King of Her Desire

58

The song is explicit...but the chapter's just fine so...enjoy! And I think you definitely will...

Remy didn't really throw Toby under the bus. She told another story that shut everybody up—almost—the whole time.

Sighed and said:

"My brother loves Hollywood, the business, the culture, all of it, as much as this one here hates it. Because unlike this one here, he was raised in it. And he did well for a while, as a kid, but like a lot of actors who start out well as kids...he grew out of the look and vibe that got him over."

She got a little "I heard that," from somebody—I didn't see who, but somebody there had lived that story, I guess.

"And there just wasn't any work," she said. "And you're like a leper once that happens—people treat you like you've got cooties or something. Like the failure will rub off on them. So he...got into some things he probably shouldn't have. To get by, to feel needed—did some dealing...drugs...but got hooked on them, too. And dragged into the life that goes with all that. And worse. So he's like a venus fly trap, my brother. That plant that lures you in and then eats you. But so is the business. And he just...could not stand this kid. Envied him, wanted to maybe get to know him, but his soul's all broken. So...he saw a chance to mess him up and he took it."

She looked at me then, and said, "In fact, to be brutally honest, he wanted to destroy you. That's why he chose to do it that way and that day. One of his dealer friends had been sitting on that bad batch for months because he couldn't sell it. In fact, he called that night, having second thoughts about letting Toby have some. I think they were real high when Toby told him what he was going to do. So it was funny then. But he sobered up and realized what he'd done and wanted to stop him. And Toby put in 'way too much. Knowing you'd be drinking, too. And that it might...well...do what it does. Make you vomit and all that. And you'd be humiliated in front of rock royalty, you know? Just...shot down before you'd even had a chance to fly—God, I'm sorry. You know that, right?"

Paul looked up from the notes he was taking and said, "Do we...could we possibly...I guess I wish we could hear this from your brother, though apparently that's—well, I worry a little that someone not here with us now...a judge, maybe, might feel that your side of the story, even though it explains your brother's actions to a degree...it's not exactly an unbiased account."

But Sochi held up her cell then, and said, "You can hear."

And Gerri said, "It's an app she uses. To translate things."

And Sochi looked at her interpreter and said, in Spanish, "They let us have a break and everybody was gone from the tables, you know? And I left my purse there and ran to the bathroom—nice place, lots of security, so I didn't worry. And I guess he was talking on the phone to that guy, the one who gave him that bad stuff. You can hear him laughing and saying how he's not going to give him that much and—if you look, it's written out. You can listen and you can read."

Somebody went, "Damn, son. You better marry that girl." And everybody cracked up again as Paul told the interpreter his number so she could send him that "evidence."

And Remy said, "Well, I guess that's that, huh? Next!"

Billie looked at Mima and said, "You didn't take your turn."