Chapter 90

The alarm clock awakened Shelly and Adam at 6 a.m. Neither of them wanted to head to class but they knew they had to. Allie groaned a little when Adam moved her off top of him but soon cuddled up around Sarah and both girls drifted off to sleep.

Karlie was already awake and sitting at the table with Shelly, Rebecca and Trinity when Adam came out of the shower. Rebecca and Karlie looked fresh and awake but Shelly and Trinity looked like part of the living dead.

But the three students dutifully took Adam's car and headed into the city to sit through three hours of classes. None of the group looked any happier when 11 a.m. rolled around and they met for the ride home. Trinity peeled off to head to her apartment for a nap, leaving Adam and Shelly to head inside alone. At least Adam's afternoon lab had been canceled for the week and he could go home instead of staying on campus. Karlie was beside herself when Adam came walking in.

"The shoot with Goldwall went up today," she said. "I've already got three calls and Ben called to tell me how impressed he was with it. Melody posted it as a one-off download. She set the price at $8 and it's going really well. She said she wished she had priced it higher.

"And Sarah and Jerry have been on the phone all morning! I think Dazzle will do just about anything to get her to sign. You've got three calls, too – one of them from Betsy Hamilton herself. She saw a blurb about what Goldwall is trying and back-tracked your career. She saw how you did with me and with Sarah and with Allie and she decided she would call. She wants to work with you and she doesn't really care about the venue."

"I started a trend," Rebecca said, with a wide grin. "I see something I like and I make a run at it. You're going to see more of that, I think, as we give more power to the performers and less to the studios and the agencies."

"Did they get the Peaches stuff scheduled?" Adam wondered.

"Oh, yeah," Karlie said. "The first thing this morning, Peaches called to finalize the locations. They are going to play up the hot roommates' angle and do it at a rented apartment in Bel Air. They are shooting the interview from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and then they will do the actual shoot on Friday and Saturday, same times. They are sending a car to pick us up, and they're providing us with a catered lunch and everything. Get this: They have a bonus for early completion. Sarah and Allie will get $500 extra for each two hours early the shoot concludes. If they finish up Friday – which I think is a real possibility – they'll get $1,250 each. That's on top of the four grand they're getting for the shoot and the grand they're getting for the cover and centerfold. Can you believe this?"

"I think it's great!" Shelly said.

"Leslie and I are locked firm to do the issue that comes out in September," Rebecca said. "We're doing solo shoots. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of this group doesn't get offers from them in the next few months. Once they see how easy it is to deal with us, I think they'll solicit our input on models."

Adam scoffed, even though he didn't mean to.

"I'm serious," Rebecca said. "Adam, the people who run the magazine lose a ton of money each year by dealing with junkies and prima donnas. I already know Allie and Sarah will behave professionally. You can bet I plan to name-drop while I'm there and let them know I come from the same line of thinking as Ashley Malibu and Sahara Rain. This could be another big score for this group. You've already seen how it can work with Ben and Melody. By the way, I'm doing the Daystar shoot Friday afternoon. I'm heading back to Vegas this afternoon and coming back Thursday night."

"We'll look forward to seeing you," Adam told her.

"That's good, because I'll probably crash here," Rebecca laughed. "I thought I might see if I can audit a couple of classes on Friday morning then see if you, Shelly and Leslie will come out to the studio with me."

"I think that can be arranged," Shelly said. "I need to talk to Ben about 'Dragon Lore' anyway."

"He wants to meet with us as soon as we can arrange it," Karlie said. "I swear, I must have answered 20 calls in the last three hours."

Adam smiled broadly.

"I told you this wasn't as 'make-work' job," he told Karlie. "Aren't you mad you didn't hold out for a better salary?"

"No," Karlie said firmly. "I got to go to Vegas. I'm going to get chauffeured to a photo session for a major magazine. I get to hang out with my friends and I get to live around them, too. Two weeks ago, I was scared I might starve to death or have to resort to shoplifting or something. I should be paying you for this. Answering the phone is the least I can do."

"The least you could do is nothing," Shelly said. "Because we would have let you live here and hang out with us even if you didn't help us out. We like you, Karlie. You don't live here because you do work. You don't live here because we felt sorry for you. You live here because we enjoy your company and we want to spend as much time with you as we can. I hope you didn't get a different impression when we offered you this gig."

"I didn't," Karlie said. "Well, maybe at first I thought it was because you felt bad for me. But now I see that we would be friends even if I lived somewhere else. Or at least I would want to be friends with you and the group up the hill and Trinity, Rebecca and Leslie, too."

Adam wondered if a group hug was in the making but the moment passed. He supposed not everything could turn out his way.

"Well, you know my schedule," he told Karlie with a shrug. "I would guess you should coordinate with the others and set an appointment with Ben when it works for them. If I can be there, I will but I don't think I'm integral to this portion of the planning – or any portion of the planning now that I think of it."

"Sarah and Allie said outside of Thursday, Friday and Saturday they have no commitments," Karlie informed him. "They said to get with you and see what will work. Do you want me to call Betsy Hamilton back?"

"No," Adam said. "I want to take a day to consider what is coming up and to focus on my schoolwork. Did you give her a timeframe when I would call?"

"Not really," Karlie answered. "She was really polite, though. She thanked me for taking the message and everything."

"I've heard she is a real sweetheart, too," Rebecca added. "It might be a good idea to give her a call just to touch base and let her know that you've got school things to consider. She is in college, too, I think, so she'll understand. But, if I were you, I think I'd call her myself. You have a reputation for honesty and it wouldn't serve you well at this point to let people think you have a personal assistant who takes care of most of the stuff. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Adam admitted. "When you say it like that, I can see you're right."

"Sadly, I learned the hard way," Rebecca said, a troubled look settling on her face. "I'm almost positive I got most of the reputation I have because I let Patrick handle the calls and the set ups. I'm sure Karlie is more professional than he was but I can also see where it might be misunderstood."

Adam nodded and pulled out his phone.

"I think you should use the business line," Karlie said, handing the phone over. "I think we should be very careful about who has our personal numbers. This is a pre-pay and if we start getting crank calls or bullshit calls, we trash the number and get a new one. But if you start getting them on your personal phone, you'll have a lot of trouble getting them to stop."

Adam nodded again. He was glad there were so many people looking out for his interests but a part of him wondered if he'd lost the ability to make decisions on his own. The phone in his hand rang before he could dial the number Karlie handed him.

Karlie extended her hand for it before Adam could answer. He chuckled and handed it over.

"Five Friends Casting," she answered brightly. "This is Jenny. How may I help you?"

Adam and Shelly exchanged glances and smiles. At least they knew how to answer the phone if it rang when Karlie wasn't around – not that it was likely to happen because Adam was pretty sure she took it into the shower with her. Her own personal phone had been used perhaps twice. Once when she dialed Adam's new phone to see if it worked and once when Adam dialed her number back.

"I'm sorry, Sahara is unavailable at this time," Karlie said into the phone. "If you leave a name, your organization and number, I will tell her you called. She'll return your call if she is interested."

Karlie was silent for a moment.

"She is already booked well into April, so I doubt she will be interested," Karlie informed the caller. "However, if she is, I'm certain she will return your call within 24 hours. Have a good day."

She hung up the phone and rolled her eyes.

"It has been like that all morning," she said, shaking her head. "That was the guy from 'Titty Bangers.' I've gotten calls for her from 'Daddy's Little Fuckhole' – which I told to go screw as soon as I heard the guy's name – 'Real Racks', 'Blonde Ambition' and probably a dozen more. Every half-assed web owner seems to think Sarah will simply drop what she is doing and race to the phone just to speak to them. Oh, and I talked to Sean and Rachelle this morning. They're going to move to roll Five Friends Casting into Subarctic. It will be a subsidiary. I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong until Celina called this morning. She asked me if we were a legitimate business."

"She's had a very busy morning," Rebecca said sympathetically.

"What offers did you get?" Shelly asked. "You said you got some calls."

Again, Karlie rolled her eyes. She was pretty good at it.

"Typical bullshit sites," she said bitterly. "The 'Hidden Treasures' guys called, so did 'Black Cocks in a Pink Box.' The other was a girl-girl bondage site: 'Humiliate the Whore.' I thanked them for their interest but told them I was not interested in doing anything along the lines of what they offered. The Miami guy just laughed and said he didn't figure I would be but it didn't cost him anything but some sleep to call me to find out. The guy from 'Black Cocks' hung up on me when I told him. But the woman from the bondage site was a real bitch. So I told her I would consider it if she was the one hog-tied with clips on her nipples and I was the one stuffing a baseball bat up her ass and until she was willing to take the abuse not to call me back."

Rebecca was nodding, as if confirming what Karlie was saying.

"It was pretty awesome," Rebecca said. "I gather the conversation ended shortly thereafter because Karlie turned to me and said, 'Huh, she hung up' in this real surprised voice. I found it very humorous."

Adam accepted the phone again and walked outside to call Betsy Hamilton.

He was ready to hit the send button when Sarah walked out and hugged him.

"I'm going to sign with Dazzle," she said without emotion. Adam was about to say something along the lines of she needn't do it if she didn't want to when Sarah broke out into a wide smile and jumped into his arms. Sarah was a lot of woman to have leap into your arms and Adam struggled to hold her up and keep the phone from falling.

"Congrats," he said. "I assume the terms were to your liking?"

"I got the same deal as Allie without the previous download clause," she said. "Those funds are integral to their current plans. But I did get a dollar from every future download and a hefty bonus from the individual sales from our scene. It is doing extremely well. Jerry said it is outselling the entire video almost 3-to-1. I guess he had already heard from Lori Lipps and Becca Blaze about it. Our scene is the only one offered for individual sale. They are not happy at all."

"I can imagine," Adam said. He had learning in doing some background research on Dazzle that "Interludes" was supposed to be a vanity project for the two women, set up by Ellen Perry. Sahara Rain had stolen their thunder and Adam could only guess what promises Ellen had made to the women. Both Lori Lipps and Becca Blaze had been in the business for at least four years even though both were only in their early 20s.

"Jerry was polite to them, I'm sure," Sarah said with a shrug. "But this is a business. If he thought Dazzle was better off with them, I'm positive that is how he would have gone. Anyway, I've agreed to star in three features this year but I get my choice of who I work with. Allie and I are both hoping we can do the features in collaboration but we'll have to see. Jerry is still very much on the fence about where Dazzle will fall into our triangle with Daystar. Actually, I don't think Jerry is on the fence so much as he is unsure of what is expected from Dazzle and how the money will be split."

"He has a lot of his own money invested in the company," Adam said. "He started out as just an employee and worked his way up the food chain. When the company went bankrupt in the late 1990s with the first of the industry AIDS scares, he was able to buy out his bosses and take over. He started to downsize the guy-guy stuff and play up the girl-girl videos. The internet took a huge bit out of his profits so he brought in some guys with more ready capital than he had available. He's done a good job of not only keeping the company afloat but growing it. At least that is what Rachelle told me. She did a pretty thorough job of looking into the company and its' past. I think you're just the person to help them take the next step. I think in the next year we'll see Dazzle and Daystar battling head to head with the biggest names."

"I don't know if they'll ever be as big as Insite or Lurid," Sarah said. Adam tilted his head and shrugged.

"One thing everyone has overlooked in our equations is that the amount of money consumers invest in this industry is finite," Adam said. "We'll make money and so will Dazzle and Daystar. That money will come from Lurid and Insite. We'll take a bite out of the profits from places like Goldwall, too, but we'll help Melody get them back by securing her products from theft. There is not an endless supply of cash for us to dip into. Whatever we take will come from somewhere else. It only stands to reason that the biggest chunk will come from the biggest companies."

"But they'll get some of it back with Polar Power, the same as Goldwall will," Sarah protest.

"Will they?" Adam wondered. "I would be willing to bet that they will do no more to ensure their products can't be traded than they're doing now. They're making a large profit by doing nothing. They won't act – as in they won't spend money on a product – until their profits go down. But you have to realize, a guy like me wouldn't spend money on pornography. It's obviously not that I'm opposed to the industry. It's that I don't have money to spend on it. I doubt there are many internet pirates with six-figure incomes. So we can't assume that stopping piracy will actually add significant profits to all corners."

"I think it will help smaller shops like Goldwall and personal sites like Rebecca's a lot more than it will affect the larger groups," Adam said, continuing his impromptu lecture. "Insite and Lurid do very few individual scenes. They sell their products as DVDs. Unless they choose to completely change their distribution network – and go to online services only – they are not going to see anywhere near the savings that web-only sites will see."

Sarah nodded her head in understanding.

"I really hadn't considered that," she said. "But I can see you're right. Dazzle and Daystar rely heavily on web downloads. Daystar doesn't do over-the-counter sales at all."

"Point-of-service," Adam corrected. "But you're right. Daystar is solely on the web. I don't know what their plans are for features and that is something we'll need to clarify. Dazzle does have direct distribution to point-of-service locations. But they do most of their business on the web because it is anonymous and like it or not, homophobia still reigns in many areas. Most men enjoy girl-on-girl action but they get creeped out by guy-guy stuff. That's why Dazzle has really downplayed that section of their business everywhere but in the gay community."

Sarah noticed the phone in Adam's hand for the first time.

"If you're looking for Allie, she's up there working on something with Mary and Rachelle," she said, pointing up the hill.

"I was trying to return a call I received this morning, actually," Adam replied. "But I'm intrigued. What is Allie working on with Mary and Rachelle?"

Sarah smirked.

"Her web site," she said. "Mary apparently wrote code all through class this morning instead of paying attention to her ecology professor. She was bubbly as hell when she got home. She wanted me and Allie to come up but I was still on a conference call with Jerry and Celina so Allie went alone. I think Chelle is going to take the first set of pictures so Mary can post them this morning to give Rebecca a solid idea of what she would be looking at if we take over hosting her site."

Again Adam's head tilted.

"I didn't get the impression that Rebecca or Leslie was eager to change the actual look of their site," he said. "For what I've heard, their sites have looked the same since they were teenagers. Their members know what to expect and where to look for things."

Sarah simply shrugged and glanced down at the phone again.

"Who are you calling?" she asked. She recognized the phone as Adam's old one and not his new one.

"I got a call from Betsy Hamilton this morning," he explained. "I was going to call her to let her know I appreciate her interest and I'll call her back after I get caught up on my exams."