Friends With Way Too Many Benefits (12 page)

"Oh, um." Brian smiled. "Just weddings and other stuff."

"What other stuff?" Jillian asked.

Rob put his hands on Bridget's shoulders. "Island paradises. You know, the kind you’d go to for like a honeymoon."

"Yep." Brian agreed. "Islands and coconuts."

Jillian and Bridget shared an odd look and said in unison, "Okay…"

Sitting in one of the back offices at Jervis and Murkins, Victoria studied a one and a half carat diamond stone, smiling. "It's nice."

Miles, the sales associate gave her a confident nod. "That stone is nearly flawless and has color J."

The chair next to Victoria was empty. She pulled out her cell phone to check for messages then gave Miles an apologetic look. "Sorry, he's usually never late. He was coming from work and maybe there was—"

Suddenly her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. "It's him. Sorry." Rising up from the chair, she turned toward the wall and answered the call.

"Where are you?"

"Don't get upset," Jim said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was in a minor accident."

"Oh my God what—"

"I'm fine. But the ambulance is taking me to the hospital just to be safe."

"Ambulance?"

"I'm serious I'm fine. The car is totaled though, I think."

"What happened?"

"I was driving to meet you at the store and some guy in an SUV came out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the car."

"Are you okay?"

"My neck hurts a little, but I'm fine."

Turning back to Miles, she caught his concerned look as she said into the phone, "Where are they taking you?"

"To South Miami Hospital."

"I'll meet you there."

"Okay."

She ended the call then whispered to herself, "I knew this was a bad idea."

"What?" Miles asked.

"Sorry, we'll have to reschedule this... maybe." She headed toward the door.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure. My fiancée was in a car accident."

He rose to his feet and moved to the doorway. "I hope everything is okay."

"Thank you." She took off down the hall.

Twenty minutes later, Victoria rushed into Jim's hospital room and found him in bed wearing a hospital gown. On his left cheek was a bruise. She frowned and moved next to the bed, leaning down to give him a hug. "Oh, Jim."

"Hey."

"What'd the doctor say?" She lifted his chin up carefully with her hand and studied his face, grimacing.

"They're sending me for an X-ray in a few minutes, but they think everything is okay."

"Did you hit your head?"

"Yeah, my face smashed into the window a little."

"Oh, just a little," she replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to be fine. Did you reschedule our appointment?"

"No, I didn't."

"Okay, I'll call later and—"

"I don't think we should." She shook her head then moved a chair close to the bed and took a seat.

"What do you mean?"

Looking him in the eye, a tear streamed down her cheek. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Oh, you don’t like the place. We can go anywhere you want."

"No, I don't think we should get married."

"What?" He scoffed. "Why because of this little accident?"

"It's a sign." She took his hand and exhaled deeply.

"You're kidding right? Tell me you're—"

"Look, you know my first husband died. Now I finally agree to marry you and on your way to pick out an engagement ring you're nearly killed." She gazed at him with her mouth hanging open.

He chuckled. "Come on, I wasn't nearly killed."

"Okay, yeah..." She looked away from him. "Bad luck follows me. I will not have another husband die on me."

"Geez, I'm not going to die." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah..." She scoffed. "Well you haven't married me yet and I won't let you."

"Any of us could die at any moment. No one knows when and why things happen, but I can guarantee you that marrying you is not bad luck."

The door opened and a nurse entered the room. "Hello."

"Hi," Victoria replied, wiping her cheek.

"We're going to take you down to x-ray now, but your mother can wait here if she'd like."

Jim and Victoria shared a look then after taking a moment to compose herself, Victoria said, "No
son
, I think I'll go grab a cup of coffee."

"Um, okay—"

Victoria interrupted his reply by pressing her lips against his and delivering a heart-stopping, tongue laden super-long kiss. When she pulled away from him she said, "Be good now son and listen to the nice lady."

The nurse stood frozen as Victoria flashed her an enthusiastic smile then headed out the door. When she finally turned her attention to Jim, he shrugged self-consciously and said, "We're, um, French."

Other than a little persistent back pain, Jim was fine. His tests all came back normal and we was released from the hospital about an hour later. Prescribed pain medication, he was told to follow up with his primary care doctor and seek massage therapy if the pain did not subside within a few days.

Jillian flew out to Los Angeles and the next morning met with her agent, the producers, studio executives and the director. The ninety minute meeting was productive and ended with everyone on the same page in terms of the talent, locations and the expedited shooting schedule. With a solid plan in place, Jillian's agent drove her back to the airport.

Ten miles away in sunny Beverly Hills, Natalie Fox formerly known as Natalie Brookhart sat out by the Playboy Mansion's pool surrounded by half a dozen other Playmates. Having recently been named Playmate of the year for 2012, she was the envy of all the other girls'. After changing her name to escape the publicity of the trial and reinvent herself as an actress, she had yet to secure anything other than a stint as a body double in a film that opened to disastrous box office numbers and closed the very same weekend.

A few of the other girls were lounging topless, their perfect, but obviously, fake breast baking in the hot summer California sun while Natalie lay on her stomach with her flawless, yet completely natural, breasts pressed down on the soft chaise lounge resting over her untied bikini top.

The large outdoor television played a re-run of last Friday's Access Hollywood. Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush appeared with a smile. Billy began, "Breaking news out of Hollywood— the film adaptation of bestselling novel, The Leg Thing, has been green lit and in a big way…"

Grasping her bikini ties, Natalie sat up on the chaise and looked to the screen, wide-eyed.

Nancy said, "Superstar and romantic comedy box office gold, Amanda Joseph, and sexy heartthrob Chance Hart have signed on to play the lead roles. Paul Ford, the recently disgraced bad boy writer/producer/director of the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time, Wedding Party, will direct and executive produce the film." Billy said, "And get this, they're fast tracking this production to begin shooting next month in Miami. You'll remember that sales of the book took off after Natalie Brookhart, last year's Playmate of the year, filed a civil suit against the author Jillian Grayson. Turns out Miss Brookhart was not only the inspiration for this based-on-actual-events story but the inspiration for the title as well."

All the other girl's eyes were glued to the screen as Natalie looked away preoccupied watching the water stream off the waterfall into the enormous lagoon shaped pool.

Billy continued, "As you know Nancy, the book didn't hold my interest, but I had a hard time turning away from Miss Brookhart's stunning pictorial. It's no wonder that the flexible femme fatale was selected as Playmate of the year."

A stunning brunette called out, "Way to go Natalie."

Natalie returned her attention to the television and smiled.

Nancy said, "I, for one, loved the book and look forward to seeing how the story adapts to the big screen. After the high profile trial, the buzz surrounding this production was huge, but then plans stalled for more than six months as producers were in talks with Reese Witherspoon to lead the cast. But after her high profile arrest during her husband's DUI incident the producers decided to go in another direction. And now with Amanda on board the lights are all green and a summer 2014 release is planned. Next up the first pics of North West are out and boy is she adorable. We'll be right back."

Turning her attention to her cell phone, Natalie dialed a number. She headed toward the mansion. "Jeremy, it's Natalie."

"Hey Natalie, tell me you're going to take it."

"What?"

"The CSI Miami."

"No…ah." She shrieked. "I told you I don't want to play a dead hooker. I don’t even have a line."

"That's not true. There's a scream."

She sighed. "I'm calling about
The Leg Thing
."

"Oh yeah, I heard it was greenlit. What about it?"

"I want to be in it."

"Do I even need to tell you why you can't be?"

"I said I want to be in it!" She shot back forcefully as she climbed the stairs to the second floor.

"Uh… Natalie look, I mean, you sued the author and the publisher, you sorta disrupted her wedding, you attempted to have sex with her husband, you, you... didn't you try to blackmail a witness?"

"That was never proven."

"All right, but Jillian Grayson is a producer on the movie and she would never—"

"Jeremy?" Interrupting him, she slipped into her large luxurious suite, slammed the door and stood in front of her king sized bed adorned with a pink satin comforter.

"What?"

Flopping back on her bed, she put on an evil grin as she switched into a soft, sexy voice. "Jeremy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can't you just reach out to them to see what they say?"

He sighed.

"Do you remember that night after the Playmate of the Year party?"

"Yeah, sure, it was… wow. But, uh, what about it?"

With her eyes narrowing, she growled, "Don’t you think you owe me?"

After ten seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, she repeated "You owe me this, Jeremy."

"All right, I'll try, but don't get your hopes up."

"Then you'd better not get your hopes up about another night like that or being my manager for much longer. Got it!"

"I said I'll—"

Pulling the phone from her ear, she ended the call, tossed it on the bed and sighed. She flipped over onto her stomach, holding her chin up with her hands and stared down at the pure white shag carpet. Spotting her pink iPad mini on the floor, she smiled.

After retrieving it, she performed a Google search first to recall the director's name then to learn all that she could about him. The more she discovered about his bad boy partying reputation and obsession with health and physical fitness— from running to yoga to working out, the more she smiled.

Back in Miami, Victoria entered the crowded tennis club and scanned the room for Jim, but she didn't see him. One by one she noticed the super-attractive staff she didn't recognize— a young man and woman behind the counter who could pass for runway models. Then she spotted a drop dead gorgeous male instructor rushing through the lobby. Mesmerized, she moved to the large glass wall to view the courts below and spotted a female tennis instructor working with a man. She was dressed in the standard issue white staff shirt, but hers was probably two sizes too small with every fiber straining to contain her magnificent breasts.

The young man behind the counter called out, "Victoria?"

"Yes."

"Hi, I recognized you from your picture."

She gave him a confused look.

He said, "In Jim's office."

"Oh, okay." She moved to the counter and read the name tag off his astonishingly defined pectoral muscle. "Todd."

He smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Great meeting you. Are you new here?"

"It's my third week."

Her gaze dipped down quickly to his well-defined biceps then returned to his face. "I haven't been here in a couple months, but it seems like there are a lot of new faces."