They were in the party room, huddled together. That wouldn’t do. I first introduced them to Bill and let him have the pick of the litter. He and Ai locked eyes, and he took it from there. That was my cue to run out and grab some guys and introduce them to the girls. They soon were all out on the floor, dancing. I didn’t see Jiro and Hana. The two lovebirds must have been off making eyes at each other.
I was about to find a girl for Kenta when one approached him and pulled him onto the dance floor.
As I looked around, I saw Ben was with Isabel, and Ridge, in fact, was chatting-up a blond.
I decided that if everyone was having a good time, my work here was done. I had a shoot tomorrow and was still catching up on my sleep. Manaia ordered me an Uber because I asked him to stay and watch out for my castmates.
◊◊◊
When I got back to the house, all was quiet. I sent a text to Brook to see if she was awake. She answered, and we jumped onto video chat.
“You’re home early. Wasn’t tonight supposed to be your big ‘American party’?”
“I made sure everyone was having fun and then decided to come home. I have that modeling gig with Range Sports tomorrow. That, and I missed you,” I said.
“How much can you be missing me with naked models running around?”
“Meh,” I said, playing it off. “I guess you’ve put me off other girls.”
“Did you get into naughty fun?” Brook asked.
“I did have someone grab Mr. Happy tonight. She said I was a keeper.”
That led to an extended discussion of my day’s events. Brook bragged about going to the firing range; it sounded like she was getting pretty good. I told her I loved her and missed her and went to my room.
◊◊◊
Chapter 5 – The Plot Thickens Saturday December 3
Devin and Cora Range were already at the studio where the shoot was today, so I introduced Sarah to them. They’d already met Adrienne and Tyler.
I was surprised that Devin and Cora were still together. Cora had seemed to piss off everyone around Devin. I noted that his sister Sandy wasn’t here today. I knew she was at Berkeley, but I’d hoped she would show up.
“How’s my favorite nephew?” Cora asked.
Cora was Pam’s sister, and that made her Coby’s aunt. The best part of that was it made Devin his uncle. I hoped that meant he would receive a lifetime discount on Range Sports gear.
Devin and Cora hadn’t made it to Thanksgiving, so they hadn’t seen how big he was.
“Coby is growing into a big boy. He’s also a handful. He can get out of anything you put him in. I’ll have to show you the video of his great escape,” I said.
Cora followed me into the dressing room and talked my arm off as I got ready. Devin had gotten bored with baby talk and bailed on us.
Cora told me that they were trying to get her pregnant. Thinking about that, I shuddered inside. I suspected this was Cora’s bid to see if she could separate his money from the trust that held the business and most of Devin and Sandy’s wealth. I know it sounded terrible to think that, but Pam had confided in me that Cora had had her dad look at all the legal documents. He couldn’t figure a way to get her any money if they divorced. That was when she’d decided to go to therapy and become the dutiful wife.
In the morning, Sarah was in a different studio doing individual work. We would be together in the afternoon. I’d drawn Tyler as my babysitter this morning. Adrienne wanted to work with Sarah because she saw a lot of potential in her. Sarah had come a long way since our first shoot together at Jade. Wolf told me that she was working most weekends now while she went to school.
Devin was waiting for me when I came out.
“David, I have a new toy for you to try.”
I hoped it was some kind of rocket that I could strap to myself and was a little crestfallen when he handed me gloves. He saw my disappointment and smiled.
“Put them on.”
I did as I was told. Devin then reached into a bag and pulled out a football. He tossed it to me without saying a word. I caught it and was shocked when it almost felt like I wasn’t wearing anything. The problem with gloves was you lost the feel of the ball. These felt ultrathin but had a rough finish that made my grip better.
I looked up at Devin and grinned. These were light-years better than anything I’d used before.
“They even work if the ball is wet,” Devin said as he got out a water bottle and soaked the ball.
I gripped it and threw him a pass. He was right. Whatever they’d put on the outside of the gloves didn’t seem to lose its grip when the ball got slick.
“That’s not all,” he said, then pulled out a section of two-by-four lumber. “Punch this.”
I decided to punch with my left hand to keep from doing something stupid. First, I gave it a gentle punch, and it felt like I had on boxing gloves. I punched harder a few times and knew that I would have been bleeding if I did that bare-knuckled.
“What the heck?” I asked.
