Thrill! (17 page)

"Got it,"

Nikki said.

Lara surveyed the waiters, still busy clearing up.

"I would say the party was a success."

"Made you Miss Popular,"

Nikki said, reaching for a chocolate and popping it in her mouth.

"Oh, did I tell you about Kyle?"

"What about him?"

"He invited me back to his hotel."

"I thought he was with that skinny model."

"Hmm ... I think Mr Movie Star had a threesome in mind."

She giggled.

"Do I strike you as a swinger?"

"As a matter of fact'

"Don't start,"

Nikki said, tossing a napkin at her.

"Would you have?"

Lara asked curiously.

"In your single days?"

"Let's just put it this way,"

Nikki said.

"Why do you think I'm so nervous about Summer? When I was single, I'd have tried anything."

Lara stood up, stifling a yawn.

"Let's go inside, it's bedtime."

"Yes, and I've got to catch an early plane."

"Wish you could stay longer,"

Lara said wistfully.

"I have to get back. Can't leave them alone too long. You know Richard - he expects my full attention."

"Tell me about it,"

Lara murmured.

They entered the house where Cassie was busy supervising the caterers as they packed up.

Lara headed for her bedroom.

"Don't forget,"

she called over

112

her shoulder,

"when you're selling the movie - use my name that

should get you all the financing you need."

"God, Lara, I realty appreciate it,"

Nikki said gratefully.

"Can't

wait to tell Richard."

"Oh, you'll return the favour one of these days."

"Any time,"

Nikki replied earnestly.

"You call, I'll be there."

to ft ft

Joey left the party early, Barbara Westerberg in hot pursuit. There was no point in staying when he couldn't get close to Lara everyone wanted to be near her and he wasn't about to join the line. Now was not the time to make his move.

In the hotel lobby he extricated himself from Barbara, who was intent on luring him up to her room.

"Look,"

he finally said,

"you're a very sexy woman, but I'm engaged. I can't do this and have a clear conscience."

"Nobody will know,"

Barbara assured him, licking her lips suggestively.

"Everyone will know,"

he"

replied.

"Besides, you've got a husband."

Barbara played her ace card.

"Y'know, Joey,"

she said, circling him with words,

"I have three movies in development . . . it's quite possible I can help you with your career."

A meaningful pause.

"We're talking bigtime help."

If Lara Ivory hadn't existed he might have been tempted. Why not? If he could sleep with Madelaine Francis he could certainly sleep with Barbara Westerberg. But things had changed. Since meeting Lara he had no desire to do anything that might jeopardize his relationship with her.

"Sorry,"

he said regretfully, trying to let her down easy.

"Can't do it."

Her expression was flinty.

"Can't or won't?"

"It doesn't matter,"

he said, making his escape, and going up to his room, where he lounged on the bed, staring at the television for a while.

There was a bottle of vodka on his dresser. He got up,

113 demolished half of it, fell back on the bed and eventually drifted into a troubled sleep.

In the morning he made up his mind. He wanted Lara Ivory more than he'd ever wanted anyone in his life.

And somehow or other he was going to get her.

114

BETTY WAS out for adventure. Well, of course, I was not averse to a little adventure myself, so we made the perfect pair. There I was, seventeen, ready to rock and roll, and on my way to California.

I gotta tell you, though - Betty was the biggest pain in the ass a man could ever get stuck with. She nagged the shit out of me. The only time she was quiet was when I was jamming it to her - and that didn't last long.

We hitched most of the way. ! lurked in the bushes while Betty stood at the side of the road in the shortest shorts known to man and an almost non-existent tank top - upright little tits on red alert. Every trucker screamed to a stop. As soon as they pulled up, I'd run out from my hiding place and we'd both climb aboard. They weren't happy, but tough shit - there was nothing they could do. A few of them came on to her anyway, and she winked at me and asked what they'd pay for a threesome.

I wasn't into that. To tell the truth, I didn't even know what a threesome was. Tears of living in California and it was my speciality

- me, two sexy girls, and three thousand bucks a show. Money for pleasure, we all got off.

But I'm getting ahead of my story.

Finally we arrived in LA. I had it in my head we were on our way to a fancy house with a big swimming pool just like I'd seen on the movies. But no, Betty dragged me down to Oxnard, a small seaside town halfway between LA and Santa Barbara where her dad and his girlfriend lived. Thing is, you gotta be where it's all 115 happening. Oxnard was a stopgap. I knew we were going nowhere if we stayed there.

It wasn't a problem, because Betty's dad took one look at us and more or less told us to piss off. He wasn't into his daughter screwing up his life. So we hit the road again, hitching our way back to LA where we lived on the streets around Hollywood Boulevard for a couple of months, even though we still had Avis's jewellery stashed in Betty's backpack.

Betty got off on living on the streets, she was into spending time with all the other kids who'd run away from home. It wasn't my scene, sleeping in abandoned houses with a bunch of misfits, scrounging food from the back of restaurants and hanging out on the Boulevard. I was used to comfort and a proper bed.

"We should sell your mom's jewellery and rent an apartment,"

I informed her.

"Then we'll havta pay rent every month,"

Betty complained.

"How're we gonna make enough bread t'do that?"

She had a point. Truth was I didn't know. I'd never had to make money, there was always a woman to take care of me.

In spite of Betty's objections we sold the jewellery and rented a oneroom apartment. When the money ran out, Betty started hooking to pay the rent and buy her coke - a habit she'd gotten into in a big way.

Since Betty was the only one making money she thought I should get a job. We fought all the time.

"Shift your lazy ass and do something,"

she'd yell at me.

Who made her ruler of my fucking planet?

I had my eye out for another deal, and one day, while walking down Sunset, I found it. Attractive woman in her late thirties, white convertible broken down; earphone out of action.

"Hey,"

I said, zeroing in -

"cause I knew a good thing when it was staring me in the face.

"Tou look as if you need help."

"My car died,"

the woman said.

"Can you do me a favour and call AAA for me if I give you my card?"

I did better than that. I fixed her car myself, then I asked her to give me a lift to Fairfax. By the time we got there, I'd told her I was an out-of-work actor who'd recently broken up with his girlfriend and was looking for a place to crash.

116

11

THRILL!

"What the hell - you can stay in my fool house for a couple of nights,"

she said, checking me out and liking what she saw.

That's all it took. Three days later I moved into the main house and into her bed with the fake-fur bedspread and smooth satin sheets.

Although she wasn't in the movie industry, she certainly had money. And after I showed her a good time in bed, she wasn't averse to passing some of it my way.

I didn't tell Betty I was moving on, because I knew she'd make a scene. I simply never went back.

So here I was, two days before my nineteenth birthday, living with a hot babe in a house in the Hollywood Hills, feeling like I'd definitely arrived. Trouble was, I still didn't have any money.

Soon after moving in I discovered my new lady love was a highclass call-girl, which didn't bother me at all.

fTou should do what I do,"

she told me one day, lounging on satin sheets wearing nothing but stiletto heels and an enigmatic smile.

"The women in this town are desperate. The men too. You can take your pick."

And so I started a new career. It wasn't the one I'd had in mind, but it would do. For now.

Becoming a movie star would have to wait.

117

0^~^^fl WHEN NIKKI arrived home from New York the ^^^PIBwMt next afternoon, she found Summer entertaining. The house was full of young people lounging around in their shorts and swimsuits acting as if they owned the place.

She stood in the hallway perplexed. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

"Have you seen my daughter?"

she asked a long-haired surfer, who gazed at her blankly with glassy eyes and a dazed smile.

"Summer,"

she repeated,

"my daughter."

"Oh, yeah, Summer,"

the guy said, scratching his chin.

"She's like on the deck."

Seething, Nikki made her way out to the deck, where she discovered a dozen other bikini-clad babes and long-haired dudes lolling around. She spotted Summer over in the corner necking with a bare-chested boy in tightly fitting chinos sitting dangerously low on his skinny hips. Marching over she said a sharp, "Excuse me."

The boy had his thumbs in the top of Summer's bikini pants. He barely turned his head.

"Get lost,"

he mumbled.

"No,"

Nikki responded.

"Tow get lost. This is my house, and that's my daughter you're slobbering all over."

Summer pushed him away and sat up.

"Oh, hi, Mom,"

she said, casual as can be. The boy took off.

"I don't remember you asking if you could throw a party,"

Nikki said, quietly furious.

118

"Well, you were away, an"

Richard said it was no biggie

" Summer said, little Miss Innocent.

"You're sure about that?"

"Yeah, I mentioned I was like having a couple of friends over, and he said I should go for it."

"Summer, there are at least fifty people trashing my house. That's not exactly a couple of friends."

"You know how it is, Mom, word gets on the street, an"

it's Sunday and people have nothing to do, so it kinda turned into a crowd.

"S not my fault."

"Who's fault is it? Mine?"

Oh, God! Nikki thought. I'm beginning to sound like my own mother!

"Hey,"

Summer's pretty face clouded over,

"like what do you expect me to do - throw them out?"

"Yes,"

Nikki said.

"That's exactly what I expect you to do. Get everyone out of my house. And do it now."

"Gee, Mom,"

Summer said, curling her lip in disgust.

"You're sounding so old.''

"Five minutes,"

Nikki said through clenched teeth.

"Do you hear me, Summer?"

She turned and marched back into the house, going straight to her bedroom.

There was a naked couple making out on her bed. The girl couldn't have been more than fifteen, the boy maybe a year or two older.

"Are you aware you're in a private home?"

she said angrily.

"And this is my bedroom."

The girl grabbed her panties, the boy grabbed a joint, smouldering in an ashtray on the floor next to the bed. She couldn't help noticing he was well hung and very muscular. They grew them big these days.

"Listen,"

she said wearily,

"I'll look away while you get dressed, then kindly get the hell out of here."

She turned around and listened to them scrambling for their clothes littered all over the floor. A few moments later they ran past her out of the room.

Locking the door, she picked up the phone and called Richard in the editing rooms. A woman answered.

"Who's this?"

Nikki asked.

119 "Kimberly. Who's riWj?"

An assistant with attitude, just what she needed.

"This is Mrs Barry. Get me my husband."

After a few moments Richard came on the line.

"Hi, sweetheart, you're back,"

he said.

"Yes, I'm back, and our house is full of sex-crazed teenagers,"

she said sharply.

"Did you tell Summer she could have a party?"

"Excuse me?"

he said, sounding completely uninterested.

She knew why. He was sitting in front of the editing machines with his team of editors, completely absorbed. He couldn't care less if Summer was entertaining the Dallas Cowboys.

"Summer said you told her it was OK if she had people to the house,"

she said accusingly.

"You can't begrudge her that on a Sunday afternoon. The kid had nothing to do, so I told her it was all right to have a few friends over."