The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner Page 0,26
you care.”
“Monte, what do you think? We both know I’ve been one of the top money-makers around here for years, and there is no way some novice should get equal billing. It’s not a question of anything but fairness—I’m sure Angela’s time will come, she is very talented, but her time can’t come at the expense of mine. That’s ridiculous.”
Monte sighed. “I know. It’s tough. But my hands are pretty tied. Terry had the right of approval over the credits baked into his contract on this one, given the Crawford-Gable-Davis debacle a few years back.” He shifted a little closer to her on the sofa. “Look, Mimi, we both knew this time in your career would eventually come. I’ll step up if you want me to, but I’d be a chump not to get something in return.”
His hand now rested on her thigh, and he was so close she could smell the mix of nicotine and Scotch on his breath.
“Monte,” she said with a stern look, moving his hand away with hers.
“Mimi, there’s no one else in the stable that can touch you for a clear two years. We still have to teach Betty Winters how to sing, and Janice Starling how to act. You’re still hanging on at the top and you know it. And I can help keep you there. You know how much I believe in you. You’re the face of the studio.”
“If I’m the face of the studio, then I should have top billing.”
“Mimi, look, I’m no one to talk when it comes to the looks department—thank God they ain’t paying me around here for that. But we’re getting test-screening feedback on the Nevada outtakes, and they’re all over Angela.”
“And?”
He sighed again. “And they think you’re looking old. Look, it’s been a harsh location shoot and in-studio will always fare better for you now. You’re on the Scheherazade shoot next, right?”
Mimi put her champagne flute down on the small table next to the sofa. “Monte, I’m not giving up my billing, there’s just no way. I’ve worked too hard for it. I’d personally rather never have to think about billing at all, but it totally matters in this business, and I am not stupid enough to give up something I don’t have to.”
“But that’s just it”—he moved his hand back up her thigh again—“you might have to, and yet you don’t have to. I’m always on your side, you know that.”
“Monte…”
“Look, Mimi, I just want to help you, I always have.”
She stood up and he got up, too, and grabbed her and pushed her against the arm of the sofa.
“Monte Cartwright, you get your goddamned hands off of me this instant.”
He was a hundred pounds heavier than her and a good foot taller except for her heels. “Mimi, come on, stop it.” He started trying to kiss her, and at first she was in shock, as his sheer size and power overwhelmed her. His smell was what she would always remember later, the Scotch and the cigar smoke and the too-strong cologne full of spice and patchouli and sweat. She tried with all her might to push him off, but already he was rubbing himself hard against her, and the idea that he might ejaculate any minute finally helped her find her voice.
“Monte, get the fuck off of me … Monte … Monte, I swear I will scream!”
He was now panting so hard that she was finally able to push herself free, and he fell back and finished off on the sofa while she stared at him, shaking in horror and disgust.
“I am going to sue the pants off of you, you animal.”
“No, you won’t,” he replied with eerie calm, taking a crisp linen handkerchief out of his front jacket pocket to wipe his hands. “You’re on your way down, Mimi, and you know it. Say a word and I’ll put your name below Angela’s. Say a word and see if anyone gives a fuck.”
She left him there, splayed back onto the sofa, cleaning himself like an animal, clearly not caring one little bit for his degradation, while—she feared—revelling in hers.
* * *
When Jack arrived at the bungalow a few hours later to take Mimi to dinner, he found her sitting curled up in an armchair with her housecoat wrapped tight about her, and her long black hair hanging loose and wet about her neck.
“I scrubbed and scrubbed in the shower until my skin was raw, trying to get rid of the smell of him,” she