Page 46 of The Location Shoot
He smiled. “Really nice to see you. I should get back in there and check on my better half.”
When Todd stepped away, Finn said, “You hugged him with such sincerity, but you didn’t know his name. Who is he?” She looked at him with a haunted expression in her eyes. He took her hand. “You’re trembling. Sweetheart, what is it?”
“Would you mind if we went back to the inn? We could leave the van for the others and get a cab,” she said.
“Of course. I’ll text Michael.”
When they got back to Ella’s room, they both flicked their shoes off. Finn wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. After a long moment passed, she took his hand and they sat on the edge of the bed. “Do you want to tell me?” he asked.
She looked him straight in his eyes and began, “About four years ago, I was living in New York City. I was dating a man named Bill. He’s a very affluent, well-known businessman, considerably older than me. He isn’t the type of guy I usually go out with, but we met at an arts soiree and he pursued me relentlessly. We had only been going out for a few weeks. I hadn’t even slept with him, and he was losing his patience.”
He interlaced his fingers with hers.
“I decided he wasn’t right for me, but I had promised to attend some black-tie charity benefit with him. I felt bad canceling, so we went. Afterward, he brought me back to his Park Avenue penthouse. He’d had too much to drink and started pressuring me again. I told him that it wasn’t going to work out and that I didn’t want to see him anymore.” She paused as her eyes flooded.
Finn gently brushed away the tears and rubbed her back, patiently waiting for her to continue.
She sniffled. “He started screaming at me, telling me how lucky I was to be with him, how many women were after him, and that I should be grateful that he would even consider marrying me. He was completely belligerent.” She stopped for a moment and shook her head. “I tried to leave the room, but he grabbed me by the shoulders and started shaking me, screeching that no one walks away from him. Before I could blink, he backhanded me across my face.”
Finn winced and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Then he tenderly caressed the side of her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before resting his hand on her cheek.
“He hit me so hard that I went flying to the ground. I just froze, couldn’t move,” she said, looking down.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“He stood over me, unzipped his pants, and said, ‘I will have you.’”
“Oh God,” Finn mumbled, tears forming in his eyes.
“I started screaming at the top of my lungs. That man we saw today, Todd, came running in. He worked for Bill, maybe his assistant or butler or something. I’m not sure.” She paused to take a breath. “Bill ordered him to leave, but I looked at him and whispered, ‘Please help me.’ He refused to leave and helped me up off the floor. Bill was ranting and raving, threatening to fire him, but Todd put his arm around me and walked me out of the building. He offered to take me to the hospital, but I just wanted to go home, so he hailed me a cab and waited until I drove off. I was so traumatized that I didn’t even thank him or ask his name.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She held him tightly. “Thank God he was there. I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
Eventually, she pulled back. “I know I should just be grateful that I’m okay, that Todd interrupted him. It could have been much worse.”
“What happened to you is horrible. I’m so sorry, baby.”
“It really played into my fears, because . . .”
“What? You can tell me anything,” he said lovingly.
“Trust in relationships has always been difficult for me, long before this incident.”
“We all have things that are difficult for us. Do you know what makes it hard for you?”
She sighed. “I’ve always gotten a lot of attention from guys, since I was a teenager. So much of it has been unwanted.”
“You’re incredibly beautiful, so I can imagine how constant it has been for you.”
“When I was in high school, there was this boy I liked, but I was shy about those things. He had been asking me out for a while, and eventually I said yes. We became a steady item. He wanted to be my first, but having sex with someone was a big deal to me. It still is. After going out for months, we slept together. I thought we were in love. Only later did I find out that he and his friends had a bet to see who could get me into bed. The whole school knew about it.”
“That’s awful,” Finn said.
“I felt such a profound sense of betrayal. The worst part was, he kept trying to convince me that he loved me. He insisted he only took the bet because he wanted me anyway, and that by the time we slept together, he was in love with me. It was incredibly confusing. I felt so foolish, so naive. I wanted desperately to believe him, to somehow make it all better, but I couldn’t even look him in the eye after that, so I broke up with him.”
“He and his friends were fucking assholes.”
She nodded. “Do you know the only thing that gave me any comfort?”
