Author's Note: This chapter is the first in a series of four. Each will feature John taking one of his girls on a romantic getaway. We start here with John and Rita flying off to Hawaii for an intimate and fun time. These will be long chapters, and my goal with them is to focus where each relationship is individually, which hopefully will provide more context for the group dynamic, as well. Please enjoy.
* * *
Once Juliet shipped off to Vancouver to shoot her latest film, time started to pass faster than ever. Jess threw herself into the retooled Daydream Productions. Kayla essentially became a kind of creative director. Kim and Ginger were instrumental in replacing Manny with a new male lead -- a black sheep of the porn industry who had changed his name to the Sausage King. He had been a kind of male Sasha Grey at one time, but he squandered it. A few years on, he was comfortably ensconced doing porn and enjoying it. He was handsome, almost dashing, and highly dominant. But, unlike Manny, the dominance ended when the camera stopped rolling. He was a gentle, chill guy off the set. Perhaps most important of all? Kayla had agreed to work with him, the first time she would fuck someone other than Manny on camera in almost a decade.
I also put plans in motion that I had been organizing for several weeks. I wanted to reconnect with the girls individually, so I would take each of them on a one-on-one getaway. It would let us recharge but also plan for the future. Our group dynamic was a beautiful and improbable thing, but I also wanted to ensure we each maintained respective identities and desires. I wanted to be mindful of them and incorporate them into our joint lives.
The girls were enthusiastic about the idea. And we had decided that, once the individual trips were done, the five of us would take a weekend to get out of LA on a kind of family retreat. But that would be several weeks off, toward the end of summer. Then we'd welcome back Juliet from her shoot with a blowout party. And that would lead us right into football season, which would have some new developments. Infinity would be hosting football parties in LA, Vegas, and Houston. It promised new levels of debauchery, and there was generally buzz about Jamie and Bryce playing together in Vegas while they tried to dethrone Johnny and his Houston mates as conference heavyweights.
With so much planned, I tried to keep myself in the moment. I didn't want to watch the time tick by without savoring every day. So I pushed everything from the future out of my mind as a black Town Car pulled out of our driveway, the waving figures of Kat, Jess, Katie, and the kids standing at the top of the hill. As we left the real world behind, I turned and focused my attention solely on Rita.
"And we're off," I said, smiling and putting my face close to hers.
"I know it sounds terrible to say it," Rita said, "but I need this. Really badly."
"It's not bad," I said, fixing my gaze on her.
The stress of the previous several weeks didn't show on her face. Her skin was as smooth and taut as ever, barely a wrinkle in sight thanks to light Botox. Her lips were framed with a playful, pink lipstick, and her tongue flitted against her teeth as she spoke. Her neck remained smooth and youthful, inviting and alluring. But every part of Rita spoke to me that way. I worshiped her. I admired her. I loved her with every fiber of my being. Not that I loved her any more than my other girls. There was always a special, almost subatomic connection between us.
"I really just want to cut loose," she said. "To escape reality."
"Well, lucky you," I said. "Hawaii is the best place to do that."
"I've never been," she said, making a pouty lip.
"Give it about seven hours, and we'll change that," I said with a chuckle.
"Are you going to tell me the plan?" she asked.
I had told her our destination, but I kept under wraps the details. I loved surprises, especially travel surprises.
"On the plane," I said.
"I can wait that long," she said in a tone that indicated she was trying to convince herself. I loved her girlish excitement.
"Do you want a gummy?" I asked.
"Sure," she said. "I don't know why I'm nervous. I guess it's all the excitement. Can we get goodies in Hawaii? I'm ready to let my hair down. Big time."
"We don't need to get them," I said, grinning. I loved playing this game.
"John," Rita said, dropping her chin and screwing up her eyes to look at me. "You did not get us a private jet. To Hawaii."
"And what if I did?" I said.
"Then I'd say you're definitely getting laid," she said, her tongue flicking over her lips suggestively.
"Well, then it's a good thing this plane has a king-sized bed," I said.
"Wait, what?" she replied, doing a double take.
"I may have gone a little more extravagant than usual," I said with a sheepish smile.
"How extravagant?" Rita asked.
"Like, maybe, a 737 with a fully stocked bar and master bedroom extravagant?" I said.
Rita didn't answer. Her eyes simply grew and shock spread across her face.
"You've got to be joking," she said.
"You can find out in about fifteen minutes," I said.
"I hope you've got some molly in your bag of tricks, baby," she said, kissing me softly along the edge of my ear. "Not that you'll need it to get lucky."
"There's some molly," I said. "Some weed, some coke. Maybe more than some coke. And maybe something new even."
"Yes," she hissed between kisses that trailed down my neck. "I'm feeling very adventurous. I want to completely shed any inhibitions. But maybe we'll have a little time for sightseeing."
"I have a sneaking suspicion we might be able to couple some partying with sightseeing," I said knowingly.
Rita cuddled up against me contentedly for the final ten minutes of the ride to Burbank. I adored -- and felt privileged -- that I knew all 360-degrees of her as a person. She shared her fears and vulnerabilities with me. She let her guard down around me. She always made sure I knew her hopes, her goals, her dreams. She had become so much more than the public persona I had once seen on television, and I was lucky to be someone who got to glimpse more than just what anyone saw from the outside. Maybe most of all, however, I liked being privy to the intense need for intimacy and, sometimes, downright perversion that lurked inside her.
"Holy shit," she said, jarring me out of my revelry as we pulled near the tarmac.
The car came to a stop in front of a Boeing 737. It was part of their business jet program, and I couldn't help myself. It could seat up to twenty-three, but there would only be two of us, of course. The first surprise greeted us as soon as we walked up the steps to board.
"Welcome to snow bunny airways," Christy said, greeting us with a brilliant smile and erect nipples nearly bursting through the taut fabric of her white button-down shirt.
"Oh my god!" Rita said when she saw our longtime flight-attendant-turned-Infinity-girl. "I didn't know you were still flying!"
"My certification is still good," she said, biting her lip. "I came out of retirement when John asked me. How could I say no to Hawaii?"
The girls hugged tightly, then Christy gave me a hug and kiss hello.
"I'm sure we'll have some party favors around," Rita said as we boarded.
Christy smiled, flashing her white teeth, and said, "You know me. If I can't suck it? I'll snort it."
