Goddess of Vengeance - Jackie Collins [29]
‘Are you sayin’ I’d screw it up?’
‘No way, man, but we both need to be here. We have to make sure they sign the contracts tonight.’
‘You’re right,’ M.J. said. ‘I’ll have the office change your flight.’
Bobby nodded. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in Vegas without Denver. But some things had to be done, and this was one of them.
* * *
In between texting and making calls about their upcoming rave, Cookie expected to get a call from Frankie, and when it didn’t come she was pissed.
‘I’m callin’ him,’ she announced.
‘Don’t do that,’ Max warned.
‘Why not?’
‘’Cause it’ll make you look desperate.’
‘Screw it. I’m doin’ it.’
The three of them – Cookie, Max, and Harry – were holed up in Harry’s room at the top of his father’s Bel Air mansion, a gloomy place since his mom, a Born Again Christian, had run off with her pastor and now resided in Arizona.
Harry’s room was all dark and creepy, with heavy purple drapes to keep out the sunlight, and walls painted black. He’d actually painted the room himself, and he was so pleased with it that he’d painted his bathroom black too.
‘Your living quarters suck,’ Max complained, staring around at the gloomy surroundings. ‘It’s so like depressing. I dunno why we’re here.’
‘To load up on booze,’ Harry reminded her. ‘My old man won’t be home till midnight, an’ I can’t move a dozen bottles of tequila an’ twelve cases of imported beer by myself.’
‘Right,’ Cookie said, distracted, as she was still hoping Frankie would call.
‘How come a dozen bottles of tequila?’ Max asked.
‘Some actor sent them to him to try and score a part on one of his shows. He’s always getting suck-up gifts. He won’t even realise they’re missing.’
‘Cool,’ Max said.
‘Bribery,’ Harry responded. ‘And the douche actor didn’t even get the job.’
‘If Cookie can separate from her phone, we should load up,’ Max suggested, ready to get going.
‘Whose car we gonna put it in?’ Harry wanted to know.
‘Mine,’ Max decided. ‘That way we can unload it all when Lucky’s left.’
‘What time’s she going?’ Harry asked.
‘Early in the a.m., I hope. The sooner she shifts outta L.A. the quicker we can get goin’ on the party.’
‘An’ you’re certain your old man’s not gonna spring a surprise an’ come home unexpectedly?’ Cookie questioned.
‘Who – Lennie?’ Max replied. ‘No way. Once I give the housekeepers the day off, we’re free, totally free! And I for one cannot freakin’ wait!’
Chapter Ten
Armand did not own a plane – too much trouble. He preferred hiring a private plane to fly him wherever he wished to go. On his yearly visit to Akramshar, he enjoyed stopping off in London for twenty-four hours beforehand, where he spent all his time at the Dorchester Hotel, ordering in a series of call girls. He insisted that his madam of choice – a titled woman who resided in a mansion in Belgravia and was forever recruiting new girls, sent him only the best. Well-bred English girls with clipped upper-class accents, slim bodies, and excellent pedigrees.
Humiliating English women appealed to him. He plied them with drugs and watched them prostitute themselves while doing anything he commanded. It made a pleasant change from dealing with American whores who sometimes acted as if they were faking it.
Recently Armand’s cocaine habit had escalated, just as Fouad had suspected. At first Armand had simply enjoyed watching the women lose all their inhibitions on drugs. But after a while he’d found he enjoyed the enhanced sensation of sexual power he felt when high on coke. And why not indeed? He was invincible. He could do anything he wanted.
He especially enjoyed snorting cocaine off their bodies – using them, toying with them, debasing them in any new way he could think of.
With his sexual appetite well sated, he was finally ready to spend forty-eight hours in Akramshar, avoiding Soraya and his four offspring whom he barely knew. He only made the yearly trek because of his father and their shared business interests.
When King Emir Amin Mohamed