Hollywood After Dark Ch. 05

I turned back to look at the guard.

"Isn't it time for you're break?" I said to him over my shoulder. The guard rolled his eyes, but seemed to agree with me and walked away down the hall.

I wrapped my arms around Jessica and Tara's shoulders and led them back to the cot to sit them down, Kate walking calmly (she was still quite stoned) over to them and sitting down. Only Jamie hadn't moved since I got there, her eyes still seeming to calculate me, to judge me. I ignored her.

"Hey ladies, sorry about all that's happened. Mr. Willis is on top of things though, and this whole thing should be over really soon," I said to them, soothing them like little children as I ran my hand over their hair.

"Eliza, we are SOOOO relieved you got here. This was like totally the most scary thing I have ever been through!" Tara said. "The cops...I don't know how they got in or what but they were so mean!"

"Shh...I know Tara. But it's all going to be over soon. Gordon is working on getting you four out right now, so don't worry. And believe me, this won't end up in the papers, so you can feel at ease about your careers too," I said, telling them exactly what they wanted to hear.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Jessica said, leaning into me, her head just inches away from my pussy as the top of her head pressed against me. "Oh Eliza, I didn't know I was going to get in trouble for this!"

"It's ok Jessica, this sort of thing never happens. As soon as you four are out of here, believe me, we will figure out just exactly what went wrong,"

Kate's eyes seemed to light up, as if she was coming out from a prolonged sleep, her lithe body bouncing on the cot.

"Hey, where's Katherine?"

Jessica and Tara looked puzzled for a second, then realized who Kate was talking about. They glanced at each other, then at Kate, then up at me. I tried to reassure them.

"We are figuring that out right now, but I'm afraid that she might have been involved in all this. I can't prove it yet of course, but we are looking into it,"

There was a silence for a moment as the girls took this information in, Jessica's anxiousness causing her to rock back and forth on the cot. Jamie finally spoke, startling us and breaking the silence of the room.

"Where were you tonight Eliza? How do we know YOU weren't involved?" she said bitterly, her eyes locked onto mine as I spun on my heel to look at her.

"What did you say?" I said angrily, stepping away from the girls, Jessica's arm falling away from my waist remorsefully as I turned completely now towards Jamie.

"I said, where were you? Why weren't you brought in here with the rest of us," Jamie said, her voice flat as she spoke, but her eyes saying far far more than words ever could.

I felt anger rising up through me - Jamie and I had never gotten along, and I was against bringing her into the Rose Petals, but Salma's insistence ended up overruling my objections. The clash had undoubtedly come because both she and I were alpha women, both wanting to dominate things. But with the headaches of tonight so far, I was in no mood to put up with her shit. Time to make an example out of her.

I moved closer to her. "You think I was involved in this mess?" I said coldly.

"Well, you certainly weren't cuffed and led away in a squad car, that's for sure," Jamie said with a bitter smirk. "And you were supposed to be with us tonight, right?"

I turned my head back to look at the other three girls. They were huddled together against the far wall of the cot, their arms wrapped around each other as they stared in fear at both Jamie and me. Like little children watching their parents fight, it was clear that they were not going to get involved.

I glared at Jamie.

"How dare you say that I had something to do with this. If it wasn't for me, you would be spending your entire fucking night here in jail, your career in jeopardy and your future flushed down the toilet," I spat back at her.

"All I know is that you were supposed to be in the room. You weren't. You were in charge of the initiation, and yet you weren't there. And when the cops busted in, their to arrest us because someone tipped them off about the drugs and the sex, you were nowhere to be found,"

"I just got there when you were being led out. I would have stopped them but then they would have arrested me to," I said, maintaining the last bit of patience possible in my voice.

"Whatever," Jamie replied, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she looked away from me in disgust. I had had enough.

"Look bitch, you need to learn you're place. When the Mistress isn't here, you answer to me. Got that?" I said, now just an inch or so from her face.

Jamie laughed at me. "Mistress...God, I had forgotten about all the stupid little title and rules of this organization. How everything is so proper and mysterious. Mistress, that's rich,"

"I'm tired of your lip Jamie. It's time you learned where you stand in the grand scheme of things," I said to her, my blood now boiling with anger.

"Ooo, what are you going to do Eliza? Take away my dildo?"

I couldn't take it any more. Rearing my hand back, I slapped Jamie viciously across the face, my hand leaving a red mark on her cheek almost instantly as she recoiled back in pain. I heard the other girls gasp behind me, but I didn't care. My adrenaline was pumping far too hard right now to be bothered with what the weaker girls thought.

Jamie turned her face back to me as her head snapped back. She had a snarl on her face - not one of contempt or even simple anger but rage. Pure and simple rage. For a moment, I hesitated in my anger, realizing for just a split second that Jamie was taller than me and that she had an advantage by being against the wall. This proved to be a costly mistake, for not even a second later, she lunged at me, shoving me backwards with her arms as I lost my footing and stumbled back against the jail cell door, the thick metal slamming into my back.

Recoiling in pain, it didn't take Jamie more than a moment to be on me again.

"Bitch? I'll show you a bitch!" she said, grabbing me by the hair and slinging me towards the bed and the other girls. I managed to catch myself before I hit, collapsing rather than slamming down onto it, my arms unsteady as I bent over it. Things seemed to be moving in slow motion now, for as I stood up from the bed, straightening myself, I was better prepared for Jamie as she threw an actual punch at me. Ducking it, I ran forward slightly and hit her in the stomach with my shoulder, driving her back against the cell wall.

Reaching down, she savagely grabbed my hair and lifted me up as she pulled my head away from her stomach, where I had been busy landing as many scratches and punches as possible on her. Tilting my head up, Jamie spit at me, her saliva hitting my cheek as I spun away from her, freeing my hair despite the pain. Spinning back, I pressed myself against her towards the wall, trying to get her arms over her head to immobilize her. But Jamie was a bit quicker and saw my tactic, instead reaching out her arm and pulling my dress down as she grabbed my breast firmly in her hand and twisted it slightly, causing me immediate pain.

Instinctively, my knee shot up and caught her in the stomach as she now placed both hands on my breasts and held onto them tightly, twisting them as I fought back the tears of pain she was causing me. The blow to her stomach caused Jamie to double over slightly and as I leaned hard against her, my weight finally pinning her to the wall as her hands held onto my tits as my dress sagged beneath them, I used my leg to part Jamie's legs. Through the material of her green dress, I quickly placed my hand over her cunt and pushed my fingers in hard, working them into her dry slit and causing her to cry out in pain and surprise.

My fingers buried in her and her hands on my breasts, we each inflicted pain on each other for a few more moments. I stared at Jamie and she stared right back as we reached a stalemate, neither one of us knowing what the other one would do. The decision was made for us a moment later however, as two cops burst in through the far jail door and ran down to our cell. Within a moment, they were on me, yanking me off hard as Jamie's fingers got the last word, clawing my breasts painfully as I was pulled off of her.

"Hey, woah ladies, stop that! Calm down!" the guards were yelling at us, one of the bigger ones holding my arms pinned behind my back as I struggled instinctively to get free. I finally stopped a minute or so later, catching my breath as Jamie looked at me over the shoulder of the cop, smirking.

"You two going to rip each other's throats out if we let you go, or no?" the one holding me said.

"No, we are fine officer," Jamie said smartly. "Isn't that right Eliza?"

I lunged at her again, but grunted "Yes" as the cop let go of my arms. Looking down at my breasts, I saw the red marks from Jamie's nails left distinct lines down them. Fixing my top, I turned my attention to the two cops.

"You ladies made bail. But don't think we won't just pick you up again if you decide to continue this outside," the big cop said.

"We won't officer, thank you," Jamie said again, playing the coy and innocent girl just to piss me off.

"Alright, well you are free to go,"

I made a motion to leave right after Jamie as she walked out the cell door, but the cop next to me put his meaty hand on my shoulder.

"Wait," he said in a nonplussed voice.

I waited, despite my instincts wanting to just lunge at Jamie and rip her clothes off right there, throwing her in with some of the other prisoners, as she left the cell, the other girls walking quickly behind her, their eyes not even looking at me.

The cop lifted his hand as Jamie made her way out of the hallway, the prisoners now yelling even louder than before at the parade of beautiful young women walking past their cells. I stepped out of the cell, shrugging the cop off as I followed them out.

Exiting the building, I was escorted the entire way, my exit slowed purposefully by the cops. It was a good thing in hindsight, because it gave me a few extra moments to calm down. At least until I got outside that is.

I opened the door to see Jessica climbing into a cab out front, her long legs disappearing inside as the girls crunched together in the back seat. Jamie was walking over to the front passenger door but looked up at me as I stood on the steps.

"Oh, don't worry about the girls Eliza, I'll take them to a good safe place for the night. Maybe you should do the same thing. You're chest looks a little red," Jamie said with a mocking laugh as I rushed down the steps towards her. Jamie paused outside the cab long enough to blow me a kiss with her hand before shutting the door quickly and telling the cab to go, it's wheels speeding away as I just reached it on the curb.

I watched them drive off, but strangely felt calm as they vanished into traffic. The loss of face in front of the girls was bad, no doubt, but there were more important things to deal with. Jamie could be taught a lesson - and would be taught one - later on. But right now, I had to figure out with the help of Hapsboro what exactly had happened to get them arrested in the first place.

That meant making a few calls and bribing a few people, but that didn't seem hard. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that it was late now - almost 2 in the morning. Better to deal with it tomorrow, I thought to myself as I walked to my car. Besides, I needed to go home and relax and I knew just the person to help me do that.

KATHERINE'S STORY:

I walked into the grimy Western Union office about 10 blocks or so from the Strip. The place had certainly seen better days - the man behind the desk was behind a smudged and dirty looking bullet proof glass window and the lobby itself was in complete disrepair, smelling of homeless people and the cheap cologne of penniless gamblers, anxious to call home and get more to feed their addiction. A ceiling fan turned slowly above me, despite the cool weather of the desert outside.

I walked up to the window of the man behind the glass. He was a heavy set Arab man, leafing through a tattered and worn porno mag. He glanced up over it when he saw me. He sighed audibly and rocked back down onto his chair, setting the dirty magazine side to look at me from behind the even dirtier glass.

"Yes?"

"Someone is going to be wiring me some money at this location, as soon as I find out which one it is," I said to him, my voice a little rushed.

"Alright, we are number 4252149. Is that all you need?" he said, his voice thick with accent and his eyes flicking back and forth from me to his magazine. I was obviously interrupting something important, though I shuddered to think of actually seeing him in the act.

"Can I use your phone?"

He again sighed, this time more of a grunt behind it for emphasis. He yawned and pointed to a sign up on the glass. As I read it, he recited it word for word.

"WESTERN UNION IS A WIRE SERVICE. COMPANY POLICY DICTATES THAT WE NOT ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO USE IN STORE PHONES BECAUSE OF THE CHARGES THEY MAY INCUR. PLEASE CONSULT OUR FRIENDLY STAFF FOR ASSISTANCE IN REACHING YOUR REQUESTED PARTIES ON YOUR OWN," he said, his voice droll as he finished reading it verbatim.

"There's a phone in the corner if you are calling collect or have change, but if not then there isn't much I can do to help you,"

I looked at the sign, to him, then over my shoulder at the slimy looking beat up payphone in the corner. The walls around it were scuffed and dented, obviously from people slamming the receiver against it in frustration. I sighed as I walked over to it, picking up the receiver and wiping it off on my dress before dialing Alex.

The phone didn't even get through one full ring before he picked up.

"Katherine?"

"Yes Alex, it's me. Ok, I'm at Western Union. The store location is 4252149, here in Las Vegas. Now what do I do?"

"..149. Ok, got it. I will go down and wire you the money, there is a place about 15 minutes from here. Once it gets to you, take it and find a hotel and then call me. It's really damn late right now and I think I'm going to wait until closer to sun up to leave. I don't want to get lost in the desert, trying to drive at night. Are you ok with that? I mean, once you get in the hotel and all?" Alex asked.

"I think so. I'm not as nervous as I was, now that I've talked to you. But please...get here as soon as you can,"

"I will. Ok, I'm heading out the door now. Shouldn't be more than 30 minutes or so before the money gets to you," he said.

"Ok. Bye again Alex, I'll call you soon,"

"Bye Katherine. And remember, be careful,"

I hung up the phone and turned back towards the front window. The man was already absorbed in the porno again, his eyes wide and buggy as he studied the photos. I walked over to the window, but stopped a few feet short.

"My friend is going to wire me in the money in 30 minutes. Is it alright if I wait here?"

"Whatever," he said, not looking up but simply shrugging his shoulders.

I nodded and walked over near the payphone, to take a seat on an ancient looking wooden bench against the wall. There was an old, yellow stack of newspapers sitting on the dusty floor near the bench, but I decided not to bother with them. My face in my palms, I sat down on the bench with a creak and tried to calm down and relax.

I must have dozed off, because I was startled awake by the loud beeping of the wire machine behind the glass going off. The Arab guy was standing up, his considerable gut hanging over a pair of faded khaki pants as he handled the papers. He looked over at me and his eyes gave me the impression that this was indeed the money I was waiting for.

"Are you a Ms. Katherine Heigl?" he asked as I walked up to the window.

"Yes, I am,"

"Have an ID?"

I suddenly felt my heart jump in my throat as I realized that I didn't.

"I...I don't have it on me. See, I lost my purse and that's why..."

"Sorry, but unless you can prove who you say you are, I can't give you this money,"

I looked at him blankly for a second, trying to come to grips with what this meant. Without my ID, I was practically powerless. Suddenly, an idea dawned on me.

"Hang on just a second. You just need a photo ID right?"

"Yep," he said. I turned away and walked over to the bench, now rifling through the newspapers and the stack of magazines beneath. Working quickly, I pulled out what I wanted: an old copy of People from a few years back. It was a godsend that it was there, now I just hoped that what I had in mind would actually work.

Going over to the window, I flipped through it quickly. I knew I was in here somewhere...

"Ah! See, that's me!" I said to him, thrusting the magazine against the glass. He leaned in close to look at it. It was a picture of me from a premiere right around the time "Roswell" was still on the air. My hair was pulled back like I had it now and as he looked at it, I put on my best Hollywood smile, trying to match it up.

The man glanced from the magazine to me as I slid it down and handed it to him through the small hole in the glass. He took it in his hands and studied it once more. I stood there like a statue, posed in as close a way as possible to the photo in the magazine. Finally, he set it down and slid some papers back through the hole towards me.

"Whatever, close enough. Sign these," he said.

I signed the papers eagerly and handed them back to him in the hole. He waddled over a nearby safe and entered a code, taking out a stack of cash. All told, Alex had wired me $1000. Sliding it through the hole, he said in a bored voice: "Thank you for using Western Union, the fastest way to send money worldwide".

I smiled at him and walked out of the musty place, out into the quickly dropping temperatures of the desert and the somewhat more quiet streets of Las Vegas.

Hailing a cab, I took it over a few more blocks, having the driver drive around until I found a modest enough looking hotel. Tipping him, I stepped out of the cab and went inside. The hotel was small by Vegas standards, probably an 8 or 10 story building with balconies on the front of each room, looking out onto the city outside.

Far less time consuming was the process of actually renting the room. The place was quiet and the man behind the desk seemed a little too perked up by coffee to do things slowly. By this point however, I didn't really care. I was feeling exhausted from the whole day and was glad to know that it was soon to be over, that I would be safe in just a few minutes.

I took my room key and took the elevator to the top floor, where the room I rented under the name of "Isabel Evans", my character on "Roswell". Opening it, the pleasant cool air of a newly arrived in hotel room washing over me. I turned on the lights of the room and then locked the door with the deadbolt and chain and sat down on the bed, dialing Alex's number.

He again picked it up on the first ring and the conversation was much shorter this time, both of us I think exhausted from the day.

"I'm at the Desert Jewel, room 5616 on the top floor," I said to him as I kicked off my heels, my feet aching.

"Ok. I'll figure out directions on getting there, pack a few things and then leave. Hopefully I can get there by 6 or 7, depending on traffic and all that. Are you sure you are ok Katherine?"

"Yes, I'm fine, just very tired. Be careful driving here. If you see anyone following you, don't come here. I will find you later on today, alright?"

"Ok Katherine. Try to get some sleep. I'll knock three times when I'm at your door, so you know it's me," Alex said.

"Bye Alex. See you soon,"

PETTY'S STORY:

The first single from my album was now playing in heavy rotation on many Top 40 stations, thanks in large part to Antamount paying the hefty promoters fees to get me a lot of airplay. They seemed to be putting their full backing behind me, which I felt oddly guilty about given that my first single, "A Lonely Love", was hardly the strongest song on the album. I had argued with them about this, but the top brass I was dealing with (unfortunately not Mr. Willis, but instead one of his lackeys) would have none of it.