Chapter 30: Rewards. Decisions. Sister

Alice came in from work about a week later, still celebrating the start of a new year as well as the chillier weather despite being in the Sun Belt. She dropped the mail from the box on the counter and then scanned through it. There was a letter with a handwritten address on it to her. She opened the envelope and pulled out a check with a Post-It note attached. The note read:

Congratulations. You are a big hit. This is for the last six weeks since the videos got posted. You’ve been downloaded 22,507 times and sold 400 DVDs – that’s a lot for an unknown actress. We must do more. Love ya. Mike and Clarisse.

The check was for $3,905, with no further explanation, as though by some magical feat of mathematics and accounting she’d know exactly how that amount had been determined. She was amazed and pleased.

Dave arrived home shortly thereafter, and she showed him the money. He, too, was pleased and amazed. He kissed her, “My porn queen. I always wanted to be around famous people, especially adult video stars.”

The fact was that up until nine months earlier such a fantasy was the farthest from his mind, and he wouldn’t have even allowed himself such a dream. He’d been staid and rigid in his thinking. Sexual thoughts were forbidden.

Alice poked at him. “I’m amazed, too. Not only that, but there’ll be more as the year goes on until no one is interested in me any longer.”

“Mike wants you to do more videos. What are you thinking? You were disguised very well in those vids; you could do it again, or even become someone else.”

“I went through all the agony of whether to do a video or not before we filmed. I talked to Christie and all our neighbors, whose opinions I valued highly. Everyone told me to do it. A few recommended the disguise so I could keep my anonymity, and probably my job and career.”

“So, you’ll do it? You know I’ll help you, and even appear with you again. Mike did a nice job of keeping my face out of things. I’d be harder to disguise.”

“And if you lost your job, we’d go broke pretty quickly.”

“Pam told me she could get me consulting gigs in the power and utility industry if that happened. I do like my job situation, although it is becoming a little too staid for me. I’d love to break out and do something really high tech, rather than worrying about high voltage substation standards, hurricanes, and safety issues.”

Alice said, “Let me talk to Pam and Heather, and see what they think and whether they have any further thoughts about things.”

“Where is Pam?” Dave asked.

Owen needed a date for some function related to his Foundation, so he asked her. Heather should be home from the end of her first week at the university any second. She texted me and asked whether she could pick up anything up for dinner. I told her Chinese. I called in the order and paid over the phone.

“Matthew?”

“She’s bringing him. Fortunately, her mother’s new apartment is between us and the college.”

A half-hour later, four-year old Matthew burst through the door wearing a cape and adopted a challenging position with a Star Wars baton in his hand. He yelled, “The Force is with you.”

Dave laughed and picked up the toddler, “I am the Force,” he said.

Matthew said, “No I am the Force. You are only a Jedi knight.”

“Well, thanks for that honor,” Dave said with a smile.

Alice teased as she kissed his cheek, “What am I?”

“Duh, you are Princess Leia,” as though she should have known her true identity all along.

Heather came in with her usually soft shoulder bags relating to Matthew, and a large plastic bag from the Yum Yum House. Alice took the food bag, and helped unwrap things and prepare them for serving the dinner.

Dave took Matthew to the nursery with a comment about soggy pants. Despite his age, the toddler still had accidents. Dave reasoned with him about not peeing in his pants because he was becoming a big boy, and big boys no longer had accidents.

Heather changed and joined Dave and Matthew as they all returned to the kitchen. There was a round of kisses and hugs, a feature that Matthew took great delight in participating in because he got the most kisses, plus a few raspberries that made him shriek in laughter.

“How was school?” Dave asked of Heather.

“Let’s see. I understand all my teachers except for the Asian gentleman teaching my Calculus course. I’m trying to change sections; I’ll know Monday. I’ve been in school a week, but I’m at least two months behind in homework and reading. Oh, yes, I’ve been hit on at least five times a day. I also think at least one of my male teachers is going to offer me ‘special help’ that will also qualify as a hit.”

Dave said, “I’ll round that up to half a dozen when I hit on you later.”

Heather went and wrapped her arms around him, “You have rights, you know. In my book you have privileged status.” She kissed him.

Dave snickered, “You just want to be able to tell people you get free room and board because you fuck your landlord and his wife.”

Heather continued, “And his girlfriend, and her lover, and some of the neighbors, and I don’t have to work in a strip club, unless I want to, and...”

Dave reiterated something he told her a dozen times in the past couple of weeks, “If you need help in any way, in any course, or just relief with Matt, please just let one of us know. We want you to be a huge success.”

Heather hugged him, “I know, and I’m grateful beyond words. I’ll let you know. I’m still just getting my feet wet with all this studying stuff. It’s a major cultural shift for me: from taking my clothes off in a room full of horny men and doing lap dances, to classroom lectures, textbooks, and quizzes, and being a part-time mother, lover, and wife. I get a headache when I think about mid-terms and final exams.”

After dinner and some playtime with Matthew, Heather set up at the dining room table to do some studying. She liked being in the same room with the rest of the family even though she was getting in the habit of not participating in the conversations as she read or worked on problems.

Alice sat beside her, “I need your professional opinion again.”

Heather nodded, “Of course. Which profession?”

Alice laughed and showed her the check and Mike’s note. “Both, I guess: stripper a.k.a. porn queen and accountant.”

“Wow. That’s serious money in the porn business, at least for one of the models. Most get a lot less. You did well when you negotiated no pay but a cut of the profits on your videos. Mike really wanted you.”

Alice said, “He wants to do more.”

“So, do it,” Heather said as though there wasn’t a decision there.

Alice reiterated some of her earlier concerns: reputation, job and career impact on the accounting side of her life, possibility her kids might see her films, and more.

Heather laughed, “Do you like fucking? Was it fun? Aren’t you proud you did it?”

Alice shrugged, “Yes, yes, and yes.”

“By the time your kids are old enough to be curious about this stuff, there’ll be three new generations of porn movies out there with completely new faces – maybe four. Take a look at what they call ‘Vintage Porn’ on one of the web sites. The stuff is so outdated, nobody wants to watch it except old men because they’re still fixated on some star from ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers couldn’t get a job in the industry today, and their old films aren’t worth a hoot. Nobody watches Debbie Does Dallas anymore.”

Alice said, “And you wouldn’t be embarrassed?”

“I will be proud of you. What’d Dave and Pam say?”

“Dave agreed with you, and I haven’t talked to Pam since the check arrived but I know what she’ll say – just do it and stop agonizing about the situation.”

“Call Mike and tell him.”

Alice still felt uncomfortable about calling Mike. Owen came over for dinner the next night, as expected, and she pulled him aside.

“Owen, you know I got all disguised and did two adult videos. Only a handful of close friends I can trust to keep their mouths shut know it’s me. They vids are apparently popular on Mike’s website and he wants me to do some more. He also wants to expand the distribution on what I’ve already done. I guess I can do the disguise again, but what if someone at work figures out it’s me.”

Owen shrugged, “So, they know you’ve done some naughty stuff; so what?”

“I could lose my job,” Alice protested.

“Roy wouldn’t fire you; he’s almost as much in love with you as I am. Dori keeps all those men in your office in line.”

“If it gets to HR or the executive office that they have a porn star working there, I’m certain I’d be out on my ear. I asked Roy awhile back, and he more or less agreed with my assessment. I’d be fired for acts of moral turpitude.”

Owen chuckled, “Or you’d become the company slut and everyone would want to fuck the daylights out of you on a daily basis. Lord knows, I do.”

He paused, “Alice, why do you really worry about what happens at work? Your job, I mean?”

“Well, Mr. Moneybags, we need the income to accommodate our lifestyle.”

He teased, “Mike would give you a job or you could work at the Club Ecstasy. You’d probably have more fun and make more money there, in any case.”

Alice replied in a businesslike tone, “I’m more of a morning person. Seriously, I don’t mind doing a night here and there, but I don’t want to do that as a steady job.”

“Don’t worry about having a job. I can help you out if worse comes to worse.”

“We wouldn’t accept your charity. Dave and I would both be mortified.” Her eyes flared and her tone had an irritated edge to it.

Owen shook his head and held up both hands, “Slow down. I know that. All I was going to offer, should it come to that, and I don’t think it will, is another job equal to or better than the one you have. I can even give you a choice, and I’m talking about introductions to friends and associates, not charity jobs, and nothing having to do directly with me.”

“Huh?”

“You could work for the Bennett Foundation, or a number of the organizations that it supports and which we provide skilled talent for, or I could introduce you to a number of people in this geographic area that run businesses that are always looking for financially astute people. None of the people I’m thinking about would give a rat’s ass about whether you’re a porn star or not. They’d consider that your business and well outside the scope of anything they should care about.

“Let me add something. As a financial/investment analyst and accountant you are in the back office everywhere you work. You are invisible to the public. I’d have a much different message to deliver and recommendation to give you if you were trying to be marketing director or the head of some group that interacted with the public.

Alice studied Owen and thought about his backup offer. Finally, she said, “Oh. OK, thank you. I’m sorry I got a little snarky with you. I’ve had this approach-avoidance issue with doing more videos.”

Owen chuckled, “If I could remain anonymous, I’d like to appear with you. I think you should do it. I’ve always wanted to be with a porn queen, and now I have been – Christie and Heather, too. If you could let it be known at the Club Ecstasy, you’d become a true star. Talk to Mike. Maybe there’s some way you could do that as Angel, create some PR for the club, but keep your true identity hidden. That guy Richie would be ecstatic.”

“I’ll talk to Mike.”

Two weeks later in the late afternoon, ‘Angel’ came out of the meeting with Mike at his home; the same home she’d filmed her two videos in months earlier. The pair kissed goodbye at the door, and then ‘Angel’ walked to her car and drove home.

Inside the door to the kitchen as she entered, she found Dave and Heather laying out the dinner they’d picked up on the way home. He looked up, “You’re home early. I thought your meeting would go a little longer.”

Alice gave him a goofy grin. She said, “Mike was horny and didn’t last long. I brought him off pretty quickly, and that was after he told me what he wanted next week’s video to be. I’m going to pull a train. Gangbang. Lots of visible cum – both real and the artificial kind he uses in some of his videos.”

“Who are the guys going to be?”

Alice said, “You and I hope some of the others in our circle of friends. I told Mike I’d try to bring five men with me. If you agree to do it, I need four more.”