Chapter Thirteen
"I'm done with her." Jason sounded very serious. He was talking to his brother while being strapped in to his skydiving uniform. His brother was relaxing in a pool surrounded by movie starlet beauties somewhere in the Hollywood Hills.
"God damn it, don't you dare tell me that you already did her. I swear I'll--"
"Calm down little brother, I didn't touch her. Well, not much anyway and certainly not enough for you to lose your pants over."
Zach looked down at his legs in the pool.
"Then what do you mean you're finished with her?"
"I mean I need to wait until she's done with her hearing, just like you said. We had an intense session yesterday. I have no idea how she does it, but this woman sees into my head and makes me talk about things that I didn't even know existed inside me. Frankly, I'm exhausted after every meeting with her and that's without even having taken her to bed."
"She sounds amazing." Zach turned away from the pretty blonde who was fawning on him. "Does she have any friends? Twin sister maybe?"
"Stay focused here Zach. I'm doing what you asked me to do. Have you lived up to your end of the bargain?"
"Are you sure you wanted me to?"
Jason took a deep breath. He had called his brother after the flight back from Paris with information received from his PI and asked him to squeeze William Kingsley.
"Sure. Did you get the little weasel to back down?"
"He won't be a problem. Your doctor is in no danger of losing her job. But that still doesn't means you can cross the line with her. Unless you break off your therapy sessions. I've got been getting some expert advice on this. The recommendation is for at least three years of separation before a therapist and an ex-client begin a relationship with each other. So--"
"I don't want her to lose her license. Period. And I want to continue working with her. Period. And I want her. Period. I'll do what it takes. Whatever it takes. I always have done and I always will."
"Jesus. Just listen to you. What a freaking cliché you are. Look, I've done my part, now just keep the damn snake in the cage--"
"Whatever. I need to go. Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted."
His skydive coach signaled for him to get aboard and Jason ended the call. Immediately Melissa's number came through and he swiped to accept it.
"Where's my journal?" He said.
"It's with your phone." She answered.
"God damn it. You have that too."
"Of course I do. Did you think I could leave that with you? Me, fawning all over you? Drunk, begging for sex on the streets of Paris?"
"I was going to delete it."
"Then you won't mind the fact that I deleted it from your phone and also the copy you saved to your cloud storage."
"My phone automatically backs up everything, I didn't put it there intentionally."
"Of course not."
"So can I please have my journal back?"
"Of course you can. Just not yet."
Jason ground his teeth in silence while Melissa waited. Even though she knew she held a trump card her heart was racing with excitement and fear.
"Do you know who you're dealing with?" he said. "I can take it back from you any time I want but I'm giving you a chance to do the right thing. Now when is a good time for you to return my property to me? I can send someone around right away."
"I'll give it to you in person during our next therapy session."
"I'll come over right now."
"Now's not a good time and besides, I don't have it here in the house."
"Where the hell is it?" He said losing patience.
"The original is in a safe place. All I have here is a copy."
"God damn it Dr. Price, why the hell are you doing this?"
"Why do you care so much about a simple diary? You sound like a teenager who's mom has found their journal."
"Those are my personal thoughts. I run a multi-billion dollar corporation and if this gets into the wrong hands we could be talking about a loss in revenue of… God, who knows how many millions or even more."
"If the world finds out that Jason Demovic conspired to ruin the career of a female therapist in order to avoid facing up to his personal problems?"
"It's not like that at all. Didn't you even read it?"
"Of course I did. What do you think I did all last night after your driver left me home? I was waiting for one of your guys to come banging on my door any minute to--"
"I didn't know it was gone until this morning but you refused to take my calls."
"I was busy."
"Making photocopies?"
"Are you going to come to therapy or not?"
"Okay. I will. Wednesday morning--"
"Monday. 9am."
"No way. Not a chance."
"It has to be before Tuesday, you know that."
"It has to be after Tuesday."
"I won't be a therapist after Tuesday."
"Yes you will, don't worry about it, I keep telling you."
"Shut up Jason. Just once in your arrogant life, shut up."
"Melissa--"
"You don't have to always control everything and you are not in control of this situation. Not any more, now just shut up and listen."
He cursed under his breath and waved the skydive coach impatiently away from him.
"Go on." He said.
"Good." Melissa said. "Now I want to read you something. They're your own words."
"Is this really necessary?"
"Shut up and listen."
He pushed the phone to his ear and sat down on the steps of the small aircraft.
"Do it." He said.
Melissa picked up the Xeroxed copy of his diary and flipped open at a point she had marked with a bright yellow sticky. She began reading.
"I've never met anyone like her." She paused to steady herself. This was crazy. Unorthodox. Immoral even. But nothing to do with Jason Demovic was ever normal.
She continued reading.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with her. When I see her I want to hold her, undress her, make love to her in a way that will make her scream for more and then do it all again and again until we're both exhausted. No-one else has come even close to knowing me like her and if I can just be with her then I know everything else will become clear. They talk about the abuse of power when a therapist is with a client. What a joke! I've controlled every moment of our time together except when she reads my freaking mind of course! I watch her sitting there, reading me, looking into my soul, healing me, looking so business like, all bound up and wound up, so uptight and proper and I know I'll do anything she asks me to if I let down my guard even for a second. But the only place she has this effect on me is in therapy. If she loses her license then I'm lost. The balance of power is gone. I'm the billionaire, the predator, the manipulator, the one who gets whatever he wants whenever he wants. She has to stand up to me if this is going to work and my God how she's don that already, like no-one ever before. If it wasn't for this damn promise to Zach we'd be together already. I would have held that pretty head in my hands while I lay on top of her, going deeper--"
"God damn it Melissa, isn't this enough? What are you trying to do? Break me into a million little pieces? Shame me? Humiliate me?"
He was beginning to use her name for the first time. The change wasn't lost on Melissa. Were the walls finally coming down at last?
"You know that's not true." She said. "All I want to do is help you and protect myself at the same time."
"Protect yourself? From who?"
"From you of course. I read all about those other women. Colleagues of mine--"
"Colleague, Melissa. Singular. One. I swear to you. You have nothing to fear from me."
"And you have nothing to fear from me. Just as long as you show up for therapy tomorrow, 9am sharp, my office; then there's no reason for Chauncey Tales and Fame TV to ever get a copy of any of this material."
"This is blackmail Melissa. It's illegal. Coercing a client into therapy? You'd lose your--"
"What? My license to practice?"
"I keep telling you--"
"I know. And I'll believe that when it happens. You think you've taken care of this but you can't. It's beyond your power, even with all your money and all your people, and now you have no choice but to come to me and be with me in my office tomorrow morning or your personal life and thoughts will be all over the gossip blogs, websites and news channels by next broadcast."
"I told Zach I wouldn't go near you until after your hearing. I can't back out of that."
"Did you promise him you wouldn't do therapy with me?"
"I told him--"
"Did you tell him that your intimate thoughts about your therapist would be on TV later today?"
"Tomorrow. 9am." He said and then ended the call.
Melissa put her phone away and hoped the tremors in her hands would subside soon. She was shaking all over. Playing hardball with a ruthless billionaire was very far outside of her comfort zone. She put her hand down between her legs and then drew back again. Against all of her better instincts she had become incredibly aroused. Every word from Jason Demovic's cornered, angry, frustrated voice had sent surges of willful desire through her.
What she was doing as a therapist and as a woman was scandalous. But what she had planned for their therapy session tomorrow was going to take the term scandalous to a whole new level.