Nowhere To Hide (Behind The Scenes #3)

By Heather Mar-Gerrison

My name is Eden Makepeace. I was an up and coming actor, confident in my ability to win over one of the best producers in the industry.
I never for one minute thought the guy would take advantage of me in the worst way possible - but I was wrong.
I woke up in pain, in a hotel room, alone, with a note stuck in my shoe, thanking me for attending my ‘interview’ and offering me the part...

My name is Josh Shaw. My best friend just told me that Patrick Woods, one of the biggest producers in the industry, drugged and raped him in a hotel room. Looking at how broken he is, I believe him with every fibre of my being and I just want to track the bastard down that did this too him and kill him with my bare hands...

My name is Miller Lewis and the biggest story of my life has just landed in my lap. Some young wannabe has tweeted about one of the biggest producers in the industry - accusing him of rape. This is huge and I’ve been given the go ahead to run with it. Only trouble is, Josh, his best friend is a little like a Rottweiler - he’s so protective of Eden, he has to be in love with him - which is really inconvenient, since he’s the most attractive, compelling human being I’ve ever encountered in my whole life...

When Eden Makepeace goes for an interview with one of the industry's top producers, he has no idea that his life is about to be turned upside down in the worst way.
Nowhere to hide is the concluding book in my Behind the Scenes series. It and is told from Eden, Josh and Miller’s points of view, following Eden’s journey back from hell to a much better place, with a little help from his friends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heather Mar-Gerrison
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005800987

Heather Mar-Gerrison

I love to write M/M romance and as a sucker for a HEA, you're guaranteed one in my books. #happyheatherafters

Book preview

Prologue

Eden

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

And I had absolutely no idea why.

All I knew was that I’d had what felt like very rough sex the night before and I was pretty sure it wasn’t consensual, since I didn’t do what I felt like I’d done – or rather, what I’d taken…

But who the hell had it been? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t squeaky clean. I’d had one-night stands before and I’d woken up not knowing where I was before, but that was nothing like this. I was scared because I just couldn’t remember how the hell I’d managed to end up here in this hotel room with absolutely no recollection of how I got here.

I could remember the first part of the evening but I didn’t remember anything after the audition with Patrick Woods.

My blood ran cold. No. No way…

Panic flooded my mind. Could it have been Patrick? I couldn’t deny that I’d heard rumours about him – hell, someone had made a snide crack about him at the awards ceremony I’d attended with Josh, a good friend and fellow actor, only a few weeks ago – but I’d dismissed it as sour grapes.

I’d always thought the casting couch was a myth… Now? Well, now, I wasn’t so sure. But I hadn’t been a willing participant – and I certainly hadn’t come to this hotel for anything other than a meeting. I’d come here to discuss the new serial and to read a few lines.

Over drinks, he’d said. Had a part that he knew I’d be fantastic at, he’d said. And I’d believed him. Feeling a little like my luck was about to change, I’d happily gone along, boosted by my mate, Josh’s confidence in my abilities…

Oh, my God. I’d been so naïve. Naïve, stupid and downright careless. Why the hell had I come alone? Why hadn’t I taken Josh up on his offer to come with me? Why had I not asked Josh to at least check on me?

Because I’d conceitedly thought I could handle someone like Patrick Woods, that was why. I thought I could tell him where to stick his job offer if he started to get a bit pushy.

And my agent had made it sound so normal…

This is really exciting Eden, He wants you to meet at the royal hotel where he’s staying for the premier of ‘young guns’ he’s excited to meet you – said you were a rising star – this’ll put you on the map Eden! This’ll make you a very rich man!

I shrugged and smiled fine, I said What time should I meet him then?

He suggested drinks in the bar and then he’ll take you back to his room for a chat in private.

Is that normal?

He nodded, Oh, sure.

Well if that the way it was done…

It had never occurred to me that things wouldn’t work out that way, that he wouldn’t give me that chance to tell him what to do with his job – and it sure never occurred to me that he’d stoop low enough to spike my drink and rape me. Who in their right mind would do such a thing?

I got out of the bed and hurriedly threw my clothes on. I was shaking and I felt like I was going to be sick. I wasn’t sure if that was traces of the drug still in my system, or if it was panic and adrenalin pulsing through me. All I knew was that I just had to get out of there.

As I reached for my shoes, I noticed a rolled-up piece of paper in my left shoe.

I frowned and pulled it out. I’ll be in touch, Eden, but I’m really impressed with your audition and I look forward to meeting with you again at the studios. Congratulations, Eden – the part is yours. Patrick x

I stared at it. Fuck. Was this the way all of his actors got their parts? Did he drug and rape all of them? Had I put up a fight? God, I really hoped I had…

I shoved the paper in my pocket, grabbed my jacket and got the hell out of there.

I caught the tram back home and sat staring out of the window all the way home, just racking my brains for some sort of reason for Patrick’s actions. Had I given him the come-on?

No. Another voice shouted up in my mind (that sounded awfully like my best friend, Josh) You did nothing wrong. The guy’s a sick bastard. Stay away from him.

Christ, Josh was going to go nuts about this. He was a very protective kind of guy…

I stuck my key in the lock and turned it with shaking hands. Running all the way up the stairs to my small flat that I shared with Josh, I locked the door behind me and headed straight for the shower.

I have no idea how long I sat there in the shower just letting the spray from the shower soak me. I felt, in that moment, as if I would never be clean again. Finally, I dragged my carcass out of the bathroom and sat on my bed. My nose felt bunged up and my eyes felt puffy. It was only then that I realised I’d been sobbing my heart out in the shower for probably a good hour.

My phone had a couple of missed messages from Josh and I felt bad all over again – but not for myself this time. This time I was worried for the way Josh was going to react to me being raped. He was going to be beside himself with worry about my mental wellbeing.

In what felt like the next second, but could have been an hour later, there was banging on my bedroom door. He’d got home… Eden? I heard Josh’s slightly breathless voice.

I grabbed my dressing gown, pulled it on and tied the belt securely, certain he wouldn’t want an eyeful.

I opened the door and found Josh on the other side of the threshold, Dude. He said, shaking a bag of doughnuts at me and grinning widely, I thought you’d been abducted by aliens. What the fuck?

Feeling suddenly unbearably caged in, I pushed him aside and marched ahead of him into the lounge (which was also the rest of the flat, bar my bedroom). On autopilot, I put the kettle on and then went to sit with him on the sofa (this doubled up as his bed when he wasn’t living out of suitcases in hotels whilst filming for his long-running serial) where he was already tucking into one of the doughnuts. Normally I would have eaten at least two by now. I turned to him.

So? he asked, How did it go? Did you get the part? Was Patrick as odious as everyone says he is? He was smiling at me, his eyebrows raised. He was totally rooting for me to have gotten the part. I could have just said that yes, the part was mine and left it at that. I could have laughed along and said that Patrick was indeed the total wanker that everyone said he was. But Josh was my best friend in the world and he cared about me enough to have come banging on my door, wondering what the hell had happened to me – and no one else in my life cared about me like that. I bit my lip. Should I really share this with him? Was I just about to traumatise him, too?

I looked up and into his kind brown eyes and suddenly it was like a dam burst inside me. I couldn’t stop the words from spewing out of me all over the goddamn place.

I burst into tears again. With snot and tears all over my face, I crawled into his lap and buried my face into his big, warm chest. He wrapped his arms around me as I hiccupped and tried to breathe as I told him everything that I could remember from the episode – which wasn’t actually a whole lot, really compared with the overwhelming number of emotions I was experiencing.

Predictably, Josh was horrified, making me feel dirty and used all over again. Oh, my God. He said, stroking my hair and hugging me into him a little tighter, "Sweetheart, you have to go to the police about this."

I shook my head, I can’t do that, I whispered, and you know – I really want the part… I guess this is just the way it’s done. Even as I said the words, I knew there was no way on this earth that I could ever take that part now.

He stared at me as if I’d grown another head or something. I clearly wasn’t thinking straight to have even said such a thing. "He raped you. He snarled, clenching his fists, You have to at least talk to someone about this."

"I’m talking to you about it." I said defensively.

He ran his hand through his hair and looked at me in despair, But I’m nowhere near qualified to deal with this, Eden. He said, "You need someone professional. I can see what this is doing to you."

I tugged my dressing gown around me a little tighter, I’m fine. I muttered.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me in disbelief, "You haven’t eaten any of your doughnuts."

It was true. I had absolutely no appetite.

Josh shrugged and then looked up at me, I have an idea. He said.

I looked at him, Buy a big gun and blow his head off? I asked, Yeah, I’ve already thought about that but I don’t think you can buy them in England...

He grinned, That would definitely work for me – but then you and I would end up in prison and I don’t think I could hack the lack of fashion in there. He said. "No. I was thinking that maybe you could go and see his ex. He seems like a really nice guy. He’s married to that other guy now. You know the one – the really cute babysitter? Maybe he knows something about him – maybe that’s the reason they broke up. You have to do something."

Why? I demanded, "Why do I have to do anything?" Why did I have to be the crusader against the man? Scores of other wannabes had probably been through exactly what I’d been through – and were probably now rich and famous and had just put it down to experience. Some people were just harder than I was. I wasn’t cut out for this business, clearly… and hell, I didn’t want to tell the world that Patrick Woods had raped me. I’d just go back to being a barista… I could hand out coffee and cake with a big smile and a few kind words to old ladies till the cows came home.

"Because he raped you, dude. Josh said, looking at me incredulously, And that’s bad."

I nodded. I know. I said quietly. A shudder of revulsion went through me that he’d touched me and done things to me that I had absolutely no recollection of. The sick bastard. What the fuck did he think he was doing. He can’t get away with this. I said, looking Josh in the eye. He just can’t.

Josh shook his head and looked back at me, his face serious, He can’t, he said, "You have to tell someone."

I nodded. I have to tell someone. I repeated.

The question was – who? Did I go to the police? Would they believe me?

I decided to go with Josh’s suggestion and try and track down Nathan McGregor first. If anyone was going to know about Patrick Woods, surely it would be him? They were the golden couple of Hollywood a couple of years back – before Patrick cheated on him and Nathan dumped him for a total nobody…

I’m coming with you. Josh said, You can’t go there on your own.

I sighed. I didn’t feel as if I’d be able to go anywhere on my own ever again – and even if I wanted to – Josh wasn’t going to let me out of his sight, anyway…

Chapter 1 – The breaking story…

Miller

I hated my job sometimes – and when I say I hated it, I hated it with a passion. It was soul destroying. Utterly soul destroying. Clearly, I was having a bad day…

I sighed. I’d had such ideas of grandeur. I was going to be the best journalist in the UK. Yeah, right. Just like every other journalism graduate…

I should have listened to my father when