Page 32 of Star Struck

I struggled back and jerked my head away. Felt his tongue slide down my cheek as he aimed at my mouth again and missed. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t know . . .’ My heart was beating faster and I could hear a high drone inside my head. Lust or fear? Couldn’t be sure.

‘Oh, come on now.’ Gethryn moved in again and his grip tightened. ‘I’m not gonna hurt you, am I? Let’s just . . . see how it goes.’ And the hand was on my bra again, fingers fumbling at the cup, until the tiny embroidered flowers that I’d thought so pretty began cutting into my skin. ‘No-one’s watching, you don’t need to worry.’

I could feel the rise of the panic now. Was I misreading this? Was he being flirty — a little over-forceful maybe but that could be my fault — or was this going further than I wanted? He was blocking my airway, his mouth not allowing enough space for breathing and the passage of his hands over my skin was getting dangerously close to needing a passport. But this was Gethryn Tudor-Morgan! Captain Lucas James . . .

‘Geth?’ Jack’s voice sounded like a klaxon above the noise of my pulse. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Oh, fuck.’ Fingers unwound from my underwire and the air came as a relief against my skin. There was suddenly a much larger gap between us and a hastened attempt to pull my shirt straight. ‘What’s up?’

‘Skye?’ I could see him now, silhouetted against the flickering neon of the motel sign, fingers flicking ash from a glowing stub. ‘Are you all right?’ He was moving towards me at the same rate that Gethryn was moving away; it was like standing in the middle of a weather-house. ‘Hey.’ The calmness of his tone steadied me and I breathed carefully, feeling the panic balance itself somewhere in the centre of my chest, pivoting on the moment. ‘Skye.’

‘I’m . . .’ A sudden flare of pain as the wind reached the scoring along my cheek that I hadn’t realised was there. Gethryn’s picturesque stubble had rubbed my skin raw. ‘I . . .’

‘Get away from her.’ Jack’s voice was harsh now, sounding as though he needed a drink. ‘Geth. I’m warning you.’ A quick, angry movement of one hand. ‘Get inside.’

‘Or what?’ Gethryn had stopped moving now. I could see the shadow the moonlight gave him, stretching long and dark towards me from where he stood behind my left shoulder. ‘Eh, Iceman? What’s the bottom line here? What can you do that you’ve not already done?’

Jack stopped walking too. He was near enough for me to smell the smoke on him, to see the individual strands of his hair as they blew, reaching for me across the sand, as though they wanted to wrap around me. ‘Nothing. That’s the point, no threats, nothing. Just Leave. Her. Alone.’ And the words were like weapons in their own right.

The shadow moved and there was the sloshing sound of liquid moving on glass, a swallow. ‘Yeah, yeah, I get it. Scared that you’ll lose another one, are you, Ice? You know you’ve got nothing. Tell you this, Skye can see sense, she can see who’s got something to offer, who’s the fucking Hollywood star and who’s the punk loser.’ The shadow dwindled and his voice was more distant. ‘She’ll find out about you, boy. Sooner or later, she’ll know. And then . . . I’ll be waiting. But I will tell you this, Ice . . .’ There was a temporary strength in his words as though he’d turned back to face Jack or raised his voice, ‘She’s got a fantastic pair of tits.’

I didn’t move and neither did Jack, although I saw his fists twitch, just once. A few seconds passed and then Jack held out a hand. ‘Did he hurt you?’

‘No.’ I still stood. ‘He . . . kissed me.’

‘Did you want him to?’

‘I don’t know.’ Did I? Had I? How was I supposed to feel?

‘Oh.’ The hand lowered. ‘And the . . . ?’ Fingers made vague motions at the chest region of his shirt. ‘You might want to do up some buttons, by the way.’

Without taking my eyes from him I fumbled my shirt closed. Shrugged once.

‘Skye.’

‘It’s all right, I don’t want to cause any trouble, we were having a drink that’s all, I think I got a bit carried away.’ I ran out of breath and stopped speaking on an inward sob of air.

Jack moved closer until he could put a hand on my arm. Stroked my shoulder for a moment, then shook his head slowly, not dropping his hand. I could feel the weight of his fingers, but no warmth; and a slight tremor, as though he was fighting the urge to grab at me. ‘I should have asked the security guys to keep a closer eye. I know what he’s like, Skye, I should have . . .’

‘Like I said. I’m twenty-nine. I can look out for myself, Jack, don’t beat yourself up about it.’ My voice sounded surprisingly strong. ‘Nothing terrible happened, nothing was going to happen, Geth and I are capable of understanding the word “no”.’ Moonlight hit us both. Made Jack look haunted. As I already felt pale and stretched, it probably made me look like a movie version of some kind of ghoul.

There was suddenly too much sky.

‘Come inside.’ It wasn’t the sharp order that Gethryn had got, it was a gentle suggestion, accompanied by half an arm across my shoulder. ‘Come on. I’ll take you back to your room.’ The calm words and his even tone stopped the panic before it could rise, and the pull of his arm tugged me against his body as he started to move. It was protection against the wideness of the world and I found that I could keep everything scary at bay as long as I concentrated on the simple business of walking and the slightly swaying body of the man walking next to me.

We walked back to the main doors and immediately into Felix who was drinking Southern Comfort at the bar.

‘Well, look what the cat dragged in.’ Felix squinted at me. ‘You’re a bit pink. So, how’ve you been?’ He wagged eyebrows unsubtly. ‘Sorry I dipped out on you earlier but . . . well.’

‘Yes, I saw. I’ve been okay.’ My body shivered. ‘Well. Yes. Okay.’

Jack had dropped his arm from my shoulders and shoved both hands in his pockets. ‘Have you eaten, Skye?’

‘Eaten?’ I stared at him.

‘Yes, eaten. Food in, mouth move, num num. Eaten.’

I couldn’t see his eyes; he’d dropped his head so that his hair hung over his face, but his voice was tight. ‘No.’

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