Chapter 10

Author’s Note: Forgive me for this foray into the sappy, but at certain points in this book I think it’s necessary to reinforce the power of the connection among these four. This chapter does that. Please enjoy.

We got back to Houston after a successful couple of days in LA. I had been able to focus on work, and it set me straight. I had to reinforce reality in my brain. Juliet Lawson and I were not going to be a thing. She was a Hollywood starlet. She was starting work on the most important movie of her career. I was going to reap a ton of money as a result of it. I’d make silly money if things went really well. Logic dictated to me that I needed to back off whatever fantasy had mushroomed in my head because I had fucked Juliet a few times.

So I threw myself into something that almost always worked. Routine was a necessity for me, and it was easy to remind myself just how good a routine I had. After getting Kat and Rita off – and off to work – Jess and I had come to relish our slow mornings together. We made love every day and connected at an emotional level, which had been missing to a degree during our debauchery of the previous year. More importantly, we had started bonding deeply over business, especially during and after the LA trip.

It had become clear to us during our latest stay in LA that there was a powerful symbiosis between my budding Hollywood finance play and the Infinity agency. Kelly, of course, helped in that regard, as did the escort exchanges. Not to mention the fact that Jess and Peter hit it off so strongly helped open doors. This created a new client base for Jess and Infinity. In the two weeks since the trip, Jess had concluded she needed to hire three new girls. This was driven by new business. There were now junkets of Hollywood types coming to Houston to have debauched weekends with Infinity girls – at the Hooker House and other venues. Likewise, Jess started sending girls out to LA simply for weekend parties hosted by Kelly. Revenue had jumped seventy-five percent and continued to climb.

At the same time, Peter had referred me to another producer friend, someone who was well-known on the independent film scene, to help him put together creative financing packages for two movies. Peter also had given me what would prove to be invaluable advice. He told me to cut my up-front fees and take points on the back end. I didn’t need money to live on, so I could view the movies as long-term, deferred investments. The uptick in business kept my mind stimulated, and life was as good as it had ever been.

As an added bonus, Jess and I had started cooking together. And today we put the finishing touches on a grilled salmon salad just as Kat and Rita came in the door from work. We had set the table and lit candles. The flexibility in our schedules made romantic touches like this easier to do regularly, and it cemented even further the special bond among the four of us.

“This looks delicious,” Kat gushed when they arrived.

“I needed this today!” Rita said.

I poured glasses of good white Burgundy into our wine glasses, and the girls caught up on their days. Jess showed pictures of a couple girls who were potential interviews for the agency. Kat had a new feature story on long-term road construction projects upcoming. Rita was keeping an eye on the tropics for any hurricane developments.

Then Rita mentioned something that was out of the ordinary. The girls often got fan mail, and creepy comments on their Instagram posts were a daily occurrence.

“So I got a dozen red roses today,” Rita said.

“Is your husband trying to woo you back?” I said jokingly, and we all laughed.

“The card was weird,” she said. “It was a poem. Roses are red. Today you wore blue. Kat is really cute, but she doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

We all paused briefly and then burst out laughing.

“That’s corny as hell,” Jess said.

“It’s a little creepy that someone got flowers delivered and knew you wore blue,” I said.

“That’s what I said,” Kat said.

“It’s probably nothing,” Rita said. “That’s what happens when you get voted third-best-breasts among meteorologists in the U.S.”

We laughed again. There had been a Playboy magazine poll conducted online, and Rita had finished with the third best weather girl tits.

“It’s still a crime you didn’t win,” I said.

“That’s because only the four of you see them naked,” Rita said breezily. “If I had topless pictures out there, I would have won easily.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe you should refresh my memory.”

Rita smiled and stood up. She unzipped her dress, let it fall to the floor, and stepped out of it while she simultaneously unsnapped her bra and let it drop.

“Absolutely spectacular,” Jess said.

Kat licked her lips. “We need a group fuck,” she said and followed Rita’s example by getting naked.

“I haven’t used my strap-on in a while,” Jess volunteered.

“You haven’t fucked me with it in forever,” Kat said.

“John, get some coke,” Rita instructed me. “We are going to have a naughty afternoon.”

I grinned and did as I was told. I pulled out our favorite sterling silver tray and loaded it up with cocaine, a razor blade, and two straws. As I cut lines, I glanced over to the dining room table. The girls had started kissing. The floor around the table was littered with clothes. I admired the superb bodies that lay before me. Rita the bombshell. Kat the cheerleader. Jess the natural pornstar. That’s how I had come to think of them. My cock was raging already. I helped myself to two lines first, then carried the tray toward the bedroom. The girls followed me, as if I were the pied piper of drugs.

As much as I loved my intimate mornings with Jess, our afternoons together were even better. Jess had gotten more serious about her pledge to take fewer appointments, and Kat and Rita rarely worked much in the afternoons. So we had created our own summer of love. After lunch, we would lounge by the pool or, more frequently, simply tumble into bed all together.