Chapter 15: Master of the Universe

Thursday July 7

Cassidy woke me up.

“Get up, get up, get up!” she said as she poked me in the ribs, and then noticed I wasn’t alone.

Megan popped her head up and then scurried off to the bathroom.

“You are a bad, bad boy,” Cassidy scolded.

I cocked my head sideways. The only flaw in Cassidy’s logic was Megan had on the same clothes she’d had on last night. I tried to remember what had happened. We were drunk; well, I was drunk. Kent and Hana had gone to their rooms, or so I hoped. Megan made sure I got to mine.

I remembered her looking up at me behind those glasses and thinking the cute little girl really did look like a mouse. Then everything sort of went fuzzy as the last vodka shot and beer caught up with me. I doubted anything happened.

“No, she had her clothes on. I don’t think anything happened.”

Cassidy gave me a doubtful look. Megan came out of the bathroom and it occurred to me that I was naked as I was talking to Cassidy. Megan came to the side of the bed and went to her knees with her head bowed and her hands in her lap.

“Does Master require anything else?” Megan asked.

Frick, I didn’t need this. It was bad enough that my mouth tasted like a rat had pooped in it and my head would explode at any moment.

“Oh, this is good. Hang on, I have to get Brook,” Cassidy said, and she bolted for the door.

“Uhm ... did we... ?” I asked.

“No. You did get naked and showed me that you could do the helicopter,” she said, and a vague memory pushed its way forward.

“I ... uh ... I ... uh ... sorry,” I stammered.

“Then you announced that you were the Master of the Universe and all your subjects should bow to you. You sort of ruined it when you stumbled over to your bed and passed out,” Megan said as she smiled and patted my cheek.

“Are we good? I didn’t do anything to cause you to want to sue me, did I?” I asked.

“I think Caryn has a form for that; but no, you didn’t do anything that offended me. I did think about molesting you, though,” she said, as we heard the key card enter the lock, and Cassidy and Brook burst into the room.

“Take them to breakfast,” I told Megan. “They won’t leave me alone until they know everything, and I need to take some aspirin, take a shower and catch a flight.”

I think mouthwash was also called for.

Cassidy, Brook and Megan decided to remain in Iwakuni and play tourist for another day. Everyone else packed up and we flew back to Tokyo. We were swarmed at the airport by paparazzi. I suspected I had a leak in my organization—Ari—because one of the paparazzi said they’d meet us at the hotel as we walked to baggage claim. Thankfully, Paul had hired the same security as before and they neatly cleared a path to the cars.

When we arrived at our hotel, there was a package waiting for me. It was the script for my part in My Butterfly. I gave it to Hana so she could read it over. Everyone went to my suite, including Ari.

“If you’re going to announce my presence, you have to tell Paul,” I chastised Ari.

“I think he needs to face them with you,” Paul suggested.

“Have you thought about maybe staying for another couple of weeks? I have some interesting offers that have been sent over,” Ari pleaded.

“I’m already staying an extra day. I need to get back and get acclimated to the time change before I go to Houston for USA Baseball.”

“Just saying, you’re big over here.”

Hana and I worked on my lines. J-dramas tended to have between ten and twelve episodes. They already had six done and it looked like they planned to shoot scenes for the last six episodes today with me here. I didn’t know I was a recurring character.

I thought this was probably like a soap opera, with the name My Butterfly. But it was actually a crime drama where girls with butterfly tattoos go missing. Haru Doi played the sister of the first victim, who presses the police to look for her. She becomes a little detective of sorts.

“You better read the last part,” Hana said, pointing at the last five pages.

“Wow, that might not be good,” I said in shock when I’d read it.

We had to go to the studio. On the ride over, I showed the last five pages to Ari.

“It does leave it open to a sequel,” was his only comment.

I noticed right away that this wasn’t a movie set like I was used to in LA. First, I didn’t have my own trailer. I wasn’t seriously looking for one, but it just highlighted to me there were major differences in budget. All the actors for the day were jammed into two rooms to get ready.

I was put into wardrobe, they did a quick makeup job, and I was rushed to the set. I guess I should have known that it would be very different when they planned to shoot a 45–50 minute episode in five days. A movie was normally about 120 minutes long and it could take four to ten months to shoot.

I wasn’t quite sure who the director was. Someone pointed at a mark on the floor and I was told to say my lines. They sent me back and put me into a different outfit. I was stunned when they didn’t have me do the scene three or four times so they could get different camera angles. That might have explained why I didn’t know who the director was because everyone was pushed back and they had multiple cameras running.

I was thankful that Hana was glued to my hip. While I could pick up the gist of what everyone was saying, if it hadn’t been for her I would have been lost.

The general outline of the show was that Haru played a young woman whose sister had gone missing at a party. It was written as Veronica Mars meets Silence of the Lambs, which made it much darker than a normal crime drama. The police weren’t taking the disappearance too seriously because the party was held at a major company’s chairman’s home where his son hosted the party. This caused the police problems because the company employed a large number of the area’s residents. The last thing they wanted to do was offend the chairman.

I played the sketchy son of one of the higher-ups at the firm. The first several episodes had been about Haru working her way through suspects. Then there was a second party and another girl went missing. No one was sure if the girls had just gone off somewhere or if something terrible had happened. There was no sign of a struggle or any evidence of foul play.

Haru’s character had found a picture of the four friends who had all gotten a butterfly tattoo. Two of the girls had disappeared. In the most recent episode, a third girl had not come home and the police had started to get involved. The third girl was the chairman’s niece.

My morning scenes had been establishment acts. They showed me in different settings with the other guys who Haru had been investigating. She noticed I tended to be in the background, but never far from the main characters. Besides being a little sketchy (that reads possible drug dealer), I was also not considered very bright. I was made out to be the affable yes-man who would never fit in because I wasn’t Japanese and I hadn’t grown up in the inner circle.

Haru’s character was trying to remember who I was and how I fit in. After a morning of quick takes, it was finally time for me to have my first scene with her. She found me before we went on set.

“There’s my boyfriend,” she said to me, giving me a hug. “My real boyfriend wasn’t amused.”

“Sorry about that. I’ve had a few faux girlfriends for publicity. I assumed you were looking to use me for the publicity,” I said, and then blushed. “That just made me sound conceited. ‘I was just trying to help’ is what I meant to say.”

“The show’s producers loved it. You might have guessed that when they offered you a role.”

“I thought it was a quick cameo. I didn’t plan to be in the final six episodes.”

“They tell me that when they got you on board, they rewrote the ending.”

We were called onto the set and I finally figured out who the director was. I had a bad feeling when he gave me my first direction.

“You can’t help yourself from being arrogant, because you’re an American. But I need you to be timid and come across as a follower. We won’t find the true depth of your evil until the final two episodes. In this scene, I need you to act as if Haru is beneath you, that in your eyes she is just a girl and you can’t give her the time of day. Towards the end, you will somehow show compassion and you will offer to help her find out what is happening. This will give you your ‘in’ to finding out what the police are doing to find the vile person who has taken the girls.”

The PC police would have him for lunch if he were back home. I just smiled and nodded as Hana translated. I was thankful she took her cue from me and didn’t react to his offensive remarks toward women and Americans.

Haru was quite good, and when we did our scene I could see why people liked her. I thought I did well as the arrogant American who was timid and felt girls were beneath me, but who would help because I was compassionate. This was a more messed up direction than I’d received in Cuba, where I was continually told only that I wasn’t ‘getting it.’

I don’t think it would have mattered if I did understand his direction. We were declared perfect on one take and were off to the next one.

Ari stopped by the set and I complained about the nonstop pace.

“David, this is how much you’re being paid,” he said, showing me the contract.

“Oh, my! I’m frickin’ rich,” I said, dancing around.

“That’s yen,” Kent interjected.

Kent pulled out his phone and converted the currency. Well, that took the fun out of it. 1,000 dollars was about 110,000 yen. You could see why I’d gotten a little excited. It was still more than I would’ve made back home. It was almost as good as sunglasses money.

Kent then had pictures to show me.

“Cassidy said you would want to see this.”

I had a moment of complete jealousy. Brook, Megan and Cassidy were in flight suits. The next picture showed Cassidy in the back of a training jet. Then I got one of Brook sticking her tongue out at me as a jet took off in the background. A very small part of me was happy for them. The majority decided they were dead to me. I didn’t even bother looking at all the pictures.

I felt I was ready to play an arrogant American with a mix of surly teen. I was right. I nailed the next scene.

When we were finally done, I was mentally exhausted and starved. Learning lines by rote was harder than I had ever imagined. I was glad that Hana was there to help, or I would never have survived. I owed her a big bonus when we got home.

“Feed me,” I whined as they took my makeup off.

“Come home with me and I’ll cook for you. It will also give me a chance to introduce you to my boyfriend,” Haru offered.

“I’m not sure meeting your boyfriend is a great idea.”

“If you don’t meet him tonight, you’ll see him tomorrow. He plays the detective you have the final scene with.”

“I have Paul and Hana with me,” I tried.

“Great. I’ll see you there.”

Ari had bailed on us to answer emails. Kent had met one of the actresses on set and they planned an evening out. I guess you couldn’t take the Hollywood out of the boy.

Paul called our cars. Haru wanted to ride with us. Ari must have leaked where we were going because there was a crowd at Haru’s apartment. She looked a little worried.

“This all new to you,” I observed.

“I’ve had other roles, but My Butterfly has gotten the public’s attention. My publicist has gone bananas over the coverage you and I are getting as a couple. She says that alone, we would only be generating a third of this buzz. I just got lucky when we walked out of the club together.

“I have a feeling that you coming to my apartment will be a big deal,” she admitted.

“Did you call the media?” I asked.

She blushed. Here I’d been blaming Ari, and it was Haru or her people. When we arrived, Paul had us drive past the entrance so we could make a game plan.

“Is there another entrance?” he asked.

“Through the parking garage,” Haru admitted, but didn’t seem happy.

I suddenly had an insight I should’ve had much sooner. It was about the circles of trust Uncle John had taught us last week. Haru was being nice, but she was also using me to build her career. While I’d done the same in the past, at least when I did it everyone was clear that was what was happening. Haru had acted like a friend, and I felt deceived.

“We need to drop Hana off. I’m not risking her walking through that crowd,” Paul said.

I wasn’t sure how this was going to work, but Paul would tell me if it couldn’t be done safely.

After Hana was dropped off, Paul had a talk with the security people and everyone agreed on a plan. We would pull up and Haru and I would stay in the car until a corridor had been created. Paul would open the car door only if it was safe to get out.

I watched as the protection detail formed a single line and then pushed through the crowd. Once the lead person reached the condo’s front doors, they turned and started pushing everyone back. When they had a five-foot path made, Paul opened the door.

“Let me go first,” I told Haru.

This was just crazy. I was so glad I didn’t live here or I would end up punching someone. When Haru joined me, there was a surge and our path shrunk. I heard a child scream in fear and saw a little boy, who looked to be four or five, sprawled out on the ground. I walked over and looked as menacing as I could. The crowd took a step back as I went and picked up the little boy. He had a terrified sister, so I picked her up too. I wasn’t happy their mother had brought them to something like this.

“Follow me,” I told her in Japanese.

Paul had waded in with me and led me out with the mother bringing up the rear. When I came out of the crowd, I handed the little girl to Haru. The flashes about blinded us as we carried the two kids inside.

The little boy had scraped up his hands. I took him to the bathroom to get them clean while the doorman found a first aid kit. The doorman said he had kids of his own and was good with the little boy.

While I dealt with that, Haru was on the phone with her publicist.

Hana was in the lobby and helped me talk to the doorman and the mother. They decided it would be best to take the kids out the back. The mother thanked me profusely for helping her. She had been in a near panic when she heard her boy scream in fear.

“It was amazing. He just walked into the crowd and the next thing I see he is carrying two little kids out to safety. He’s a hero,” Haru rattled on.

We said our goodbyes and went up to Haru’s condominium. I met her boyfriend, Ricky Nagai. He was a thirty-one-year-old actor who’d met Haru on set for a movie. Haru abandoned us because someone called to interview her. I could tell Ricky was irritated.

“She promised us dinner. I would bet we should order out,” I suggested.

“You’re probably right. What did you want?”

I turned him over to Hana. All I cared about was that it had to be filling. While Hana and Ricky talked, Paul and I relaxed in the living room. What jumped out at me was how small the place was. I would guess it was only 400 square feet, or about the size of a one-car garage. My apartment back home was twice this size.

“That wasn’t good,” I said.

“Crowds can be dangerous. I’m sure Fritz is going to kill me. Never, ever, ever go into a crowd like that again. Let me rescue someone if the need arises. If anyone had meant you harm, you were completely exposed to it,” Paul lectured me.

“We don’t need to tell him,” I suggested.

I received a Twitter alert: #DavidADawson, #SavesChildren. I showed Paul.

“You better call your mom, and I need to call my boss,” Paul urged.

He was starting to become a valuable member of the team. Calling my mom was the right choice. She’d also gotten the Twitter messages and seen the videos. Everyone seemed to have a camera on their phone. I got the ‘we will talk when you get home’ line. She told me that Little David had started to crawl, and I suddenly felt homesick.

I was glad when the food came. I was shocked when it was Indian food. Then I realized I was being silly. Why wouldn’t they have an Indian restaurant in Tokyo? We started with vegetable samosas, then butter chicken was the main course, with garlic naan and saffron rice. I also snagged some tandoori chicken. Ricky took Haru some chicken curry.

Haru kept busy on the phone, so we told Ricky we’d be going. On the way home, Hana warned me about him.

“He doesn’t like you one bit because Haru talks about you nonstop. I have a creepy feeling about him.”

“Do you think he would hurt David?” Paul asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”

I did learn that Ricky was his stage name. His manager thought that he needed an Americanized name to possibly get into movies in the states.

I was finishing making calls back home when my three dead-to-me friends showed up.

“Did you see the pictures?” Brook asked.

I gave them a dirty look.

“He’s just mad that he didn’t know who to ask. He asked a pilot; I asked the base commander,” Cassidy informed me.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

“OMG! It was the most fun ever,” Brook said with a huge smile. “We need you to get your pilot’s license and then get qualified for jets. Maybe you could do a photo shoot and they would give you one.”

“I think that’s a little different than clothes.”

“Whatever; once you try one you’ll be hooked. I loved how it slammed me into the seat when it accelerated. The only thing that might be more fun is to have them strap a rocket on your butt and launch you into space,” Brook said.

I knew what something like this did to Brook’s libido. I waggled my eyebrows at her.

“I think that’s our signal to leave,” Cassidy said to Megan.

“Maybe Master would want to play with all of us,” Megan said, and giggled.

“As much as I would like to play Master of the Universe, Cassidy’s dad would kill me. Plus, you’re an employee. I already showed you my wiener yesterday and traumatized you. I think Caryn would have some serious misgivings about me taking it any further.”

Brook wasn’t in the mood to reason with them. She just pointed to the door and they both laughed as they left us alone.

“Maybe I should be the Master,” Brook almost purred.

“What does Mistress have in mind?” I asked.

“I think you should give me one of your massages and make it all about me tonight.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? If I do that, I’ll ruin you for all other men. You might be better off if I’m a selfish jerk. I would hate to set unreasonable expectations down the line.”

“If I don’t have anything to compare it to, how will I know if anyone is better?” she asked.

I gave her a smoldering model look, which made Brook giggle. Then we both had clothes flying.

We fell into bed laughing, and I think I surprised her when I didn’t instantly attack her. Usually, when we had our adrenaline-rush adventures, we followed it with clawing, breathless, animalistic passion that turned into athletic sex. Instead, I took my time to kiss and caress her body as I worked slowly to raise her arousal.

Brook had her eyes open as I initiated foreplay and kissed her over the next hour, which made her a quivering mess as I teased her to one orgasm after another. I then began what turned out to be the most tender, connected sex of my life.

We both felt it, and I could tell that from this day forward our relationship had changed. She wrapped her legs around my waist to give me better access as both our arousals hit new territory. My hands roamed her body and I must have been touching her in all the right places because she responded to everything I did.

This was all about pleasing Brook, and it felt right. We had a syncopated rhythm that I’d never experienced. Comfort and intimacy were immediate and beautiful.

“I feel so safe in your arms,” she said breathlessly, as she looked me in my eyes.

“I would never let anything happen to you,” I said, and kissed her once again.

I’d spent time with several girls that I had a connection with. I had never felt this, and it scared me. I’d sworn off relationships and promised myself I would never fall for a girl quickly again. I’d led with my heart too many times and been punished for it again and again. After I’d given Tami my promise ring, I thought I’d decided to just enjoy life and be open to experiences. I was in danger of falling for Brook Davis.

What was there not to like? She was fun and we had a great time together. She wasn’t a shrinking violet or a girly-girl. She was also smart and funny. And the sex...

“I’m close,” Brook announced.

We’d kept each other on edge for almost an hour, and I could tell by her reaction that she was about to have a huge one. We’d spent enough time together that I knew how to get her there. The problem was ... would I last long enough? I think she sensed my dilemma and reached down and grabbed my butt to urge me on. I simply let nature take its course, and I think when I went off it was that last little bit she needed to join me.

As we finally rolled apart, my last thought was: ‘I love you, Brook Davis.’ I then did the typical guy move and fell asleep.

Friday July 8

I woke from the best night’s sleep I’d had in ages. Good sex—no, wait ... probably the best sex of my life—was the best sleeping pill ever. I heard the door open and Cassidy walked in to wake me. I think she was disappointed not to able to jab me in the ribs. Cassidy sat on the bed and smiled at me.

“You make her happy,” she said.

“I think I love her,” I admitted.

“You love a lot of girls,” Cassidy countered.

“No. I mean I really do love her. If we were starting our senior year of college and not high school, I might ask her to marry me. She and I are right in so many ways.”

“Do you mean that?” Brook asked, sitting up.

I nodded.

“I love you too,” she said, and I found her on top of me.

Cassidy pushed her off.

“He has to go to work. Let the boy up and you can kiss him later.”

Cassidy jabbed me in the ribs and then jumped back as I lunged for her.

“Fine,” I said, and went to take my shower.

I’d been in scenes with the three young men that were the core group, mainly in the background. Today I’d be saying lines with them. Akio Toyoma played the chairman’s son. He was over six feet tall and Hana told me he was perfect, whatever that meant. Jiro Yamashita played sort of a hip nerd. He wore glasses with white frames, was maybe five-eight, and had a small frame. Koji Ueda was the jock of the group and his character played baseball.

Koji, with his athletic skills, and Akio with his position, pulled in the girls for the parties. Emily Sato, another actor who decided she needed an Americanized name, played the only ‘butterfly girl’ who hadn’t been taken yet.