In all the time I'd been with Artists Unlimited, there were still instances when I'd be surprised by some revelation about the company. There were the little ones, like how they still did advertising photos at times or their investment in a workout club called Malibu Fitness.
And then there was Gary Mackas.
I met Gary accidentally in Jeff Murphy's office one morning. To me, he seemed a little obnoxious, but harmless. Then Jeff explained how Gary was a link to the agency's beginnings and how the skin trade had been part of that. Gary ran VCX Productions which did a lot of adult programming online and on cable. It was a part of the agency Jeff kept quiet about. It seemed the arrangement was so quiet, the only time it was acknowledged was once a year when Gary came in to renew his contract with us. I didn't even know who their contact was within the agency, it might've been Jeff for all I knew. But it was through Gary that I met the lovely and mysterious Laura Austin. And the more I learned about her business, the more I agreed with Jeff that a code of silence was in our best interests.
So it was quite a surprise when my cellphone buzzed.
"Heyyyyy...Hollywood Jim!"
"Yes?" I replied to the unfamiliar voice
"Gary Mackas, you remember me."
"Oh, yes...right."
"Got an offer for you that's once in a lifetime, well, once a year actually."
"Uh-huh."
"It's the company's anniversary party and you, my friend, are invited."
I didn't know weather to accept or not.
"Uh, right...well, uh..." I stumbled for a response. On the one hand it was potentially a good time, but I'd never been to one of Gary's parties and my opinion of Gary to begin with was, let's say, sketchy at best.
"You gotta come, man! All the girls will be here, I think you know one of them."
"I do?"
"Yeah, uh, Laura, Laura Austin! She was with me the day we met. Remember?"
"I remember."
"Awesome! See you Saturday, then!"
"Wait a minute! I..."
Too late, his phone clicked off.
I tried calling the number I had for Laura, but that just went to voicemail. So much for that idea.
Time to move on to option 2.
"Option 2" was rather easy, I'd make an appearance at the party, stick around awhile, then make a (hopefully) graceful exit.
I still needed the address, though.
"Where does Gary Mackas live?" I asked Jeff on my way out.
"You're kidding?"
"What?"
"He called you?"
"Yes."
"His Anniversary party?"
I nodded.
"You're going?"
A sense of dread now came over me.
"Uh-huh."
Cautiously, he scribbled down an address.
"Be careful what you say or do." he said
That night, my phone rang.
"Gary invited you, huh?"
It was Laura Austin.
"Yes, and I'm starting to wonder if I should've declined the invitation." I said
"Well...Gary's largely harmless." she said "I think it'll be good for you to be there. We can look out for each other, how 'bout that?"
"What should I expect? Or is that a dumb question?"
"It'll be OK, babe." she said reassuringly before adding "Look, if I thought otherwise I'd tell you."
"OK, see you there."
The next day, I drove to the address Jeff had given me. It turned out to be the parking lot of a coffee shop where a white GMC Denali was waiting for me, along with a 1970's era Corvette convertible. Casually leaning against the back, was Laura Austin, wearing a tight blue designer dress.
"Hiya, Hollywood." she said with a smile as she opened the passenger door of the Denali "I think you know my friends."
I looked inside and found her occasional "conspirators" Vicki the leggy blonde and Rita, the sexy redhead.
"Hi, Hollywood!" they said in unison.
I could only smile.
"You get to be our driver." she said as she tossed the keys to me "You did such a good job last time."
"You're not afraid to leave the 'Vette here?"
"Nah, the owners here know me, they'll look after it."
It turned out only Laura knew the true location of Gary's house. Once we got past the gates, we pulled up to a ordinary looking ranch house that seemed to have been built in the late 50's.
"This is Gary's place?"
"Yeah, the skin trade did well for him, huh?" Rita said to me as she got out.
The front doors opened and we were lead out to the pool area. A DJ was at work spinning tunes, a slip and slide was on the lawn, and water polo going on in the pool.
The only thing different was that every girl there was either topless or nude. Gary was seated in a big throne chair overseeing everything, drink in hand, cigar close by, topless beauties at his beck and call feeding him grapes like he was some kind of emperor. Which in a sense, he was.
"Heyyyyy! Hollywood Jim! You made it!" he yelled out, making more than a few turn their heads in my direction "...and you brought some friends too!"
"What do you think?" Rita said to Laura.
"We're good, I got the security code." she replied.
"Security code?" I asked.
"Something we hopefully won't need. We're cool. I gotta get ready." she said as she walked off with Rita. Before I could say anything Gary showed up.
"Let's get a drink, Jimmy." Gary said as he put his big arm around Vicki and led us to his topless bartender.
"Wet their whistles, uh...uh..." he said trying to remember her name.
"Donna." she replied, sounding a little annoyed "What'll it be?"
"Whatever they want!" Gary said boisterously "Enjoy yourself, Jimmy boy! Feel free to...feel the girls freely!" he laughed as he slapped our backs and staggered back to his throne.
Vicki and I looked at each other.
"See this a lot?" I asked.
"More than you think, let's find someplace a little quieter."
Vicki led me to a spot not far from the pool.
"So, the last time I saw you was at a hotel somewhere, right?" she said
"Right, it was the first time I met Laura. Well, I'd met her earlier that day."
"How'd that happen?"
"Uh, our host here brought her into the office as his new starlet du jour."
Vicki laughed.
"He did that to me too!" she laughed
"Really? How?"