“I know everyone says that person has to be Tami, but I’m Team Cassidy. I think the little ninja could keep you in line,” Phil said.
“What about Crystal? How could she not be the one?” Colt asked.
Both David and Phil chuckled.
“If Crystal was the one, David would have invited her here for the week. When he was dating Brook, the two of them went everywhere together,” Phil said.
“That’s a good observation,” David decided. “With Brook, I was lost without her around.”
“If you know that Crystal’s not the one, why do you go out with her?” Colt asked.
David gave him a big grin.
“Have you seen her?” he asked as he waggled his eyebrows.
“That’s the only reason?” Colt asked.
“Obviously not. Crystal and I know what the score is, and we both get what we want out of going out.”
“What’s that?” Phil asked.
“She’s my plus-one when I have somewhere to go where I need a date. Crystal is easy to be around, and we click behind doors. Like me, she’s just out of a bad relationship and needs time to figure things out without every swinging dick hitting on her. So, for now, it works for us,” David shared.
“What about the long term?” Colt asked.
“Who knows? Crystal is a great gal, and we have a lot in common. I’m not saying I think she’s my forever girl, but I like her enough to see if it can be more, if that makes sense,” David said.
“I take it you’re not exclusive,” Colt said.
Phil coughed out a laugh.
“He went on a date with a professional cheerleader and slept with my girl this morning. Are you seriously asking that?” he asked.
“I’m just trying to figure this out. If my career takes off, I sort of want some guidance.”
“That, you have to decide for yourself,” David said. “For me, I get flack for overtalking stuff, but having an open dialogue with girls has never let me down. Those types of conversations are hard at times, but you’ll be glad you did. Especially if they kick you to the curb because they had other expectations.”
“That one I agree with, now that I understand it,” Phil added.
“What do you mean?” Colt asked.
“Kylie knows I see other women, and I know she has dated other guys. If we hadn’t talked about that, how do you think this morning would have worked out? If Dani had been in there screaming because he was giving her the best orgasms of her life, would you have been cool with that?” Phil asked.
“I honestly don’t know.”
“That’s the type of stuff you need to figure out together,” David suggested. “Before it ever comes up. Trust me on that.”
“Because you plan on banging Dani?” Phil asked in mock seriousness.
Poor Colt’s eyes got big.
“He’s fucking with you. Kylie and I have a history. And I know that if Phil had a problem with it, he wouldn’t have told me to have fun this morning,” David said to reassure Colt.
“I say we quit talking like a bunch of women and go play some football,” Phil said to remind them why there were there.
◊◊◊
Kendal, David’s first PA, had temporarily stepped in and retaken the job since David had requested that Lexi no longer work with him. Speaking of which, Kendal enjoyed keeping him abreast of the Lexi-and-Ben saga.
At first, they had embraced the ruse that Lexi was pregnant and that she and Ben were engaged. She even made him buy her a ring. That had saved his job on the Paris movie, and they’d returned to filming.
Then the devastating news came that Lexi had miscarried, and the distraught bride-to-be fled Europe and returned to LA. A week later, the wedding was called off. They claimed that the loss of their unborn child had been too much.
Kent had wanted to fire her, but Frank intervened, noting that pissing off Lexi was not something they wanted to do. Especially since she’d slept with David for over a year while working as his PA. She’d already sent both her BFF Fiona Beckham and crazy-pants Gwen Larkin after him.
Thankfully, Lexi had backed off when David had quietly talked to her dad. Paul must have talked some sense into his daughter.
Lexi had quit, telling Kent that she planned to go to UCLA full time and get her degree.
On the Ben front, Isabel wasn’t done with him. She’d begun to dig up random girls he’d slept with and made them available to the press to talk about what a man-whore he was. Currently, the studio was in a race to see if they could get his film completed before the whole #MeToo movement took Ben down. The only reason that Isabel hadn’t won yet was that Ben hadn’t used his position to force any girl to sleep with him.
“I found you a place to take everyone to dinner,” Kendal said. “The B & B Butchers & Restaurant is supposed to be the go-to place for steak. It’s an upscale steakhouse with an attached butcher shop and deli. They’re located in a historic building that dates back to 1903. When I called, they suggested that you eat on the second-floor patio. It offers a bird’s-eye view of downtown.”
“Did you organize transportation?”
“I did, sir. I also made arrangements for you and your date to arrive early before the rest of your guests so that you can have a tour.”
David didn’t take the bait with the ‘sir’ jab. It was Kendal’s way of saying that he had to get off his ass and pick a new PA so she could go back to her real job.
David had decided that before he left Houston, he was going to a steakhouse. It would be like going to Paris and not having croissants, or London and not getting fish and chips. When in Houston, you eat steak.
Two of his fondest memories from the Houston Elite camp were eating the bone-in ribeye at Ruth’s Chris, and the 32-ounce bone-in New York strip carved tableside at Pappas Bros. Kendal’s job was to find him some place that rivaled those two experiences. She claimed she had.
Something else she was jabbing him with was his ‘date.’ Bo Harrington and his wife, Tanya, were part of his guest list tonight. They’d brought their evil stepdaughter, Lisa, with them. Since David was the only one about her age that would be at dinner, Bo had twisted his arm to be Lisa’s date. Kendal had heard the stories, so she thought it amusing that he would go on ‘another’ date with the rude girl.
While he had Kendal on the phone, he decided to ask about his next trip.
“Have we finalized everything for the Colombia trip?”
“All your permits for flying in are taken care of. Fritz has made arrangements with the locals so his security people can carry. We are still in negotiations for the armored car. As soon as they put it together that it was for the Sandovals, the price doubled,” Kendal shared.
When she said armored car, Kendal was talking about something like the president would ride in, with bulletproof glass and reinforced protection to stop bullets, not a Brink’s truck.
Fritz had talked to Umberto, Alex’s father. Recently, there had been a rash of kidnappings. He suggested it in case David, Alex, and Alex’s twin sister, Nat, decided to go into town. At their compound, he felt they had plenty of security.
Fritz had made sure everyone knew not to get on social media and announce the travel plans. That included Chloe, whom Cassidy had invited to crash their trip as the reward for winning the scavenger hunt.
“Any luck finding me a new PA?” David asked last.
“I was about to march into Kent’s office and see where that was at. Rumor has it you said something about feeling comfortable having me do that job.”
That made him chuckle because he’d told Frank just that. But he knew it wouldn’t last.
“You go, girl,” he said to play it off.
“Are you done wasting my time?” Kendal asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Have a good day … oh, and Kendal?”
“Yeah?”
“I owe you.”