Page 11 of No Escape
Getting a bottle of water that I’d purchased from the vending machine next to the door to the room, I opened the top and passed it to her along with a couple of aspirin. No doubt she needed them.
She struggled a moment to sit up on the bed before accepting the bottle and downing nearly half of it in one go. “Thank you.” Accepting the pills she popped them into her mouth and finished the rest of the bottle. She sighed and a hint of a smile touched her lips when she passed the empty bottle back to me.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Okay. I’m not sure where to start.”
“Start where it’s relevant. Maybe why your sister hates you?”
She cringed. “You knew that, huh?”
I nodded. “I’m thorough. She didn’t seem nearly as concerned as I’d have expected her to be when I took you away in handcuffs.”
Elle’s eyes and expression took on a faraway and whimsical look for a moment. I’d almost thought she’d gone into a concussion-induced trance when she seemed to pull out of it and met my concerned gaze.
“I always wanted to be an actress. All my life, for as long as I could remember. More than anything. And my parents did everything they could to support me. Acting classes. Singing classes. Dance classes. Later on modeling workshops. My older sister on the other hand didn’t have the same aspirations. She was always the quiet one. A bit of a bookworm. Very introverted to my extrovert. It was a squeaky wheel gets the grease kinda situation.” She flashed me a wistful glance and then shrugged. “As you may have already guessed I was the squeaky wheel.”
“I get it.”
“It caused a lot of resentment over the years. Our parents died in a car accident on my eighteenth birthday. I wanted a certain type of cake from a bakery across town. When they asked if I was okay with one from the supermarket down the street for my party I pitched a fit worthy of a spoiled princess. So they gave in and rushed out for the cake before the bakery closed and to get back before the party began.”
“They died getting the cake?”
She nodded, tears filling her eyes. “They did. It was the last straw for my sister. Once the funeral was done and over, she told me she never wanted to see or hear from me again. They had a small insurance policy. It was enough to cover the funeral and gave us both a little cash in the bank. She bought the bungalow you found me at and I took off to Hollywood to chase my dreams.”
“Looks like you succeeded.”
“Not at first. I blew through my inheritance the first year in Hollywood, not getting a single job. But then I met him.”
“Him?”
“Yes, him… Derek Hennessy. My agent.” She laughed, but it sounded hollow as her gaze took on a faraway look again. “He promised me the world.”
“Seemed he delivered.”
“Yes. I suppose he did.” The unshed tears remained in her eyes. “He got me some modeling gigs and some commercials. A few cameos in television shows and extra work in some pretty big movies. He got me a fair way. I went from a couple months away from being homeless to being able to pay my rent and have a few dollars in the bank.”
“But…”
“I wanted more. And you have to understand that Hollywood is very much an elite players club. There’s a very few at the top and hold the strings to everything. Who works and who doesn’t. If you’re not in their good graces you won’t get far. But, there’s more than that.”
“What do you mean?”
She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know and suspect. Or what any supermarket tabloid on the rack could tell me. But she had me captured in the tale she was beginning to weave. Maybe it was just her exceptional acting skills drawing me in. But maybe not…
I didn’t like to think that she might be putting her skills to work on me.
One thing was for sure. I was intrigued.
“There’s one man in particular who everyone falls in line with. Someone you’d know if I said the name. His parties are legendary in Hollywood. It’s an honor to be selected to attend. One day, I was invited to attend and I jumped at it. I didn’t question why I’d been invited. To me, it was a stepping stone to my big break. I just thought that he stumbled upon my work, or that my agent had really pulled off a miracle and got me invited. So I attended.”
“And…”
She smiled.
“And it was everything I imagined it to be. Everyone who was anyone in movies, television, music. They were all there. I was a guppy in a world of sharks. But I didn’t care. I was just happy to be there and when he lavished attention on me. I was over the moon. And for the first little while—the first year or so—it was great.”
“And…” I prompted.
