«You bet. Although in truth, I always thought that he and Karen never had much in common.»
Michela turned, looking intently at him. «I think they did a perfect couple instead. Those few times when I saw them together were so lovely, and it was so romantic when he looked at her.»
At that moment, the woman just widened her legs and his gaze fell right on the crack of the dress, which showed a good portion of naked thigh.
He tried to stay focused on driving, even if the desire to possess Michela grew disproportionately.
Remained a very attractive woman, even though she had just turned forty. Despite this, she still managed to give birth to a mad desire in him. Even then, if he had not been driving, he would have taken her where she was, would have lifted her skirt off her dress and taken off her underwear, after which they would have made love for hours. Perhaps, he have had some skirmishes with a secretary or two, which didn’t take away that he felt a strong affection for Michela, and after all it was normal, since they had been married for almost eleven years. In spite of everything, his fixed nail remained James, and all the work that awaited them.
They arrived home around one o'clock, and once he parked the car, they both got off. He looked at Michela for a moment, moving towards the driveway and towards the main door, with those high heels and that tight-fitting dress. The desire rose again, and once in front of the door of the house he threw a slap on her back. She screamed, and he was further excited. She giggled and looked at him with her dark, deep eyes, with a fake-innocent look, in order to provoke him. Once inside, he couldn’t resist his impulses. He approached Michela and held her close to him, as he dragged her dress's zipper down so that her back was completely naked. She gasped, and her breathing became labored as she let herself go to his rough, strong hands. She slipped her dress on the ground and in a moment Michela was naked, except for her bra and underwear. He had her spread out on the sofa and slowly began to kiss her calf, then her thigh and gradually higher and higher. Then he lifted off and took off his shirt, then he opened her legs so hard and after removing her underwear ‒ only the lower one ‒, took her thighs and began to push, then increase the speed while she moaned in an increasingly stronger and screaming from pleasure.
The next morning was an awakening not entirely pleasant. He moved between the sheets of the bed, thinking he was still in New York, in the bed of his house, together with Karen. He opened his eyes and realized that he was in the same poor hotel room, and with a hint he got up and headed for the bathroom. After a couple of minutes, he roamed around like a living dead man, trying to remember the events that had happened the night before. It was at that moment that he realized that the girl with the unknown name had gone away and not only, with her she taken away the Stratocaster. Here is what you get to trust a stranger, met by chance in a discount store, he thought, which manages to take you to bed and quite accidental to steal an expensive guitar. He didn’t have time to curse, that the sound of the bell aroused him completely. Someone knocked insistently until he could reach the door. At first, the sight of his agent was not a surprise at all.
«Hey, I hope you have not had a horrible night.» The man, said.
He had sunglasses, so he could not see his eyes.
«Yes, except I was robbed.» He confessed.
«What? From whom?» Asked, his agent.
«From a girl who could be the next Eric Clapton in pink.» He said, casually.
While he was about to put on the pair of jeans lying on the floor, he managed to get another lecture from his agent.
«I don’t even want to ask you what a girl was doing here last night. You have to be more careful.» The man admonished him.
«Let's leave... » he paused for a moment, looking for his shirt. «Tell me why you're here, rather.»
His agent continued to scrutinize him with a smiling face. «Today I will introduce you to many publishers, my friend, and at the end of the day you will have a contract. Believe me on the word.» He said, more enthusiastic than he felt at the moment.
They left the room and he put on his sunglasses because of the strong light.
The sun beat mercilessly on the asphalt, and he could only guess the high degrees on the outside. The two men set off to their own car, and after turning on the engine and geared up the gear, he followed his agent through the crowded streets of the city.
Once in front of a huge building, Andy parked and he imitated him, stationing not far from his agent's car. He opened the door and went down, heading for Rare Bird Books, a famous publishing house in Los Angeles, which had published many books by prominent authors such as Greg Anton, Isaac Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Deaver and Gary Phillips.
They went into the Hall and his agent seemed to know how to move inside that immense place. They made two floors of stairs on foot, and after passing a long corridor, turned right, where a golden-haired secretary was busy talking on the phone with some kind of author or producer.
His agent will go straight to the point with her. «We have an appointment.» He said irreverently.
He probably had to have something personal about the young secretaries, he thought.
The young woman didn’t seem to notice, probably used to such behavior.
«Just a second, Mr. Dickens is in a meeting, but soon it will be over and you can talk to him.»
«Can we wait for him, here?» He asked, James.
«Of course.» The secretary answered with a friendly smile.
They settled on chairs placed there, in front of the secretary and after about ten minutes of waiting, the door to their left opened. Two men came out and then they recognized Dickens.
He and Andy had met the man years ago, just as James had come to Los Angeles to help with the screenplay of the film from his book.
He was a middle-aged man, with gray hair pulled back from a mountain of gel, dressed in an expensive blue-striped dress in white silk. When he saw it he didn’t hide the surprise.
«James Alliston! A lifetime has passed since our last meeting.»
He did not know where his enthusiasm came from, since the last time they met their meeting was not finished in the best way.
«Your wife hope she's right.» The man said, with a cheeky grin.
Son of ... he thought. Ok, surely he couldn’t know of their recent divorce, but his advances to his ex-wife shouldn’t have forgotten. Surely he haven’t.
So much so that their last date, one evening with Karen, in the week she had come with the girl to visit him in Los Angeles, had almost ended up with a fistfight on both of them.
Probably, now that he was looking for a contract for his new book, and after his agent had contacted him to get them to sign a partnership, he had to make it extremely happy to know that James needed him.
The three men settled into Dickens's study, and after the latter sat down on the big black leather chair, too blatantly, his agent began to speak.
«As I told you on the phone, Richard, we're looking for an important collaboration. James is grappling with a new book that will surely become a next editorial case. That's why we came to you. You're the only one you can count on to get James's new job sponsored and distributed to the fullest.»
They both waited for a response from the man, who arrived after a few seconds.
«Of course.» Dickens made a superb look. «Unfortunately, some problems arise here, my friends.» The man continued. «See, it's hard but the voices are spinning and I've got lots of rumors about you.» He took a few seconds to examine both of them, then continued. «In short, videos that portray agents with the secretary. Failed writers, who give themselves to alcoholism and divorce their wives. You must know that these days are tough , and the image is everything.» He smoothed his hair back, smearing even more the gel that covered the entire head. «I want to give you a chance, though.» He said, then, as if at that moment he was a good Samaritan who could never refuse to help others. «On one condition, of course.» He finall
y concluded.
Then he knew about him and Karen, James thought.
Both remained with their ears wide open, waiting for the conditions they would have to undergo.
«No more bullshit.» The man said, serious-faced.
The fact of having to work with a similar asshole was not a problem. Starting from a rather important publishing house like that of Dickens, after all it was a great step forward. Surely, it would have been a great start. In the end, he and Dickens wouldn’t have to see each other too often, once the contract was signed, and he wouldn’t be forced to see his ugly face, so he could also be there.
They were almost ready to finish it off, so they stood up and approached the desk full of papers stacked under paperweights while the man walked around the table. They were facing each other, but just when Andy was no longer in the skin for this "victory", if he could call himself that, Dickens wanted to exaggerate.
«Just a second.» He made the man, with a smile. «One last thing.»
He turned to James, and still with that little smile on his face, he said, «There should be no problem if I tried to go out with your wife from time to time. You see, I have a business trip waiting for me in New York and you know how badly Karen cannot resist.»
At those words, he could no longer hold himself back. He flung himself over the man with open arms, both of them scrambling over and over Dickens's desk. The secretary broke in, because of the big bustle and there were already the security guards of the building, which took both him and his agent and threw them out of the building.
«All right, as a first meeting it didn’t go so badly. We were about to sign, basically.» Andy said, scratching the back of his head.
They both set off for their cars and start out for other talks with other medium-sized publishers, or at least not like Rare Bird Books .
The talks that followed didn’t go better than the last, and even if they did not get to be banged outside, their fame unfortunately preceded them up, there in Los Angeles, at least as far as he was concerned.
Well, his agent didn’t have a better reputation, but on the other hand they could hardly expect to be welcomed with open arms, when you had a reputation as an alcoholic, impertinent and arrogant and sexual maniac as far as his agent was concerned.
About three o'clock in the afternoon they decided to take a break, and the decision came just in front of the last office of Prostar Publications, which in coming out, the secretaries, had struggled to suppress laughter; always about the last adventure of his dear and old literary agent.
«So, I'll meet to the Waterton Publishing Company in an hour and a half.» His agent announced.
He walked to his car and went back into the busy streets of Los Angeles, when the sun was higher in the sky and lit up the city full of shimmering buildings, because of the large glazed windows. He parked near the beach and got out, heading towards the pier.
It was pleasant and the air in those parts was much cooler and drier. He had almost forgotten how beautiful the sea was there, or the beaches, full of surfers and girls in bikinis busy spending their days on the beautiful California coast. Despite this, she wanted to be with Karen, and her life, since she had left him, was emptier than ever. He approached a canopy that sold hot dogs and bought one, along with a small bottle of mineral water. He sat down on a bench and relaxed, enjoying the smell of the ocean that inebriated the air with its salty flavor. Once finished, he threw the paper in one of the baskets next to him and started back towards the beginning of the pier and his car, and then set off towards the city center.
He parked the car a few blocks from the restaurant he'd been in the night before, along with his agent, and after he got off he walked along the sidewalk, to sit quietly among the crowded shops. He stopped in front of a bookshelf, which had about thirty copies of his book on display. Seeing his novel so exposed could no longer give him the satisfaction he had felt at the beginning, partly because it reminded him of his failure with Karen and everything about that book was about them. He decided to enter.
The surprise was even greater when he found even more copies on display inside the bookcase. Who the hell was ordering so many copies at once, he wondered, as he wandered through the library full of people immersed in reading. He paused in the department of vintage novels, and then went on to something more recent.
For once, a voice behind him made him turn.
A familiar face, but that he could not immediately recognize. «I heard you were back, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you come in through the main door of the shop.» She said the young woman, looking at him with an open, sunny smile.
Where he had already seen that woman? He wondered, questioningly. Before he could answer this question, the woman took a few steps toward him and, looking at her closely, the memories suddenly came back to life.
«Stacy Smith!» He did, as Stacy's memory re-emerged one after the other.
Almost fifteen years had passed since their last meeting, and she had not changed at all, but remained the charming and sexy girl he had met before his decision to move to New York to stay with Karen.
«Oh my god! It's been a century.» She said, approaching him and hugging him instinctively.
He returned the hug, but in a less invasive than Stacy, who seemed really happy at that moment of having seen him again. Well, he too has a huge pleasure for him.
«I'm glad you didn’t forget me.» Stacy said, moving away from that embrace and smiling at him.
«What you're talking about, you're exactly the same as when I first met you.» He said, seriously surprised that she had not changed at all.
Of course, you could see the signs of age a little, like the dimples just sketched on the sides of the lips and around the eyes, but otherwise it was the beautiful woman with whom she had one of the first serious relationships long before she met Karen, and of which he was deeply in love.
The woman examined him again. «When did you come back?» She said then, with a friendly smile.
Surely, the news in Los Angeles was flying faster than in New York, he thought automatically.
«As always, my fame precedes me.» He joked.
She smiled again, and seemed not to want to stop anymore.
«How about going to have a coffee somewhere, in memory of the old days?»
«Sure.» He answered.
Once they left the bookshop, they started along the sidewalk, starting to talk about the past and all the things that have happened so far.
«Surely, my acting career didn’t go as I had planned, but I'm still happy with my life.» She confessed, Stacy.
He remembered the times when he was still living at the university, along with Andy, and while the college years passed, it was then that he met Stacy, at an event for the new release of a famous author's book at the time. Things were much changed over time, and apart from Stacy, everything had changed; including his vision towards the world. In fact, he remembered how the woman's dream had always been to become a successful actress in Hollywood.
«Why did you give up on your dream?» He asked as they headed for the cafeteria around the corner.
«Being a mother made my dream not coincide with what a child needed.» She simply explained.
She had even become a mother. So yes, things change, he thought. He imagined what her son would be like and probably one of those fixed on videogame, mammon that didn’t separate from the mother's breast until the venerable age of thirty, and then burned with that of the woman who had enough courage to fall in love with and that he would look after them for the rest of their pathetic life.
«Well, congratulations.» He said.
«Even if it's a pity you didn’t realize what you wanted. I remember you were pretty good.»
«In fact... » he paused for a long time and then suddenly broke out:«It was your fault!» She literally screamed at him, making him remain stunned and unable to understand how it could be his fault, but still looking
for some hold in his memories to give credit to the words of the woman.
«You ran away without even making a call!" Stacy kept saying, speaking so loud as to make most people in the street turn.
«I don’t understand. What the hell are you talking about?» He did, unable to really understand.
She put her hands on her face and covered it, in tears.
«Listen, now calm down. I cannot figure out what you're talking about.» He tried to say, as people continued to watch the scene, full of glares at him.
After a couple of seconds, however, she began to sob, but those of Stacy were not jolting and he realized that he was actually grinning, until he burst out laughing and making him even more puzzled and uncertain about sanity of the woman. She probably had become crazy, he reflected.
«I cheated you!» Stacy said, pointing a finger at him and returning to have his big smile on his face.
He couldn’t say anything, but beating his hands a few times, he said:«brilliant.» He had to admit. «Really a talented actress.»
After that, the two headed for the Coffee Shop on the corner and entered.
Once they had ordered, they sat facing each other and she began telling him about her life in Los Angeles.
«Nothing to be honest, let's say I have my usual routine and between being a mother and a father at the same time, this has kept me busy for the last fifteen years. I went from dishwasher to waitress and assistant manager of a restaurant. For a while I was the aid of a dentist who stretched his hands too much, and that's why I gave up. On the other hand, that last job allowed me to put away enough money to be able to open my own business.»
While he was telling, he couldn’t see the young and fresh girl he once was. Had it really been so long since their last meeting? He wondered. It seemed just yesterday that he had to make the decision to go and live in New York to spend the last fifteen years with Karen.
«And what do you do?» He asked to her.
Arrival in Los Angeles (#1 of California Dreaming)--A Los Angeles Series Page 3