“So then what happened?”
“Next he sent me a bouquet of flowers and the card said thank you and would I like to have a drink with him? Would I like to have a drink with a jaw droppingly good looking rich man? That took me about three seconds of thinking. I called the number he’d left on the card and we arranged a date. He booked a room at the hotel and after we ate, he took me there. It was such a reality check seeing the room he’d paid for. His world was way beyond mine. We had sex and then the next day he just said thank you and I could use the shower, then he left.”
“Bastard.”
Leonie shrugged. “I didn’t see it that way. I wasn’t in his league, I didn't expect to see him again other than maybe at the Spa again. Anyhow, a week or so later I got chatting to a guy down at Surfrider Beach. He had sandy-blond hair, sunkissed skin and the most perfect white teeth. He shouted me a burger and fries and asked me on a date. He told me he usually worked at a restaurant around the corner. I believed him.” She looked at the floor.
“And this was Carter, right? Carter Cole?”
“Yes. He charmed me. The guy was so utterly captivating that when he asked me to sleep with him, I couldn’t resist. He came back with me to my small apartment. When I woke the next day, he'd left, and I didn’t see him again until I saw a newspaper photograph of his family. Carter Cole, son of the famous acting duo Linda and Ross. I used to watch the comedy they were in with my mom when I was growing up.” She took a large slug of wine and I took the opportunity to lean over and refill her glass.
“You’d think I wouldn’t be stupid enough to sleep with two more men, but I like sex and I was here in Malibu hoping to meet a rich husband. I’d be lying to say otherwise.”
“Your honesty is refreshing, and I judge no one on who they sleep with.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” She asked me, then a panicked look crossed her face. “Sorry, that’s none of my business.”
I waved her off. “It’s fine, we’re chatting. No, I don’t. They haven’t made one that’s right for me yet. My friends say I’m too demanding with my choices and I should settle, but that won't happen any time soon. I’m not where I want to be in life yet. I’m only twenty-five and boyfriends can wait.”
Leonie nodded. “Well, I’m now twenty-nine and still looking.”
“Hey, girl, you’ll find somebody.” I reassured her. “You ought to come to Manhattan. Plenty of rich men to choose from there.”
“I might just do that.” She replied. “I’ve had it with this place.”
“So, the other two. What happened next?”
“I met Jayden at a friend’s party. I knew who he was, and I got completely drunk and went up to one of the guest rooms with him. He dropped me off home afterward.” She licked over her front teeth. "I guess he could have just left me in the room, but he didn't."
“And what about Flynn? How did you meet him?” Out of all the four men, Flynn seemed the least likely to mess her around. He was the one that had managed a steady relationship.
“Huh. I bumped into him on the street and he asked to take my photo.” She shook her head. “I was so naïve. I’ve seen his photos. He’s good. He shares them on social media. I thought, he thinks I’m pretty, he wants to take my picture. We went back to his place. Christ, that place was huge. Well, his parents' place, not his place because every one of the four still live at home. How pathetic.” She finished off glass number three. She was talking freely now, so I didn’t open another bottle.
“So he wants to capture me naked, and well, one thing led to another. We had sex on what was apparently his stepmother’s favorite rug. He filmed it and we watched it back after and fucked a second time. I asked him to delete it and he promised he would. I'd got carried away in the moment and regretted letting him film us. He said he wanted to see me again, and we arranged for me to meet him at a gallery.” Her voice dulled. “I was so excited. I thought he would show my picture.”
“But that didn’t happen?”
“Not like I imagined. I got there, and the gallery was closed. But the doorman welcomed me in and directed me to the studio. When I went in there, I was on the walls all right. Picture after picture of us having sex. I never agreed to that.”
My fingers tightened on the chair. “That is not okay.”
“And there they all were, sat on chairs at the far end of the gallery - Jayden, Flynn, Carter, and Smith. They’d set out a chair for me. It was like an interview.”
I couldn’t imagine being in Leonie’s shoes, but I tried. I tried to picture the humiliation of seeing your body in the throes of passion all over the walls. Yet instead of being horrified by the thought, I was excited. But I knew in the context of her humiliation it was not erotic.
“They told me I’d been an experiment. That they’d wanted to share a woman and see what they thought. But that I wasn’t right for them. That they were sorry they’d messed me around, but I didn’t match them sexually. I wasn’t the right fit. Smith actually said I was a six out of ten for them. That was the final straw. They offered me a check for two thousand dollars. Said they knew I was struggling, and they’d like to help. I felt like a prostitute.”
“So you didn’t take the check?”
“You bet I took the check. Two thousand dollars was a lot of money to me. I used a chunk of it to get me the hell out of Malibu. I’ve been living and working in Bel Air since then, as a housekeeper to a wealthy couple. When they go out I pretend their house is mine. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
I reached over and put my hand across hers. “No, you aren’t pathetic. Who could have ever known what those four men’s plans were? It’s not normal behavior for anyone. It appears to me that they are so very rich and pampered that they think they can do what they like. Well, you leave it to me. I’m going to find out exactly what their game is and expose it to our readership.”
Leonie’s eyes looked glassy. “Thank you. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did—although they probably already have.”
“I’ve got to work out my plan but seeing as I’m new in the area I’m guessing they’ll come to me, rather than me having to accidentally on purpose bump into them.”
“Oh they’ll come find you all right, and then they’ll try to test you. How will you manage that? Surely you won’t sleep with them to get a story?”