Page 89 of One Filthy Kiss

“Our first date was very clandestine. He suggested that we wear a disguise, pretend to be someone else; he made it sound fun. And it was.”

I sense a but coming.

“But you’re right, Meg. I shouldn’t be anyone’s secret. He should want people to know about me.” She sucks in her bottom lip. “Only he promised to help me get a role in his new movie. So, when I got this audition, I convinced myself that he did that for me. He kept his promise, which meant that he really liked me.”

“But now you’re not so sure?”

She looks me in the eye for the first time since we came back inside. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Gio got me the audition.”

My chest swells with love, and I feel a flush of heat spreading from my neck and into my face. He might live the kind of life that requires a team of bodyguards to protect him, but he has a kind heart. I think I must’ve recognized it in him the first moment we met.

“He hurts me sometimes,Meg.”

With the Band-aid in place, I cover her hand with mine. “How does he hurt you?”

I’ve never seen Nikki blush before, but now her face grows hot, and she snatches her hand away. “He likes to inflict pain when we…” She pauses. “You know me. ‘Don’t knock it till you try it’ has always been my motto, and at first, it was kind of exciting. Kinky. Weird even, but exciting.”

“Nik, what have you always said to me? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do?”

I’m thinking about Gio when I say this. I can still hear him on the rooftop of his hotel building.This is your night, Meggie. Your fuck. Only Gio would never hurt me.

“It’s not that simple though, Meg.”

“It is if you want it to be.”

She draws in a shaky breath. “He can end my career just like that.” She snaps her fingers.

Sounds to me like this has become a regular threat, and she’s barely known him for a month. If this is how he behaves at the start of their relationship, what will he threaten her with next?

“That’s why I went along with it.” Tears spill down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have listened to him, I know I shouldn’t have. But this is my first real break, and it doesn’t get any better than Hollywood.”

“But you just said that Gio got you the audition. You don’t need him, Nik. What he’s doing to you … it’s abuse, and he fucking knows it. He’s wielding Hollywood above your head like a lightsaber, and I think you should call him out on it. There are laws against this kind of thing, you know.”

“It’s too late.” She won’t look at me.

“Why? What’s happened?” I cover my mouth with my hand. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

Her lips twitch but remain a narrow line. “No, I’m not pregnant.”

“So, what then? What’s so bad that you can’t walk away from him now? He’s not some all-powerful being, Nik. He can’t create or destroy lives, and Gio will look out for you, he’ll see that you’re alright.”

She squeezes her eyes shut. “He won’t, not when he finds out what I did.”

She’s scaring me now. “What did you do?”

“He was threatening me. He would’ve hurt me if I didn’t go along with it.” She swallows slowly before she continues.“I went with Tommy to your motel room. He said he owed someone a favor. He had a key…” Her voice trails off, but I’m still stuck onI went with Tommy to your motel room.

I stand so abruptly, the chair tips over behind me.

I pace the kitchen, the words playing on repeat inside my head. They went to my motel room. Why? What reason could Nikki’s mystery lover possibly have to go to my motel room after I left Los Angeles?

Then it dawns on me.He said he owed someone a favor.

I feel sick. I rush to the faucet and fill a tall glass with cold water, but I’m a couple of mouthfuls in when it threatens to come back up. I lower my head over the basin and retch, trying desperately not to wake Amber up and not be sick and not turn around and say something that I’ll regret for the rest of my life.