Author's note: Welcome back to the world of our friends! I hope you enjoy this installment, where we return to Vegas and see that there are some sands shifting under our core group. Things are as good as ever, but maybe they're changing, too. And there's also something lurking. Something dark and dangerous -- and unknown.
* * *
The wedding reception had been a dream. But there was a lot in LA that had piled up while we were gone. Sometimes, living out a fantasy sure seemed like a lot of work. It felt like more work than usual because, for the last few months as more and more residuals piled up every month, I wondered why I bothered to work at all. At the same time, the competitive side of me stood up when someone like Stephen or Jeff Stone came to me and said they wanted to put together the financing package for their new movie.
It was also easier because Jason did most of the heavy lifting -- and there was plenty of heavy lifting. Stars like Stephen and Jeff would never have an issue getting funding for any project. Some of the films they could just pay for themselves. They were rich enough. But, particularly with guys like Stephen and Jeff, they liked to minimize risk. They were diversified and liked to keep as little skin in the game as possible. They also didn't want to deal with investors directly. So that's where I came in. I treated each project like a fund. Or, on a couple of occasions, I had put together funds to encompass multiple movies. This created a nice pot of money to use, as well as insulate the identities of the people involved with the films.
For my efforts, I got a management fee, which I had started to give a bigger chunk of to Jason. It was a nice amount -- usually seven percent of the total investment -- but I was more interested in back-end payouts. In other words, Jason got equivalently a salary from the investors, while I took points from the success of the production itself. Working with major stars like Stephen or Juliet was a cash cow because their movies were always successful -- in part because of their global appeal. If a movie didn't do great at the box office domestically, it would still cruise to good numbers worldwide. So, for example, my first fund for Petey I only had two-percent on. The movie made $750 million globally, though, so I was suddenly flush with $15 million. We had strung together a half-dozen hits, along with smaller projects, and I negotiated up my points each time. By the end of the first year, my usual cut was five-percent, so by the time I had splurged on the $30 million in houses in the Hollywood Hills? I had been sitting on a nest egg of $110 million that had come in very quickly, so I had more liquidity than was probably wise.
But I also felt like that influx was just the tip of the iceberg. Petey and I knew we had a real chance, within only a few years and with some luck, of becoming billionaires, although he was a lot closer than I was, thanks to his late dad's fortune. So it really started to buzz around in my mind that I should choose retirement sooner rather than later.
Financially, we were in great shape as a family. Rita, of course, had gotten a nice little chunk of change out of her divorce. We could have probably lived happily just off of the proceeds that kicked off in interest and gains each year. Kat had a similar, if smaller, residual from her divorce. Jess's businesses actually generated nearly seven figures in profit -- and was probably less than it could have been if she didn't put so much back into the businesses. She was very generous with her Infinity escort, giving them frequent bonuses, and made investments in the Daydream porn company, both for the talent and their productions. Katie didn't have the same financial float, but the money from the tour was very good, and it's not like she had anything to worry about anyway. It was, I started to realize with increasing attention, quite an enviable position.
Of course, when you get a taste of the world of the rich and famous -- okay, very, very famous -- it can be its own sort of drug. It's hard to put limits on yourself and your desires. I was never great with limiting my desires anyway. So the thought of stepping back from the business came with a tug of doubt that maybe I'd be jeopardizing our place in the circle of celebrity, and that circle was something we had come to really enjoy. It was its own kind of drug.
The power of that drug came swinging in with a strong reminder just a couple weeks before we had thrown our wedding reception. Oscar nominations came out, and, to everyone's surprise, Juliet had received a nod for best actress. It was a shock because her movie from the previous year hadn't received much critical love, although it did gangbusters at the box office and was a huge hit with fans. You could see that easily by checking the IMDB page -- where it had a 7.7 out of 10 rating and a Metascore of 46. The one thing everyone agreed on, however, was that Juliet carried the movie single-handedly. It was a quirky comedy, and she stole the show. As a result, the Academy rewarded her with her second nomination for best actress. So, after we got back from the whirlwind of the Stages Tour in Houston, the riotous Super Bowl celebration, and our wedding party, our lives got swept up in the tizzy of Oscar fever again.
That meant Juliet was a nervous wreck. But she was in better shape than the previous year, albeit not by much. Her competitive streak couldn't help but force her thoughts toward winning. She wanted it. There was also self-doubt. She wanted it, but did she deserve it for this movie?
Once we returned from Houston -- a flight we delayed two days just to not feel like absolute shit when we traveled -- we were into the four-week countdown leading up to the Oscars. Jason and I caught up on work. We lived normally, catching up on real life. It lasted two weeks. Then Juliet's anxiety took over, so the girls swung into action. Jess talked to Melanie, and they hatched a plan.
A girls' weekend. To Juliet's favorite place -- Joshua Tree. They would take glamping to the next level. Three nights away, treating it as a spiritual-psychedelic retreat, would help give Juliet some peace and cut into the time left to wait before Oscar night.
"Shit man," Jason said to me the day before the girls were leaving. "We should take advantage of this."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The girls being gone," he said. "We should do something."
"You've got something in mind," I said. "Just say it."
"Let's go to Vegas," he said. "Fuck it. When was the last time we had a boys' trip?"
"I can't even remember," I acknowledged. "They will be gone three days."
"And we've hit a little bit of a work lull," he pointed out.
"It could be fun," I said.
"Could be?" Jason said, looking at me with a furrowed brow. "What did you do with my buddy John? He would say yes in a heartbeat to Vegas. Anytime."
"Yeah, fuck it, let's go," I said. "I'll talk to the girls tonight."
* * *
There was a flurry of activity around the house -- suitcases jumbled near the door, nearly indecipherable shouts requesting one thing or another.
"The limo is here," Rita yelled from the kitchen toward the primary bedroom at the back of the first floor.
"I'm coming!" Jess yelled back.
"Got everything?" I said, slipping my arms around Rita's waist from behind one more time.
"I think we do," she said.
She craned her neck awkwardly to kiss me.
"You're going to have fun," I said. "Joshua Tree is cool. Actually, that probably doesn't do it justice."
"One of those places you just have to see for yourself, huh?" she said.
"Exactly," I said.
She spun around, pressed her magnificent tits into me, and kissed me one more time.
"Come on, girls!" she said loudly.
Kat and Katie were already outside, the driver loading their suitcases into the trunk of the Cadillac Escalade stretch limousine. Crystal and Bianka stood nearby, as Jason hauled their luggage from the back of his Bentley. In the distance, Juliet and Melanie rolled their suitcases over the path that connected our houses. Rita bounced down the front steps and over to the limo, and Jess bumped into me as she followed behind.
"Be good," I said to Jess wryly.
"I anticipate a deeply religious experience," she said and kissed me.
"You're joking, but it actually is kind of like that out there," I said. "I can't wait to hear about it."
"Maybe we'll make some videos for you, daddy," Kat teased.
"Only do things we would do in Vegas, my love," Rita said.
"That takes nothing off the table," I joked back to her.
And we made a final round of hugs and kisses and see-you-soons. I was a little jealous, knowing that the girls were embarking on an experience that would open their minds and leave an indelible impression. I watched as they piled into the limo, bottles of Champagne cold and ready for them. Jess got in last, lingering a moment.
