Sirens, p.10
Sirens, page 10
nacelle g as a reflector, intensifying the colour of the metal struts.
great engine throbbed and vibrated between her legs, her were around his
waist and she felt the keyed-up hardness s muscles, thinking only
briefly of Maggie who refused to t the machine. r breasts pressed
against the forgiving wall of his hunched the warm wind tearing at her
cheeks as if full of envy, g her long hair, turning it into the fan of a
seashell; the 87 sun, hot on her bare arms, spilled into her squinting
eyes like poured gold. I Chris gunned the engine and the Harley leaped
beneath them like a live steed, carrying them along, faster and faster
until it seemed as if they were outstripping time itself with the
coastline gone, merely a blur of brown-ochre-green-white-red that had
nothing to do with them, reduced to light lances upon the moving
filaments of her body, energy like fire burning through her veins.
Exhilaration. Ecstasy without end ... 88 Three at seemed a long time,
she sat behind the wheel of the Bel Air was still and silent around her.
This far in, not e interminable hiss of the traffic along Sunset
Boulevard beard. was parked just out of sight of the beginning of
Rubens' sweeping, crushed-marble driveway, deciding whether to go in.
High above, a plane droned furrily through heading towards Los Angeles
International Airport. stared straight ahead at the high line of
jacarandas that d this section of the property but what she really saw
her mind: New York's heavily muscled skyline breathsunset and sunrise,
filling her with the power of a That great kinetic city crashed in her
mind like a victory. lips, half open, emitted a soft sound, as if it
were the of that shout, dimmed by time and distance. She lay against the
cool leather of the seat, her long fingers gently the curve of the
wheel. western evening was coming but all she heard were oes of that cry
swirling like wine through her mind r thoughts tried to recapture the
essence of that sleazy, soul. Her pulse beat one-two, one-two, tiny
tremors in ollow of her throat, on the inside of her wrist, Mark, making
her heart pound against the cage of her ribs. glazed her eyes and she
bit her lip, thinking, Oh, you tly she gunned the engine and, slamming
the car , spun into Rubens' drive. The huge house with its Spanish tiled
roof and repeated white stucco arches far away indeed, its brilliant
colour softened by the pink glow of invisible Hollywood, which
illuminated like a benediction from a falsehearted priest. Ive massive
poplars whipped by her, turning her world 89 cool and dark, the flat
face of the Mexican gardener's assistant zoonung by as he took off home
on his Honda. Maria pulled the door open to the ringing of the chimes
but the housekeeper was on her way home, too. ' tardes, Seiiorita
Whitney.,' she said with the hint of a formal bow. ' sefior is just
finishing his tennis.' ','Daina said.'Who's with him?' Maria smiled.
"No one, sefiorita. Today he plays the machine.' She closed the door
softly behind her as Daina went quietly down the hall, past the enormous
El Greco on the left-hand wall, through the arch and into the living
room. Rubens, in white tennis shorts and shirt with a double stripe of
dark blue down each side, was just coming in through the window doors at
the rear of the room. A white towel was draped around his shoulders. He
had a blue and white sweatband on his right wrist. Behind him, in a
blaze of spotlights, she could see a third of the Olympic-size swimming
pool and, just to its right, one comer of the composition-clay tennis
court. He smiled at her. ' came after all.' ' you think I wouldn't?' He
waggled the flat of his hand. '-fifty. I had a bet with myself.' She
came towards him. ' fifty did you take?' He grinned. ' winning one.' He
went over to the bar, made them both a drink. ' think you cheated! He
stirred her Bacardi, dropped in a twist of lime. ''m always honest with
myself.' She took the cold glass from him. ' very sure. ',' he said,
taking a long pull at his Stolichnaya. ' used to kick sand in my face.'
Sh ' laughed, certain he was joking but she sobered immediately, staring
down into her rum. ' almost didn't come! He said nothing, took a
cigarette out of a slim gold case, lit it. The smoke hissed from between
his lips, he flicked the ash into the earth surrounding a small potted
cactus. From the depths of her sadness came an intuition that he would
say, What's the difference? You're here. That's all that So she was
surprised when he said, ' happened?' the concern on his face, knew then
that perhaps she d him to say the other thing, to be callous because Id
make it so much easier for her to get up and walk him; not to have to
feel any more. ' think I want to talk about it.' come on,' he said,
coming out from behind the bar. else did you bring it up?' He took her
arm, guided her the three steps to the pit where the immense sapphire
couch curled in a U-shape beneath the high ceiling. y,' he said when
they were seated. ' it.' eyes flashed. ' you're making some kind of joke
am?'His eyes opened wide. at Raymond Chandler dialogue Os a holdover
from my former life as Philip Marlowe. I'm ing fun of you.' looked at
him for a moment. ' threw Mark out. He ou've already told me that.' ill
you stop it and listen to me Pre much better off without him, I can tell
you.' hy, because he's black?' t in this day and age.' still matters,
don't bullshit me.' es, it does. But I was going to say, it's because of
his ks not his colour.' He sipped at his drink. ' took a lotta e a lona
time to allow Fonda her comeback.' didn't have anything to do with her
politics.' lifted an eyebrow. '? Oh, excuse me. I didn't think ere that
naive.' st what do you know?' hat I've told you.' He put his drink down
on the white coffee table in front of them. ', your rocket's at the ing
pad. You don't want anything to disconnect the now.' He eyed her. '
you?' o.' She looked away for a moment. ' this has as much o with us as
it does with Mark and me. The timing's all g, don't you see?
I've just come out of a long, hard tionship. Then you come along and
make me feel like a 90 91 pendulum, swinging back and forth over a pit.
I feet like I'm going to fall in at any minute.' He reached over,
touched her. ' don't think of that bastard any more. He was always
running around with ''t,' she warned. ''s the matter,' he said, 'are you
too delicate to hear this? You know what he was sleeping with down at
the set and on location. He couldn't get enough of those sleazy -@ '
it!' Now his face was very close to hers. She could see the gleam of
sweat, the short stubble of beard. But most of all, she inhaled his
animal scent. Rubens' voice was low now but perfectly clear. ' you ever
saw in Mark Nassiter I'll never know but I'm glad you threw him out.' He
put his free hand up, turned her head towards him. ' sickens me to see
your face now, to know that you still feel something for him, a bastard
who spent a week and a half pursuing that little fifteen-year-old bitch
-' ' knew!' With a violent jerk, she pulled free of him and stood up. '
wait a minute Now she slapped him, hard and without warning, leaving a
rough red welt on his cheek. ' bastard! Why didn't you tell rne?' ''you
really believe you would've listened to rne?' ' stepped on me just the
way you've stepped on every other woman in your life. You used it.' She
glared at him. ' must be out of my mind. Really.' She turned on her
heel, went up the steps to the living room proper but he caught up to
her there. ', look, that isn't the way it was at all.' She whirled,
stared up at him. '? Liar!
You didn't know just what was happening when you ran into me at the
Warehouse? Say that to my face and I'll spit in your eyev She thought
she saw him tremble then and the blood drained from his face, not slowly
but all at once. She felt the coiled readiness of his body, knew
instinctively that this was how he reacted to a situation of this sort:
with violence. Because of that she could not stop herself, wanting as
she did to push him further, to provoke in him a response strong 92 ,"k.
to prove to her once and for all that he truly cared for mean it,
Rubens. You leave the lying for business. so used to twisting women
around your finger, you've they're human beings. Well, I'm a human
being, it, and I don't like being lied to. You understand you t me that
way.' air between them had turned to lead. It was as if an world
revolved on this one point, so delicate was the ,,' he said, after an
eternity. ''s the way it was beginning. I got a call ten minutes after
it happened anks.' she said. ' nothing.' W just a minute! You said He
grabbed her arm e gave him a look that caused him to turn her loose
iately. ' we both have to listen sometimes, huh? that's part of the
problern.' not going to stand here and listen to your crap." She away.
''ve trained yourself so well you don't even when you're lying any more.
The truth has no more 9. It's only what's best for Rubens at the moment.
t, I don't know how I could've felt anything t can I do to convince
you?' gave him a brittle smile. ', you'll get no help from that.' you'll
just walk out.' y not? There's nothing for me here." you leave now,
you'll never know for sure.' ieve me, Rubens@ I know." ill want you to
move in.' , please.' re was a peculiar, tense silence, It was as if the
two of stood in a leafy glade divested of not only their clothes e
carefully cultivated layers of civilization. An atavistic laced the air.
Only their eyes moved minutely. Their ils dilated, scenting. In the next
moment, they would bared their teeth, growling at each other. ou don't
really want to leave, Daina.' His voice, if not y filled with menace,
had taken on a steely edge. e knew perfectly well what he meant. She had
had enough 93 of his intimidation. She was acutely aware of how much
she wanted the role as Heather Duell but she was perfectly set in her
mind about what to do.
After all, how many millions were already invested in the film? Too many
for him to allow her to walk off the film. It was just another tactic.
just as he had backed off from hitting her a moment before, he would
back off from this. And what if it's not a bluff ? she asked herself. He
has the power. He could do it. Then where would I be? If I were a man,
it would never have come to this. Power. All I lack is the power. She
wavered then for just a moment but was fixed by a last thought: If I
allow myself to be ground under his thumb this time, it'll happen again
and again and I'll never get out. I'll never have the power. ' won't
take me off this film.' It is the only way I have of defending myself,
she thought. Rubens' face was as expressionless as a mask. ' want this
role too much, Daina. You need it.' ''d rather go down the street to Ted
Kessel. You've turned this into a prod to debase me.' ' right!
His voice rang with a peculiar tone. ' of now, you're off the film." For
an instant, she thought her heart had stopped beating. Had she misheard
him? Had she dreamt it? But no. She had miscalculated, pushed him too
far. She turned away from him, went across the long living room towards
the hallway. She could see the old man El Greco had chosen to paint, his
elongated face making him seem that much wiser. His calm eyes watched
her as she approached. Her heart was breaking and tears stood at the
comers of her eyes, unmoving, as if by her own force of will she was
preventing them from dropping over the edge, to roll down her cheeks and
shame her. The old man of Spain - the kind of resolute Jew - saw her
shame but she resolved that Rubens never would. She thought then of her
other shame, of a time she had locked away inside herself, and her grief
became all but unbearable. She sought solace from the old man but, after
all, 94 not reach out and touch her, merely speak to her with
-,,txpressive eyes. And what he said to her was, I have . You will, too.
was near the hallway when she heard Rubens speak. a sound that came to
her from out of another world. se come back here,' he said softly. '
didn't mean any she stared into the old man's eyes. ' you forgive me?"
turned now. ' must you be so hurtful?' She knew were glistening in the
comers of her eyes. ' should say that to me?' won,' he said.
"Don't you see that?' what? This isn't a contest! yes,' he said easily.
"It's all-a contest! His tone was ishing now. ' know that! how could I
win against you?' en my foot came down, you twisted it away. You said
espite the fact that you wanted that role more than anyelse.' most more
than anything else.' the first time in what seemed a century, he smiled.
It ,,a nice smile, she saw, warm and gentle. "'Almost" is what tes you
from bimbos.' everyone else.' He came up to where she stood. ' arms came
around her and she let them stay there. re not afraid of me," he
whispered. ''s something I in a woman.' He kissed her neck.' More than
you could 2 you terrorize me to He shook his head. ' terrorized me. The
moment you really meant to walk out, I also knew I could never that to
happen. I'd do anything ...' ive me anything I want?' Her voice was very
soft. es.' His voice was even softer as his arms tightened around nd he
buried his face in the hollow of her shoulder. ithout conscious thought,
her hand came up, her fingers ng into his thick hair as she pressed her
body hard against 95 his. Her nostrils were filled with a kind of musk
so powerful it dizzied her and she found herself clinging to him as if
for support. But he was already sliding down her body as if his flesh
had turned to rainwater. She stood as still as she could, her fingers
still twined in his hair. But as she felt his hands at the opening of
her silk wrap dress, pulling aside the flaps, she began to tremble. She
gasped when she felt the soft scrape of his fingers along the flesh of
her thighs and then, incredibly, his lips were right against her mound.
His tongue snaked out, licking at her. The muscles of her thighs jumped
and all strength seemed to seep from her legs, She bent all the way over
him until her breasts flattened against the muscles of his back, moving
herself up and down against the soft lance of his tongue. Pools of
pleasure made her feel heavy; her heart thundered in her chest; her lips
were parted and her hips began to jerk.
"Oh, God,' she groaned as her orgasm opened up inside her, rubbing her
breasts against his back, feeling her nipples against his flesh,
dissolving in the torrents of pleasure. Afterwards, she lay atop him..
She caressed him for a time, her fingertips moist with her own
secretions until she saw his eyes glazing. He groaned deeply at the
contact of their hot flesh and the feeling of him filling her was so
wonderful that she shuddered. Eventually, the whispering of the palm
trees lulled them to sleep where they lay on the carpet beside the huge
pink and grey marble fireplace with its high, empty mantel. She awoke in
the middle of the evening when, in the houses all around her, TV sets
were still burning brightly, and stared into his sleeping face. She put
a hand up, her fingers gently stroking the line of his jaw where she had
earlier slapped him. His eyes opened. ' shouldn't be like that,' she
whispered. ' contest. Not between two people.' In her mind, she had
added ' love each other', but she could not say it. He looked into her
eyes. ''s important to master that because this town is full of fools.
They think money is t e intimidator. They don't realize the more you
rely on the weaker you become until your brain goes flabby disuse and
you make all the wrong decisions.' She put d along his chest so that she
could feel the breath going A out of him as she watched his dark,
shining eyes. ce of will,' he said, ' an infinitely better weapon than
because it works all the time. All it needs is you. But can give you
that advice, you've got to learn it the way like I did. Avenue C in
Manhattan there's no money anywhere. time to get out of that hellhole
and in the interim got to survive.' moved minutely against her and she
could feel the n flooding into him, turning him hard as a rock. ' ,come
home in the dark, nursing a bloody cheek, a fractured my nose was broken
so many times, I stopped counthe gave a mirthless laugh like the bark of
