Megan, and I might never have a proper long-term relationship because of the career I have chosen, so these brief moments of love that I experience with different girls are all the comfort of companionship I will ever get to experience. And I was hoping for that from you, the girl who saved your life, and also looks like my sister. That would have been kinky in a twisted sort of way,” Elizabeth chuckled, and then her green eyes cornered me once again, “but that’s how I am, a little twisted, a little…damaged,” Elizabeth’s voice trailed off, and she stared into the distance.

  “But you said you were fine the way you are?”

  “I think it is time that you left, Megan. I am very thankful to you for what you did yesterday, but I think both of us are very different people, and perhaps in another lifetime, we could have been friends, but I am afraid that lifetime is not this one. Sorry for not living up to your standards, but please keep living like you do. You are a good girl, someone I could have been. Take care, Megan.”

  There were no more words left for me to say. I was asked to leave, and that is what I was going to do. The girl was a lost cause, and I was not about to sleep with her to have another shot at her.

  I wasn’t such a giver.

  “Take care, Elizabeth, and I hope we would be able to work together professionally after this,” I said, draining the glass of wine in one go, and getting up with in a hurry.

  “Oh, of course, I have acted with people I have hit as if we were the best of friends. This is Hollywood, babe, putting on a mask and acting is what we do, even if it is not on film but in real life.”

  Elizabeth and I looked at one another one last time, and I could not help but think how both of us met today with certain wishes in mind, and how both of us were parting with heavy hearts and a sense of defeat.

  Chapter Three

  A month went by in a flash, and I didn’t hear from Elizabeth again. During the month, the tornado of controversies surrounding the movie finally died down, and we were ready to start.

  Even I was rearing to go. As I wasn’t allowed to start work on another project, I was all alone for a month at home, with my adrenaline needs ticking up every day.

  As far as Elizabeth was concerned, I had stopped thinking about her. A few days since returning from the meeting in her hotel room, I had kept a tab on her through paparazzi and newspaper articles, and after having read and seen more videos of her behaving like a jerk, I had finally been fed up and decided to abandon any lingering hope I had for the girl.

  And so, in the first week of November, with winter in full flow and New York decked up in a blanket of white fluff, we were ready to resume the shoot of ‘The Sphinx’.

  I was to reach the shoot location at 12 in the afternoon, and I was already an hour late because of my damn phone switching off in the middle of the night, and consequently, my alarm not going off, and just as I was about to leave my apartment, I heard a knock on my door.

  “Good morning, Megan, do you have a minute?” asked Gary, the other lead stunt man of the movie who was acting as a stunt double for the villain.

  “Are you sure it will be a minute, because we are really late for the shoot,” I said, inviting him in.

  “I don’t think there will be a shoot,” Gary’s voice was grim and I could sense that he was serious.

  “What happened now?”

  “The stunt crew wants to go on strike.”

  “What? Why? And why don’t I know about this? I am also part of the stunt crew, aren’t I?” I could not believe my ears. The shoot was to commence today, and if the stunt crew wanted to go on strike, then the movie shoot would once again have to be stopped.

  Action sequences involving stunt crew was 50% of the movie, and without us, there would be no movie.

  “Apparently, the producer is cutting back on the budget for the movie. He has lost a lot of money because of the one month delay. And they are making up for that loss by slashing the fee of all the stunt men and women, you included,” Gary’s strong jaw and face peppered with the white beard looked as if it meant business. I could see that he was angry, and he had every reason to be.

  “And when were they planning to tel
l me this?”

  “After you shot the biggest action sequence of the movie, that they know only you can do successfully. All of this is a big mess, Megan, and the producers are playing us like a harp, and so we decided to go on strike. You have to support us,” said Gary taking a step toward me with folded hands, “this might be my last role, and I need the money.”

  I saw the desperation in Gary’s eyes. And I knew he saw anger in mine.

  “But how can I go on strike when they haven’t officially conveyed the news to me? What if it is false?”

  “Don’t you trust me, Megan? Call your friend Todd, and ask him. He will tell you all about it.”

  “What? Todd knew about this?” I asked, not ready to believe that Todd would betray me like this.

  “He must know. He is the assistant director, it is his job to know things like this. Maybe they made him sign a contract, or threatened him with his job, and that is why he could not tell you. But I am sure if you ask him, then he will tell you.”

  My phone was already out before Gary finished speaking, and I had already placed a call to Todd.

  “Hello? Where are you, Megan? Elizabeth is waiting for you.”

  “Fuck that. Tell me, are you guys slashing our fees?”

  “Whose fees?”

  “Of every god damn stuntman and woman on set?” I did not want to be this rude on the get-go, but something told me that Gary was right, and if it was, then being polite would no longer be an option for me.

  “Yes,” said Todd after a long pause.

  “And why wasn’t I informed?” I asked, keeping my voice down, but feeling like shouting my lungs off.

  “Because I was made to keep my mouth shut. And I would probably still lose my job because you got to know anyway, and the only person they would be suspect would be me. The best friend of the lead stuntwoman.”

  Todd sounded scared, and I suddenly realized it wasn’t Todd’s fault that all of this was happening. There was no use getting angry on him.