Author's Note: Sometimes these characters take me to places I don't anticipate. This is a chapter that really took on a life of its own. But I think it's a true and important expression of them. Please enjoy. If you do -- or if you don't -- leave feedback. It's invaluable to me.
* * *
Sunday morning came earlier than I expected. My phone buzzed. I thought it was just in my head, but the buzzing kept coming. I untangled myself from Kat and Rita, who had merrily coaxed two more loads of cum out of me before we crashed into an exhausted heap around 3 a.m.
When I grabbed my phone, I saw four missed calls from Juliet. Just as I unlocked the phone, a fifth call from her came through. I answered it.
"Hey," I whispered, but Juliet immediately interrupted me.
She was crying. I made out something about her plane and mechanical problems. I tried to calm her down, but she sobbed uncontrollably and blubbered that she was deeply concerned about missing her flight to Australia and being late for the next round of filming.
"Calm down, breathe, calm down," I said, repeating myself twice. When the hysteria slowed, I added, "Let's figure out a solution. I'm a problem solver." I looked at my watch. It was almost 6 a.m.
Rita stirred next to me, and her eyes flickered open. She looked at me lovingly, but then her face turned concerned when she caught the conversation. Juliet became more coherent, and she told me her private jet was grounded because of a maintenance issue. A commercial flight, she steadfastly held, was out of the question. She needed at least four hours in LA to take care of things before she caught her plane for Sydney. That meant she had to be home no later than 11 a.m.
"We can drive," I said. "If we leave right now, we'll make it."
"I get car sick," Juliet said, her voice coming through the receiver loudly enough for Rita to hear. Kat began to stir next.
For the first time, I felt exasperated with Juliet. I didn't think she was lying, but if in her mind the only real solution in a situation that had made her feel so emotional and helpless was to get another private jet, it put a reality check on the type of privilege I was dealing with. But this was Juliet, I reminded myself. She lived inside a bubble. She needed help. In her life, everything was taken care of. Unexpected events and bumps in the road were taken care of by someone else. And the only reason she was here was to see me. Or so she said. So it was up to me to figure it out.
"I've got a plan," I said. "Come to our villa. I'll have a departure time confirmed by the time you get here, okay?"
She agreed with a mixture of skepticism and reluctance. I dug back through my memories of trips to LA and the private jets Kelly used. I located the numbers for a half dozen charter jet services near LA. I struck out with the first four but caught a break with the fifth. They agreed to a round trip charter to Vegas and back for $60,000. I didn't think twice about it. By the time Juliet knocked on the villa door, I was ready to play her prince on a white horse.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said, holding back tears as she stormed inside. "I need some of that."
She stalked over to a pile of cocaine on the coffee table in front of the couch. She wore a baggy white blouse and pair of shorts, along with a wide-brimmed hat. It was her way of trying to appear inconspicuous.
"You have a 10 a.m. departure at general aviation," I said. "Stay here for a little bit and get some rest."
Juliet didn't even make lines out of the coke. She just snorted directly from the pile. When she brought her head up after two massive inhales, there was powder stuck to the underside of her nostrils.
"Fuck, I do?" she said, giving a few quick sniffs.
"You do," I said. "You'll be at Burbank by 11 a.m. at the latest."
"There weren't any jets," Juliet said, shaking her head. "How did you do it?"
She stood up and walked toward me. The emotion had been cleaned off her face, now replaced with the look of desire I knew so well.
"They're leaving Van Nuys right now," I said. "I asked them to get you back into Burbank because it's closer to your place."
"You're a fucking lifesaver, John!" Juliet exclaimed and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Seriously, you have no idea. I thought I was completely fucked."
"Is everything okay?" Rita asked, emerging in a robe.
"It is now," Juliet said, her words coming rapidly now as the cocaine coursed through her. "John is a fucking hero. Got me a flight after my plane was grounded."
"Aw, babe, you saved a damsel in distress," Rita said playfully but sleepily. She looked good even without makeup after a night of partying.
"How long do you have?" Rita asked.
"A few hours," I said.
Rita turned to Juliet with a brazen smile.
"Want to play?" she asked.
"I suppose that's the least I can do to say thank you," Juliet said with a hopeful tentativeness, which seemed to underscore her desire not to sound too eager.
"What did I miss?" Kat, bleary and with tousled hair that always looked sexy, asked as she emerged from the bedroom.
"Wanna fuck?" Juliet said, flashing her movie starlet smile.
"Jesus, how can I say no to that?" Kat said, brushing the sleep away from her eyes. "Where's the coke?"
"Beat you to it," Rita said, standing up from the coffee table with a small mirror covered in eight lines.
I did a double take because I hadn't even seen her leave my side. She offered it to Juliet, who took it in her left hand and, without missing a beat, took the proffered straw in her right hand and snorted up
