Page 73 of Doc Showmance
“Fuck ’em and her.” I slung an arm across him to keep him still. I wished to find the state of safe grogginess I’d had before he woke me.
“I can’t. She’s got this thing on me. We have about an hour before we have to make an appearance.”
“What thing? Does this have to do with South America?”
He remained mute.
I rolled and pushed up to lie on his chest so I could stare at his face. He held his jaw tight, and his eyes remained closed. I ran a finger along the scruff shadowing his jaw.
Softly, I said, “Tell me what happened.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Whatever it is gives Marianna enough ammunition to pull your strings.”
He slung an arm across his face.
“Is it all bad? Whatever it is that happened has forced us into whatever this is.”
“This.…us…was unexpected.” He uncovered his face and met mine. “It’s an upside.”
“Strange, isn’t it, how sometimes the catastrophes that shake up our lives end up taking us in a better direction?”
“Is me being in your life abetter direction?” he asked.
“I think so. Being here helped me understand you. Watching you work made me realize you’re good at what you do. You’re also good on camera on your show. That’s a gift. I think you should fight to keep it. I also think no matter what bullshit transpired or what Marianna thinks she can do to control you, she can’t. She knows this, but she’s going to manipulate you for as long as she thinks she can.”
“While in Colombia filming…” He trailed off.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“I was drugged in a bar and ended up in bed with the director’s daughter. That’s the director of my show.”
“Marianna has a daughter?”
“No, this was an interim director. Someone else. Marianna did only two episodes of my show. The network forced me to work with about four different directors. This particular one is more powerful than Marianna when it comes to reality TV shows. Needless to say, he refused to continue.”
“Drugged? As in someone slipped something into your drink to make you pass out or did you get high? Was she underage?”
“Something in the drink. Not underage. She drugged me in order to help her escape her marriage. She wanted us caught. Wanted everyone to think we’d slept together. I swore to everyone that nothing happened, but no one believed it.”
“Do you think you truly didn’t sleep with her? Maybe you did get drugged, or you drank too much tequila and it made you forget?”
“I don’t drink hard liquor often, definitely not tequila. That shit will make you do crazy stuff.”
“You’re telling me,” I muttered.
“I still had my watch on when I woke up.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I don’t keep my watch on during sex. It’s bulky, with jagged edges. It’s not one of those new smart watches with smooth sides.” He show-and-telled a bulky, metal watch.
“Agreed that looks like it’d hurt if it caught on things. I’m sorry you got used. Guess your reputation as the hookup king hurt you?”
“Decently well-earned reputation in the past, but I gave up that lifestyle a while ago. The problem was this girl is married to a Hollywood producer. I think they were separated, or this episode forced them into separation, which she wanted. In the backlash, they dropped future episodes of my show and said I had to be on the ER show or they’d release the whole thing to the public.”
“That sucks. But if it’s all bullshit, can’t you hire a PR guru to spin it for you?”
