Chapter 47

David
At lunch, David pulled Phil and Colt aside.

“About this morning...”

“Dammit, I owe you five bucks,” Colt complained.

David just shook his head. Why did he bother?

“Look. I used to get a bit out of control at times and have done some stuff I’m not a hundred percent proud of. I think this morning was a mistake,” David said.

“Get over yourself,” Phil said. “Kylie came on this trip to get with you. We both knew that if I didn’t give her permission in front of you, it would never have happened.”

“I know,” David admitted. “Honestly, back in high school, if her group of cheerleaders hadn’t seemed so young, Kylie would have been the one I dated.”

“Now that she has you out of her system, she isn’t looking for a repeat performance,” Phil shared.

“You’re kidding, right?” Colt asked. “I mean, with all the screaming she was doing, I thought she rated David the best ride at Magic Mountain.”

“She did,” Phil agreed, “but she knows he’s in LA, and a long-distance relationship would never work. Besides, you’ve seen the caliber of tail he attracts. Kylie decided that we would go back to whatever we are.”

“What is that, exactly?” David asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I mean, she’s going to be at State, so it isn’t that far to meet up, but I’ll be a senior next year, and I think I would rather have a girlfriend right there. It has nothing to do with Kylie because you know as well as I do that she’s a great catch. I suspect we’ll hook up this summer and then take a step back. I’m just being real here,” Phil explained.

“If you really like her...” David began.

“I know. But as great as she is, after dating Jill, she doesn’t compare. I’m sure you feel the same way about Brook,” Phil said.

David felt his chest tighten at Brook Davis being mentioned. She would always be the one that got away.

“I get it. I trust that there’s someone out there for each of us. All we can hope is that they haven’t come into our lives yet,” David said, then chuckled. “I had a psychic tell me that I’d already met the love of my life. I just can’t figure out who that is, though.”

“I know everyone says that person has to be Tami, but I’m Team Cassidy. I think the little ninja could keep you in line,” Phil said.

“What about Crystal? How could she not be the one?” Colt asked.

Both David and Phil chuckled.

“If Crystal was the one, David would have invited her here for the week. When he was dating Brook, the two of them went everywhere together,” Phil said.

“That’s a good observation,” David decided. “When I was dating Brook, I was lost without her around.”

“If you know Crystal’s not the one, why do you go out with her?” Colt asked.

David gave him a big grin.

“Have you seen her?” he asked as he waggled his eyebrows.

“That’s the only reason?” Colt asked.

“Obviously not. Crystal and I know the score, and we both get what we want out of our relationship.”

“What’s that?” Phil asked.

“She’s my plus-one when I have somewhere to go and need a date. Crystal’s easy to be around, and we click behind closed doors. Like me, she’s just out of a bad relationship and needs time to figure some things out without every swinging dick hitting on her. So, for now, it works for us,” David shared.

“What about the long term?” Colt asked.

“Who knows? Crystal’s a great gal, and we have a lot in common. I’m not saying I think she’s my forever girl, but I like her enough to see if it can be more, if that makes sense,” David said.

“I take it you’re not exclusive,” Colt said.

Phil coughed out a laugh.

“He went on a date with a professional cheerleader and slept with my girl this morning. Are you seriously asking that?” he asked.

“I’m just trying to figure this out. If my career takes off, I sort of want some guidance.”

“That, you have to decide for yourself,” David said. “For me, I get flack for overtalking stuff, but having an open dialogue with girls has never let me down. Those conversations are hard at times, but you’ll be glad you did. Especially if they kick you to the curb because they had other expectations.”

“That one I agree with, now that I understand it,” Phil added.

“What do you mean?” Colt asked.

“Kylie knows I see other women, and I know she’s dated other guys. If we hadn’t talked about that, how do you think this morning would have worked out? If Dani had been in there screaming because he was giving her the best orgasms of her life, would you have been cool with that?” Phil asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“That’s the type of stuff you need to figure out together,” David suggested. “Before it ever comes up. Trust me on that.”

“Because you plan on banging Dani?” Phil asked in mock seriousness.

Poor Colt’s eyes got big.

“He’s fucking with you. Kylie and I have a history. And I know that if Phil had a problem with it, he wouldn’t have told me to have fun this morning,” David said to reassure Colt.

“I say we quit talking like a bunch of women and go play some football,” Phil said to remind them why there were there.

Kendal, David’s first PA, had temporarily stepped in and retaken the job since David had requested that Lexi no longer work with him. Speaking of whom, Kendal enjoyed keeping him abreast of the Lexi-and-Ben saga.

At first, they’d embraced the ruse that Lexi was pregnant and that she and Ben were engaged. She even made him buy her a ring. That had saved his job on the Paris project, and they’d returned to filming.

Then the devastating news came that Lexi had miscarried, and the distraught bride-to-be fled Europe and returned to LA. A week later, the wedding was called off. They claimed that the loss of their unborn child had been too much.

Kent had wanted to fire her, but Frank intervened, noting that pissing Lexi off was not something they wanted to do. Especially since she’d slept with David for over a year while working as his PA. She’d already sent both her BFF Fiona Beckham and crazy-pants Gwen Larkin after him.

Thankfully, Lexi had backed off after David quietly spoke with her dad. Paul must have talked some sense into his daughter.

Lexi had quit, telling Kent that she planned to go to UCLA full-time and get her degree.

As for Ben, Isabel wasn’t done with him. She’d begun to dig up random girls he’d slept with and made them available to the press to talk about what a man-whore he was. Currently, the studio was in a race to see if they could get his film completed before the whole #MeToo movement took Ben down. The only reason Isabel hadn’t won yet was Ben hadn’t used his position to force any girl to sleep with him.

“I found you a place to take everyone to dinner,” Kendal said. “The B & B Butchers & Restaurant is supposed to be the go-to place for steak in Houston. It’s an upscale steakhouse with an attached butcher shop and deli. They’re located in a historic building that dates back to 1903. When I called, they suggested that you eat on the second-floor patio. It offers a bird’s-eye view of downtown.”

“Did you organize transportation?”

“I did, sir. I also made arrangements for you and your date to arrive before the rest of your guests so you can have a tour.”

David didn’t take the bait with the ‘sir’ jab. It was Kendal’s way of saying that he had to get off his ass and pick a new PA so she could return to her real job.

David had decided that before he left Houston, he was going to a steakhouse. It would be like going to Paris and not having croissants, or London and not getting fish and chips. When in Houston, you had steak.

Two of his fondest memories from the Houston Elite camp were eating the bone-in ribeye at Ruth’s Chris and the 32-ounce bone-in New York strip carved tableside at Pappas Bros. Kendal’s job was to find him someplace that rivaled those two experiences. She claimed she had.

Something else she was jabbing David with was his ‘date.’ Bo Harrington and his wife, Tanya, were on his guest list tonight. They’d brought their evil stepdaughter, Lisa, with them. Since David was the only one about her age who would be at dinner, Bo had twisted his arm to be Lisa’s date. Kendal had heard the stories, so she thought it amusing that he would go on another date with the rude girl.

While he had Kendal on the phone, he decided to ask about his next trip.

“Have we finalized everything for the Colombia trip?”

“All your permits for flying in are taken care of. Fritz has made arrangements with the locals so his security people can carry. We’re still in negotiations for the armored car. As soon as they put together that it was for the Sandovals, the price doubled,” Kendal shared.

When she said armored car, Kendal was talking about something like the president would ride in, with bulletproof glass and reinforced protection to stop bullets, not a Brink’s truck.

Fritz had talked with Umberto, Alex’s father. Recently, there’d been a rash of kidnappings. Umberto suggested the protected vehicle in case David, Alex, and Alex’s twin sister, Nat, decided to go into town. At their compound, he felt they had plenty of security.

Fritz made sure everyone knew not to get on social media and announce the travel plans. That included Chloe, whom Cassidy had invited to crash their trip as a reward for winning the scavenger hunt.

“Any luck finding me a new PA?” David asked last.

“I was about to march into Kent’s office and see where that was at. Rumor has it you said something about feeling comfortable having me do that job.”

That made him chuckle because he’d told Frank just that. But he knew it wouldn’t last.

“You go, girl,” he said to play it off.

“Are you done wasting my time?” Kendal asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Have a good day ... oh, and Kendal?”

“Yeah?”

“I owe you.”

He finally heard her chuckle.

“I know. I’m just giving you a hard time,” she said and then hung up.

Lisa was waiting outside when his car pulled up. The driver got out and opened the door to allow her into the back seat.

David was busy checking messages when she got in. It seemed his daughter, Carol, was having a meltdown and wanted her dad, so he connected with his dad on video chat.

“She’s fit to be tied,” his dad said when they connected.

“What’s going on?”

“The boys had enough of her bossing them around and called her a bully, which caught Coby’s attention.”

“Oh, boy.”

“Let me go get her so she can explain it to you,” Dad said.

He’d learned that there were times when you just listened. This was one of those. Carol, seeing her dad, started to cry. She knew exactly how to get his attention. She then told him all her brothers’ sins and how they were mistreating her.