Chapter 74

Adam figured his next call should be to Rachelle. His car wouldn't hold six people. There was just no way. At least it couldn't handle six people for a trip as long as it would take to get to Las Vegas.

He was surprised when she answered quickly.

"Hey!" she said cheerfully. "How are things back there?"

"Good," Adam told her. "How are things going with you?"

"It's fun," Rachelle answered. "It's weird seeing my Dad so relaxed. He is really having a good time. So what's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd mind if we took the SUV on a small road trip – to Vegas," Adam said.

"Nope, it's why I left it," Rachelle replied. "Look, it's in Subarctic's name. You can use it for whatever you want. Don't worry about it."

"Well, it's not strictly Subarctic related," Adam told her. "A part of it is. We'll be making a pitch to host some major web accounts. But it's mostly uh, my other job. I didn't want anything to crop up when a phone call could avoid it."

"Major web accounts in Las Vegas?" Rachelle said with a laugh. "That could be cool. How did Saturday go?"

"Real well," Adam replied. "It is a really good idea to spend time with someone before you do that. I guess that's why I never got into one-night things. We've hired Karlie as our personal assistant. She is going to handle the booking angle for all three of us. It works out really well. Allie signed on with Daystar today."

"I saw!" Rachelle said happily. "I logged on to see, well, I'm not sure what I wanted to see. But I know I log on to PornLife at least twice a day now. I think I'm addicted. Anyway, there was a big blurb about Ashley Malibu and Daystar. I was going to call her tonight to congratulate her. So, who you working with out in Vegas?"

"How familiar are you with the girls in the business?" Adam wondered.

"I'm getting very familiar," Rachelle said. She exhaled sharply. "You're going to do Rita Looker's site, aren't you? Adam, that is really huge. That opens up a whole new avenue for you."

"Well, it won't be out for a while and it's supposed to be a really big deal," Adam admitted. "It's Rita Looker and Cassie Charms together."

"No shit!" Rachelle replied. He could clearly hear how excited she was. "That means you'll have worked with the four biggest young stars in the business. If you could work out a way to do something with Cami Heart and Betsy Hamilton you'd have gotten the top six money makers in the business."

"I'll assume you don't mean money-maker in the strip club sense," Adam joked.

"That, too," Rachelle laughed. "Wow! Adam, I'll confess I wasn't sure you could do this. I mean, you're too nice a person. This is a really big deal. When are you doing it?"

"We're going to travel up tomorrow and spend a couple of days with them," he told her. "We'll shoot the last day and come back Thursday or Friday."

"Do you think we can land them for Subarctic?" Rachelle asked.

"I don't think so," Adam confessed. "Honestly, I'm not sure we want them. They are already established and bring in big money. Rita is looking to expand her work. I'll be only the second guy she's worked with and the first she's done a full scene with. Cassie hasn't done a boy-girl since Thanksgiving. They want to use this to kick off their new web sites this summer."

"Web sites we might be hosting," Rachelle said. She was shaking her head, not that Adam could see it. "This is fantastic. We've branched out again. If we host those two web sites, we'll make even more money and give ourselves an even bigger name."

"Uh, Dazzle wants to talk to Mary, too," Adam said. "We did promise them last week that we would be willing to do this. It might be too much for one person to handle."

"Then we'll hire in other people," Rachelle said. "Did you talk to Celina about the house next door to us? Dad let it slip yesterday."

"Oh, I ran into the guy yesterday when I was delivering your things," Adam answered. "The girls ran down to San Diego to see Trinity so I played pack mule. The guy was out there. We talked a good bit. Celina said there is no reason for her to get involved until we need a deed search and paperwork. So I'm going to call Steve Rayburn tonight and see if we can reach an agreement. We can't rent it, though. It's zoned the same way our place is."

"Yeah, we figured that out," Rachelle said. "Still, it's equity. That's just as important. It gives us an unencumbered tangible holding. I think that is what Dad and Sean called it."

"It does at that," Adam told her. "That is what I was thinking. Plus, just because we can't rent it doesn't mean we can't use it. We're also going to have to look for office space soon. I think we're outgrowing the moveable office structure we've set up."

"Yeah, Sean and I talked about that, too," Rachelle said with a sigh. "I think we all need to sit down when we get back and hash some things out. I'm not sure we all have the same goal in mind and we need to be clear about what our expectations are."

"That would be good," Adam answered. "I think I need someone to clarify my role in things. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with what has been explained to me."

"Why?" Rachelle asked. She hoped Adam wasn't thinking the same as Mary – about Subarctic just being a sidelight to a real career.

"Well, I was sort of under the impression that I was a charity case," he admitted. "I thought you just let me tag along because you didn't want to hurt my feelings. Now I've been told that I'll be expected to sort of be the face of Subarctic."

"That is the goal," Rachelle said immediately. "At least that is my goal. I don't mean Derrick Driller, either. I mean Adam Walters. You're already doing it. You're getting us into places we could never get and making things possible for us that we couldn't do on our own. Not just in the adult business, either, Adam. I mean with everything. I know it is not the right time, but I found out that some of us aren't as committed to Subarctic as I am. This is not something I am doing for a couple of years until I graduate. I can see Subarctic growing and expanding for decades to come. We're on to something. How does everyone else feel about that?"

"I can only speak for myself and from what I've heard the others say but I think we're with you," Adam said. "Of course, I didn't know what my role was to be. I haven't really done much so far and I don't have any marketable skills."

"How is your farm doing?" Rachelle asked out of the blue.

"I have no idea," Adam answered. "I don't have a grasp on that situation so I hired someone to run it."

"Exactly," Rachelle replied. "I'll have you know it is doing extremely well. Sean has been charting its growth over the past few months. Growth, Adam. It is not faltering; it is growing. You brought in the right person to do the job. It is exactly what's been done with Subarctic. You let Mary do her thing. You let me do mine. You let Allie and Sarah and Walt and Sean and Shelly do theirs. But when we have questions about which direction we should go, we come to you. Did Shelly talk to Ben yet?"

"Uh, yeah," Adam replied. The conversation had bounced around from one topic to another so quickly he was having trouble following.

"And he told her we could do the picture for $40,000 or less, didn't he?" Rachelle continued.

"Less," Adam answered.

"Which is exactly what you projected," Rachelle maintained. "So, here is what I'm thinking. If we do 'Dragon Lore' for $30,000, we will make a profit in two days."

"Ben says it will take about 20 hours," Adam replied. "He said we could sell it for 50 cents and still turn a profit eventually. That is based on what Allie's video is doing. They gave her a cut of those as part of her contract, too. She's doing really well. Dazzle is still undecided. I'm not sure of what's going on there."

"I am," Rachelle said. "Ellen Perry has been move to a different job. She is going to be dealing only with the gay stuff, guy-guy only. They are saying it's a promotion but we all know it's not. It's so Jerry can make sure Sarah never has to deal with her again. That is how much they want Sarah to be the face of the new line of products."

"How do you know that?" Adam asked.

"PornLife," Rachelle said with a trace of embarrassment. "I'm not kidding. I find myself checking it out right before I go to sleep and again in the morning to see if anything hit on the East Coast. I logged in when we were having lunch about an hour ago. I thought Sean's mom would be scandalized when we started talking about it. Instead she just wondered how long it would be until her daughter had a profile up there. I checked to make sure she didn't already. She's 18, you know. She could have been sneaking in to do shoots without any of us even knowing. Speaking of which ... did you know Shelly posted a profile on the adult database?"

Adam sighed.

"I heard about it a few minutes ago," he said.

"Do you know you still don't have one?" Rachelle wondered. "You need to fix that. I've got a picture of you from the lake last summer. I cropped everyone out but you and it's a really good shot. I'll e-mail it to Shelly as soon as we settle for the night. She can get you set up."

"Yes, ma'am," Adam said.

"I'm serious," Rachelle protested. "Everyone is going to go to the database, especially people outside the business who wants to see what you've done. It will help drive people to Dazzle's site and the other sites you've worked with. It is a good chance for them to get free advertising."

"You know, it's mostly guys going to look for scenes with particular starlets, right?" Adam asked. "Most guys' profiles only get a half-dozen hits a month. No one is going to go to a site to see me. They'll go to see who I worked with."

"Which is another reason for you to get a profile," Rachelle insisted. "You can hit a link that shows who you've done scenes with. When they check out Allie and Sarah's profiles, they'll see you. When they check out Rita Looker and Cassie Charms' profiles, they'll see you. It's not just the public who uses this. It's a handy tool for producers too. Ben said he uses it when searching for male talent. If he sees someone who has worked with a particular actress a number of times, he is likely to book him if the girl has a good reputation. The ones you've worked with all have good reputations."

"I guess you're right," Adam admitted. "But I really don't want to do 100 or 150 scenes in a year. I figured it out and I can get by just working six times a month. With what my scholarship pays, that will give me about two grand to play with. Not to mention I get a cut of the downloads from what Rita and Cassie have planned."

"You do?" Rachelle asked. "That's really good. I'm not sure any other guy in the business gets that. How much?"

"Twenty cents on each one," Adam replied. "I figure that will be good for $5,000 or so there."

"More like $20,000 or so," Rachelle countered. "But you'll have to pay taxes on that. So figure on taking in 13 cents on each one. It will still be a huge number assuming they don't try to screw you. Get it in writing."

Adam chuckled and Rachelle joined him moments later.

"OK, look who I'm telling," she said. "It's good to hear from you. Anything else I missed?"

Adam thought for a moment.

"Oh, Shelly's father showed up yesterday," he said. "I sent him packing."

"I wish I were there," Rachelle said angrily. "I'd have sent him home without a few parts he finds vital."

"I got the impression that Eric's dad only lets him have those back on special occasions," Adam replied.

"Was he there too?" Rachelle asked. "Eric, I mean, not his dad."

"Oh yeah," Adam answered with a sigh. "I am kind of embarrassed at how I acted. I sort of smacked Eric and Shelly's dad around a little and scared the crap out of her little brothers. It wasn't one of my better days."

"Sounds to me like it was a perfect day," Rachelle responded. "What led up to that?"

"General bullshit," Adam told her. "They wanted to act like tough guys, you know. I think Eric didn't expect me around. He was trying to look all rough and tough and so was Shelly's dad. Hell, the boys were, too, and neither of them is any bigger than Allie. I picked Eric up and sat him on the hood of the truck he was driving. Then Shelly's dad said something stupid and I lost my temper a little bit. Sorry but I used the SUV to batter him about a little."