Chapter 224

• The hour-long ride back to Houston on Sunday -- after an incredible barbecue and fireworks show for the Fourth the night before -- was pure hell. We were all hungover and stuffed up. My head throbbed. I sat with Rita and Kat on either side, holding my hands, and Jess sitting on my lap. She had worked hard over the weekend. Peter had become quite enamored of her.
• Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend for me is that I hadn't fucked anyone who wasn't one of my girlfriends. Maybe it was because the Hollywood crew had kept the escorts so relentlessly occupied. Maybe it was because I'd changed, at least a little bit. Regardless, I was perfectly content. I was also excited about my business prospects. I had done some rough math in my head, and if the timeline for the movie that Peter and Stephen had presented held, I could see an eight-figure return in a year.
• There was also the dangled carrot of set visits and watching the movie-making process unfold, and my mind couldn't help but drift to what that meant. Seeing Juliet Lawson again. That was a temptation I was sure I wouldn't be able to resist.