“What would you like to drink?” Rachel asked.
I needed a beer, and Melinda took my lead and ordered herself one. Jackie and her assistant were taking reference shots of the club. One Step Beyond had a DJ, and the music was loud. The dance floor was about half full, but I would bet it would be packed soon.
“Want to dance?” I asked.
Melinda just nodded. She turned out to be a terrible dancer. Maybe this was why the Seavs dumped her. Tracy told me once that you could tell if a guy was good in bed by how well he danced. She said that if a man had no rhythm on the dance floor, he had none in bed. I wondered if that held true for girls.
The next song was slow, so I pulled her into my arms to guide her. We had been on the dance floor for about a half hour when Jackie pulled us off.
“Thanks. I got what I needed. You two were great, and I’d love to work with you again. If you ever need a photographer, I hope you’ll call,” she said, ending in a sales pitch.
“Where’re you headed?” Melinda asked.
Jackie told her.
“Care to share a cab?”
“Sure. Let me say goodbye to Adrienne and Tyler, and I’ll meet you out front,” Jackie said.
Melinda got her coat and didn’t even bother to say goodbye.
“Look, Rina, a cute goy boy,” I heard behind me from a girl with a thick New York accent.
Was that New York’s version of boy toy? I turned to find two sisters or cousins checking me out.
“Do you dance?” one of them asked.
I grabbed her hand and led her onto the dance floor. It was more crowded than before, and the music took a more techno turn. Most everyone just bounced around; it was more of a mosh pit than anything else. I had fun until some guy groped the girl I was with. Cassidy had taught me about pressure points. I grabbed the man, and he was soon on his knees, begging her forgiveness. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to their table.
She was breathing hard from all the hopping around, and her sister/cousin gave her a look.
“You wanna get out of here?” my dance partner asked me.
“Oy vey iz mir. You can’t shlep home some goy from the club. What would papa say?”
“Feh! It’s not like I plan to marry him, Rina.”
I held up my hand to stop them.
“Hey, I need to get back to my friends. Thanks for the dance,” I said and turned to go back to our table.
They began to argue with each other in earnest, and I just shook my head.
My driver/security guard had watched the entire event.
“I think you dodged one there,” he offered.
“I think you’re right. It looked like too much drama for tonight.”
Adrienne and Tyler were dancing, and I looked around. This was getting to be a bit much.
“You want to take me home?” I asked.
“Sure. Let me tell someone we’re leaving,” he said and left to find Adrienne’s security.
When he returned, he drove me to her condo.
◊◊◊
When I got back, I found a note from Kara telling me to come down to the models’ condo when I returned. I wanted to be comfortable, so I rooted through my bags and found a pair of Hollister sweats and an A&F polo shirt. Going downstairs to where Kara lived, I knocked on her door. I heard some movement, and then everything was quiet. Then I heard a muffled, “It’s open” called out.
I opened the door and found soft music playing and the room lit by candlelight. A small smile lit up my face as I looked around for Kara. I was shocked when I saw Melinda in a sexy purple floral-lace baby doll, which I remembered her wearing in her most recent Victoria’s Secret photo shoot.
“You look surprised,” she said with a coy smile and did a little turn. “You like?”
I nodded numbly, unable to speak due to my confusion.
“I thought when you left …”
“Come sit on the couch and let me explain,” she said, and she sat down and patted the seat next to her.
I sat next to her, and she took my hand with her two and held it in her lap as she told me her story.
“I was discovered in a mall in Dallas by a young man who approached me and told me I should be a model. My girlfriends were with me, and they all warned me it was just a pickup line. He assured me he was genuine and gave me his business card. My mom and dad checked it out, and the company he represented was legitimate, to a point. They charged you to have your headshots done, and then they would send your model card to different agencies. Only a small percentage of the girls ‘discovered’ ever got even a single modeling job.
“I was their big success story. I’d developed early and looked the same at fifteen as I do now. My now manager saw my pictures and sent them to Victoria’s Secret because they were looking for new talent. They wanted to see me, so my manager approached my parents, and they signed a three-year developmental contract,” she explained.
She saw my look of disbelief.
“I know. My parents and I were naïve. My manager told us she would have to spend a lot of money up front to get me the exposure and training I needed. That was why she would only charge me fifty percent of my earnings.”
I about fell off the couch when I heard that.
“It gets better. I have to pay for my own travel expenses if the client doesn’t pick them up.”
“You need to get out of that deal. You’re getting screwed,” I said.
“We’ve tried, but we signed a contract.”
“I would bet Tyler could do it, or at least that she knows someone who could get you out of it,” I suggested.
“It doesn’t matter now. It expires in six weeks, and I’ve been advised to just wait it out for now.”
“So why all the cloak-and-dagger? Why did you leave suddenly at the club?” I asked.
“My manager has been selling information about me to the tabloids. I discovered that Blake Seaver didn’t contact my people, she contacted his. I was excited that a celebrity would want to go on a date with me. But then I found out he thought it was a booty call. He wasn’t about to turn down a Victoria’s Secret model. Once we figured out we’d been set up, he was nice about it. He took me on a couple of dates, but he still tried to get me into his bed,” she admitted.
“And he succeeded,” I said.
“Yeah,” she admitted.
“You really did catch ‘Seaver Fever,’” I teased.
“Let’s just say I got a life lesson and have no wish to repeat it anytime soon.”
“So, what happened tonight?” I asked.
“I’ve come to the realization that my manager is only looking out for herself, and everything I do will end up somewhere on the Internet. Tyler told me how upset the girl you planned our date for was about the press she received, and I felt horrible for the role I played in it. The thing is, I like you, and I didn’t want to feed them any more info that might hurt you.”
“Let me think … David A. Dawson seen out on the town with a Victoria’s Secret model. You’re right! That would destroy me in the eyes of the press and my fans,” I said in mock horror.
“‘Stupid boy,’ I was worried about your girlfriend.”
“First of all, Pam and I are good friends. She’s having my baby and will be in my life from now on, but she’s not my girlfriend. She doesn’t want to be in the press herself. I, on the other hand, can’t avoid it, so I would rather it be about something true than made-up stuff.”
“Kara explained that to me, but I guess I didn’t understand,” Melinda said.
“I expected to see Kara here. How do you know her?” I asked.
“We’ve modeled together. I think she secretly loves you, but I begged her to set this up.”
“What is ‘this’?” I asked.
“You really are a ‘stupid boy’ if you can’t figure that out.”
She was right. I pulled her into my arms and gave her a tender kiss.