found him to be a very nice guy. He said that he had been watching Julie and that he expected big things from her in the future. I did get to dance with Jacky. She was quite a lady. I saw Julie dancing with Larry and she winked at me. I tried to wink back, but could only blink. I felt like an idiot.
We didn’t stay too long and then went back to the hotel. I paid the babysitter and we went to bed.
Friday morning, Julie went to work at the studio, and I took the kids and went to Sea World Park. We saw every kind of fish and a show put on by killer whales.
We were back in the room at three, and I took a three-hour nap while the kids watched television. Julie came in at six and we went down to the hotel’s restaurant and had a nice dinner. After the meal, we went back up to the room, took showers and started getting ready. At eight-thirty the babysitter arrived and we were ready to leave.
We took a taxi to the Paramount and got our name tags and then went into the ball room. It was full of people dressed to the hilt. I saw the Lawrence’s, and Ralph with his date, Lauren. Ralph still had some scars from the beating that I had given him. Surprisingly, he waved and smiled at me. I smiled and waved back. We had an uneasy truce.
Julie found Jacky and they latched onto each other. I tried to latch on to Larry, but he was busy with a lot of other people.
I was sitting in a chair at my table when Lauren came up and introduced herself. She was a tall, blonde-headed woman, very attractive and seemed to have a lot of class. I said, “Please sit down, let me get you a drink. What are you drinking?”
She smiled a beautiful smile; she had perfect white teeth. “Just white wine, thank you.”
I stopped a waiter, ordered the wine, and a bourbon and Coke for myself. It was my third drink, and I was getting a little talkative. I asked her, “How long have you known Ralph?”
The smile never left her face. “Only a few weeks, I am beginning to think that he isn’t my type. He tells me that you beat him up a week or so ago. Is that true?”
I smiled back at the beautiful woman. “Well, he gave up. I went to jail. Hard to tell who won.”
She laughed. “I like you. If he keeps pawing me I am going to beat his ass too.”
I looked around, and no one was paying us any attention. I asked Lauren. “Want to dance?”
A slow song was up, and I led her onto the dance floor. She said, “I like your wife; she is quite a woman. She seems to love you very much.”
I nodded. “I love her too. How do you know her?”
Lauren looked around the room. “I am an actress. I remember my first film. It was very stressful. I do about three films a year now. I work for Mr. Lawrence.”
I said, “Seems like everyone here either knows him or works for him. How is he to work for?”
She smiled again. “I just love him to death. Once you are his friend, he will do anything for you. For his age he is one hell of a man.”
We were on our third song when I saw Ralph looking for Lauren. She ducked down behind me and said, “I will be honest, I can’t stand that man. Do you mind going outside and walking on the beach?”
We slipped out a side door and went out on the beach. Lauren peeled her high heels off and went barefoot. She had wonderfully tanned legs.
We walked a ways down the beach and she said, “Well, I think that I am going home. Will you walk me to the taxi line?”
She reached in her purse and handed me her business card. “Call me sometime.”
I helped her to the first taxi and she kissed me on the cheek, shook my hand, and was gone.
I went back inside, and Julie was having a fit looking for me. Her eyes were ablaze when she asked, “Just where have you been?”
I smiled. “Lauren got tired of Ralph. I helped her sneak out and get in a cab. She speaks highly of you.”
Ralph came up and stopped us. “Have either one of you seen Lauren?”
We both shook our heads, and laughed.
There were so many beautiful women at the party that it was hard to not stare. I tried to only stare at Julie, but it was impossible.
Julie said, “The Lawrences have invited us to their room after the party. Want to go?”
I nodded. “Sure, why not? Let’s find out how the other half lives.”
I began watching Larry. Everywhere he went there were a string of women who followed him. I wondered why that was. I figured that I would like to be that way for a while.
I danced with Julie several dances, then Larry cut in and asked if he could dance with his employee.
I wandered off to the bar.
Jacky came up and stood by me. “You okay with coming up to our room after the party? We will have a few other people there too.” She looked around. “Let’s dance!”
I was certain that I had never been around as beautiful a woman as Jacky was. I could barely stand to look at her; she was just too much to take in.
I asked, “Jacky, why do all those women follow your husband around?”
She laughed and looked at Larry. “It is power, Brandon. He has it and they want it. He can make you or break you, and they are willing to do anything to get his help. They are like a groupie.”
I smiled. “Don’t you worry about him?”
She made a face. “Larry doesn’t realize just how powerful he is. He always comes back to me. He thinks that I am the source of his power, and I just let him think it. Now, that is a secret; keep it to yourself.”
The dance was over and Jacky wandered off.
There were three absolutely gorgeous women here tonight, and I had danced and talked to all three of them. I was feeling fairly powerful myself.
I was back at our table sitting down when I saw Ralph grab Julie by the hand and try to strong-arm her out a side door. I was up in an instant, running to the doorway. I got there and shoved Ralph down. Then two of the strongest men that I had ever met grabbed me and held me back. They both looked Arabic, and were careful to not hurt me.
Larry was quickly standing there. “What is going on here?”
Julie said, “Ralph was trying to pull me outside when my husband jumped on him, then these two men broke up the fight.”
Larry looked hard at Ralph. “Where’s Lauren?”
Ralph shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Larry clenched his jaw muscles. “Damn it, Ralph, it’s time you went home.” He looked at one of the big men. “Ashour, make certain that Ralph gets to his car safely.” He looked at me. “Okay, you can let him go now.”
The other man let me go.
I took Julie’s hand and led her back into the party.
She said, “Thank you, honey. I love you very much.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome, and I love you too.” I looked as the two strong men melted into the crowd. “That was the strongest two men that I ever met!”
Julie smiled. “They are Larry’s bodyguards. Word is they are both assassins.”
For the next two hours, all that I did was sit and talk to people. Mostly women. I was finding that I had a talent for that, or so I thought. My favorite person to talk to was Jacky. She was not only attractive, she was witty, smart and polite. She talked to me as an equal, but I knew that she belonged in the group of rich and famous.
At one-thirty in the morning, most of the people had left. The DJ announced and played the last song, and the big lights came on. The party was over. There was a mass exodus for the front doors. Julie and I went out and then took the elevator to the penthouse suite. When everyone had arrived I noticed that there were exactly five men and ten women. Surprising me, I found Lauren to be one of the women. For some reason, she had come back. Jacky introduced everyone and told a little bit about them. For me, there wasn’t much to tell. There was a slightly older woman. She was in her forties. She was very attractive. Her name was Alexis. She was the President of Northwestern Bell Software. That meant nothing to me, but everyone else seemed impressed by
it. Jacky also stated that Larry owned that company too.
I got to sit by Larry and talk to him. He owned many more companies that I didn’t know about. He also owned a fleet of Gulf Stream jet airplanes and a huge amount of property in New Mexico. For all his money, he was basically a country boy. He had a lot of charm and power.
When Larry got up and moved around the room, Jacky sat down by me and asked, “You having fun?”
I smiled and looked into her intense green eyes and said, “I am when you talk to me.” I figured that she was probably used to guys flirting with her.
She was; she put me in my place. “Your wife is very beautiful. Don’t mess around on her. It is far too easy to do around here, and you can’t ever go back.”
I grinned. “Jacky, if I was going to mess around, it would be with someone like you, but I’m not, and thank you for the advice.” I wanted to win this discussion.
She smiled at me. “Thank you for the compliment. I will keep it in mind.” She got up, leaving me speechless.
Julie sat down by me. “Honey, are you getting tired? We can leave if you want to.”
I shook my head. “Baby, we can stay as long as you want to. This is the party to end all parties.”
I talked with Jacky several more times, liking her more and more each time. She was the perfect woman. I wondered what kind of a mother she was?
Julie and I left the party at four and went back to our hotel. The kids and the babysitter were asleep. I helped the babysitter down the elevator to her car and gave her a sizable tip. I watched until her car was out of sight, and then I went back inside,