Hi, everyone! Once again, I can't thank you enough for your patience. I promise the wait for new chapters will be shorter
When I joined The Morrison Group, I had a vague idea of their business interests outside of the entertainment field. It was only when I got a voluminous booklet in the mail that served as their yearly report to shareholders that I saw the full scope of their business interests. This only made my lawyer Michael Baldwin chuckle while we had dinner at a local Italian joint he'd recently discovered.
"Hey, you ought to read something other than car magazines and comic books. You might learn something." he said as he dug into a plateful of spaghetti.
"OK, I hear you, but did you look at this thing?" I replied, "They've got their hands in real estate, industrial parks, restaurant chains I feel like I'm working for Disney."
"It's called diverse business interests, Hollywood."
"Yeah, well diverse interests aside, I just found out I've gotta go to the shareholders conference."
"Cool!" he replied, like a kid who just got a new video game.
"What do you mean 'cool'? What am I supposed to do there?"
Michael chuckled again "OK, look. I've been to some of these things, usually they're held in a decent place so if you're lucky you can go to one or two meetings and the rest of the time you can hang around the pool sipping drinks on your employer's dime. By the way, where are they holding it?"
"Vegas."
"VEGAS?! Now I know you've utterly lost your mind, you are gonna be in the greatest place in the world and you're whining about it? You've become jaded, 'Hollywood'."
"Yeah...maybe you're right."
So, it was off to Sin City for me. I had been there many times in the past and it was always a new adventure for me. People talk about New York as being the city that never sleeps but to me, Vegas was not far behind, the weather was usually better too. The venue would be the Painted Desert hotel/casino and it was well known to me. I had had my share of adventures there already. There would be one big shareholders' meeting in the main conference room which did not seem much bigger than Jackie's office, perhaps that's why she chose it.
In the process of packing, I felt something in the pocket of a jacket I'd recently worn and when I pulled it out, it was the envelope Leah Austin had given me that she said would explain everything. It was from her "predecessor", Laura Austin, and nicely handwritten;
"Dear Jim, I have some wonderful news. I met a gentleman who swept me off my feet to the point where I've made the decision to leave the profession for the wide-open desert spaces of Arizona to become the lady of leisure that I've always dreamed of becoming. I want you to know that I will always treasure our times together. All my friends hold you in the same regard and I can assure you they'll keep an eye on you. Leah Austin may be a newcomer, but she knows all about you and is eager to enjoy the kind of special friendship we had. Best of luck to you, Hollywood Jim."
Laura made the point of adding some hearts next to her signature. I didn't really see it as a breakup letter because we'd never been a real couple. She'd just been a good friend and our paths crossed at odd times. It was better that way. I smiled and then carefully refolded the letter and filed it in the bottom drawer of my desk.
Vegas was calling my name.
As usual, the company jet transported high-level Morrison Group employees to Vegas where several limousines waited on the tarmac to whisk us to the Painted Desert hotel. Once settled into my suite, I was eager to check out the place as I hadn't been here in several years. I did my customary walk through the casino, feeling super cool for some reason. Making my way up to a balcony that showed off the vastness of the casino I looked for the longest time at everything. I was suddenly wistful as I remembered how years ago, my old partner Chris Foster and I had snagged the assignment of photographing Tigress back when they were playing lounges. Back then we saw it as a bit of a joke, they were nobodies. But then, so were we. We still felt like the kings of Vegas.
How life can throw so many curves at you.
Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"I thought I saw someone familiar." said an accented voice.
It was Leah Austin, dressed in a purple wrap dress with a gold belt, her short brunette hair looking immaculate.
"I'm surprised you recognized me so quick." I replied
"Aww, luv, I've always had a great memory for faces." she said with a flirty smile "How 'bout I buy you a drink?"
"Uh, isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
"Well...how about I buy the first round and you buy the second?"
"Deal."
Leah led me to an upscale looking bar and ordered a gin and tonic for herself and a seven and seven for me then found us a table in the corner.
"Um, how do you know this place?" I asked hesitantly.
"Laura told me about it, said it was her favorite to meet clients and people watch." She said as she took a sip of her drink.
"Do you mind me asking, uh, how'd you meet up with, I mean, how'd you start...uh.."
"Working with Miss Elizabeth?"
I nodded.
"Well, back in Australia I was working at an aged care home, kinda boring, but the inmates could be nice."
"Inmates? It wasn't a prison, was it?"
She laughed "No! No! It was what my friend Molly and I used to call the men there. A lot of them were veterans and we let a few of them feel us up. Molly was such a flirt, she let a few of them fuck her and after a while, I did the same with them."
"Whoa, kinda kinky, I guess. Old guys, y'know."
"It was kinda fun. A lot of them were widowers and we were the first bit of pussy they'd had for a long time. I even had one of my girlfriends join in when they had a reunion of their old unit."
"Wow, you definitely weren't shy."
"That one was especially fun. They had it in this big hotel in Sydney and the manager gave us a free room for the weekend. He was related to one of the guys there."
I began to realize that Leah had had just as active a sex life as Laura did. Another round of drinks came along, and she continued her story.
"Anyway, Molly also did a little escorting on the side. She made some good money doing that and it was always her intention to get out of the hospital care field and into something better. Any extra money she could make she appreciated, within reason of course."
"Yes, of course."
"I was curious, and she invited me to go on a few dates, they were very upscale men she knew so I didn't have to worry about anything. She looked out for me. One man we met knew Miss Elizabeth and knew she'd take very good care of us. Our plan was to come to the states together. I think she'd been here before."
"Molly came with you?'
"No, she was all set to come but got sick very suddenly. Before she died, she gave me the money she'd saved and told me to go. 'You only live once' she said. And since I had no family back in Australia, I figured, why not? Why not see the world one cock at a time."
"So here you are."
"Here I am!" she said with a big smile and a clink of our glasses.
