“I agree with Jessup,” her publicist said. “I think it would help her as long as it’s done right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we admit that there was actual sex, but instead play the ‘we don’t talk about things like that’ card.”
“And then tell them a lot of steamy details,” Frank said.
“Exactly. Build the sizzle, but hide the sausage, so to speak.”
Everyone groaned at that one.
“So, what do we do?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking about this,” Frank began. “Why don’t we take a couple of shots and make them appear like they were taken from a cell phone. I can talk to my contact at Hollywood Central and let them ‘break’ the story. Hollywood Central follows up with something like a poll to determine who their viewers would rather see in a sex scene, David or Zak.”
“Could Hollywood Central add Craig and Ben from Star Academy? It’s about to come out.” Caryn said.
“You’d need to do that robo-vote thingy; I’d want to win,” I said.
Frank gave me a look, but I could tell he was okay with what I’d proposed.
“Could they do something similar with Leah?” her manager asked.
“We could do the whole ‘sexiest women I’ve been linked with’ bit,” I said.
I thought that was a brilliant idea.
“Just who would you put on this list?” Leah asked.
She wasn’t buying the idea that anyone would be interested.
“There’s you and Halle from this movie. From Star Academy, we could pull in Bree Steno and Elizabeth Jenks. I got my start in modeling with a sexy kiss with Adrienne. I’ve done a bunch of shoots with models. Then there’s the sex scene that I’m doing with Hannah Minacci,” I said.
“I thought that scene was set with the baseball player,” Rita said.
“I talked to the writers, and they agreed that it should really be with me,” I explained.
Rita looked over at Jessup.
“Yes, he did,” Jessup said, confirming my ingenuity.
“While that sounds good, I think I should have a more prominent role in the media plans. This isn’t just about David,” Leah said.
“We could do a whole campaign on how being in a movie with me makes you more sexy,” I suggested.
“I detect a theme here,” Frank said. “She’s right, not everything’s about you.”
I gave him my best hurt-puppy-dog eyes. Rita had two kids and didn’t buy it.
“Quit goofing around. I’ll talk to the studio and get them to release a couple of frames. I want to see them before they’re given to Hollywood Central,” Rita said.
“If you’d like, I’ll coordinate with your people and come up with ways to help you,” Frank told Leah.
Jessup took Frank and his gal to go pick out some shots, and Leah’s agent and publicist accompanied them.
There was a knock on the door, and I opened it to find Halle, Zak, Tanya, and Jessica. Halle pushed past me, and the rest of the main cast followed her. None of them were shy about getting themselves drinks and plates of appetizers.
“We heard that you had some dailies from yesterday,” Halle said to explain the invasion.
I turned to Leah.
“It’s going to be in the movie, so I’m fine if they see,” she said.
“Even without the edits?” Rita asked.
While the video was going to be used, it needed to be edited with different camera angles so that you wouldn’t actually see penetration.
“I already told the girls what happened,” Leah admitted.
Everyone looked at Zak.
“David never said a word. I just heard there was free food,” he said as he stuffed a crab puff into his mouth.
I smiled when Halle saved me a seat next to her on one of the couches. She was staking her claim, and I doubt anyone missed her meaning, so I played along. Rita reran the video. Leah told them what we planned to do with Hollywood Central and how we wanted to handle it. They all agreed that if asked, they had heard rumors, but the set had been closed. They all planned to have their publicists talk to Frank and send him pictures that could be sent to Hollywood Central.
Frank came back and put the shots they were using on the screen. The pictures appeared to have come from a cell phone. He explained that was why he’d brought his tech person with him. She’d Photoshopped it so it was laid out like a typical phone photo and made a little blurry. The first shot showed Leah kissing my stomach, and the next was when I’d grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her close to roll us over. Both shots were PG-13 but showed enough to make people wonder if we were really doing it or not. Rita approved them, and Frank quickly left to get working.
Rita announced that we had to go home. Zak absconded with the rest of my appetizers and a bottle of tequila and invited the rest of the cast back to his trailer. I would have to get the details tomorrow.
When we got home, three paparazzi were waiting by the gate. One tried to step in front of the car to get a picture, but Fritz gunned it and just missed the idiot. The cameramen attempted to follow the SUV through the gate, but Paul and Flo were waiting for them. When they saw Paul and Flo were armed, they turned around and left so the gate could be closed.
I wondered if this was a sign of things to come.
◊◊◊
I’d agreed to go to the beach house and hang out with Trip and Craig Wild, my costar in Star Academy. Hopefully, Kent would be there as well. He and I had become friends, and he seemed to be the one who had common sense in Craig’s little entourage.
I was introduced to how scary paparazzi can be on the way to the beach house. Two motorcycles chased us through traffic on the highway to try to get pictures. I now understood why Rita had security and why the windows were tinted.
“Do you have your seatbelt on?” Fritz asked.
“Yes, sir.”
Fritz used the Bluetooth in the Range Rover to call 911 through his phone.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
Fritz explained the situation and where we planned to go. When we pulled onto the Pacific Coast Highway, two police cars were waiting and turned on their lights. One of the motorcycles decided to make a run for it, while the other was pulled over.
We pulled into the driveway of what appeared to be a one-story house. When I got out of the car, Trip looked down from the roof.
“Go in the front door and come up to the roof. We’re going to barbecue some steaks and then go surfing.”
I entered and discovered this was, in fact, a two-story home. The back of the house was glass from floor to ceiling and looked out over a large patio that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. I walked down the stairs to take in the view. It was easy to understand why people loved this area. From the living room, I could see that over the kitchen was a large bedroom that had a balcony. The rest of the bedrooms were at the front of the house, two downstairs and two more upstairs.
Fritz showed me how to get onto the roof. There was a complete outdoor kitchen, a large fireplace, and a hot tub. A portion was under an awning so you could get out of the sun.
“There he is,” Craig called out.
“Hey, good to see you. Hey, Kent.”
Craig, Kent, and I caught up while Fritz and Trip made dinner. We had steaks and baked potatoes with a salad. After we’d eaten, we decided to go surfing. Well, Fritz taught me to surf while the other three showed they’d been doing this all their lives. I was happy when towards the end, I got up and was able to make a couple of runs without falling off. I’d just discovered another reason I loved it here.
When we were done, we started back to the house. I saw a group of cute girls and walked up to them. Something I’d noticed about LA was there was no shortage of beautiful women. The three looked like they’d been enhanced because natural breasts are not that round and firm.