Risk

by Raquel Belle

  “Fine, whatever,” she says.

  I signal the bartender that I’m going to the other table so he should follow me. I leave my bottle on the counter, I’m not going to be needing it anymore.

  When we get to the table Deanna does introductions. “Jack, this is Joan, Maddie and Lorna, you already know Alicia. Guys, this is Jack. I told them all about you,” she says with a wicked smile.

  “All about me?”

  She gives me a look like I’m stupid. I’ll take it.

  Joan looks like a librarian, Maddie like a surgeon and Lorna like a personal assistant. I don’t know why I get those impressions, I just do.

  The bartender comes up.

  “Well you’ve certainly got a nice table tonight,” he says.

  If only he knew.

  “What are you guys having?” I ask.

  “A round of tequilas and Long Islands,” Deanna says.

  “Go for it,” I tell him.

  “So,” Alicia says, “I saw the news this morning,” she smiles.

  “Weirdest thing, huh?”

  “Yeah, weird,” she laughs.

  Shit.

  “So, Maddie, what do you do?”

  “I’m a veterinarian,” she says, “I mostly work on movie sets, it’s compulsory to have a vet on set if you’ve got animals.”

  I nod, “Lorna, how about you?”

  “I work at the Warner lot, I’m a production assistant.”

  “And you, Joan?”

  “I’m a script reader, I read unsolicited screenplays to see if they’re any good. We call them spec-scripts. It doesn’t pay much but it’s fun and if I find one the studio wants to develop then they give me a little bonus,” she smiles. She’s had the least to drink…or she has a better tolerance.

  Deanna puts her hand on my leg.

  “So, how do you girls know Deanna?”

  Joan answers, “Oh we just met today, but Alicia’s always been telling us about Deelicias and the girl she used to practice on.” They all laugh.

  “Yeah, Deanna told me that one.”

  Alicia smiles, “My portfolio from back then was called Deelicias, it only has pictures of Deedee in there, that’s how I got hired.”

  The drinks arrive.

  “WOOHOO!” Deanna shouts. “Let’s go bitches!”

  There’s a tequila for me too, I wait for them to cheers and then throw mine over my shoulder when they drink. It’s easier than explaining.

  “I love these boozy bitches!” Deanna says into my ear.

  I laugh.

  “Maybe we should get something to eat and go home?”

  “NO!” She grabs my face. “Deanna is only getting started,” she whispers confidentially. It’s cute, but a little insane. It makes me laugh.

  Good thing they’ve got a varied menu at this place. I signal the waiter and order three pizzas with everything.

  “So, how’d she get lucky enough to end up with a stud like you?” Lorna asks

  “Like me? No, you’ve got that backwards. I was drifting through town, saw the prettiest girl I’d ever seen and took a shot. She came with me, and that’s that,” I say, “I’m the lucky one.” I look at Deanna and she gives me a shy smile.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Jack

  The conversation soon turned to movies, they’re all in the business after all and this is LA. It turns out that Joan found a script that got developed by the people that Lorna works for and Alicia was there for makeup and Maddie worked there too. It was a horror movie about killer bunnies. They’re all in their early thirties so they started hanging out.

  The pizzas arrive and I make sure that Deanna eats. I eat as well, it’s good. There’s only a little bit left once everyone has had their fill…mainly due to me.

  I don’t think Deanna has told them about being in rehab. They certainly don’t seem like the kind of people to pressure someone into drinking and Deanna’s actually the one who’s knocking them back like it’s going out of style.

  She arrived here drunk and now she’s on her third Long Island, the other girls are still in the middle of their second. I’m not going to embarrass her in front of her friends. As long as I’m here to watch over her it’ll be fine. I’ll just enjoy the show.

  A live band starts playing and Deanna drags them all to the dance floor. I hang back to watch the purses. I’m not much of a dancer. I once learned the waltz for a wedding but that’s about it. Deanna looks like she’s having a great time though.

  It’s obviously nothing like the show she gave me on Monday night but she’s still sexy as hell. You can tell that a woman with moves like hers knows what she’s doing. It’s a natural, innate sense of rhythm.

  As I watch Deanna from the table—and she’s thoroughly enjoying herself—I see Lorna looking over at me a few times.

  While all the girls are still busy she comes back to our spot and asks, “Do you want to dance with me?”

  I smile, “No, I’m good here, you guys have fun.”

  “Well, do you want to do something else with me then?” She puts her hand way too high up on my thigh. “The ladies’ room is right back there.”

  “I’m with Deanna, Lorna. There’re fifty other guys here. Pick one, I’m sure they’d take you up on the offer,” I smile and gently pick her hand off me.

  “Well, she told us all about your cock. I like big cocks.”

  I can’t help it, I laugh and I know I’m red in the face.

  “Well?” she says, grinning with a raised brow.

  “I’m sure she was exaggerating.”

  “I’d still like to find out. I know you guys are on the outs. This is LA, Jack. Here you’re only with someone until someone better comes along,” she strokes my leg again.

  “Well, Lorna, I’m not from here and there’s no one better for me than Deanna, so thanks, but no thanks.”

  “Your loss,” she winks and goes back.

  As she walks away I see Deanna monitoring the exchange, she comes up to me once Lorna joins the fray.

  She gives me a kiss on the cheek and holds me while she talks into my ear, “What was that about?”

  “Wanted to know the time,” I tap my wrist.

  She holds my face, gives me a squinty look and shakes her head, then taps me on the nose and goes back to the girls.

  The night wears on and a couple of hours later the girls start saying their goodbyes because they’ve got work tomorrow.

  It’s going to be a Monday morning so they can’t party all night. Deanna kicks up a little fuss but then they all exchange numbers and promise to hang out next time she’s in LA.

  I say my goodbyes as well. They’re nice people. Deanna chooses her company well—aside from Lorna, but then…she doesn’t really know her.

  I offer to drive them home—I’d been alternating between coffee and water since I joined their table—but Alicia quietly tells me that I should look after Deanna instead. She says she’s never seen her so drunk before and hadn’t even seen her take a drink in all the time she’s known her.

  She tells me they’ll take Ubers home and that the Escalade’s keys are in Deanna’s purse. She also tells me that Deanna was distraught when she went to her house earlier. My fault.

  Alicia caps things off by giving me one of those talks—you know the ones where they tell you not to hurt their friend or they’ll hurt you more? I’m sure I’ve seen something like that on TV about twenty years ago. It’s nice that she’s cares about Deanna enough to make the effort. I nod and play along.

  When they’re all gone I suggest to Deanna that we should get going ourselves, but she doesn’t want to.

  “I want to drink more!”

  “We can drink at the hotel,” I tell her, “there’s the mini bar.”

  “Yeah, okay, let’s do that, this place is boring now.”

  Before I pay the check, I order one more pizza to go just in case we get hungry later.

  It’s a little over a grand—the whiskey was top shelf. Shit. LA pri
ces. This is really going to eat in to our budget. Luckily, along with the pizza, the waiter gives me the two thirds full bottle I’d neglected earlier in a takeout bag.

  I hold Deanna’s hand as we walk to the car, it’s just a short way down the block, and then we drive back to the hotel. She blasts music and moves to the beats in her seat. It doesn’t take us longer than three minutes to get back.

  Once we park I grab all our stuff—Deanna’s bags and our food—and we take the elevator to the lobby and then the next elevator to our room.

  Deanna sways drunkenly the whole time and doesn’t talk, I think all the alcohol is finally hitting her. I thought she’d be on her ear by now, but she’s still standing.

  When I open the door though, it’s like she’s reinvigorated. She strips off as she walks, letting her clothes land wherever till she’s only in her bra and panties. She goes straight for the minibar, opens it, then turns the TV to a music channel.

  That’s stamina.

  The only other person I know who can drink like that is me and I’m three times her size…if not more. I go to the bedroom to leave her things.

  “You want something?” she yells.

  “Are you sure you can drink more?” I ask her, “You’ve had quite a bit already.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do, I’m still angry at you.”

  “You’re going to feel like crap tomorrow.”

  “I have good genetics.”

  “Have some water.”

  “Shut up!”

  I laugh.

  “Do you want something or not?”

  “I’ve got this fancy bottle of whisky here, I’m alright.”

  I bring the bottle to the couch and sit down. Deanna takes all the tiny bottles out of the fridge and puts them on the coffee table, then pushes my legs apart and plonks her butt in between them and sprawls herself across me. She’s got the arm of the couch for a headrest. I hope she doesn’t pass out before we have sex because her body lying on me like this is already driving me nuts—so soft and smooth.

  I raise her leg up and kiss the inside of her thigh. “I’m sorry about today.”

  “You should be,” she says, “I’ll fight with you tomorrow, I’m too drunk now.”

  “I thought that’s when girls like to fight the most.”

  “No, I might not make sense and then you’ll win,” she chuckles.

  She grabs the remote and turns down the music so we can talk without raising our voices, then she picks up a tiny Mauritian rum and cracks the seal.

  “You sure you’re going to be okay drinking like this?”

  “Yeah, I’ll stop tomorrow, it just happened and I went with it. I only kept drinking tonight because you were there, I knew you’d look out for me.”

  I give her a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m sorry for those things I said. Is that why you drank?”

  “No one makes another person do anything. Yeah, I was sad, but it was my decision, and I’m not a maniac. I’d like to get to a place where I can have a few drinks and stop. I guess maybe I’m just not there yet. Or maybe I am and I’m just enjoying this.”

  “I get that.”

  “I started, and I’m having fun, so what the fuck? I’m not going to pick up a bottle when I open my eyes in the morning, so I might as well make this one count. You’re not planning on leaving in the middle of the night, are you?”

  “No,” I kiss her again, “I just asked to know that you’re okay.”

  “I am, so stop being a nanny all the time,” she taps my nose.

  “When have I been a nanny?”

  “That time at Charlotte’s place where you kept looking at me, I’m not a train wreck alcoholic where I start shaking if I don’t have booze in me. I think it’s more the dumb shit that I do after I drink that concerns everyone, not really the drinking itself.”

  “Hmm, that might be it.”

  Deanna drinks the tiny rum. “Woo! That’s yummy. I’ve never had this one before.” She saves a bit, “Here, try,” she feeds me the sip.

  “Coconut.”

  “Yeah.”

  I open my whisky and take a swig, then offer it to Deanna but she shakes her head. I stroke her thigh, up and down—so smooth. She’s quiet for a while, like she’s thinking about what to say.

  “You know that time with Melvin?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I was always so scared of drinking because that’s a part of my life that was mixed up with Ben and all of that bad shit, it takes me back there, and I wasn’t like that before, but after what happened with Charlotte…it doesn’t have that power over me anymore. I feel like it’s all gone now. And today before I came to the bar, yeah, I was sad, but then when we talked it out, I felt safe again. I’m over it. It’s all behind me. I’ve been carrying that shit around for so long, and now I know I don’t have to.”

  I smile, “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.”

  “That night pretending to be Audrey, and drinking, it all came back. I felt like I was drowning. It brought every negative feeling back, the recordings, the lying, the betrayal, the drugs, the cheating. It was a lot. I really feel like I’m in a better place now and I can move forward. I’m glad it’s all over.”

  “Me too.” I kiss her.

  “It’s going to be okay, Jack,” she holds my face. “As long as we don’t give up, it’s going to be okay.”

  “I wish I shared your optimism. I mean, in my situation—”

  “Our situation,” she says.

  I smile, “Well, where are we going to get our hands on a few million dollars?”

  She laughs, and taps her chin with a fingernail, “I find that if I leave a problem alone for a while, the solution generally comes to me. You should try it.”

  “I guess it can’t hurt, but there’s a clock on this thing, Deanna. Dina, Angie and Beth are hurting right now. I’ve got to try and make them whole somehow. And it can’t be something that damages someone else—nobody good I mean. On paper this job looked great and look what it got us…I did have a weird feeling about it from the start though.”

  “Maybe we can call it practice for the next one.”

  “Well, we did sharpen our skills quite a bit.”

  Deanna picks up another tiny bottle and shows it to me, it’s a coffee liqueur, “Want?”

  I shake my head.

  She cracks it open and drinks it all, then widens her eyes and stares at me.

  I laugh.

  “What did Lorna really ask you?” she says, her eyes narrow at me.

  “Come on, it was nothing.”

  “Tell me!” Deanna pinches me.

  “Ow!”

  “I’ll do it again,” she playfully threatens me.

  “Well it’s your fault really.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve been going around town telling people about my penis.”

  “Oh my God, what did she do?” Deanna looks mortified.

  “Well, she kind of…in a very harmless way…sort of propositioned me.”

  “THAT BITCH!” Deanna sits up.

  I laugh, “Take it easy, she’s not here.”

  “Ooh, no, bad move,” she holds her head and lays back down, “I think I have had a bit too much.”

  “Where’d you guys start out? I was at Dublin’s from the time I left the hotel.”

  “Alicia’s place, up in the hills, we had some wine and talked for a while, then we fetched the other girls and worked our way down to Dublin’s.” Deanna picks up another little bottle and shows it to me.

  “Jamaican rum, nah.”

  She shrugs, cracks it open and downs it, then closes her eyes. “Ooh…”

  “Uh huh. That’ll happen.”

  Thirty seconds later, Deanna gets to her feet and stumbles over to the television. She picks up the Fabergé egg, winds up a pitch and launches across the room, I hear it smash to pieces on the far wall. “Fuck that fucking egg,” she slurs. She wobbles unsteadily, “Jack?”


  “Yeah?”

  “Catch me.”

  I get up quick and snatch her as she falls.

  “Whew,” she chuckles. “Help me to the bed, please. I think I’m going to pass out.”

  No sex tonight.

  I laugh to myself. “Sure.”

  I cradle her in my arms, walk over to the bed and lay her down. I go grab a water from the fridge and some aspirin from the bathroom cabinet and bring it to her.

  “Here, take these so you won’t wake up wishing for death.”

  She takes the pills and drinks down half the bottle.

  After brushing and cleaning myself up a bit, I strip down and get in next to her. Deanna senses me and throws her limbs over my body—I’m sure it’s an unconscious reaction. I put my arm around her and we go to sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Deanna

  I open my eyes. It’s morning.

  What the hell happened last night?

  The taste in my mouth is like I ate a lot of candy and didn’t brush my teeth.

  “Jack?” I can’t feel him.

  “Hmm?” I hear him behind me.

  I turn slowly, he’s lounging next to me, flipping through his little notebook, fully dressed.

  “How did I get here? I don’t remember.”

  “I brought you. You drank a lot last night. Don’t worry, everything is fine.”

  “Huh,” I have no recollection of that. In fact, I’m struggling to recall my last memory. “Am I still angry with you?”

  “No,” he laughs, “we made up.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “You’re not just saying that, right?”

  “Trust me,” he smiles, “by the way, you snore when you’re drunk.”

  “I DO NOT!” I’m so embarrassed.

  “I think it’s cute, it’s like a kitten purring.”

  “Whatever,” I fake roll my eyes, “what time is it?”

  “It’s after ten, we should get going. Checkout is at noon.”

  “Where are we going to go?”

  “We told your sister we were going to be gone for a week, it’s been one, so let’s take the car back to her, we can figure out our next move on the way.”