Chapter Fourteen #2
Over the music Petra tells me, “Vibezz is here. Or at least the CEO is. Margot. Her assistant texted to let me know that she ate a mushroom chocolate.” Petra laughs. “You’re going to love her.”
“Oh.” The people watcher. “I know where she is.” I lead Petra to a small nook that overlooks the living room. Margot is there, surrounded by party snacks and chatting with Liam.
“Margot??” Petra yells a little too loudly. “Can you sit up?”
Margot beams when she sees me. “Thank you for checking up onme.”
“I’m so glad you two met.”
“Yes, Diana, this is a great party.”
“Would you like to stay here? In this nook?” Petra asks, again too loudly.
“She’s on ’shrooms, not hard of hearing,” Liam says.
“I’m having the best time being here, watching. Liam is telling me about his parents’ divorce. It’s lovely.” Margot looks blissful.
“Can we answer any questions for you?” Petra asks. “About the site?”
“Nope. Diana told me everything I needed to know when she found me this spot.”
“Oh. Wonderful. Anything else we can get you?” Petra asks.
“I overheard someone mention cotton candy?”
“I’m on it,” Liam says.
I lean in to shake Margot’s hand. “I look forward to working together,” I say.
Petra and I giggle all the way down the stairs. “Do you think she’ll remember how much she likes you? Maybe we should have her sign the contract now?”
—
Downstairs, Petra takes in the party and sighs. “Now, back to my swan song.”
“Swan song?” I stop midstep and just as I do, a woman in a bright pink dress clutches my arm.
“I love your site! I’m next, I swear. I have to be.
” She squeezes my shoulder and keeps walking, straight for the middle of the dance floor.
Her compliment makes me dizzy. Or maybe it’s being recognized again.
Or the music getting louder. Or Petra’s news.
“Are you leaving?” I ask her.
“Diana, this is all you.” She smiles. “I will always be here when you need help, but you can take the wheel now.”
“I can’t take the wheel. I don’t know how to do any of this!”
“Of course you do. None of this would have happened without you. I was just a good hire.”
A woman I swear is one of the Housewives bumps into me, spilling her drink down my arm, but I barely feel it.
The music gets louder and Petra shouts to be heard over it. “I got you on the map. But you know how to stay here.”
“I don’t. I can barely find Oliver at this party.”
“The truth is it’s time for me to think seriously about Mitch’s legacy. He had so much he wanted to do. All these communities he wanted to serve with the money he made. I’m finally ready to help.”
“Are we breaking up in the middle of our party?”
“No. We’re celebrating how far we’ve come.”
“Petra—”
“Don’t look behind you. Just smile.”
I immediately turn to look.
Jasper is standing beside two women taller than he is. One has a thick, shiny ponytail. They both look twenty. He spots me just as Petra is pulled away by another guest.
“Hi!” I say. “You came.” I’m trying to cover my shock.
“I hope that’s okay?”
“Yes. Of course. But. I wasn’t sure.” Again I scan the room for Oliver.
“This is Libby and Maria.” But Maria has already grown bored and drifted toward the dance floor.
“Hi, Libby.”
She has a very strong handshake.
“Their teammates have rented a place just down the beach for the summer.”
“Teammates?”
“Beach volleyball,” Libby says. She casually admires the house. “Beautiful place.”
“It’s not mine. But thank you. Maybe you can start a volleyball game at back?”
“Maybe.” She looks at me as if I just suggested she clean up all the used cups. “Is that Natalie Hutton?”
“Oh yes, she’s a friend of…well, sort of mine.”
Jasper grins. “I knew Diana before she threw parties for movie stars. When she was living in a sweet little studio apartment with a broken sink and no real dishes.”
Is he flirting with me? All we did in that studio apartment was have sex. Libby has spotted someone and is dragging Jasper away.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” Jasper promises.
Feeling shunned, I go in search of Oliver and bump into Natalie Hutton.
“I heard you had a great meeting with Allison!” she exclaims, scooping me into her arms.
“Oh, good! It was a little hard to tell.”
“I love a mystery.”
“Me too.”
“Me too,” she repeats.
“Sorry?”
“Sorry?” she apes. “I’m trying to get your intonation right. You have such interesting mannerisms. And the slightest lisp.”
“I have a lisp?”
“Barely noticeable. But it’s what I do. Listhp. Do you realize that’s how you said it?”
“I did?”
“I’d love to meet Oliver if he’s here.”
“He is somewhere…” Where is he?
“And you bite your cuticles! Wonderful. All the little details will really bring this character to life when I play you. Is that Libby Hoffman?”
“Who?”
“The volleyball player.” I follow her gaze to Libby, standing near Jasper at the edge of the dance floor.
“Oh right. I think so.”
“Well, if you feel eyes burning into you, it’s just me doing a little actor homework.”
“Okay,” is all I can think to say as she heads over to Libby.
Suddenly the crowd in front of me parts, and Alicia, fresh from the ocean, grabs me by the waist.
“This party is too bananas. The setting. The people watching. Oliver and Jasper. My worlds are colliding.”
“Your worlds?”
“I meant yours. Do you think Jasper brought the Olympians to make you jealous?”
“They were in the Olympics?”
“Silver medal.”
“No. I think he brought her because she’s gorgeous. And talented. And very strong.”
“And to make you a tiny bit jealous. Did it work?”
“Maybe. Natalie Hutton says I have a lisp.”
Alicia considers me.
“I don’t, right?” I ask.
“Repeat after me: She sells seashells—”
“Shut up.”
“So the movie is happening?”
“Who knows. But I think Petra might be leaving me.”
“Leaving you or Dirty D?”
“Dirty Diana.”
“Smart. It’s time.”
“It’s not time! We just started!”
“Look around, Diana. Things are deeply in motion.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“With that adorable lisp? Anything.”
“Would you ever direct the fantasies? If we shot them for the site.”
“Me?”
“I realize every time Liam brings it up, I picture this mustached lothario directing them and I think that is why I keep saying no. But if you directed them, I would be excited.”
“You had me at ‘would you.’?”
“Yeah?”
“Look at us at a Malibu party making our own Hollywood deals.”
—
I finally spot Oliver across the dance floor, and when we meet eyes, he excuses himself and heads right to me. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
His eyebrows knit together. “Yeah. I just have something for you.”
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.”
“Yeah?” He seems excited.
“Where were you?”
“You’ll see.”
When we reach the bedroom, Oliver closes the door behind us, the party noise immediately muffled.
“Come here,” he says. His jaw is tight, but his eyes are lit with mischief.
I move toward him until we’re inches apart.
His arms stay at his sides, but I can hear his breath go ragged.
He lifts my chin but instead of kissing me, he traces his fingers down my neck to my shoulder.
He slips the straps of my dress from my shoulders and I let it fall to the floor.
He reaches into the back pocket of his shorts and pulls out the handcuffs.
He slips a cuff around my left wrist and snaps it shut.
“Oliver?” Standing in my bra and underwear, I can hear partygoers on the other side of the door. A thrill runs through me. The thumping music, the laughing and high-pitched voices.
I expect him to cuff the other hand. I’m picturing him exploring my body while I’m unable to touch him, his face between my thighs, his tongue inside me. Already I want to grab him and pull him onto me, into me.
But he doesn’t cuff my hands together or pull us onto the bed.
Without taking his eyes from mine, he leads me into the bathroom, the cuffs dangling from my left wrist. He looks at the cool marble floor. “Sit here.”
I’m too excited to question him, as if following directions gets me one step closer to his hands on me.
I kneel on the hard ground, my face level with his hips.
I reach my uncuffed hand for the button of his shorts—but he stops me.
He gets on his knees before me, leans in, and kisses my mouth.
His lips are soft and salty, his kiss hard and urgent.
I explode with want, leaning deep into his kiss.
But he pulls away, fast. “Not yet,” he whispers and snaps the empty cuff around a pipe, handcuffing me to the sink.
“What are you doing?”
Oliver stands. “I’ll be back.”
—
Oliver leaves me alone. Handcuffed to the sink. I can hear the party outside. Make out the noises. The laughter. I hear Natalie Hutton. And L’Wren.
For the first several minutes, I stay seated on the floor, leaning against the wall and steadying my breath.
I start to worry about missing Petra’s party—she threw this for Dirty Diana after all, shouldn’t Diana be out there?
Then I realize, my work here is done. Margot is being taken care of and everyone is having a good time.