Actor son rescues mom from sex party
A special thanks to ChiefHal for helping to proofread and ensuring the story is in good shape.
Playing the part
"Trey, I need you now!" the female voice spoke from my phone.
I was tired, and it was late, but the tone of my mom's voice brooked no fobbing her off.
"What's up?" I asked, as I looked into the large mirror of the dressing room. A tired looking costume lady was sorting through discarded clothing, from the other actors, in a hurry to go home.
With luck, mom had fucked up something on her laptop again, and I could fix it over the phone.
"I can't really talk now. But it's urgent you come and get me." She blurted out an address, and I groaned. It was a good hour's drive away.
"How urgent?"
"Code Red." I blinked in surprise. "Look, I need my handsome and brave boy to stand up for me. But you'll have to be broad-minded."
"Why?" I was confused. The 'Code Red' was something we'd come up with, when I was a teenager.
If I called with a 'Code Red', she'd come and get me no questions asked. If I was somewhere that I felt threatened or pressured to do something I didn't want. I'd never needed it, and I knew the 'no questions asked' would not be true. But it signified something serious and a shorthand between us. I'd never expected her to use it on me.
"Where are you now?" She asked.
"I've literally just walked off set. I've not even had a chance to pee or change."
"Don't change. Your current role is perfect for this. Bring the mask and hide your phone. But use that fancy earpiece. I promise you; it really is important. Oh, and if you're stopped, tell them you are there to bowl with Barnabas." She hung up, knowing I'd do what she asked.
But what the hell was going on? Was she trying to make it a mystery?
She'd been a single mom at 19, and made it her mission in life, to do the best for me. And even though I am 30 now, I still felt I owed her for all her selflessness to raise me. It might have been a somewhat unusual upbringing, but it had helped me, to where I was today. An actor, stuntman and body-double.
Checking I still had the character's mask in my pocket, I grabbed the earpiece she'd mentioned and my keys and headed to the car. Not even pausing for that pee I needed. It was after 11 pm, but there was always traffic and I pushed it a little to get to her. A patrol car appeared in my rear-view mirror, and I swore as its sirens and lights flicked on. But it sped up and rushed past me.
The address was in a very high-end part of the city, with homes in the $10 million plus bracket. But my mom was a fancy lawyer and would know clients with that sort of money. Then I remembered my mom's request for the mask, earpiece, and to hide my phone, and smiled. If she wanted 'cloak and dagger', then I was her man. Especially as I was currently filming a spy movie, if only as a stuntman and body-double.
I swapped my phone in the dashboard cradle with the prop one in my pocket. Turned on the earpieces and slipped them into my ears and waited for them to pair with my phone. Because I often had to wear ear protection, on set, for gunfire or explosions. We'd talked a studio into paying a small fortune for tiny Bluetooth earpieces, hardly bigger than a pair of peas. It would never be made commercially. One ear listened, and the other was a microphone. Each would cancel background noise. But I could get vocal prompts for things that might be unseen or added in post-production. They both beeped twice at me, to prove they were working. But had a battery life of less than 60 minutes.
Slipping my phone into a concealed pocket in the suit at the small of my back. I saw two large security men at the gates of one of the largest houses and remembered, at the last moment, to slip on the mask.
A twinge of worry crossed my mind, that I might get Arthur into trouble, if this was something dodgy.
I should explain a little history and why Arthur might be affected by my actions. My mom grew up with doting parents that instilled in her, she could be anything she put her mind to. Which isn't always a good idea. She wanted to be famous. Didn't really care if she was a pop star, a movie star, or just a plain old TV star.
As a kid, she took acting lessons and singing and dancing lessons. And I've seen the old videos that showed she was quite good. But quite good doesn't take you over the finishing line. At 18, she met a talent agent; that told her he could make her a star, in return for some payback. I think that 'casting couch' summed it up better, than going into the seedy details. She is my mom, after all.
She got pregnant with me, and he threw some money at her, to make the problem go away. I think he underestimated her, as she could come across as some gorgeous airhead, with nothing between her ears. She's not, in fact, she took the money and, with help to raise me from her parents, put herself through law school.
She freely admitted, at the time, she intended to sue my dad. And that was a way to avoid massive lawyer bills. Plus, the bonus of proving him wrong about her. But by the time she passed the bar, she discovered not only a love for the job, but a real talent for it. Her looks and men's assumption she was a bimbo, won her many cases, before her opposition wised up. While she'd given up on her dreams of being a star, it didn't mean she didn't push them on to me.
My upbringing was anything but conventional or boring. Few 8-year-olds had a party where they were the entertainment. It was slack rope walking and juggling flaming clubs. Although I remember wanting to show off popping balloons, with my knife throwing skills, my grandparents stepped in. And said the other kids might try to copy me and hurt someone.
As with the truly dedicated, my mom would work a full day in the office, then come home. And spend 6 or 7 hours teaching me just about every skill that might come in useful. Acting and singing, obviously, but martial arts, horseback riding, stunt motorcycles and so on. While my school friends talked about slobbing out after school, and watching TV all night. The only TV I watched, was to aid in my acting skills.
Because it was all I knew, I didn't know it was unusual until much later in life. I had personal trainers and dietitians, by the time I turned 16 and that helped, when mom finally let me play regular sports. From time to time, I'd walk into a room to see mom and one of them giving off a vibe that something was going on.