The Brand (26 page)

Samantha threw herself up against her friend
and sobbed uncontrollably.

At the end of July, Jansen Vermuelen found
some time off her busy schedule and flew to Los Angeles to meet the
only other woman to have once shared the Vermuelen family name
besides her own mother and herself. Without entourages and
bodyguards, the Hollywood star and the tennis star hit the town and
attracted public attention wherever they went. They invaded the
high-fashion stores and lavished themselves with expensive items of
clothing and jewelry. Photographers discreetly snapped photos of
the two beautiful women together. They went for coffee and snacks
at a popular celebrity restaurant and tipped the waiters there
handsomely, even posing for photos with the star-struck staff.

On Jansen’s last night in Los Angeles, she
and Joelyn went to a movie premiere Joelyn had been invited to.
They arrived in a stretch limousine and smiled beautifully
at the cameras. They were both
dressed in breathtakingly gorgeous outfits, created for each by
their respective favorite designers. Each wore millions’ worth of
jewelry on their person, lent to them by jewelers for marketing
purposes. Both Jansen and Joelyn wore brands that people of all
ages, especially young people with disposable income, identified
with and related to. They were walking, talking, breathing
businesses. And they were both young and extremely
beautiful.

A beautiful woman in a gorgeous designer
dress is dazzling on the red carpet of a movie premiere. Put her
together with another similarly dangerously beautiful woman and
it’s quite a breathtaking spectacle. The TV cameras zoomed in on
them and microphones were thrust at their faces. Joelyn, unable to
contain herself, gushed, ‘Everybody knows I’m single right now, and
Jansen is single too, so we decided to partner each other to the
premiere…I’m very excited to be hanging out with Jan…She’s my
newest BFF, and I just love everything about her…’

Jansen was too shy to speak to the cameras,
but her eyes held only affection for Joelyn.

God answered Joelyn’s prayers by making the
path of her destiny cross with that of James R. Rimbaugh.

Rimbaugh was 37-years-old and he looked
the part. He had a leathery, haggard face that would’ve made a name
for itself in Western movies were they still in fashion. His eyes
were hollow but sharp. His nose was a little crooked; neither ugly
nor pretty. He had a wide mouth with thin lips. The lines on his
forehead and around his eyes hinted at the rigors of life he had
been through.

James was a former child star who had been a
household name in America in the 1980s. From the age of ten, he had
carved a name for himself in Hollywood with his exceptional acting
abilities. As is usual with precocious talents who mature before
their time, coupled with an abundance of money and very little
experience in the ways of the world, he had become enmeshed in the
wrong things and a slave of bad habits. James had lost his
virginity at the age of eleven to a much older girl. By age
fifteen, with several acclaimed movies under his belt, James had
picked up a drug habit, to which he would become chained to the
extent that it interfered with his whole life and work, until
nobody in Hollywood wanted to be associated with him or his
name.

His twenties were spent in and out of drug
rehabilitation programmes, and in and out of police stations for
petty larceny. At 25, James Rimbaugh was declared bankrupt, and was
said to be as broke as a Presbyterian Church mouse. He was famously
known to have squandered his fortune on pornstars, luxury cars,
expensive hotel suites, Las Vegas casinos and luxury yachts, where
he would throw wild parties and perform sexual orgies with
beautiful women of shady characters, during which expensive
champagne would flow endlessly like the Nile. Perversely, it
fascinated the world more than anything that James Rimbaugh had
taken so long to get broke.

At 27, James met a working woman who actually
believed his story that the world was out to get him. He never
married her, but they lived together and produced two children,
both girls. After five years together, during which James made
absolutely no financial contribution to the relationship, and
during which at the age of 31 James made a funny joke of himself by
trying to be elected as the governor of California
(unsuccessfully), the unmarried couple separated, and his partner
left him with both children, aged four and two respectively.

Forced into single parenthood, and
determined not to let Child Services confiscate his children, James
got his act together and seriously looked around town for an acting
job. For two years nothing came, but he was getting small parts in
TV series to sustain his livelihood and that of his children.
During this time, James became overly dependent on anti-depressants
to the point of addiction. He was saved from full addiction by
being offered the lead role in a pilot action/drama TV series that
was originally planned to air for one season but proved so popular
with audiences across America it was given a budget by network
executives for a second season. The show transformed James R.
Rimbaugh from child star to modern TV star, but he was still widely
known everywhere as the guy who had battled drug addiction to
become the highly-paid Hollywood TV star…

He put his children in bed in the big room
they shared and read them a bedtime story. When they fell asleep he
switched off the light in their room and went to the shower. These
days, James Rimbaugh was a different man; free from drugs of any
sort, but with a responsibility to bring up his children in an
appropriate manner. He was so dedicated to his children’s welfare
he practically lived his life according to their needs. He shot his
scenes for the TV show while they were at school, picked them each
up from school and went with them home to make food for them and
play with them. Whenever his schedule was tight, or when
unanticipated situations arose, he would leave the children under
the care of a babysitter, but called every hour to talk to the
girls…

He opened the shower and small streaks of
water hit his body forcefully, refreshingly. Prurient thoughts
flooded his mind, and he knew that it was because it had been a
long time since he had been with a woman. He was badly in need of
sexual release, but being a single father to two small girls was a
full-time occupation that left him with scarcely enough time to
associate with the opposite sex. The problem was further compounded
by the simple fact that Mr. Rimbaugh was intent on making a good
impression on his children. Owing to his current cult status as a
successful TV star, he honestly could have had any woman he wanted,
but the need to bring up his daughters with good moral values
excluded the possibility of serial promiscuity.

In today’s world, finding a woman one could
maintain a healthy and long relationship with was a notoriously
difficult affair. Thus, James R. Rimbaugh, TV star and New York
citizen, dedicated his life to his career and the gentle upbringing
of his children, and denied himself sexual gratification. However,
when he met Joelyn Smith his heart bowed down in submission to a
princess.

Joelyn Smith went to New York with her
entourage for the particular purpose of shooting a music video for
a popular song contained in her latest album. She stayed at her
house in Long Island, recently furbished by a talented interior
decorator who had his own TV show. Joelyn was seen at various
places in New York, and intensely obsessed over by the media,
especially because she was almost always in the company of Jansen,
another of the Big Apple’s current biggest attractions.

The two of them worked over two days and
two nights in the production of Jo S’s music video, which also
featured appearances by Jansen in the storyline of the song.
Joelyn’s brief stay in New York City culminated in an hour-long TV
interview on a talk-show carried by a network based in the Big
Apple. It turned out that the network had cut her interview with
the talk-show’s host to 30 minutes. The remaining 30 minutes were
allocated to an interview with current hot TV star James R.
Rimbaugh, who was presently
busy shooting scenes for his action/drama series’
3
^rd
season.

James
met the impressively beautiful Joelyn Smith at NBC studios
and could not resist the temptation to ask her out on a date.
Joelyn, in an infectiously good mood, was aware that recently she
had had no social life besides interaction with people regarding
her various businesses, so she allowed herself some relaxation time
and agreed on a date with James R. Rimbaugh, but told him that it
would have to be on that night because on the next day she would
depart for Los Angeles, to begin shooting a new movie she was
contracted to star in.

They had dinner at the
restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel,
where James was staying for purposes of recording the interview for
the talk-show. Joelyn found James to be funny, honest, self-mocking
and with attractive intelligence. Where she had expected arrogance
she found modesty, and where she had expected pomposity she found
exceptional selflessness. She took a liking to him and her heart
was not prepared to back down on that decision.

The time went by unnoticed. The conversation
slowly turned to personal matters.

‘…I have two daughters, aged nine and seven,’
James was saying. ‘I’m crazy about them, but their mother doesn’t
want them. My entire life revolves around them…’

Joelyn found herself at a loss for words
because she had no such possessions close to her heart, except
material wealth. Cleverly, she produced an answer. ‘I will soon be
a god-mother. I’m crazy about this kid, even though I don’t know if
it’s a he or a she.’

James erupted in laughter. They were having a
good time, and barely recognized the hours pass by. They both had
soft beverages for drinks, owing to their respective pasts.

James explained his side of the story. ‘I
think I’ve made my contribution to sustaining a whole generation of
liquor makers. I’ve passed the throne to somebody else. A man can
only drink so much.’

His self-mockery had Joelyn in stitches.

He went on. ‘I really lead a very sedate
lifestyle. Being older – and probably having kids
and
caring about them – helps a
lot. I’m more mature and in control of my life. I grew up too fast,
had all the nice cars and the beautiful girls. Then I lost it all
and I was nothing. God gave me a chance to try again, and I realize
why I’m here for my kids, so no more Mr. Bad Guy, James. Be on the
straight and narrow for the sake of the children. And, really, I’m
happy with the life I’m living.’

Captivated, Joelyn poured her heart out to
him. ‘I guess being
out
of the eye of the storm also helps, doesn’t it? Sometimes this life
– being in the spotlight – gets too much and you wanna be swallowed
up in your own world. People make so many demands and expectations
upon us that we lose sight of what’s really important.’

‘
That’s true,’ agreed James. ‘I grew up in
LA, and my whole life was oiled by the Hollywood machine. When I
got clean I made an effort to distance myself from that culture. If
you don’t want to be sucked up in the madness of it all, you have
to have a job
there but
live elsewhere quiet and far-removed from the celebrity scene. I
was lucky because the Lord answered my prayers and gave me this job
in New York. I live with the kids in a quiet neighborhood, and they
don’t even know that their dad is a “TV star”.’

‘I recently bought a place in Long Island.
You should see it; it’s a beautiful home. I’m slowly trying to
remove myself from the Hollywood scene and move over here
but—.’

‘Listen to your heart,’ James advised. ‘Do
what you want, and take things one at a time. And everything will
work out fine.’

Joelyn gave him a beautiful smile. ‘I haven’t
had such an entertaining conversation in a long time.’

James stared at her blue eyes. They held each
other’s gaze for a long moment, and their bodies had a silent
private conversation.

He smiled at her. ‘You’re very
beautiful.’

She blushed. ‘Thank you.’

Joelyn had not blushed to anyone or
because of anything in ages. It surprised her that James had the
power to make her do so. It did not, however, surprise her that he
needed no supernatural powers to persuade her to go upstairs to his
hotel room and spend the night with him. When they made love, he
entered inside her and trembled with excitement. He kissed her
passionately and squeezed her breasts hard as he exploded in an
uncontrollable rupture of orgasm.

‘Sorry,’ he panted, out of breath. ‘It’s been
a long whole since—.’

She covered his mouth with her lips and
kissed him. She danced her hips and swallowed him inside her body.
They danced and danced like flamingos until they collapsed in
exhaustion on the bed, sated and both amazed at the power of their
lovemaking. In the morning, after making passionate love once more,
they were both sad to be heading separate ways; Joelyn to Long
Island to prepare for her trip back to Los Angeles, and James to
Greenwich to check on his children, who had spent the night with a
babysitter. Theirs was a connection of the hearts so extraordinary
they felt like they had always known each other. Joelyn actually
felt like she was leaving a part of hers behind when her chartered
Gulfstream G650 took to the skies and left New York.