Snow White and the Seven Hunks editedbymegan .wps (16 page)

I swallowed a little convulsively. “Thank you.”

He nodded.

I hesitated. “I’m really sorry. I tried to calm her down. Usually it works.”

He was frowning when he shut the water off and climbed out. I handed him the

towel hanging on the bar, watching him dry off, wondering what he’d do if I moved toward him and licked some of those trickling drops of water off.

Probably freak. He’d think I was as crazy as my sister.

He stopped me when I turned to go. “Wait.”

I looked at him in surprise, but he didn’t say anything. He merely wrapped the towel around his waist and tucked the corners. Dropping a hand to the middle of my back, he ushered me across the room, out the door, and down the hall. It dawned on me when he opened my door and glanced around that he hadn’t wanted to chance me running into Brandy again.

I didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted, to be pleased that he seemed to want to protect me, or upset that he thought I might touch off another battle. “Why don’t you rest a little while?”

Nodding, I went inside. Truthfully, the suggestion had a lot of appeal. I hadn’t slept that well and I felt wrung out from the battle.

And I wasn’t anxious to run into Brandy again any time soon.

“Will you tell Basil I’m sorry about his hand?”

He studied me for a long moment, looked like he might say something, and then

apparently changed his mind. “I’ll tell him.”

* * * *

Gabe was seething when he returned to his room to dress. He knew he ought to feel a little more forgiving if it was true that Brandy had emotional problems, but he didn’t feel particularly forgiving. It made his blood run cold every time he thought about the way she’d looked at Nicole and threatened her.

The worst of it was that he’d heard the argument when it started. He’d figured it was best to stay out of it, that it was between them and they’d settle it. It hadn’t occurred to him that it might escalate into that kind of violence or that Brandy was capable of such a violent, uncontrollable rage.

He didn’t like to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t decided to

intervene.

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 71

It was no fucking wonder Nicole behaved like someone who’d been abused,

growing up with a sister like Brandy, no wonder she was so repressed. Brandy was four years older than Nicole. That didn’t seem like much, now. Now, there was very little difference in size between them and he would’ve been willing to bet they weighed within ten pounds of each other. Nicole was a little shorter, Brandy a little thinner, but as kids

… a four year old at the mercy of an eight year old prone to temper tantrums? And the way things were these days, Brandy had probably ‘helped’ with the baby. It had seemed unlikely to him that Nicole’s behavior was the result of a restrictive upbringing when Brandy was her polar opposite, as unfettered as Nicole was cautious.

He should’ve known Nicole’s swift reaction to the fight in her room between

Shaun and Hunter was experience. She hadn’t frozen with shock like somebody

completely unaccustomed to seeing it. She hadn’t tried to intervene verbally or physically like someone who had no idea of their limitations in such a situation. She’d gotten the hell out of the way.

Shaking his thoughts, he picked up his cell phone and called Glenda. Not

surprisingly, she went ballistic when he told her he needed her to bring the doctor out again. He didn’t feel like trying to explain it over the static on the phone, though. He just told her to bring him and hung up.

Girding himself for unpleasantness, he went down to have a talk with Brandy to

see if he could reason with her. He was damned tempted just to hand her over to Glenda and be done with it, regardless of what he’d told Nicole. Considering everybody on the damned cast had witnessed her fit, he wasn’t sure any of them were going to be able to perform with her again.

He sure as hell didn’t want to.

What a cluster-fuck! Nicole out of commission because that dumb shit Hunter

had gotten carried away and now this!

It almost made his hair stand on end when he got to the parlor and found Brandy calmly watching the guys play a video game, smiling and chatting with them as if nothing had ever happened.

Jesus!

“We need to talk,” he said flatly.

She glanced up at him warily. “Alright.”

He shook his head, considering. “Not here. Let’s go up to my office.”

She smirked at him. He felt his irritation rise. It was almost laughable that she could instantly jump to the conclusion that he wanted to be alone with her for sexual reasons after what had just happened.

He supposed, wryly, that that might actually work with some men. She was a

good-looking woman and built like a goddess. There was no doubt about that, but he didn’t care for abusive women. Not to his taste, and he wasn’t ‘in’ to the violent fights and wild sex scene either.

Evidently, she was.

He supposed that answered the question of whether or not she was in to S and M.

She might not consider it that, but anybody that liked that kind of relationship was hardcore S and M to his mind—hitting, punching, biting, and scratching one minute and fucking like rabbits the next.

When they’d settled in his office, he studied her, trying to decide how to get his SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 72

point across to her without provoking another scene. Finally, he decided to just take the plunge. He didn’t have a fucking clue of how to deal with anyone like her.

“I think I need to point out to you that you are living on the set of a reality porn show—which will eventually be made into a movie, or movies, depending on how well it’s received and how much usable footage we get out of the weeks we spend here shooting. You do get that, right?”

Brandy’s expression was sullen by the time he’d finished. “I understood that.

I’m not stupid!”

She could’ve fooled him!

“Would you like to explain to me, calmly, exactly what that was all about in the kitchen then?”

She reddened, shifting uncomfortably. “Nicole’s trying to take over everything by screwing the entire cast. She doesn’t want me here because she knows I’m the star and she thinks she’ll be the star if she can get rid of me. I know what she’s up to!”

Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. “You’re

Snow White ….”

“Yes, I’m the star, but she thinks she can get rid of me and then she’ll be Snow White.”

“So … you’re saying all of that was because you feel like Nicole is threatening your position? It had nothing to do with some half-baked idea that David, Scott, and Daniel are your boyfriends?”

She thought that over. “Well, they are. I realize that we have to be professionals here, though. I suppose, if it’s in the script, they’ll have to fuck her, but I don’t see why you’d want to put that in the script. I’m Snow White, after all, and the show is supposed to be Snow White and the Seven Hunks. She shouldn’t even be here.”

“That was the original title, yes,” Gabe said as patiently as he could. “But in this business—especially the porn industry—we have to make adjustments as we progress.

For instance, the deal you and Nicole made with Glenda. That required an adjustment.

And since Hunter went a little overboard last night while we were filming and Nicole is

… uh … injured and won’t be able to perform for at least a week, we’ll have to make other adjustments. Script changes are commonplace.”

She looked so pleased to discover that Nicole wouldn’t be able to perform Gabe

wanted to smack her. “She won’t be able to perform?”

“No.”

“Oh … well, that’s a shame. She didn’t look hurt to me.”

“Just the same ….”

“I should go check on her,” she said after a moment.

“Not right now. She’s resting. Maybe later.”

“So I’ll be performing solo with the Seven Hunks?”

Gabe sat forward. “I’ve given Glenda a call and asked her to bring Phil out. I want him to check you out.”

She stared at him blankly. “I’m fine.” She frowned. “I hurt my wrist. I’m not sure how that happened, but I think it’s just bruised.”

“Maybe when you were wrestling with Shaun over the knife?”

She reddened and smirked. “Oh! I didn’t mean it! I wouldn’t have hurt Nicole!

She’s my sister.”

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 73

Right! He didn’t believe that shit for a minute! “I’m going to be blunt here

because I just don’t see any benefit in dancing around it. Nicole tells me you’re bi-polar

….”

“That lying little bitch!” Brandy snapped, leaping to her feet.

“Sit down!” Gabe growled.

She glared at him for a moment but finally sat.

“I’m going to have Phil look at you and prescribe medication to control your

mood swings.”

“I don’t have mood swings.”

“He’s going to prescribe something and you’re going to take it or you’re out on your ass. I don’t give a damn how you feel about it. I’ve invested a considerable amount of money in this enterprise myself, and I’m not going to lose it because you can’t control yourself. Is that clear?”

She stared at him a long moment and burst into tears. He watched her stonily and waited for her to get control of herself—or give up on the act. He didn’t know or care which.

“It was Nicole’s fault!” she said tearfully. “She started it!”

“Are you done?”

She stared at him in shock and finally sniffed, wiping her eyes. “I really need this job.”

“I know you do. And I need you. That doesn’t mean you can’t be replaced, so

don’t get any ideas that you’re in control. You aren’t. I’m the boss here. We’re filming a porn and when Nicole gets better and she’s able to participate again, I’ll expect her to.

What I don’t expect and won’t tolerate is her having to fend you off every time she does what she’s been told to do—which means that she will be fucking all of the Seven Hunks, just like you will. Got that?”

She preened. “They don’t want to fuck her.”

That was why they’d wanted to help Shaun beat the shit out of Hunter, he thought dryly. “Regardless, they’re helping to finance this show. They have an investment to protect and they will behave like professionals and do whatever they’re called upon to do. And, as long as you’re on this set, you’ll do the same. One more incident like the one today and you’re out of here.”

* * * *

I avoided Brandy as much as possible considering we were all living in the same house, but after spending the better part of two days in my room, I was bored enough with my own company to begin mixing again—warily. It wasn’t that I was particularly worried about getting into another argument with Brandy on my account. I didn’t like confrontations. I avoided them if at all possible, but I felt like I could handle myself if I had to defend myself. The main reason I avoided Brandy, however, was because I was afraid just seeing me might set her off again, and I didn’t want her to end up in jail.

To my relief, I discovered she was determined to ignore me. Pretending I didn’t exist was a sure sign that she was still pissed off at me, but I was perfectly happy to be ignored.

I discovered that I wasn’t entirely off limits. That didn’t make me nearly as

happy. It was like the punishment all over again except I knew they weren’t doing it for that reason. I didn’t think so, anyway. My inability to actually have sex didn’t preclude SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 74

fondling, though, and evidently that was sexual enough they needed a lot of footage doing that, because they did.

Wryly, I realized that I was going to be so warmed up by the time Gabe finally

decided it was safe to finish up that Rose Red and the Seven Hunks scene that had been interrupted that I was probably going to enjoy my work thoroughly.

Hunter avoided me for two days and finally, when I came out to play, cornered

me in the kitchen.

There was wariness in his eyes—and bruises on his pretty face—but no hesitation when he slipped up behind me while I was busy washing dishes and began fondling my breasts. I gave up on the washing as soon as I dropped the first dish and broke it.

Gabe strode into the kitchen at the crash, stood looking at us for a few moments and then left again.

I couldn’t prevent the blush that rose in my cheeks, knowing he’d come because

he thought the breaking dish was another fight in progress.

Hunter nudged my cheek, bringing my attention back to him. Disconcerted when

he merely studied my face, uncomfortable about being stared at, I finally ducked my head to study the thatch of curling brownish-blond hair that formed a T on his chest and belly.

He was in a strange mood and I couldn’t quite figure out why he’d cornered me.

He settled a hand in my hair, stroked it a moment and finally pulled me close. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said raggedly.

I looked up at him in surprise. “I know you didn’t.”

He looked surprised but relieved. “I think I’d almost feel better if you hit me.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t know why that would make you feel better, but I’m not going to. It would hurt my hand.”

“Because I did hurt you, not because I meant to, but because … I got carried

away.”

I lifted a hand and lightly stroked his chest with my fingers, intrigued by the confession. “Because you enjoyed it?”

He snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

“I enjoyed it, too,” I confessed. “I didn’t think I would. I never did that before and … well, you’re really big … uh … there.”

“Too big for you, obviously,” he said wryly releasing me. “It was stupid. We

should’ve changed the script when we saw how small you were. It’s pure luck it wasn’t worse than it was.”