Lady Boss (27 page)

Lucky decided she had an interesting challenge ahead of her: how to make movies without exploiting women.

Hmmm… Maybe she'd exploit men for a change… Not such a bad idea.

By the time she got home at night she was wiped out. Boogie was waiting for her with a strong drink. She ordered pizza or Chinese, made a few notes, and immediately fell asleep.

She'd called Lennie twice. His reception got cooler and cooler. Finally he informed her in an exasperated tone that he didn't care to hear from her unless she told him exactly where she was.

Fine. If that's the way he wanted it.

When he found out the truth he was going to be very sorry indeed.

* * *

Grudge Freeport's idea of doing something nice and making everyone happy was not to fart in public. Apart from that little concession to human dignity he kept right on going.

Lennie took another week of it. He had Jess and Matt around to keep him calm. When they left, he blew.

‘You know something, Grudge? You're an ass-licking, no-talent, drunken slob – and I'm out of here.' He yelled this one day after Grudge had screwed up yet another scene.

Grudge took it like a true old-timer. ‘Fuck off,' he said grandly. ‘All actors never should have left their mother's tit!'

Lennie didn't think about the consequences. He packed and flew back to L.A., spent two days alone at the Malibu house, and then took off for New York.

He did not go to the apartment he and Lucky shared. He vanished. She knew this because Mickey Stolli threw a fit searching for him.

‘I'll sue the fucking son of a bitch for everything he's got. Everything! He's not getting away with this. I've got a crew and actors sitting in Acapulco slapping their dicks! It's costing this studio dearly, and that dumb cocksucker's gonna pay. Oh, is he gonna pay!'

Lucky was assigned the awkward task of tracking Lennie Golden down. She perfected a new voice and duly called his current agent and manager. Through secretaries she learned that nobody knew where he was.

‘How about his wife?' Mickey screamed. ‘Isn't he married to some rich broad with a gangster father?'

So that's what it got down to.
Some rich broad with a gangster father.

Not Lucky Santangelo, businesswoman supreme.

Not Lucky Santangelo, wife and mother.

Some rich broad with a gangster father
. Charming!

‘I don't know, Mr. Stolli,' she said, attempting to remain cool.

‘Find out an' tell 'em we're gonna sue.'

Later in the day, Lucky took great pleasure in informing Mickey that she had indeed reached Lennie Golden's wife.

‘And?' Mickey demanded.

‘I can't repeat what she said, Mr. Stolli.'

‘What'd she say?'

‘Uh… she said… uh…'

‘Spit it out, for chrissake.'

‘She said to tell you you're a pathetic asshole with cotton-wool balls and a black heart.'

Mickey was outraged. ‘Are you
shittin'
me?'

‘I'm sorry, Mr. Stolli.'

Mickey made a solemn vow. ‘As long as I'm here,' he said, ‘Lennie Golden'll never work for this friggin' studio again.'

‘Quite right,' Lucky agreed sympathetically.

That night she had Boogie install a sophisticated bugging system in Mickey's office. All the better to know exactly what was going on.

Venus Maria had rock-hard thighs on account of her daily workouts with a personal trainer. Her stomach was flat and firm, her arms and shoulders lightly muscled since she'd been regularly using weights. She jogged every day, and swam fifty lengths in her private pool. She treated her body as if it were a finely tuned instrument, never letting up on her vigorous schedule.

Martin Swanson appreciated every glowing inch. In bed with Venus Maria he felt as if the sex they enjoyed together couldn't get any better – except that every time it did.

Venus Maria had learned plenty from Manuel, Ryan, and Innes. She'd made it her business to find out the details that turned them on. Ryan had liked taking showers together. Manuel had wanted her to massage his balls with a very expensive, highly scented body lotion. Innes was into being tied up with the lightest of silk scarves. The trick was, he'd told her, never to tear your bindings.

Venus Maria had soon discovered what he meant. The exquisite torture of not breaking the silken bonds was excruciating ecstasy. She had saved that particular experience for Martin until she knew the moment was exactly right.

The night before he returned to New York she took him on a trip to heaven and back. First they dined on sushi and champagne. Then they frolicked in her open-air hot tub overlooking the spectacular Hollywood view. And finally, she led him into her bedroom, flicked off the towel around his waist, and instructed him to lie naked on her four-poster bed while she bound him with fine silk scarves.

She knotted the scarves lightly around his wrists, tying them to the bedposts. Then she did the same to his ankles.

‘What are you doing?' he asked, putting up the semblance of a fight.

‘Relax,' she smiled. ‘Lie back and dream your favourite fantasy.'

‘I don't have fantasies.'

‘Unlucky you.'

She sat back and admired her work. He was completely helpless as long as he didn't struggle, his excitement already evident.

Venus Maria smiled. What a turn-on! Martin Swanson – Mister New York – at her mercy.

‘This is a challenge,' she announced. ‘A game. You break the scarves and the game is over. If you're a good boy we'll play all night.'

He fell right into it. ‘What's the penalty?'

‘Ten thousand bucks a scarf,' she said boldly.

‘High stakes.'

‘Can you afford it?'

He laughed. ‘Can you?'

‘I'm just the games-mistress. I don't have to bet.'

‘Oh yes, you do. Give me a time limit. If I don't break the ties – say in one hour – I win and you pay.'

‘Two hours an' you got a deal.'

‘One and a half.'

‘We're not negotiating on a building, Martin.'

His hard-on stayed steady. Bartering was obviously another favourite sport.

‘One hour and three quarters,' he said.

‘A deal,' she replied. ‘Goodbye.'

‘Goodbye who?'

‘Goodbye you. I'll be back when I feel like it.'

‘Are you serious?'

‘Never more.'

‘C'mon, Venus. What kind of a game is this?'

‘A challenge. I told you that before. Let's see if you're up to it, Martin.' She left the room.

Talk about a power trip! Little Virginia Venus Maria Sierra from Brooklyn had Martin Swanson – Mister New York – trussed up and at her mercy.

With a secret smile she remembered the first time she'd set eyes on him. Ten years ago. 1977. She'd been fifteen years old.

* * *

Occasionally Virginia Venus Maria Sierra was able to get out of the house. It wasn't often, because with four brothers to look after and a demanding father, there was always work to be done. Oh yeah, she got out of the house to attend school, but that wasn't the same as recreational fun. Ron, her next-door neighbour and confidant, was all for encouraging her to escape and accompany him on his many trips to Broadway and Times Square.

Ron was a few years older than her. She thought he was incredibly exciting and daring. He was tall and gangly and a laugh to be with, totally unlike her burly brothers, who were macho men, full of their own strength and only interested in scoring with any neighbourhood girl they could get their hands on. Venus always had a strong suspicion they would try to score with her given half a chance. She never gave them that chance.

Whenever she was able, she and Ron would wander around New York having fun. Sometimes they would lurk outside the stage door of one of the big Broadway shows waiting for the stars to emerge. Ron kept an autograph book and persuaded her to do the same. It was interesting to see which stars would stop and sign their names, and which celebrities would sweep past, climb into their limousines, and ride off into the night.

‘Glamorous, isn't it?' Ron would say with a smile.

And Virginia Venus Maria would nod in total agreement.

‘I'm going to be a dancer,' Ron confided.

‘How are you going to train for that?' she asked. ‘Who's going to put up the money?'

Ron said he was going to try for an audition at the School of Performing Arts.

‘How do you get to do that?' Virginia Venus Maria asked curiously.

‘Talent,' Ron replied.

One Saturday afternoon they were walking down Park Avenue when they saw a crowd gathered outside a church.

‘It's a wedding!' Ron said excitedly. ‘I love weddings, don't you?'

Virginia Venus Maria nodded vigorously.

‘Brides always look so gorgeous,' Ron exclaimed.

Virginia Venus Maria nodded again, thinking that she never looked gorgeous. She had straight brown hair and a pretty face, but there was nothing special about her, much to her chagrin.

They joined the crowd outside the church, watched, and waited. And when the happy couple emerged, Virginia Venus Maria set eyes on Martin Swanson for the first time.

She stood back in awe and watched him. He was handsome in a way she didn't believe. He was handsome straight off the pages of a glossy magazine. He had sandy-coloured hair, full lips, and a ready smile for the photographs. He wore a morning suit and a bright red carnation.

Virginia Venus Maria glanced quickly at his bride, a pale and willowy redhead in an expensive white lace gown. They looked like a fairy-tale couple. They looked as if they came from another world.

‘Who are they?' Virginia Venus Maria asked Ron.

‘Rich,' Ron replied. ‘And that's what we're gonna be some day.'

The next morning she saw the bridegroom's picture in the paper, along with his new wife. His name was Martin Swanson. Property tycoon. Now married to the beautiful Deena Akveld, a Dutch society woman.

For some unknown reason Virginia Venus Maria clipped the newspaper photograph, stashing it beneath her underwear in her dresser drawer. The picture seemed to represent a fantasy world, and yet it was a world that one day she wanted to be part of. And why not? Virginia Venus Maria had ambition.

Martin Swanson's image stayed with her over the years. She read about him, followed his activities, watched him on television, and read even more about him in the gossip columns. Then one day she finally met him.

Of course, by the time she met him she was Venus Maria,
the
Venus Maria, and she pretended she had no idea who he was. Cooper Turner introduced him.
The
Cooper Turner.

Martin smiled that special bullshit smile of his and flirted outrageously. She looked around to see if his wife was present, but the coolly beautiful Deena appeared to have taken the night off.

When Martin sent her flowers the next day she was delighted – and when he turned up in Los Angeles a few weeks later, even more so.

By this time she'd found out more about him, having questioned Cooper into the ground.

Cooper was amused. ‘Have you got a hot spot for Martin?' he asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

‘Why? Would it bother you if I did?' she retorted.

‘I don't know,' Cooper said. ‘I thought
I
was going to be your golden boy.'

Venus Maria laughed. ‘Cooper, you're everyone's golden boy!'

‘And you think Martin is a virgin?'

‘I just think he's… fascinating.'

Cooper looked at her for a long moment. ‘I may as well tell you,' he said, ‘Martin's had a lot of girlfriends. A lot of beautiful, talented girlfriends. And he always goes back to Deena. No question. Deena is in his life to stay.'

‘Only as long as he wants her to,' Venus Maria pointed out.

‘You're a determined little thing, huh?'

‘Nobody ever accused me of being shy.'

When Martin called, Venus was not surprised. She invited him over to her house. He arrived within the hour. ‘I'm not going to sleep with you until I know you,' she warned him. ‘That might take a couple of years. Right?'

‘I feel I know you now,' he said. ‘I've read every press clipping I could find. Why don't you look at
my
press file? Maybe we can save time that way.'

‘Are you interested in saving time?'

‘I'm interested in being with a woman like you.'

Five weeks later they consummated the deal. In the meantime he'd made three trips to the Coast and she'd visited New York twice.

The flirtation was hot, the anticipation almost better than the act. But the act wasn't bad either. Venus Maria staged a long weekend at a friend's house in Big Sur. She made it a weekend to remember. Scented candles, the best champagne, music, a four-poster bed, and raunchy uninhibited sex.

Their affair had been going on for several months and now she wanted it to be more.

All she had to do was wait for Martin to leave his wife, get a divorce, and marry her.

* * *

Venus Maria had the uncanny knack of tapping into other people's fantasies, hence the enormous success of her videos. She went for the forbidden and dressed it up as entertainment. She could play any role – from little girl lost to voracious sexual superwoman. Her strut was every bit as good as her soft gentle side. She could kick ass or cuddle up with equal aplomb.

She could – if she so desired – tailor her act to fit any man's fantasy.