Author’s Note: Thanks for your patience through two important but sex-free chapters. Hopefully this fills in the debauchery you missed! There’s a fun new addition to the Infinity stable, and you’ll see that just because Kat and Rita are pregnant doesn’t mean John can’t still have some fun!
* * *
By Thanksgiving, it had sunk in just how profoundly our world had been upended. As it turned out, Kat and Rita were only one week apart in their due dates. Kat was due July 29. Rita was due August 5. We had less than eight months to get ready for two Cameron babies, and the pressures of work ramping up for both Jess and me added strain to the situation. Our to-do list seemed to have tripled. Kat and Rita were plagued by first-trimester fatigue but, thankfully, neither exhibited much morning sickness. It was hard enough that they had to wake up at 3 a.m. for work. The pregnancies otherwise were perfectly on-track.
The four of us had pledged to go to all prenatal appointments together. The doctor and her office staff seemed to find it amusing having all of us roll in together. They immediately dubbed us “the entourage.” But I didn’t want to miss a single moment, especially not after the second appointment. We could hear the heartbeat for the first time. It’s impossible to describe the effect that had on me. A growing fetus, inside two women I loved dearly. It was emotional and sobering.
There was an incredibly sudden and profound impact on our lives. Kat and Rita became homebodies, in part because they were so tired after work. Alix’s move to LA had necessitated that Jess spend more time at the Hooker House, where she was training Crystal and Katie to handle Alix’s former duties. Unsurprisingly, both proved quick learners and adept at the task.
The other big Infinity news was that Julie and Bianka had left their husbands and moved into the Hooker House, filling it to capacity once more. Alix had also gotten the LA business humming back to the levels when Kelly was running it. She had brought Serena out with her after a few weeks and was on the trail of two more recruits. But it was weird going to the Hooker House and not seeing Alix there. She had become such a fixture. That was just another signpost indicating the breakneck pace at which change came at us.
With my own business endeavors, I was deeply optimistic. Jason had taken me up on my offer to work with me full-time. It made keeping Petey happy that much easier. Overall, though, he was easy to work for. As long as Jason and I could keep the financing flowing in for the projects, he left us alone – at least for business purposes. The biggest hurdle I faced was that Jason didn’t have the same kind of nest egg I did. He worried about his day-to-day survival, so I had decided to spin that to my potential advantage. I let him take our up-front fees as salary, but I saved myself a bigger piece of the back end we negotiated on each movie. On the first three projects we funded for Petey, we had taken ten-percent of the total revenue. With Jason’s salary arrangement, we agreed that seven percent of that would be mine and three percent would be his.
Getting Jason on board as a partner turned out to be a godsend. He and Crystal were doing wonderfully together, and he also had more flexibility to travel. He liked that he got face time with our client, and I was glad to spend more time at home with the girls. Some travel was unavoidable, though, and in the first week of December, Jess and I boarded the jet to LA for a quick, one-night trip to tend to things. Jess was going to meet with Alix’s Infinity prospects and do a routine check-in. Petey wanted to sit down to discuss two more movie projects he wanted to move into the production pipeline.
It felt strange leaving our empty house behind, knowing Kat and Rita were at work. We watched their morning broadcast on my phone as the Uber took us to the airport. I liked seeing them on-screen, knowing my babies grew inside them, and no one else was the wiser. At least not yet. Our usual private jet awaited, and I greeted Christy, our longtime flight attendant, with a hug. Jess did, too, and kissed her on the cheeks. Five minutes later, we were wheels up to Los Angeles.
“I’m not going to lie, baby,” Jess said when we were airborne. “It’s kind of nice to get away.”
“Life suddenly became a pressure-cooker, didn’t it?” I said with a smile.
“In a good way,” Jess said. “At least I think so.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, nodding my head.
“It’s nice that they gave us a hall pass to party,” she added, eyes shimmering.
Jess and I had minimized our consumption of alcohol and out of solidarity with our pregnant girlfriends. But Kat and Rita had given us the thumbs-up to enjoy LA to its fullest.
“I’m not opposed to a little indulgence,” I said with a chuckle.
“Good,” Jess said, still smiling. “Because I’m ready to get a little wild.”
She rolled a vial of cocaine across the table to me. My eyes went wide.
“That’s a lot for the two of us,” I said.
“It’s not just for us, John,” Jess said and licked her lips. “Alix and I played a little bit of a trick with you.”
“Oh, and what’s that?” I said, disarmed.
“There’s only one interview in LA,” she said.
“That’s too bad,” I said. “What happened to the other?”
“Silly boy,” Jess said, in a way that oozed all her charm. “The second one is going to be on the plane.”
“On the plane?” I said dumbly. “We’re the only ones here.”
“Not the only ones, sweetie,” Jess said, still toying with me.
“You don’t mean,” I said, my voice trailing off.
“Me!” Christy said, sitting down in the swivel chair next to me.
She had taken her blazer off, pulled her hair out of its ponytail, and unbuttoned two buttons on her white shirt. A lacy white bra barely contained her implant-perky breasts. Her smooth skin was like porcelain. Her brown hair came below her shoulders, and she had a thin-lipped grin on her face. Her nose was long but fit her oval face.
“Well, this is a surprise,” I said, stunned. “Are you joking?”
“I’m not joking,” Jess said.
“I’m not joking, John,” Christy added. “Now are you going to cut some lines, or do I have to provide all the service here?”
“I’ve got it,” I said. “You take it easy.”
“I can’t take it easy,” Christy said. “This is my interview.”
