Lovers and Gamblers (67 page)

She obviously had no intention of ever waking up, so he got out of bed and stamped his way around the room a lot before going in to shower and shave.

He was halfway through shaving when she strolled into the bathroom, squatted on the john and peed noisily.

‘How are you this morning?’ she asked amiably.

‘Rushed.’

‘Shame. I thought we might…’

‘No time.’

‘That’s cool. I have a lot to do myself. If you want to reach me in LA you can call me at the network.’

‘I will.’ He knew he wouldn’t.

‘You’re better-looking than your brother,’ she remarked, getting off the toilet and running the shower. ‘Not that I’m into looks – but you are.’

He wasn’t flattered. He didn’t enjoy being compared to his brother in any way.

He finished shaving, hurried in the bedroom and dressed. He wanted to call Linda. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. He wanted her to tell
him
.

Instead he booked a call to London. He was worried about his children being all alone in the house with just the nanny. He wanted to assure them that he would be home soon.

The girl producer strolled nakedly into the room and started to dress. He watched her, willing her to hurry. She retrieved pantyhose from the floor, sat on the bed and slid them on. Then a skirt from a chair, high-heeled shoes, and lastly a shirt which showed off her perky nipples.

She collected her purse, picked up the penis substitute which sat lewdly on the bedside table.

He wondered why she carried it. In case nothing better came along?

‘I’ll see you around, Paul,’ she said casually. ‘Give me a buzz when you get back.’

‘Yes,’ he said. No – he thought.

He waited until she closed the door, then he placed a call to Linda.

He paced the room, expecting both calls to come through at once. They didn’t. The operator informed him that there was no answer at the number he had given her for Linda. And he had to wait half an hour before he got a line to England.

Nanny was most huffy. ‘This isn’t good enough, Mr. King,’ she informed him. ‘I haven’t had my day off for weeks.’

‘I’ll pay you double,’ he promised her. ‘Just wait another week and I’ll be back.’

‘I think it’s disgusting,’ she sniffed, ‘absolutely disgusting!’

‘Yes,’ agreed Paul. ‘We’ll discuss it when I get back, Nanny.’

‘We certainly will!’

He checked his watch. Better call Al to make sure he was awake. It was a long trip, he could always sleep on the plane if he had been up all night. He wondered how much money he had managed to lose at the tables. The sooner he got Al away from Vegas, the better.

* * *

Evan waited impatiently at the airport in Los Angeles for his father’s plane to pick him up. He felt a lot better, the few days in a private clinic had not been too bad. Everyone had been very nice to him, one young Puerto Rican nurse in particular – of course she had known he was Al King’s son, which was probably why.

He had watched a lot of television, and the time had passed quite quickly. They had treated him with a course of injections, and apparently all he needed now was some follow-up shots and everything would be fine. No sex until after your checkup, the doctor had warned him sternly. Chance would be a fine thing. Now that Glory and Plum were out of his life, who would look at him? He missed them, in spite of the fact that they had given him the dreaded disease. After all, they hadn’t known. He kept on wondering what they had done when they realized that he had just walked out on them. Did they miss him? He had no way of contacting them. His only friends. He had thought that maybe he would run into them in Los Angeles. After all that’s where they had been heading. But no such luck. His father had dumped him straight into the clinic – to get him out of the way no doubt. There was no reason for him to stay in a clinic, he could have received the treatment as an outpatient. But no – the famous Al King didn’t want his horrible spotty son around – so he had hidden him away.

At least he was going to Brazil. That was
something
. And to be fair to his father, at least he hadn’t been sent home.

He flicked through the bunch of magazines he had purchased.
Playboy, Penthouse, Macho
. Idly he wondered if the doctor’s no sex instructions had included masturbation. After all – you couldn’t give a magazine centrefold a dose of the clap, could you?

* * *

On the plane Dallas said, ‘I must call Cody. Really – otherwise he’ll be contacting missing persons.’

‘I’ll have Bernie get in touch with him when we land at LA. Does that suit you?’ Al replied.

‘Yeah, that’s fine. Have him say I’ll be reporting back for work on Monday. Oh, and Al – I know I keep on asking you – but can’t we have Bernie score a few joints for us? I’m in the mood to get stoned.’

‘Where is he going to score at the airport?’

‘He can make a call, can’t he?’

‘By the time they get out to the airport we’ll be long gone.’

She made a face. ‘Big fuckin’ star and I can’t even get high.’

He laughed. ‘You need to be high to travel with me?’

‘I must have been high to agree to come. What am I doing
here?
I don’t even have any clothes. Maybe I should get off in LA.’

He took her hand. ‘I want you to stay. You can pick up some clothes in Rio, anything you need.’

‘I need
some
grass.
Someone
on this plane must have a joint.’

‘You’re really that desperate?’

She shrugged, smiling. ‘Not desperate. But if I don’t get one I’m going.’

He wondered how angry she would be if she knew that it had been he who had confiscated her supply.

‘Stay where you are,’ he warned. ‘Don’t move – I’ll see what I can do.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘Oh yeah.’ He set off down the plane to where Bernie was playing gin rummy with some of the musicians. He sat down ostensibly to watch, but once out of Dallas’s sight he pulled her tin box out of his jacket pocket and extracted a joint.

‘Gonna join us for a game?’ Bernie wanted to know.

‘Not today,’ Al replied. ‘Got other things on my mind.’

‘I’m down three hundred bucks,’ Bernie complained. ‘If this goes on, by the time we make Rio I’ll be busted out.’

‘So learn to play,’ chided Al. He glanced over at Paul, sitting alone on an aisle seat studying some papers. ‘How’d the party go?’

Paul nodded. ‘It was nice.’

‘You take my advice?’

‘What advice was that?’ Paul replied tightly.

‘To get laid, schmuck!’

‘We can’t all…’

‘I know, I know,’ Al interrupted. ‘We can’t all go through life with a stiff prick. But it beats the hell out of wanking!’ He laughed at his own humour, and made his way back to where Dallas was sitting. He could have suggested that they sat in the bedroom – but he didn’t want to rush things. She was with him of her own accord, let things happen nice and naturally. One joint wasn’t going to turn her into the stoned zombie she had been the previous day.

He gave her the cigarette. She lit up, inhaling deeply, leaning her head back, finally allowing the smoke to drift lazily out of her nostrils. ‘Better!’ she sighed.

‘You like that?’

‘Why not? Don’t you?’

‘I can take it or leave it. Give me a healthy slug of scotch any day. Something that hits you in the gut with a punch you can feel all the way down to your balls!’

‘I don’t have balls.’

‘Oh no? You could have fooled me.’

Playfully she punched him.

‘I
like
a ballsy woman,’ he objected. ‘I can’t get anything going with most of the doormats that come my way. I could shit all over some of ’em and they wouldn’t object.’

‘From what I hear you usually do,’ she remarked drily.

‘So what do you hear?’

‘That you are Mister Super Prick – in both senses of the word.’

He groaned. ‘What a reputation! Is that why you wouldn’t go out with me?’

She dragged on her cigarette. ‘Maybe.’ She studied him through slitted eyes. ‘Maybe not.’

‘You and I together…’ he began.

She quietened him with a finger to his lips. ‘Let’s take it minute by minute. No promises. No crap. No commitments. I don’t want you to change for me.’

‘But you make me feel different.’

‘So be different – until the next Karmen Rush comes along…’

‘I didn’t…’

‘Goddammit, Al. I
don’t care
. Be Mister Super Prick, I really don’t care. We’ll have a few laughs – I won’t give you any heavies. We’ll have a good time, no strings on either side.’

It wasn’t good enough. His stomach churned at the thought of her with another man. He hadn’t even had her yet, and he knew that she was all he would ever want. In the past, with other women – he had never given a monkey’s about what they did when they weren’t with him. They could have laid the entire team of the Harlem Globetrotters for all he cared. Even Edna. Of course Edna never would have… But if she had been that way inclined… Well, so what? Now here he sat next to a woman he hardly knew and he felt he could kill for her. He wondered how
she
felt. Surely she must feel something. Surely she must notice the electric current which surged between them? An invisible magnetic force that drew him closer and closer. He had never felt like this in his life.

‘Mr. King. Please can you fasten your seat belt.’ The stewardess interrupted his thoughts. ‘And extinguish all cigarettes. We are coming in to land at Los Angeles.’

‘Sure, Cathy.’ He smiled at the girl, then he took the joint from Dallas and stubbed it out.

‘Careful,’ she admonished. ‘Or is there more where that came from?’

‘How many do you use a day?’

‘Whatever I feel like. Why – does it bother you?’

‘Only when you fall down.’

‘I promise not to fall down. Only in the direction of your bed – does that suit you?’

No, it didn’t suit him. He didn’t want her to speak like that.

With a sudden surge of dread he realized that Evan would be boarding the plane shortly. Evan, who had to be told about the divorce Edna wanted – unless he had already read it in the newspapers. Christ! Why did
he
have to be the one to tell him? Couldn’t Paul do it?

He glanced at Dallas. She had shut her eyes. Mussed and untidy, she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

* * *

Linda was all set to photograph the television star she had met at the Margolises’ party. She was looking forward to it – it marked the start of her career in California. She had definitely decided to live there for a while, maybe permanently. Who needed the hassle of New York when you could make a living in Lotus Land? Deep down she knew it was just a temporary move, a time to get herself together. She
needed
the excitement and energy of New York – she
needed
the hassle. But this would do – for the time being.

Just as she was leaving the apartment the phone rang. She knew it was Cody.

‘I haven’t heard from her,’ she said into the receiver.

‘You haven’t heard from whom?’ It was Paul’s voice.

‘Who is this?’ she asked falsely.

‘It’s Paul. Don’t play games – you
know
it’s me. Look, I’m at the airport, I’ve only got a minute. I tried to call you last night – it would be nice if you told people when you changed your number.’

‘I didn’t know
people
would be calling me.’

‘Well, I am.’

‘I noticed.’ She placed the hold-all with her camera equipment on the floor. ‘How did you get my number?’

‘Dallas told me you had moved, so I called your agency. She’s travelling with us.’

Linda nearly dropped the phone. ‘
Dallas
is travelling with you? Cody is doing his nut looking for her – he’s really going mad. Does he
know
?’

‘Yes, I think Bernie’s contacting him now. Listen – I don’t want to talk about Dallas, I want to talk about us.’

‘Go ahead.’ Yeah – go ahead, you bastard – tell me all about how your wife doesn’t understand you and now that she’s safely out of the way I can come back.

‘I’ve decided to leave Melanie.’

There was silence.

‘Did you hear me?’ Paul continued. ‘I’m going to divorce her. I mean it, Linda. We can be together. We can get married. Anything you want.’

‘Ohmigod!’ she gasped, she could hardly believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘I’m not kidding you. I mean it, and I’ve told her – and does this prove to you that I love you?’

‘I’m in shock, Paul. Honest to God I’m in shock.’

He laughed. ‘Look – I can’t really talk now – the plane is waiting. I’ll try to call you tonight. I’ll be back in four days, then I want to fly straight to England. I thought you could come with me.’

‘I don’t know what to say…’

‘Say yes. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’

‘Of
course
it is. Oh darling, it’s wonderful. Did you tell her about us?’

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then, ‘Yes. I certainly did.’

‘You told her it was me at the hotel in Tucson?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Sure it matters. What do you think we’ve been fighting about?’

‘I told her.’

‘You told her you loved me?’

‘Yes. Yes. Yes. I have to go now. I’ll try to call you later. Start packing.’

‘Paul?’

‘Yes?’

‘I love you.’

‘You too.’

She put the phone down, and shakily reached for a cigarette. Mrs. Paul King. Linda King. Should she change her name on photo credits, or should she just add to it and become Linda Cosmo King – sort of like Farrah Fawcett Majors. She giggled. It was all so unexpected, Jesus! She would be a married lady! He had done it, he had finally done it. He had left his wife for her.

Where would they marry? What should she wear? Could she have one last fling with Julio – male hooker supreme – before giving up all other men forever? Would she really have to give up all other men?
That
was a sobering thought for a start. Not any? Ever? Not even birthdays and Christmas?

Mrs. Paul King. She would see England, meet his family, his children.