Chapter 8: Rising Stars

Dave opened the FedEx package from California. It contained two wrapped packages and a note with three lipstick kisses on it and nothing else other than each kiss was different and noted with a name: Scarlett, Ashley, and Cricket.

One item was a draft copy of a hardback book, complete with a cover and everything. The title of the book was Road Trip. As Dave thumbed through the advance copy, according to the stamp on the front, it had 486 pages and the author’s name was listed as Stevie Wallace – a nom de plumb. The front cover showed the wheel of a motorcycle, some boots, and some sexy lingerie. On the back cover was a somewhat seductive picture of Cricket sitting at a computer and looking sexy, hyper-efficient, and very authorial.

The second item was a pre-release copy of CD with the title Pure Country by the new, hot, singer (according to the hype on the album cover) Ashley Steerman. The two pictures overlaid on the cover showed different shots of her singing her heart out in front of a large microphone in a recording studio.

Dave flipped the album over. On the back was a paragraph about the ‘Inspiring New Artist’ in country music and then a listing of twelve songs on the CD. Dave played the CD and had to admit it was some of most pleasing female country music he’d ever heard. Ashley was amazing. It pulled on his heart, especially the title song.

A few minutes later he opened his email and found an email from Scarlett. She’d entitled it as “FYI”. The email was a link and then an emoji that was a heart and her initials SJ.

The link was a news article in Billboard stating that she had postponed indefinitely her starring in a movie involving a transgender individual, and instead had ‘accepted’ a role in the filming of new, hot, book that she’d been able to read an advance copy of and for which the screen play was being written. The article cited the name of the book as Road Trip, but said nothing else about the book, author, or even a hint of the plot, other than it was being rushed to print and that filming would begin within a week or two. That was the gist of the article.

Dave sat back in his seat amazed. Cricket was taking Hollywood by storm. He hoped this wasn’t a ‘one off’ as the British say, and that she’d be able to follow it up with more and more powerful novels. He’d loved the book and had recommended it be divided into two novels: one called Road Trip and the sequel called Crystal Clear.

He also had an email from Ashley that was short but explained her life.

I love you. They have me working almost 24/7 on new songs, arrangements, music video filming, and trying all sorts of different things. The demo album I sent you gets its advance release to disk jockeys Friday, and to the public sometime later after lots of hype that dozens of people are putting together. I’m suppose to sing the national anthem at some major league baseball game tonight, and THEN they have me doing a music video until around midnight when they let me sleep for six or seven hours. I’m so tired, but this is so much fun. I’m hyped but working very hard. I love you. Ash

Dave got another surprise when he got home that night. After a round of making love with Grace and Rachel, he was joined in his own bed by Christie. She was positively sparkling.

Christie said, “Guess what? I went part time at the Club Ecstasy this week. I couldn’t keep up with my other new and big-time commitment.”

Dave kissed her as they started to paw erotically at each other’s bodies. Christies was hotter than sin. He asked, “What’s your new commitment?”

She told him, “I started college. I even signed up for an accelerated program so I’ll go all year, not just in the two semesters. Unless I have to repeat something for one reason or another, I should be able to graduate in three years. I have a few credits and I’m trying to get some AP courses I took in high school counted towards graduation credit. I had my freshman orientation on Monday and Tuesday of last week and I love it.”

Dave held her away from his body and looked her in the eyes. “I’m so proud of you. That’s brave and amazing. We’ll all help you anyway we can. Most women your age don’t go back to college, especially as a freshman.”

She nodded, “Well, for one, Owen and Julie came to me and awarded me the same kind of scholarship deal that Heather had. So, unless I screw up, I should come out of this debt free AND with a degree in computer science. All the graduating nerds worked me over repeatedly to pick a field I could make some money in as I got older. They talked to me about STEM until they were blue in the face and I committed to the CS program. The alternative was to become an EE like you.”

“So, you’ve started?”

“As I said, orientation was this week and we got all our syllabi for the semester for the six courses I have to take. Shit, one of them is Calculus, so I KNOW I’ll be on your doorstep for help with that stuff – derivatives, integrals, mathematical transforms, and stuff like that.”

Dave praised her repeatedly. Then it dawned on him, “Hey, you said you were going to work part time? What’s that about?”

Christie laughed as she slowly sank down onto his cock in the cowgirl position, her vaginal warmth encompassing the horny man. She sighed in her own ecstasy as the fullness she felt right where it counted. “A girl has to have some fun. I LOVE being an exhibitionist. I sure hope there are jobs out there where they need a hot computer science stripper.”

“Oh, God, Christie, you’re so ... tight and so fucking hot and so fucking smart.”

Dave thought about how he’d met Christie five years earlier. She was twenty-one and had already been dancing at the Club Ecstasy for four years. She admitted to lying about her age to get the job as a stripper-dancer-waitress-lap dancer. Their first serious meeting was the night Alice had been given a challenge by Dori to do a strip at the club and give lap dances. Christie had helped Alice get into the routine, gave her some suggestions, and then made sure Dave was all right with what was going on. Later, Alice, Christie, and Dave had fucked each other’s lights out backstage at the club. After that, she became a friend, regular lover, and then a member of the Circle as it was formed.

At twenty-six Christie was a tough looking blonde when she wanted to be. She could give the impression of being able to chew nails and spit rust. She could also be soft and tender, and in the case at hand very loving, romantic, and orgasmic.

Dave noted later that she appeared to be anything BUT a college freshman. Since the weather in September was still hot, when she was dressed for class, she normally she had Bermuda shorts and a nice short sleeve top on, usually with flip-flops that had rhinestones all over them for added flashy appearance.

Christie liked to wear turquoise and loved American Indian jewelry; she’d bought a lot of it at local gem shows or from eBay. Some of the pieces were flashy, but given her personality, blonde hair, and flare, she could wear them and not look at all pretentious. She was dressed much better than most of the other students, but still casual.

The short sleeve tops revealed several of Christie’s tattoos, especially the colorful tattoo sleeve along her left arm and an artful face near her right shoulder with ringlets of hair that tapered down her arm. Her left calf also sported several decorative tats that showed a pretty bow. Dave could verify that there were more tattoos that didn’t show and that what did show looked really good when she was onstage removing the last of her thong and wearing CFM shoes that somehow, she could dance in and look really sexy.

Most of all that was the physical side of Christie, and it did help form her personality. She had another side: softer, romantic, loving, friendly, playful, erotic, compassionate, spiritual, and more high-quality adjectives. She would give you the shirt off her back if she saw that you needed it. She loved animals and when Max arrived in the Circle she about turned inside out and the two became best buddies. She gave a lot of her money to the other girls that worked at the club because they were always broke and in trouble. Little of it got repaid but she said she didn’t expect it to be. Christie was never broke or in trouble because she managed her life well and had inherited a little money.

Dave referred to Christie as an ‘exclusive nymphomaniac’. He’d explain to someone questioning that word combination that a nymphomaniac had the reputation of being indiscriminate about whom they had sex with so long as they got satisfied. Christie loved everybody in the Circle, and seldom ventured outside. If she did, she followed the Circle rules.

Christie worked in the adult entertainment business and admitted to being constantly hyped up about sex – horny. She admitted to jilling off often, even onstage, especially during her late performances. Despite all the dancing and teasing she did at the club, including with some really hot guys, the Circle was her sexual playground. She was exclusive with the Circle. She rigidly applied the Circle rules about sex with outsiders, and as a result almost never entertained anybody she met outside. She used to say, “Think about it; when was the last time you went to a strip club with expectations of getting laid AND a new STD test in hand?” The Circle did allow playing around provided condoms were used and she knew that all too well.

She’d come home around two o’clock in the morning and if she needed a sexual ‘fix’ instead of retiring to her townhouse, she’d crawl in bed with someone and fuck the bejesus out of him or her. Sometimes that person was another woman, but mostly she liked the men.

Dave had teased her about one part of her starting college; “All the college men are going to take one look at you and hit on you every minute you’re on campus. Hell, the faculty will want to bed you, too.”

Christie laughed, “Don’t you think I get hit on at the club? I know about three thousand ways to nicely say ‘No’ and ten thousand ways to tell someone to ‘fuck off’ depending on how obnoxious their approach to me was. I think I can handle myself. Moreover, Manny the Bouncer taught me a lot of self-defense moves so I can probably knock some guys balls clear up to his Adam’s apple if they get too aggressive.”

She laughed, “Besides, most of the freshmen men are virgins, I think. They look at me like I just got out of a space ship. They’re so much fun to tease. I love flashing some of the guys, especially in my calculus class. As for the faculty, we’ll have to see if anything serious develops there.” She giggled.

Despite laughing at her reply he also cringed at the thought of her using her martial arts skills. She’d do fine on campus.

Christie went on, “Besides those are some of the guys that pay to see me at the club. If they’re nice, I may comp them the cover charge.” She laughed.

Dave, Cindy, Sharon, Ron, Jake, Phil, and Murph shared a single email from Meggie. She was in Manhattan, and had hoped to become a model and to see what other related trouble she could get into. Meggie was the tall, leggy, brunette Dave and others in the Circle had met and appreciated at the graduation party. She had wanted to stay and join the Circle, but had committed to herself and others to see what might happen about her burgeoning career in fashion in New York.

Meggie had tapped into the fashion industry in the City, and even became the fourth roommate with three other girls with similar aspirations. She admitted that she was learning the ropes with the help of her three new friends and roomies.

Meggie, unlike her roommates, had gotten a job as an understudy to Charlene Graynor, one of the established and most popular designers of women’s clothing. Her specialty was business clothing for women, so Meggie thought she was in a great position to stake out a career path for a while. She said she was full of ideas and that Charlene actually listened to her and brought some of her contributions to fruition. She crowed about how so many things were going her way.

Meggie later sent a couple of other pictures, one of her standing smiling with Charlene Graynor. She said Charlene was encouraging her modeling work, too, and had put her in touch with several modeling agencies that supplied the ‘Runway Girls’ everybody sees strutting their stuff at the fashion shows. One of her pictures showed her strutting down a fashion runway in sexy shoes and a wild dress with broad shoulders that didn’t look the least appealing to Dave. Nonetheless, the picture showed she was working in the industry and getting some acknowledgement for her fabulous looks.

A little later Dave had just gone to pickup the Friday mail from the box in front of his house on Circle Drive when Dev pulled beside him in a new car with the driver’s window down. The car was an all-black Land Rover. All-black! Dave examined the car several times; the outside was one color: no chrome, no trim, no pinstripes, no identifying markings except for a black-on-black rendition of the Land Rover name on the tailgate. The windows were heavily tinted black. The whole finish was matte. At night with the lights off you’d never see it.

Dev preened as he got out of the car, “I just picked it up. It only has ten miles on it, and most of that was driving home. Wendy hasn’t even seen it. This car has every option you can imagine on it. It’ll even parallel park itself.”

Dave allowed, “This looks like a SWAT wagon. It does add to your image as the ultimate dangerous man.”

Dev laughed. “That was the idea. In this case, it’s no more pickup trucks.”

“Whoa! What happened?”

Dev stood proudly beside his car. “I sold my contracting business.”

Dave gawked, “YOU SOLD YOUR BUSINESS? WHAT FOR?”

“For a whole shitload of money – tools, trucks, everything. I guess I could be set for life, but I’m not a loafer.”

“No, I mean what will you do? You’re young. You have a whole career path still ahead of you. I thought you loved building homes.”

“Oh, I do, but it’s increasingly a young man’s business. I want to be home and watch my kids grow up. You know I’ve usually been working seven days a week from dawn to dusk. I don’t want to keep doing that.