Chapter 19: I Smell Smoke

Tuesday January 3
My eyes blinked open, and I looked over at Brook. She’d managed to kick off the sheets during the night. That would explain why I felt cold. She was gloriously naked, so I took a moment to take in her exquisite body. It reminded me of the fun we’d had last night before falling asleep.

She stretched and smiled coyly at me.

“Tell me how much you love me,” she said.

I laughed.

“Demanding today, are we? I thought you were bossy enough last night,” I replied.

She rolled over and threw her arms around me.

“Tell me, tell me you love me,” she said.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” I said, quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Sometimes my education came in handy.

“Would you climb the highest mountain for me?”

She was in a goofy mood. I nodded my head.

“Of course.”

“Swim the deepest ocean?”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Only for you.”

“Buy me a little sports car?”

“Why don’t I just buy you a sports car and you drive it up the mountain?” I suggested.

She giggled. The way it made her breasts move caught the attention of the sexual beast deep within. And here I was sure she’d slain him last night with her antics.

“Come on, Big Daddy,” she almost purred. “Tell me.”

“Whatev,” I said in my best valley-girl imitation. “I love you.”

“Brat,” she said, then tickled me and gave me a pout. “That the best you can do?”

My eyes got big.

“You asked for it, Missy. There will be no toes wiggling by the end of the day.”

I rolled on top of her, and my hands slid beneath her buttocks as I entered her, slowly, gently, until all of me was consumed in her hotness. Brook made a contented moan. I could already tell it was going to be a good day.

Brook told me she needed more sleep and kicked me out of bed. Before breakfast, we had more people join us for a morning surf: Tracy, Wolf, and Tim. I helped Tami this morning while Pam and Manaia worked with the newcomers. It didn’t take long before everyone was up and surfing.

When we came in, Tim pointed to a woman lying on the beach.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

We all looked closer. The woman was in a version of the little black dress, and there was a bottle of wine next to her. It looked like she’d had one too many and decided to sleep it off. Tami was ready to go check to make sure she was okay when Wolf stopped her.

“I bet David can pick her up.”

The girls gave Wolf a look that said he was probably right. I was glad they had my back.

“I think it would be funnier if he scared her off,” Tim said.

“Oh, I like that. He has to leave his shirt off, though,” Wolf enthused.

“What’s the bet?” I asked.

“If you pick her up, I have to let Cassidy put makeup on me. If you fail, Wolf lets her,” Tim said.

I shrugged. I was just glad I didn’t have to share the same fate as the loser. Wolf gave me a hopeful look because he knew how bad Cassidy had been at applying makeup when they dated. What he didn’t realize was that my mom had taught her how to do it right. I bet Cassidy would enjoy making one of them up.

“Hang on. I want to record your epic fail. It’s not every day that a girl turns down David,” Tracy said and ran back to the car to get her phone.

Once Tracy came back, I made my way to where the girl was sleeping. When I got close, I realized she was probably in her mid-20s. Her dress had ridden up, and I could see a glimpse of her frilly panties. Her high heels were lying next to her. The girl was sort of cute, in a total mess kind of way. She had sand in her hair, and, I was sure, in other places she didn’t want it.

I got down on one knee next to her head to check whether she really was okay. She seemed to be sleeping. That was when inspiration struck. Sleeping Beauty was awakened with a kiss, so why not kiss her? I leaned down and did just that. To my surprise, it worked.

My Sleeping Beauty blinked a couple of times, then raised her arm to block the sun from her eyes and moaned. It was clear she was hungover. She squinted at me.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

I just stared at her with my best creepy stalker look. I must have nailed it because she sat up and looked nervous. Since I was on a roll, I decided to raise the creep factor.

“You’re purdy,” I said with a backwoods flair like you’d expect if you were about to be abducted by a pack of hillbillies.

The poor girl just stared back at me. She looked like a deer standing frozen in the middle of the road, caught in the headlights of a Mack truck that was bearing down on it. I could see she was contemplating whether she should run or try to kick my butt. I just stared back as the moment became decidedly awkward.

“Get the hell away from me,” she blurted.

I held up my hands and stood up. I slowly backed up, and then she saw my friends all with big smiles on their faces and Tracy with her phone out, recording our encounter. The girl closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Damn, I’ve been punked,” she said.

“You okay to get home?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m good, and I’ve learned my lesson about drinking too much. If you do, you become a cautionary meme on social media. I must look a mess.”

Her hair reminded me of some infamous celebrity mug shots. Specifically, Nick Nolte’s, Mel Gibson’s, and Lindsay Lohan’s, in a mash-up way. I made sure she got in her car and drove home. We then went to my go-to diner and ate breakfast. I decided that morning sex, surfing, hanging out with friends, making crazy bets, and eating greasy food was how every day should start.

Wolf was a much better sport than I would’ve been. He let Cassidy put bright red lipstick and green eyeshadow on him. The funny part was that he didn’t look like that big of a freak when you considered we were in LA. Tim took a quick picture and shared it, and I was impressed that Wolf’s mom was on the phone to him so quickly. It was a little creepy that our mothers all followed us on social media.

“No, Mom, I’m not secretly gay,” Wolf whined.

Tim and I had huge smiles on our faces when we heard that. I now fully appreciated why my mom loved to have dirt on us. This was something that could be used for years to come and still be funny. When he got off the phone, he gave us both a hard look.

“You’ve had your fun. Can I go wash my face now?” Wolf asked.

“I don’t know. Tracy posted the video of me to the world,” I said.

“It has started to trend. Are you sure Lily really works for you? I might have a problem with her re-tweeting it so everyone could watch you sexually harass that poor girl,” Tim said.

“I didn’t sexually harass her,” I complained, and then got us back on track. “What do you think goes with Wolf’s makeup? Jeans and a t-shirt probably don’t cut it. We might have to stop and get him a cute sundress. Something that shows a lot of cleavage.”

I must have been out of practice because Wolf caught me and tossed me into the pool. Tim either felt sorry for him or didn’t want to suffer the same fate because he let Wolf go remove his makeup.

Lexi had planned for us to go to Olvera Street for the day. She knew that we couldn’t do things that were too costly every day. The yacht had been something that was a special treat, even if it didn’t cost me anything. For the most part, we were all high school kids on a budget. I’d had Manaia pick up a short bus so we all could go together. Brook and I hurried so we could claim the back seat.

When we were on our way, Lexi stood up and acted like a tour guide.

“Olvera Street is considered ‘Old Los Angeles.’ They have a street market where many of the owners are descendants of the original owners from the 1930s. The market was created back then to preserve the customs and flavors of historic California.

“We used to go when I was a kid, and I loved the Aztec dancers. They also have traditional Mexican dancers and a strolling mariachi band. And the food is to die for,” Lexi concluded.

When we got off the bus, Cassidy spotted a sign for a 50-minute historical walking tour of El Pueblo de Los Angeles, also called the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. The guided walk gave us a feel for the area and let us figure out where we wanted to spend time later. We were shown a plaque that said on September 4, 1781, eleven families settled there to found today’s LA.

The walk reminded me of my time in Cuba. All the old buildings, people strolling around the plaza, and the ancient church made you feel like you’d stepped back in time. It was a nice walk-around, and the gal giving the tour was witty and knew her stuff. Everyone had a good time.

I noticed that Wolf and Sarah were holding hands, and I hoped they’d worked out whatever had been the problem between them.

Two of the highlights were a tour of the Avila Adobe, which was built in 1818 and is the oldest surviving residence in LA, and a tour of Old Plaza Firehouse, constructed in 1884. The adobe home had three-foot-thick walls and was built by a wealthy cattle rancher. We also discovered that a portion of the area was the location of the original Chinatown.

After the tour, the girls wanted to hit Olvera Street and shop. Tim, Wolf, and I decided the smell of tacos and taquitos was too much of a temptation to pass up. Street food always made me a little nervous, but the line at the food cart was long, so I figured it probably wouldn’t kill us.

My usual sidekick, Manaia, had gone with the girls. I wasn’t surprised when Cassidy ordered as much food as the three of us. I was even less surprised when I had to pay for hers. Someone forgot to bring any money. Why should she when I was around?

We found a pleasant table under a tree where we proceeded to eat and spend some quality guy-time.

“Who should we invite to the party?” Wolf asked.

I’d almost forgotten they wanted to have one.

“When did you want to do it?” I asked.

“Friday night. We’re all leaving Saturday,” Tim reminded me.

“Did you like the people I invited for the boat trip?” I asked.

“What was up with that chick that grabbed my package?” Tim asked.

I hadn’t known she’d done that.

“She’s a friend of Isabel’s. I met her one other time, and she did that check on all the guys at the party. Did she do it to the Japanese group?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah! I thought they were going to faint,” Wolf said. “I vote you invite her.”

“Frick. I’m going to have to do some serious damage control when I go back to the set on Sunday. I think they were a little shocked that Brook and I spent time together,” I shared.

“Is Halle into Ben?” Cassidy asked.

“Invite them both and Isabel. That’s a train wreck waiting to happen,” Wolf predicted.

Again, frick! If the guys realized that Halle and Ben had a thing for each other, it was only a matter of time before Isabel figured it out. What was that Polish proverb? Not my circus, not my monkeys. I’d warned Halle twice, but she would do whatever she wanted. I’d been a friend and tried to warn her off. If she ended up sleeping with Ben, she was a big girl and could face the consequences.

“What about my castmates in the J-drama?” I asked to change the subject.

“The younger ones were fun,” Cassidy said.

“Yeah, I liked them, and they really appreciate you showing them around,” Tim shared.

It sounded like my friends had made an effort to meet people at the party.

“I have to warn you if we do have a party, some of the neighbors will probably show up. Be careful of Teresa’s mom, Paulina. She’s a lonely trophy wife who is trouble with a capital ‘T,’” I said.

“Is she the one who seduced Ian?” Cassidy asked, and then her eyes got big when both Wolf and Tim looked at her. “Shit, forget I said that.”

Once again, frick!

“Ian, as in Brook’s dad?” Tim asked.

“Seriously, if I hear that you two talked about this, I will break some bones,” Cassidy warned.

We all looked at her with a touch of fear. I’d never seen her so grim. I had to agree with her that Brook would be mortified to discover that anyone else was aware of the problems between her parents and what had caused them.

“Are Ava and Ian okay?” Tim asked.

I took a deep breath and shook my head ‘no.’

“That sucks,” Wolf said. “You can count on us to keep it quiet. I know I wouldn’t want something like this talked about if my parents were having problems.”

“Yeah. I’m just sorry that Brook’s having to go through this. She’s lucky to have you and Cassidy there for her,” Tim said.

We got quiet for a minute, then my phone rang. It was my dad. We caught up about what had been going on for the last couple of days, and he reminded me that I hadn’t called my mom. I promised I would do that later.

“Are Tim and Wolf there with you?” Dad asked.

“Yeah, and Cassidy,” I told him.

“Put me on speaker,” he ordered.

“Hey, Mr. Dawson,” Tim said.

“I called to update David about the money you all received from Southwest Central State.”

“Did the FBI and NCAA get notified?” I asked.

“I’m actually with Special Agent Bryn out of the Chicago FBI office. He has a couple questions for you,” Dad said.

“Do we need Ms. Addison for this?” I asked.

She’d been very insistent that we do just that if we ever talked to the FBI.

“I have her on hold. Let me three-way her in,” Dad said.

When she came on the line, she told us to answer all the questions Special Agent Bryn had for us truthfully. She reminded us that telling an FBI agent an untruth was a felony. That caught Tim and Wolf’s attention. He’d already interviewed everyone at home, including Tim and Wolf’s parents, so he didn’t have a lot to ask us other than if anyone from the university had contacted us. To date, no one had.

I did learn that Wolf and Tim had each received five thousand in cash with a note similar to mine, which just said ‘Go Blue.’ My friends weren’t happy when they found out that Special Agent Bryn planned to confiscate the envelope, note, and money, for now, as evidence. Dad had already handed over the money given to the charities and provided the FBI access to the GoFundMe accounts. The FBI planned to backtrack the transactions for any clues as to who sent them.

Special Agent Bryn said that if he had any other questions, he would be in touch. When he left the room, Dad asked us to hold on as he said goodbye to Ms. Addison. A moment later, Mr. Morris, my sports attorney, was on the line with my dad.

“I wanted to give you an update on my conversation with the NCAA.”

“You do represent us now, right?” Tim asked.

“Yes. We think it best if I represent all three of you in this,” Mr. Morris agreed.

“Okay, just checking,” Tim said.

“Like you, they suspect that the money came from Southwest Central State, but there is no concrete proof. I understand that the school hasn’t contacted any of you. Is that correct?”

All of us agreed.

“I’ll call the NCAA and assure them of that. From what they said, and my experience working there, they can’t really act on it. My guess is that they’ll turn the information over to their investigative team to verify everything. If what we have shared is the truth, then we have nothing to worry about,” Mr. Morris assured us.

“This is where you need to tell us if there’s anything you left out,” Dad said, playing ... well, a dad.

“Do you think Stewart Chadwick will be the investigator?” I asked.

“I think you can count on it. He was the one that was working on this originally,” Mr. Morris said.

And finally, frick! Hindsight being 20/20, I shouldn’t have pissed him off. But I hadn’t been in the mood to maintain the charade that I had any interest in playing football at Southwest Central State. I also didn’t like how Stewart had tried to bully me into continuing with his sting operation.

“Do you think that will be a problem?” Dad asked.

“No. His bosses know that everyone has done everything by the book. It was all I could do to not share Mr. Chadwick’s threats. I agree that we can’t really do anything until he acts on them,” Mr. Morris said.

I could see by the looks from the other three at the table that I would need to explain all that. I was a little surprised that Brook hadn’t told Cassidy, given Brook had shared the problems her mom and dad were having.

“He will act on his threats,” I predicted.

“He might,” Mr. Morris agreed. “But he doesn’t wield as much power as he thinks he does.”

Dad wrapped up the call with Mr. Morris and then asked to talk to me alone. I took a stroll for some privacy. I noticed Cassidy at my side, so I just put Dad back on speaker. If it was something I wanted to keep from Brook, I could turn it off. I trusted Cassidy.

“Mr. Voorhees is pushing for a settlement. Zander’s lawyers went to the judge and asked to see all the video Zak had. Zak’s lawyers agreed to show the judge and let him decide. He suppressed the rest since it had no bearing on the case. That essentially stopped Zander’s lawyers from turning this into a potential problem for Zak. The judge did strongly suggest that Zak get releases from everyone on the videos to cover his butt. If Zak could produce those, then he wouldn’t have to worry about any other repercussions,” Dad said.

In a way, it was both good and bad that Zak had set up cameras in his downstairs bedroom and recorded people getting frisky at his parties. On the bad side, recording people without their knowledge was both wrong and illegal. That was why we had signs in our house and other private places I occupied, like hotel rooms. It was to notify everyone that for security purposes, we had video set up.

Doing it in public was a different matter. That was how the paparazzi could park their butts on a hill and record celebrities through their windows or around the pool. When that happened, the rules could get sketchy, and that was why I had my security and attorneys around to figure it all out.

“Do you think Zak’ll have a problem getting the releases from the people he videoed that night?” I asked.

Dad laughed.

“I asked Ms. Dixon that as well. She told me that Zak would agree to refuse access to Zander’s people. And that he would destroy the videos as soon as he was legally allowed to if his unknowing porn stars signed the releases. I told her that sounded like blackmail. She said that lawyers can get away with it if it’s part of a negotiation involving litigation and if they watch how they word things. It sounds like the rules don’t apply to them. Imagine that,” Dad said.

I had to agree, but what did I know.

When we got back, Wolf wanted to talk to me alone.

“What is the deal with Cindy all about?” he asked.

I took a deep breath and then let it out in a long hiss. After a moment’s consideration, I decided to just tell him.

“I know I would want to know, and I would hope you would tell me if something like this came up,” I said to ease the blow.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“No, definitely not,” I said. Wolf waited for me to continue. “The reason Sarah isn’t happy with you is that you’re not satisfying her in bed.”

“If you’re fucking with me...”

“I would never joke about something like this,” I said, and then smiled and shrugged. “Well, maybe...”

“Seriously?”

“Sorry, man.”

“Does everyone know?” he asked, worried.

“I haven’t told Tim ... yet,” I said, and then took a step back. “Too soon?”

“Yeah, too soon to joke about.”

“Hey. Buck up. I’ll share a little secret with you. I had no idea what I was doing, either. Cindy actually taught me a lot. Apparently, I come off well when the girls talk about me,” I teased.

“This is so embarrassing.”

“Why don’t I tell Tami to make Tim join you for your lesson? That way, you won’t be singled out.”

“Wait, Tim is good in the sack?” Wolf asked.

“Before junior year, I put Kim Sun in charge of training him,” I admitted.

I was moderately sure Tim wouldn’t mind that I shared that with Wolf. He would probably have told him if asked.

“What’s she going to teach me?” Wolf asked.

“Relax. I promise it’ll be all good. Just be sure to not go too far. Cindy will ruin your reputation if you’re not careful. She has shocked me a time or two,” I admitted.

“We’ll have to have a few drinks and discuss this,” Wolf said with a smile.

I was glad he was taking this better now.

“Why don’t you and Tim take her class, and then we can talk afterward? Then you might have something to share.”

“Bite me. You really are a dick sometimes,” Wolf said, and then got serious. “I’m glad you told me. I wonder why Sarah didn’t.”

“That, my friend, is something you need to work on. Talking to your significant other is usually the best option. I’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t, it never works out like you want. I would suggest that you sit down with Sarah and figure out what you both want out of this.”

“What’s my other choice?” Wolf asked, making a face.

“Up your game in the sack. I’ve found if you rock their world, they don’t care what a douche you really are,” I said. I danced out of his reach. “Still too soon?”

“Dick.”

I noticed he was fighting a smile. That talk went about a hundred times better than I thought it would. As a friend, I needed to tell him, but no guy wants to hear what I shared. At least Brook had arranged for him to learn how to improve his performance. My philosophy was that a mentor or coach was always a good idea. I had every confidence that Cindy would set him straight.

Cassidy all but flipped out. The four of us were on our way to Olvera Street to find the girls when we walked past one of the tour groups. There were ten teenage girls in the group, and they recognized me. The next thing I knew, I was swarmed by them. They were squealing and making a general nuisance of themselves.

Wolf and Tim scrambled out of the way, leaving Cassidy to try to fend them off.

“Settle down,” I barked in my best dad voice.

Everyone froze. I would have to remember that.

“One at a time,” I said.

Cassidy physically made them line up. She cracked me up when she took things literally. I wasn’t complaining because it seemed to work.

Twenty minutes later, the line seemed to have grown. I would meet each group, and then Cassidy would take their phone and snap a picture. I felt like kicking Tim’s and Wolf’s butts when I looked up and saw they were next in line. But I just did my thing with them and kept a smile on my face.

Manaia showed up with the female part of my crew and saw what was going on. He had a worried look until he recognized that Cassidy had the situation well in hand.

A lady and her college-age daughter were up next. The daughter was gorgeous, in a fair, broad-faced, Hollywood-actress-next-door kind of way. I checked her makeup. Yes, the model in me came out at weird times. What caught my attention was that she wasn’t wearing any. The mother acted like she was a stage mom because she fussed over the girl’s appearance. For some reason, I felt on guard. I had a feeling they wanted something more than just a picture or autograph.