Jake extricated himself from her embrace as quickly as propriety allowed.
“It’s so good to see you, Jake!” Mindy gushed. “You look great!”
“Thanks,” Jake said. “You do too.”
“You’re so sweet,” she said with a giggle. She then turned to Laura, who was looking awkward and out of place at his side. “And you’re Mrs. Kingsley,” she said brightly. “I saw your wedding pictures in People. You’re even more beautiful in person.”
“Uh ... thank you, uh ... Mindy,” Laura said, blushing. “And you can call me Laura.”
“All right, I will,” she said, holding out her hand.
Laura hesitated for a moment and then shook with her. Mindy’s nails were done just so, in a color that matched her dress. Jake remembered a time when she suddenly and unexpectedly shoved two of those fingers as far as they would go up his ass while she was sucking his cock, triggering a violent and powerful ejaculation into her mouth (and causing some light bleeding whenever he took a shit for the next week). He shuddered again and pushed that image out of his brain.
“I hope you two enjoy the premier,” Mindy told them. “I honestly think it’s the best project I’ve ever worked on.”
“We can’t wait to see it,” Laura told her.
Jake then turned to Greg and Celia, grateful to be out of Mindy’s arm reach. Greg shook his hand and then gave Laura a big hug. Celia hugged both of them.
“Go ahead and mingle,” Greg told them. “Have a few drinks, have some hors d’oeuvres. We’ll start seating in the theatre in thirty minutes.”
“Let’s do it,” Jake told his wife. “I think I can use a drink about now.”
“Yeah, me too,” Laura said.
They stepped into the room and waited while Greg, Celia, and Mindy greeted the Nerdlys and then Pauline and Obie. Jake heard Mindy reminding Bill of their little trip to the high-roller area in Las Vegas back in the day. She did not mention that Nerdly ended up banging two high-class hookers and a VIP lounge cocktail waitress on Mindy’s dime. But it was obvious from the way that Bill was blushing that he was thinking about it. And then it was Obie and Pauline’s turn. Mindy shook Obie’s hand and complimented him on his hat. She told him that she enjoyed his music. Obie seemed to appreciate the sentiment. He certainly seemed to be enjoying the view down the front of Mindy’s dress that she was offering him. Mindy then gave Pauline a big hug and a kiss on the cheek as well. She brought up that same trip to Las Vegas, again, prudently not mentioning the studly craps dealer that had cleaned out Pauline’s cobwebs that night.
“All right, drinks,” Jake said once everyone was in the room.
“Yes,” said Sharon. “I think a double appletini is in order.”
They made their way to the nearest bar and ordered up. They then began to circulate around the food tables, picking up things that looked interesting and putting them on their plates. Jake did not know most of the people here, not on a personal basis anyway. They were primarily actors, directors, and upper echelon production team people. He did not introduce himself to anyone. No one introduced themselves to him.
“Mindy seems nice enough,” Laura observed as their little group of six found a corner to stand in and munch on their appetizers.
“So did Ted Bundy from what I hear,” Jake said. “Don’t trust her.”
“Oh ... I don’t,” Laura said. “I was just making an observation.”
“That dress certainly shows off her assets,” said Obie.
“Yeah,” Pauline said sadly. “Her tits are still fuckin’ fantastic. The bitch. She’s never had a baby chewing on them for six months.”
“Now, don’t be like that, darlin’,” Obie told her. “You still have a premium rack.”
“You really think so?” she asked.
“Goddamn right,” he said. “I’ll put your hogans up against Mindy Snow’s any old day of the week.”
“Awww,” said Sharon. “That’s so sweet.”
“I would volunteer to judge the competition,” Nerdly said, in all seriousness.
“I’m sure you would, Bill,” Pauline said with a laugh.
The crowd of three hundred special guests, twenty entertainment media representatives, and ten local movie critic writers were brought into the theatre and seated at 8:15 PM. At 8:30, the lights went down and the film began. It was in 35-millimeter with Dolby digital sound that boomed through the speakers in the room.
Jake did not think it was a good film. He thought it was a great film, one of the best and most thought-provoking he had ever seen. The story was believable. The realism was extraordinary and gritty at the same time. And the acting of Greg and Mindy was incredible. They actually had him seeing them up there on the screen, not as Mindy Snow, woman he had fucked and been used by countless times, and Greg Oldfellow, husband of Celia and lovably pompous ass, but as Lyndsay Brown, liberal reporter, and Frank Haverty, burned out, racist cop who kept his demons at bay with alcohol and cynicism. He actually felt himself feeling empathy for Haverty, understanding the message that you can’t work in the shitheap and be unaffected by your experiences there. He actually felt sorry for Lyndsay, who ended up questioning everything she had always believed in about crime and punishment and law enforcement.
And the sex scenes. They were about as tasteful as such scenes could possibly be, but very graphic, flirting with the very border between an R rating and an NC-17, just barely managing to stay on the R side. The scene in the parking lot, followed by the scene at Lyndsay’s condo, where the two of them tongue-kissed, where Lyndsay grabbed a handful of Haverty’s bare ass, where Haverty slurped one of Lyndsay’s nipples into his mouth while squeezing the other breast, followed by Lyndsay’s bare ass bouncing up and down atop Haverty’s lap. Jake actually found himself becoming a little aroused by the scene, springing a semi even. And not because he was seeing Mindy naked again, but because the scene was hot. The second sex scene, in the locker room of the police station, was shorter, not quite as graphic, but it had the same effect on him.
The climax of the movie was Haverty, Boot, and Lyndsay responding to a call of a domestic violence incident in progress on their last scheduled shift together—after Lyndsay had put an end to their brief, passionate affair; after Haverty decided to take Lyndsay’s advice and try to put his marriage back together. They knocked on the door of an apartment and then the sound of a gunshot came from inside, followed by the sound of a child screaming for help. Haverty and Boot ordered Lyndsay back to the stairwell (she did not go there, only moved a few yards down the hallway), drew their guns, requested cover, and kicked in the door. Inside, they found a dead woman on the couch, a gunshot wound to her face. Standing next to the couch was a girl of about ten years old, screaming and holding her mother’s hand.
“Who did this?” Haverty demanded of the child. “Where is he?”
The child pointed toward a hallway.
Before they could even start in that direction, a man stepped out of the dark and into the light, a pistol in his hand. He began firing indiscriminately. Haverty and Boot both returned fire (the first actual police gunfire in the entire film), riddling him with bullets and dropping him to the ground. They checked the girl, who was still screaming, and see she is uninjured. Haverty then starts to breathe deeply, as if he can’t quite catch his breath.
“Jesus Christ, Hav,” Boot says, horrified. “You’re hit!”
“I am?” Haverty says. He looks down to see a large spot of blood expanding on his right flank. His legs get weak and he sits down in a chair while Boot screams into his radio that there have been shots fired and an officer is down.