Goddess of Vengeance - Jackie Collins [1]
‘I’m beginning to think you’re a sex addict,’ Lucky said lightly, smiling at her close friend.
‘Excuse me?’ Venus retorted, raising a perfectly arched and pencilled eyebrow. ‘Last week you called me a Cougar, and now I’m a sex addict. Seriously, Lucky?’
Pushing back her mane of unruly curls, Lucky grinned. ‘Yeah. I’m so wrong,’ she drawled sarcastically. ‘It wasn’t you who slept with your twenty-two-year-old co-star last week, and it wasn’t you who screwed your sixty-year-old director two days later.’
‘Oh please,’ Venus said, dismissively waving her hand in the air. ‘I’m getting a divorce, what do you expect me to do? Join a convent?’
‘That might be a touch extreme.’ Lucky smiled as she thought about Venus wreaking havoc in a convent. ‘But anyway – I’m sure you know what you’re doing.’
‘You bet your fine ass I do,’ Venus answered vehemently. ‘Billy is all over the internet and the magazines with that juvenile skank he’s supposedly hooked up with. Just like Cooper.’ She paused for a long thoughtful moment. ‘Another cheating rat. I sure know how to pick ’em.’
‘You certainly do,’ Lucky agreed, thinking that Cooper Turner, Venus’s husband before Billy Melina, was a whole different ball game. Cooper was a much older movie star with a Warren Beatty-style track record, and everyone had known that Cooper would eventually cheat. Billy – not so much. Even though Billy was thirteen years younger than Venus, he’d seemed thrilled to be with her. And why not? Like Madonna, Venus was a true original with legions of worldwide fans.
‘I cannot believe Billy turned out to be such a loser,’ Venus said, determined to verbally trash her soon-to-be ex.
‘Hardly a loser,’ Lucky couldn’t help pointing out. ‘His current movie has grossed over a hundred million. Not too shabby.’
‘Yeah, yeah, rub it in,’ Venus snapped irritably. ‘Billy’s career is on fire, but as a man I can assure you he turned out to be a big waste of space.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘And what’s up with you today? Shouldn’t you be agreeing with me, not regaling me with his box office?’
‘Hey – don’t say I didn’t warn you about marrying a much younger man,’ Lucky responded.
‘Billy isn’t that much younger,’ Venus insisted. ‘Anyway, it’s sure working for Demi and Ashton. Besides, I thought you liked him.’
‘I did,’ Lucky said carefully. ‘I mean, I still do. Only marrying a younger guy . . . it’s kind of a given that they’re bound to cheat.’
‘Oh thanks!’ Venus said, frowning. ‘When did you turn into Miz Cynical and a half?’
‘Not cynical, merely practical.’
‘Says you,’ Venus snorted.
‘You know I tell it like it is,’ Lucky said, picking up her wine glass and taking a sip.
‘Oh yes, we all know that about you. Nothing’s off limits.’
‘Very true. I believe in the truth.’
‘And I guess it works for you.’
Lucky regarded her brilliant friend, and wondered why any man who was fortunate enough to be with Venus would ever want to stray. Venus had it all – beauty, brains, and talent.
‘Exactly why are you divorcing Billy?’ she asked.
‘’Cause he—’
‘Cheated!’ They both finished the sentence together, then broke up laughing.
‘Well,’ Venus said sagely, ‘it was fun while it lasted. Eighteen months together and six months married. Now I’m almost free again, and believe me, it’s not such a bad thing. I enjoy being on my own. Living with Billy was like doing time in a frat house. It’s such a pleasure that I don’t have to pick up dirty socks and underwear from the floor, no endless midnight snacks everywhere, and I get full control of the remote.’
‘Surely you always had that?’
‘Actually I didn’t. You know me – when I wasn’t working I was busy playing wifey to the hilt, and you can see where it got me.’
‘Free to fuck your co-star, and your director,’ Lucky commented. ‘Not so bad.’
Venus gave a wicked smile. ‘I know. Shame we just finished shooting.’
‘You should fly to Vegas this weekend,’ Lucky suggested. ‘It’ll take your mind off all things Billy.’
‘What’s going on in Vegas – apart from your fantastic hotel?’
‘A board meeting of all my investors,