Matt rolled his eyes upward. "And you proclaim to love Helen, don't you?"
"Yeah," Jake said. "I do."
"And you're pretty sure she loves you? That she's not just acting the way you want her to because you're Jake Kingsley?"
"I know she's not," Jake said.
"And for what it's worth, I think you're right. I was around you two enough on tour to see that something clicked between you and her. But even with all that, if you were going to marry her, wouldn't you make her sign a prenup first?"
"Yes," Jake said without hesitation. "I wouldn't dream of tying the knot with her, or with any woman, without one."
"And that's my point," Matt said. "Nerdly's a fool if he goes without the prenup. No matter what they feel for each other now, what's gonna happen in two years, or in five years, if they end of falling out of love and splitting up?"
"She'll get half of his shit," Jake said. "That's what will happen."
There was a discreet knock at the door. Matt looked over at it and yelled, "Bring it on!"
The door opened and a young woman of about twenty entered the room carrying a large serving platter with a stainless steel cover over it. She was an unnatural blonde, very cute and well built. She wore a cocktail waitress outfit that showed off both her cleavage, and a gorgeous set of legs clad in fishnet stockings.
"Wassup, Laurie?" Matt hailed. "You're looking good enough to eat, as usual."
"Thanks, Matty," she said with a sexy smile. "How many more days?"
"Thirty-seven," he told her.
"Mmmm, I can't wait."
"Me either, baby," Matt said. "Me either. "You got some grub for us?"
"I sure do," she said brightly. "Where do you want it?"
"Right here is fine," he said, indicating the glass coffee table before them.
She set the tray down on the table and then glanced at Jake, her eyes moving appreciably up and down his body. She gave a polite little cough in Matt's direction.
"Oh... right," Matt said. "Sorry. Laurie, this is Jake Kingsley. Jake, Laurie Jenkins. She not a counselor. She's on the kitchen staff. She delivers the room service orders and waits the tables at lunch and dinner."
"Nice to meet you, Jake," she said in a sultry voice. "I love your music."
"Thanks," Jake said. "And it's nice to meet you as well."
"Are you gonna be at Matt's getting out party?" she asked him.
Jake shrugged. As of yet, he had not been invited to such a party. "I'm sure I will," he said.
"Mmmm, perfect," she said. "Now I really can't wait."
"Uh... well, actually," Matt said. "Jake will be there, but he won't be involved in that part of the party."
"He won't?" she said, disappointed.
"No," Matt said. "He's one of those freaks who are into monogamy."
"Oh..." she said, as if she didn't quite believe that. "I see. Well, keep it in mind though, huh Jake?"
"Sure," Jake said. "I'll do that."
"Well, I'd better get going, guys. Enjoy your appetizers."
They said their goodbyes to her and she went out the door.
"What was that all about?" Jake asked. "Are you fucking one of the staff members while you're in jail?"
"No, you can't fuck 'em while you're in," Matt told him. "It's against the rules."
"So there are some rules here?"
"A few," Matt said. "You can't leave, you can't fight, you can't do any drugs, and you can't have sex with any of the staff members. Those are the big ones. You get caught doing any of that shit and they kick your ass out and you end up in the county jail system."
"I guess that would be a good motivation," Jake had to admit. "So you're setting up a date with her for when you get out?"
"Yeah," he said, lifting the cover from the serving tray. A fragrant cloud of steam billowed up, revealing a tray of miniature chicken wings smothered in potent red sauce and another tray of deep fried calamari strips. He set the cover aside and picked up a wing, which he dipped in a bowl of ranch dressing. "She's got the major hots for me and she also wants to try it with another chick. So I'm setting up a threesome between me, her, and Kim for when I get out."
"Does Kim know about this?" Jake asked.
"Sure," Matt said. "Laurie was in here the other day when Kim and I were fucking on the couch. We let her watch."
"She... watched you and Kim have sex? Here in your cell?"
"Yeah," Matt said. "It got her really hot too. She pulled up her little skirt and stuck her hand down the front of those fishnet stockings and just played with her pussy the whole time. She fuckin' came right there next to the coffee table. After we were done, Kim licked her fingers for her and then tongue kissed her for a couple of minutes." He shrugged and took a big bite out of his chicken wing. "It was pretty cool," he said around a mouthful of spicy chicken meat.
Jake shook his head. "Like I said before, Matt," he said. "The absolute hell you must be enduring in here."
"Yeah," Matt said, taking a swig of beer to wash his food down. "Prison truly sucks, man. Watch what you do out there. You don't want to end up in a place like this."
Jake left the GGCI shortly after one o'clock. He drove home, parked his BMW in the garage, and then went inside where he took off his clothes and slept off the four beers he'd consumed in Matt's jail cell. Elsa woke him up at four thirty. He took a quick shower, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and then a mixed a drink in his upstairs bar. He carried it out to his deck to enjoy it with a cigarette.
When he walked out onto the deck to light up he saw that Gerald and Delilah, Elsa's two grandchildren, were frolicking happily in his swimming pool. Now that the warm weather of approaching summer was upon the Los Angeles basin, the two of them were frequent visitors to his home. Jake didn't mind. They were both good kids, intelligent and full of spunk. He loved to listen to them talk as they both used a vocabulary full of American inner-city slang spoken with a distinct British accent. He descended the stairs down to the pool and set his drink down on one of the tables. Gerald, who had been trying to stand up on one of the pool's rafts, was the first to see him.
"Jake!" he greeted. "What time is it with you, my man?"
"Time for a drink, like always," Jake told him.
"I heard you went to go visit your homey in the joint," Gerald said.
"Yep," Jake agreed. "It was a horrible place. You should see the conditions he's forced to live in."
"Did you tell him not to drop the soap in the shower?" Gerald asked.
"Gerald," the seventeen-year-old Delilah cut in, "if Nana be hearin' you say that, she'd be upside your head hard enough to slap them nappies right out of it."
"She would not!" the fifteen-year-old Gerald disagreed. "Everyone be knowin' what goes on in the joint."
"A lot more than that goes on in there, Gerald," Jake warned. "Trust me when I say you don't ever wanna find out."
"I ain't never goin' in the joint, homey," Gerald proclaimed. "Ain't no way they're ever gonna take me down!"
"What they gonna take you down for?" Delilah asked him. "You a nerd! You all in the computer club and on the soccer team. They gonna get you for not rewinding your movies before you take 'em back?"
"Shut up, Delilah!" Gerald shouted angrily. He, like any fifteen-year-old male, did not like having his street cred questioned.
Delilah didn't push the issue. She knew she'd slam dunked that one. "Watch this, Jake," she said, getting out of the pool and mounting the diving board. She took three steps, bounced once on the end, and executed a pretty respectable one and a half somersault dive, leaving very little splash as she entered the water. Her brown body glided along the bottom of the pool before breaking the surface near the shallow end.
"Nice dive," Jake told her, marginally impressed. The first time she'd come over to his house to swim she'd been afraid to even jump off the diving board.