Chapter 27: You Try to be Helpful

Friday March 31
“What were you thinking, going off to the bathroom with Kendra and Donna?” Ashley asked once we had a moment alone.

“Wow! You sounded exactly like my mom. The boys don’t stand a chance with you,” I predicted.

“I’m just going to make an observation and shut up. You seem to have been a little free with your favors on this trip,” Ashley said.

“You know what? I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to say that. I need someone like you in my life. Usually, I hear just the opposite. My friends tell me that I don’t go out and have enough fun,” I shared.

“I know that sounded bad, and I understand that you need to have your fun now. It’s just ... I don’t know. It just seems like when you do something, drama ensues. I hope one or both of them don’t go out and make a press release like that actress in LA did.”

“The sad part is people seem to care. If I was just some regular guy, I could be getting all the tail I wanted, and it wouldn’t get splashed all over the Internet.”

“Don’t start whining to me. You know that you wouldn’t trade what you have for anything. Just own it and start making better decisions,” Ashley coached.

She and Uncle John would make a formidable team. I think I should hang out with her more and maybe listen to her advice.

“Okay. I promise not to get into any more threesomes for the rest of the trip.”

Ashley shook her head in wonder at my greatness.

“You would make a fantastic lawyer with that example of BS.”

“You do know who my mother is, right? I don’t plan on having you able to use my words against me for eternity,” I explained.

“Fair enough. Just know that if you teach my boys that little technique, you and I will have words.”

More likely, they would learn it out of self-defense, like I had. Then Ashley changed the subject.

“I got an interesting call today.”

“Am I supposed to guess?” I asked.

“Poker Hack called. They want to sponsor me.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

Poker Hack was an online poker school that had recently popped up. They’d filled my spam folder with offers to teach me to be a better player.

“The way it was explained to me is they are looking for five up-and-coming poker players to represent them. The woman I talked to saw footage of me playing last weekend. She liked my style of play and said I was someone they wanted to help support. Poker Hack wants to pay me to enter televised tournaments, wear their gear, and do some teaching videos for their online poker school.

“Basically, they would pay my entry fees, provide hotels, and give me some pocket money for the summer,” she explained.

I could see the allure of having someone pay me to play poker for the summer.

“Are you thinking about doing it?” I asked.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot to work out. I have to think about Allen and Dawson. Do you realize that this week has been the first time I’ve been away from them since they were born?”

“Mom said they’re doing well. They have all their siblings to keep them entertained, and Duke loves it.”

She gave me a strange look.

“I guess I should’ve realized you would know that.”

I laughed.

“Remember, I am their dad. I do check in on them,” I said to defend myself.

“My bad. If I’d thought about it, I would have known that. Sorry.”

“Look. Take our boys out of the equation. Everyone is moving to Malibu this summer, and there will be plenty of help to take care of them. All the little ones will be together with plenty of mommies to love them and distract them while you play cards. It might be a good time to see how good you really are. Try it for a few weekends. It’s not like you wouldn’t be home during the week,” I reasoned.

“You think I should tell them yes?”

“I saw you play and how you handled yourself at the table. I would put you up against any of the pros I saw. If you can stand up to the abuse Harry Smyth was dishing out and prevail, I know you can do this. You created a buzz because everyone was trying to figure out who you were.
“I overheard the commentators and other poker players say good stuff about you and your game. I’m sure that’s what Poker Hack saw. They want to help you find out how good you can be, and then they can claim that your success is partially due to them,” I said.

“Thanks, David. I’m glad we talked about this. I was going to turn them down, but I think it can work out. At least I can do it a few times and see what happens. If the boys have a meltdown, I’ll just forget it for now,” Ashley said.

“Something to keep in mind: if they want you to sign a contract or anything, get it to Scarlet and let her send it to Ms. Dixon. Her firm has entertainment lawyers that can protect your interests.”

Ashley smiled and nodded.

“I’ll do that.”

“We good?” I asked.

She nodded. I looked at my group, and I could see the telltale signs of jet lag.

“I think we should call it a night,” I announced.

Everyone agreed.

Saturday April 1
My cab dropped me off at Adrienne’s building where I discovered that she’d left the apartment key for me with the doorman and that Paul had dropped off my bags. I was still partially on Eastern European time because I was awake at four in the morning. I forced myself to go to sleep but only made it to six. I had no doubt that I would adjust to the time change quickly.

I slipped out of the condo so I wouldn’t wake anyone, went downstairs, and stretched in the lobby before going for my run. Once out on the sidewalk, I set a brisk pace with the intention of doing a quick run. The city was waking up. There was a mix of people out, either getting their morning coffee or headed to work. It looked like it would be a beautiful day. I couldn’t imagine going to the office on a Saturday when you could be outside.

When I hit my stride, I began to think about what I had ahead of me. Adrienne had snaked me into doing a job for Jade. Not that I minded, but I was feeling a little used. I owed Adrienne a few favors, but even then, I might have pushed back if it hadn’t been Jill’s first job. It was a bit surprising that Adrienne would throw her into the deep end so soon, especially with a major client like that. I’d gotten my feet wet doing newspaper-insert work. I would have thought Adrienne might want to start Jill off with some training.

Then I remembered my very first gig. I got lucky, and the photographer and his wife had recognized I was new. They’d taken the time to teach me what to do. I guessed that Adrienne expected I would be willing to help Jill navigate her first session. I was sure both Adrienne and Tyler would be there too. It would all work out, plus I would make some extra cash. Since the trip had been paid for by selling to the deconstruction contractor in Monaco, this was just gravy to add to the bottom line.

When I got home, I would have to make a decision on baseball. My cracked helmet was enough to wake me up to the dangers I was facing with pitchers throwing at me. I was almost convinced that the risk of getting hurt made it not worth playing anymore. In the grand scheme of things, playing a few more high school games wasn’t that important to my future.

In the back of my mind, though, something told me I would regret it if I didn’t play. Like football, there were only so many opportunities I would get to play ball with my friends. After I left for college, I would probably never be on a baseball diamond with any of them other than in a pickup game. Did I really want to pass up the opportunity to play with them before I graduated?

I also thought we had a chance to go deep in the state playoffs. We’d put together a team that had enough pitching depth to survive the back-to-back games. Most high school teams had only one or two starters who could stand up to better teams. I thought we had at least six if you counted Justin, Bryan, Brock, Phil, Trent, and myself. You could add Bert to the mix if he was having a good day.

I would wait and see what my dad came up with before I made my final decision. He’d taken it onto himself to find a way to make sure I was safe playing. As of right now, it could go either way.

I was a little irritated that Brook had thrown the Cassidy issue into my lap. I didn’t have a doubt that Cassidy would flourish wherever she went if she put her mind to it. Pam and Tracy would be a good influence on her, study-wise. USC was also a better school academic-wise. I felt they would push her more, which would be good.

Oklahoma was an excellent university, and I was sure Cassidy would do well there too. It was just that a degree from USC would open more doors for her later in life. I used that to justify why I planned to talk to Cassidy about it.

The truth was, while I wanted Cassidy to go to the same school I did for selfish reasons, Brook had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange this for our mutual friend. I respected Brook’s take on this and would support her. She wouldn’t be pushing this if she didn’t believe that USC was the best place for Cassidy to go.

I slipped into the corner deli and bought all the fixings for bagels and lox. I got enough for the models in the other condo, too. I knew models didn’t usually eat carbs, but I figured that it was a treat they could all get behind.

After my shower, I found Jill and her mom eating bagels with Tyler. Tyler must have invited them over so we could all go to Jade together.

“Did you teach them the right way to make a bagel?” I asked Tyler.

“David fancies himself a bagel snob. Is he this bossy back home?” she asked.

Jill gave an exaggerated sigh.

“He thinks he knows everything. He has rules he makes everyone follow. Has he made you go back and change clothes before you go out?” Jill asked.

I gave her an exasperated look and then turned to Tyler.

“Kids these days have no sense of style. If she wasn’t wearing Garanimals to tell her what matched, you would be shocked ... shocked, I say. I was doing a community service by suggesting a few changes in her attire.”

That, and her dad would have stroked out if she had gone out dressed as she had been. Either that or Phil would get his butt kicked protecting her. I shuddered at the visions of what might have happened.

I might have been a touch too dramatic in my delivery because even Mrs. Lacier had her eyebrows raised.

“Eat your bagel however you want,” Tyler suggested.

“Barbarians,” I mumbled.

You try to be helpful...

On the ride over, I showed Jill and her mother Jade’s website. They were very Abercrombie in terms of style. For past jobs, I’d worn everything from ripped jeans and wrinkled t-shirts to swimsuits to outerwear. The difference between Jade and Abercrombie was that Abercrombie’s clothes were about half the price.

Sarah and I were featured on the front page of their website. It was probably time they updated it. I remembered taking that picture the summer of my freshman year. I’d also seen it in their magazine advertising.

“Tyler told me that you’re the ‘face’ of Jade and that that’s something not many models achieve. She also said you’re the main model for Dakora and Range Sports. I knew you modeled for them, just not to what extent,” Jill said.

“Is that a big deal?” Mrs. Lacier asked.

“Over my modeling career, I’ve only been asked to be the ‘face’ of two lines,” Adrienne explained. “Being the featured model is both good and bad. The good is they pay you a lot of money. The bad is they put handcuffs on you as far as who you can model for. In David’s case, he got lucky. Even though Jade, Dakora, and Range Sports all sell clothes, they’re different enough that it doesn’t trigger the noncompete sections of his contracts.”

“Plus, they like me,” I added. “Jade has been flexible. They let me do jobs with Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch. In most cases, they would have had every right to disallow that because they sell similar types of clothing.”

I flipped through a couple of pages on the site.

“Notice that they have their models in minimal makeup. They want us to appear as normal as possible. They don’t try for a high-fashion look,” I shared with Jill.

“I see you have your shirt off in a lot of them,” Jill said.

“They want to feature the pants he’s wearing,” Tyler said.

“I’m sure that’s the reason,” Mrs. Lacier said doubtfully.

“You have to be comfortable showing your body. That type of photo sells a lot of clothes,” Adrienne explained.

I knew she’d said that to prepare Mrs. Lacier for what was expected of models. She seemed to consider what Adrienne had said, and her lips pinched. I would be concerned too if it were my teenage daughter. I was happy when Mrs. Lacier let it go for now. She would see how today went before giving her blessing to allow Jill to follow her dream.

Once we arrived at Jade, I took the lead since I’d been there before. Their home office was more of a warehouse. They designed their clothes on-site, and they had a corner set up to do photo shoots. Waiting for us was their Vice President of Marketing, Michael Reese. He’d been my primary contact since I first started working for them.

“David,” he called out and rushed over to give me a hug.

Someone was glad to see me. Hugs were new.

“Adrienne told me that you’d discovered someone and wanted us to have her first,” Michael said.

Did she, now?

“This is Jill Lacier. She and I go to the same high school. Jill, meet Michael Reese, who runs Jade’s marketing division,” I said by way of introduction.

I saw Michael glance at her chest. Most models weren’t built like Adrienne up top. Larger breasts weren’t the asset you would think in this line of work. Designers wanted their female models to be flatter-chested so that their clothes hung better. Jill also wasn’t anorexic. She had a muscular, athletic build that looked damn fine on her, in my opinion. I just hoped that Michael felt the same.

“I’ll take them back to get ready,” Tyler said.

Adrienne and Michael went off to talk. I was sure she would convince him Jill would work for what they needed.

For today’s shoot, they’d converted a conference room into our dressing room. Mrs. Lacier had tagged along and looked concerned.

“There aren’t separate rooms for them to change in?” she asked.

“That rarely happens. Yes, the guys are usually off to the side, but they’re often in the same room. It’s not very sexy because everyone is there to do a job. I sometimes change on set in front of everyone to save time,” I explained.

“He’s right. This is part of it,” Tyler said.

“AT Modeling will make sure someone is with Jill at all times. She’ll be safe,” I assured Mrs. Lacier.

“Maybe I should go outside,” she offered.

“And miss the show?” Tyler asked.

Jill gave a nervous bark of laughter and then covered her mouth. Mrs. Lacier closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself and then left.

“She has to get over that,” Tyler said.

“I know. But it is a little much to take in all at once,” I reminded Tyler and then turned to Jill as I waggled my eyebrows. “Let’s get naked.”

“What!?”

I began to take off my clothes.

“He’s not serious, is he?” Jill asked Tyler.

I noticed that the two women’s eyes never left my body. When I got down to my boxers, I grabbed a robe and went to the makeup table where a girl was waiting for us. While she started on me, Jill finally joined me in her own robe.

“My mom is going to kill you if you keep joking around,” Jill predicted.

“Your mom will be fine. She likes me.”

They had me start first. I was glad to see Jackie was our photographer today. We began with my least favorite type of work, catalog shots. I had the wardrobe gal roll out a rack of clothes they wanted me to wear and changed on set. It saved a ton of time, and I wanted to get this part over with as quickly as possible.

While I did my job, Adrienne watched me like a hawk.

“Your left hand,” she reminded me.

“I wasn’t ready,” I complained.

“You should always be ready,” she shot back.

“Is she coming on to me? Is that some kind of workplace abuse?” I asked no one in particular.

“Shut up and focus,” Adrienne ordered.

I made the pose correctly.

“Better.”

“That’s the last outfit,” Jackie announced.

“Thank God!” I said as I slouched. “Abuse the new kid for a while.”

Jill came out in a t-shirt and shorts set.

Jackie took a test shot and loaded it onto a TV screen they were using to catch any flaws. I looked over Adrienne’s and Jackie’s shoulders.

“Lose the bra,” I suggested.

“He’s right,” Jackie said.

Adrienne went to Jill and stood in front of her as she took it off to guard her modesty. Adrienne began to chuckle.

“We’ll be right back,” Adrienne announced and took Jill back to makeup.

“What’s that all about?” Jackie asked.

“If I were to guess, I would say they’re putting pasties on to hide that she’s braless.”

“Oh,” was all Jackie said.

When I dated Jill’s sister, I’d discovered that she had nipples that reminded me of pencil erasers, but longer. Jill was similarly built. Her nipples poking through the t-shirt would be a distraction from what she was wearing. Jade’s main goal was to sell clothes.

When she came back, Jill looked much better.

Adrienne ran her through the poses and explained what she had to do. Jill did well for the first half-hour, but then she started to lose focus. It was a common mistake new models made. It was hard to keep making the same pose over and over again.

Adrienne spotted it and had Jill take a break so she could talk to her. That meant I was up again.

We completed the catalog work in the morning. I was glad to see Michael hadn’t ordered only rabbit food for lunch. There was stuff to make a salad, which Adrienne went for. But there was also pizza and a potato leek soup that was excellent.

The afternoon would be ad work. Like Abercrombie, Jade wasn’t against showing skin to sell their clothes. Unlike this morning’s photos, these were supposed to be sexier. I wasn’t surprised when Jill was sent to makeup, and they removed her pasties. This would be when Mrs. Lacier objected if she ever would.

While we were eating, my phone rang. I was confused as to who could be calling because it was an international number.

“This is David,” I answered.

“Hey, it’s Alex.”

He sounded upset.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“My dad ... my dad was almost kidnapped.”

That got my full attention. I’d experienced the fear when I was in Mexico, and the gang tried to take me.

“Is he okay?”

“He got banged up. They ran his car off the road and actually had him. It was an inside job. Two of his security team were involved.”

That was your nightmare scenario. You trusted your security to keep you safe.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“Last night. Dad has been piecing it all together. They planned to take you too,” Alex warned.

WTF!?!

“What?”

“They took Dad as he left the parking lot. He was going to pick up our dinner. Then they busted into your condo. That was when Dad’s backup team arrived and freed him.”

“Shit. I take it the police have them in custody.”

“Uh ... no. We didn’t call the police. Dad’s people took care of it. Don’t ask,” Alex said before that question popped out of my mouth.

I could only imagine how Colombians ‘handled’ something like this themselves.

“Is it just about money?” I ventured.

“No, it’s ... complicated. Dad said to tell you to be careful for the next few days while they ... Well, I can’t really say,” Alex said as he danced around what was really going on.

“Alex, tell your dad that my condo is wired for security. There will be a video if he needs it.”

“I’ll tell him. Dad wanted you to know that he’s taking care of any damage they caused.”

“I appreciate that, but I just want to make sure you all are okay. Stuff can be replaced; you guys can’t.”

“We aren’t there anymore. I’m not supposed to say where we are until we get the all-clear. Dad doesn’t think they’ll try anything with you. He said you were just an opportunity they didn’t want to pass up. Just be safe,” Alex warned.

“Are you safe?”

Alex didn’t say anything.

“Is your dad worrying your security might be compromised?” I followed up.

“I’ve got to go,” Alex said.

“If he’s worried, have him call me. I have some resources that would help...”

Before I could say anything else, he added, “I’ve really got to go. I’ll call you when I know more.”

Tony felt he owed me for helping with that rat bastard, Brandon. If anyone could protect Alex and his family, it was Tony’s people.

My next call was to Paul. I explained what Alex had told me. Paul was on a ferry to the Statue of Liberty with the rest of my gang. He said he would be on the first one back. I told him my next call was to Fritz, and I wouldn’t let him know that Paul wasn’t with me. Paul and I had played it a little loose with security on this trip.

It made me realize that I had to take all this more seriously. Just when I finally felt nothing would happen, something did. My mom would have said that I should have known better. I think that’s what moms were for, to remind us of everything we did wrong. I didn’t plan to tell Fritz what I’d been up to ... or my mom.

I called Fritz.

“Funny you should call. I was just watching some interesting video. I take it you know your place in Greece was broken into last night.”

“Yeah. It was tied to the attempted kidnapping of Umberto Sandoval. Part of his security team turned on him. I just got off the phone with his son, Alex. He said they planned to take me too. I want to make sure my family is safe. Let Manaia and Cassidy know. It might be a good idea to send Chuck back for a while,” I suggested.

“I’ll call Paul and tell him to get his butt to your photo shoot,” Fritz said.

Then the light bulb turned on. Social media had sunk Paul. It was Fritz’s subtle way of letting me know that I couldn’t pull one over on him.

“I take full responsibility,” I tried.

“Let me run my business, and I promise to stay out of yours. Even if your dad expects me to give him weekly updates.”

That put the fear of God into me. My security team wore bodycams everywhere they went. If anyone had dirt on me, it was them. I knew Fritz kept all that backed up, and he’d assured me no one could get into those records. I would have my dad look into how secure they really were.

What relieved some of my worry about my dad getting reports was that he tended to keep stuff close to the vest. My mom would have lowered the boom on me as soon as she found anything out. And like any teenager, I had done stuff that would have drawn her ire. I suspected Fritz shared more than I wanted, but I trusted my dad would only step in if I did something truly heinous, like having Fritz help me dispose of a dead hooker in the trunk of my car.