Secrets by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page A

toward them, and Sandy collapsed on the couch, as he went into the bathroom to run a bath for her. He picked up her needle, and the rest of it, and dropped it in the wastebasket. He crushed it with his foot, and came back out again when the tub was full.
    Go take a bath. It was as though he wanted her to wash the filth off her, but they both knew she couldn't. He wondered how often she'd done that before, how often she'd slept with him after sleeping with a john to make some extra money for a fix. As he had too often that night, he felt tears burn his eyes as he looked at her. She had nodded out on the couch, looking more than ever like a broken child. It hurt him just looking at her, and he marveled that no one had called the papers before she left the jail. At least they'd been spared that, although it was on of the L.A. Times the next morning. SANDY WATERS ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES, the headline on the piece read. The charges were all listed and Bill cringed as he read the paper over the last of their coffee. He had already called Adam earlier that morning and arranged to go in and work at Mike's Bar that day. He was damn lucky that one of the waiters had gotten work the week before, and they were looking for someone new to replace him. At least he'd eat and to hell with the auditions for a while. He wasn't in the mood anyway. Sandy was standing looking pale and fragile in the kitchen doorway as he read the paper. She looked deathly ill, and Bill would have felt sorry for her if he weren't feeling so sickened by everything that had happened the night before. He was determined not to play the game with her anymore. It was all over.
    Does it say anything? She walked shakily to the kitchen table and sat down, looking like a twelve-year-old child with a terminal disease. She was thin and pale but she had beautiful eyes and a face like a cameo, and long black hair that lay matted and tangled around her shoulders, like a widow's shawl, and there was the sorrow of aeons in her eyes as she looked at the man she had married. I'm sorry, Bill. Her voice was a whisper and he avoided her eyes.
    So am I. And in answer to your question, yes, the paper got all the charges right. The only thing they'd left out was the fact that she was married to Bill, because they didn't know it.
    Christ. Tony'll kill me. Tony was her agent, and Bill looked up at her in disbelief. Was she kidding? She'd been arrested for prostitution, among other things, and Tony would kill her? What about him? What about their marriage vows? But he didn't say anything. He lit a cigarette and went back to reading the paper. He could hardly wait to get the hell out, but he wanted to settle some things with her first, and there was no time like the present.
    What are you going to do now? He forced himself to look into her eyes, no matter how much it hurt him.
    Hire a lawyer, I guess. She shrugged, tossing the tangled hair back off her shoulders.
    Really, with what? Or will your new career pay for that too? She flinched visibly at the harsh words, and for once he didn't care. I think you ought to put yourself in a hospital, before you do anything.
    I can do it myself. He had heard it all before. And he was tired of it.
    Bullshit. No one can. You need help. Now put yourself somewhere where you can get it. He couldn't commit her. No one could. She had to do it herself, or the hospitals wouldn't accept her. He'd been over it with her before, a thousand times, and gotten nowhere.
    What about us? She looked searchingly at him, and he looked away for an anguished moment. I get the feeling you've kind of had it. Kind of ' sort of ' the eternal ingenue ' at twenty-five, she was still a baby.
    How would you feel after last night?
    You mean about my getting busted? She looked helpless and frail, and he fought not to feel sorry for her.
    I mean about the nature of the charges, Sandy. Or have you forgotten?
    He saw her squirm in her chair, but he also realized that it was not only guilt.