Chapter 14: The Best Defense

Mark and Willow fell asleep watching television. Billy deployed his men and went to bed. One guard was assigned to watch the inner gate while another roamed through the house and out back. Lights went off inside and out, leaving only the fountain lights for exterior illumination. Amanda, Sam and Mike hammered out Mike's dialogue for his interviews. Dirk and Karl sat to one side, huddled over German ales while they discussed the problems of adequate lighting when doing the night shots.

Finally at two in the morning Amanda stood up. "I'm beat. Let's call it a wrap. Sam, you and Karl go home. We'll start again at ten, after the studio writer gets here. Mike, take Willow upstairs and put her to bed in a bedroom to the right and down the hall. Dirk, upstairs and to your left is your room. Pick any of them."

She took Mark by the hand and helped him stand. She led him up the stairs to the master bedroom. As soon as the door shut behind them she began to undress. She clumsily worked herself free of her tee shirt, eased her feet out of her loafers and dropped her jeans to the floor. She stepped out of the tangled pile.

Mark had undressed, dropped down on top of the covers and went back to sleep in an instant. Amanda turned off the lights and joined him. He was still asleep when she snuggled hard against him. "How did I ever get so lucky as to find you?" she asked the sleeping form. She felt the by now familiar soft warmth flow through her. She draped her good arm over him and closed her eyes. He mumbled a few sounds as he snuggled closer. Amanda smiled in the darkness and slept.

The next morning she opened her eyes. Mark was gone. Panicky, she looked around and called his name.

"I'm in here," he called from the bathroom. "Want to take a shower? I started without you."

Relieved, she joined him. Amanda only went as far as the shower door and stopped. "Can't get the bandage wet," she reminded him. His hard penis jutted proudly out in front of him. She grabbed it and gave it a squeeze. She could not believe how wonderful all those new emotions felt as they chased around inside her. She let go of him and waited to be bathed.

Mark smiled and washed her while she stood half in and half out of the shower. He paid especial attention to her breasts and pussy. She laughed from the joy of it all. "You know Babe, I bet I have the most washed pussy in California," she told him. He turned off the water and grabbed fresh towels. She stood still while he dried her off.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"It's a little after ten o'clock," he answered, "Why, do you have an appointment somewhere?"

"I have to order up a couple of maids to come out here and get things cleaned up. The laundry needs to be done, the kitchen cleaned up and meals planned and cooked. I'll call Sam and have him take care of it. This running a household is a pain." She grabbed a black tee shirt off the hanger. "Help me get this on, please."

He felt a little hurt at her brusqueness. It showed on his face. Amanda saw it and explained, "We begin to get serious today. I intend to get the rest of the story line completely blocked out. For the next few days we're all going to be busier than a barking dog in a cat store. We need your input on what happened to you, your background and all the rest. She paused dramatically, looked at him and said in a gentle voice, "I love you." She gave him a kiss.

"Willow's part will be written in and tailored for her. Yours is much more demanding. Because it is going to mean we shall pick at some emotional scabs you probably would prefer to ignore and hope they go away. Even for so-so actors like me this is a demanding profession. Now if I am right about you, this will become almost a holy calling. The next few months will tell. Mark, I think you have star potential. We'll know for certain by the time we start the shoot.

"Amanda, let's just settle for a happy life in the present. I don't know if I want to be a movie star, or even a bit actor. I just want you. That's all I want."

The ache returned to her throat, tears formed in her eyes and her voice broke as she told him, "Oh god, you don't know how much those words mean to me because I know what you mean. I feel the same about you. Oh baby, how I love you and only you."

Her head bowed, she told him in an impassioned voice, "You make my soul ache." She looked up into his eyes.

Her eyes became moist with unshed tears as she thought of her life before she met Mark. She remembered the endless rounds of sex for the sake of sex and her meaningless existence when she tried to find personal meaning from meaningless acts of foolishness. Her gambling sprees and daredevil mountain climbing stunts were all of a sudden seen as childish pranks. Mark gave her meaning.

Mark was silent as he helped her on with the tee shirt. She slipped on her jeans, again without underwear again. Then she padded down the stairs barefooted. In the den she punched Sam's phone number into the keypad and turned on the speakerphone. "Sam, I need two maids and a cook. I don't know whom to call. We're with Green B Studios not Hans so what do we do?" Amanda all of a sudden realized how many details Sam handled for her on a day-to-day basis, things most people do for themselves.

"It has all been taken care of. I hired three maids and a cook. They should be there any minute. I'm in my car on the way out to your house right now. See you in twenty minutes. Watch the TV. You'll find it interesting, very interesting. Sam disconnected.

Amanda turned on the large television in the den and watched. She saw nothing but the usual brainless morning fare. She switched channels. There were more commercials and bland people talking while they said nothing. Mark came in fully dressed and sat down next to her. She changed channels again and saw what Sam had meant about "interesting." It jumped off the screen at him. Mark's father, Joshua Cantrell stood tall in all his hypocritical glory. "Mark my beloved son, if you can hear me, please come home. Your mother and I both forgive you and want you in the arms of the Lord with us." He stood straight, arms dramatically open and outstretched as if inviting his son to come to him.

Amanda remembered the previous meeting between father and son. "Christ!" she exclaimed, "How can he keep a straight face while dishing out that personal brand of canned bull shit?"

"Amanda, if you don't see him with his mask off, you'll believe he is sincere. I now realize he has lived that self righteous lie for so long he believes it himself." He glared at the image of his father.

"Well, he has something in mind to start that brand of crapola. I saw how twisted he is inside when he was here. We need to get more security out here right now. I have a hunch he is going to try to take you by force and 'deprogram' you. Some of these nutty religions do crap like that all the time. As you may or may not know, there are leeches who make a business of deprogramming."

Mike came downstairs alone. "Do you have a change of anything Willow can put on? She didn't exactly come prepared for an extended visit.

"Sure," she answered. Tell her to go into my closet and help herself. I'm a little larger than she, but no matter. Give Sam her sizes and have him order her up a new wardrobe. Charge it to me and she can pay me back later after she goes on the Green B payroll.