Page 43 of Jason
Call it a gut feeling, but Mallory was not ready to pull the plug on Blackthorne Entertainment.She didn’t know what was happening with her and Jason, other than this crazy and wild sexual thing.What had happened in the cave today was beyond exciting.But where the last twenty-four hours had left her and Jason, she hadn’t had time or courage to face.It didn’t take a genius to recognize that this was not a sustainable boss-subordinate relationship.To put it more bluntly, which Inez would certainly do if she was here, this was a disastrous relationship, one that had big neon warning signs stacked all around it.This was the kind of thing that could easily break her heart.
What she needed was for Inez to talk some sense into her.She picked up her phone.
“Hey!”Inez said when she answered.“How’s life in Maine with your crazy-ass boss?”
Mallory smiled into the phone.“He’s super rich, that’s what.”
“And that’s a surprise?”
“No, I mean he’ssuperrich, like Mr.Darcy and Pemberley rich.”
Through the phone, she could hear Inez’s soft intake of breath.“Dude.Tell me everything.”
“You would not believe the summerhouse, Inez.I thought it was a resort!It sits right on the ocean.Oh, and he flew me out in a private plane.”
“What?What about the environment you’re always going on about?”
“Someone was going to be riding in that plane regardless of the damage to the ozone layer, and it might as well have been me.”
Inez laughed.“Okay, so what’s going on with Darien Simmons?The news is full of his face.Did he really force her into a bathroom?”
Mallory gasped.“What?I hadn’t heard that.”
“You hadn’theardthat?The girl went toPeopleand told them he pushed her into a bathroom and locked the door behind him and started taking her clothes off.Such a sick fuck, am I right?Jason must be spinning.How is it with him, anyway, other than he’s super rich?Is he driving you crazy?”
Not in the way Inez meant.“No, he’s been…he’s been good,” Mallory said, a little too brightly.“I mean, things are insane right now, obviously.”
There was a slight pause on the other end.“What are you not telling me?”Inez instantly insisted.“What dick move has he done?”
“Nothing!”
There was a long pause on Inez’s end.“Jesus Mallory, you’re not doing hislaundryare you?”
“No!”she said firmly.At least she hadn’t yet.“Of course not, Inez,” she said firmly.Ah, the insistence of innocence by the guilty.“He has people to do that,” she said, thinking of Pam.“But we’ve, ah…we’ve sort of scratched the itch, if you know what I’m saying.”
“Oh my God!”Inez shrieked.“Mallory!What the hell are you doing?Youloveyour job, remember?”
“I know,” Mallory groaned.
“There is no way this is going to work!Are you insane?What do you think he’s going to do the moment a hot actress joins the cast?”
“What?”
“I’msaying,he’s going to fuck you and then he’s going to dump you when the bigger better thing comes along.”
She didn’t have to be crude, but then again, Mallory could count on Inez to give it to her straight.“He’s not like that, Inez.”She knew, the moment the words left her mouth, how ridiculous she sounded.
“Like hell he isn’t.Every straight man in Hollywood is like that.Girl, you need to take that other job.Don’t let your vagina do your thinking for you, Mallory.”
“I know, I know,” Mallory said.This was exactly what she’d called Inez for, but she wasn’t liking the straight talk.What shereallywanted was for Inez to tell her it was fabulous, and he was wonderful.She wanted this thing with Jason to turn into something more.And she didn’t want to leave him in the middle of all this chaos.“I know what you are saying is true.And I should take the other job.But I can’t leave him in a lurch, Inez.I can’t.”
“Mallory.It is not your lurch.Seriously, you have to protect yourself.These things never work out.Look at Darien Simmons—”
“Inez!Jason didn’tassaultme!It’s a very mutual thing.”
“I know, I get it, but I’m saying that he’s still a man in Hollywood, and he will sleep with you and he will use you to get through this crisis, and then where will you be?You will have passed up the other job.If you want to sleep with him, take the other job and sleep with him!But don’t do it while you’re working for him.”
“That other job is a pay cut, remember?And we already can hardly afford the rent as it is.”
