Terry Peerce was a sell-out in Albuquerque. His triumph was created by good advance publicity, the fact that his record had climbed to number two in the nation, and that he had signed to do a TV special with other young singers in the new season.
Terry and Ron had taken a trip to Hollywood one day. It had been very simple. The producer of the TV show talked to Terry, interviewed him, told him nothing was definite, but invited Terry and Ron to his house for dinner that night. He was a nice guy, good-looking, in his thirties, a bachelor…
Ron had gone back to the hotel, but Terry stayed in the man's bed – and got the job. He'd been good, as good as he could possibly be. It was easy, in fact – all he had to do was lie there with his legs spread, and he enjoyed it. Ron felt a pang of jealousy but he quickly got over it when he saw the figures on the contract the next day. Ron was going to be very rich, and since Terry didn't have a business manager and didn't know he actually needed one, Ron figured he could rake in half the money that would really belong to Terry for the next two years.
And back in Vegas, Julie was doing the same thing with Lindy Travis. HELD OVER! the signs said. She was usually hung over, drunk on booze and loaded with pills to keep going or to calm her down. When did she have time to rest? She did two shows a night and spent most of each day meeting people, talking about movies, Broadway, commercials – there was, always something planned for the days. Julie scheduled her to talk at women's club luncheons and conventions and fashion shows. She was the toast of the town. And it was killing her.
The day after the Albuquerque concert, Ron and Terry arrived back in Vegas. They met Julie and Lindy out at the pool. Terry thought Lindy looked terrible, but he didn't say anything. He looked fantastic, she thought – the sweet taste of success had been in his mouth too and he had liked it.
"They even ripped my shirt off," he said, still a little stunned with the fact that he'd finally reached his David Cassidy appeal, if only on a small scale, and was about to reach the heart of little teenyboppers everywhere via television.
"Our two stars," Julie said, motherly, happily, money signs all but flashing in her eyes.
"Our kids," Ron added, smiling.
That night, Terry went to Lindy's midnight show, and again he was stunned. No matter how bad she'd looked in the sunlight, on stage she was gorgeous. He sat at a ringside table and Lindy looked down at him often during the show, dedicating his song to him again. This time she sang it with tears in her eyes.
After the show, Terry noticed Julie in the casino, playing the quarter slot machines. She was standing talking to a blonde girl he figured was either a whore or a showgirl. He started over to them, but bumped into an older woman in a wheelchair. "I'm sorry," he said.
She looked up at him through her thick glasses and said, "Hey, wanna make fifty bucks?"
"What?" Terry asked in surprise.
"All you have to do is take off your clothes…"
He didn't let her finish. He all but ran over to Julie. "Man," he said standing next to her, "see that old hag in the wheelchair?" Julie nodded.
"She wanted… she wanted me to have sex with her!"
"Oh, no!" Sally giggled, leaning against a slot machine.
"Terry, this is my friend Sally. You've heard us talk about her." Julie pulled the arm of the machine. Three quarters dropped out. "Shit."
"Hi, Terry. I like your record a lot," Sally said, taking his hand.
Terry looked at Julie and said, "Listen, I'm really tired. I see the dancers are coming out, so Lindy should be out in a minute. Will you tell her I went to bed and I'll see her tomorrow?"
"Sure," Julie said, pulling the arm again. Nothing. "Shit. Yeah, I'll tell her. She's going to a party with us anyhow."
"Oh, okay," Terry said softly. He crossed the casino and noticed a boy standing on one side of the lobby. He'd seen him before. Where? The guy was carrying a small make-up case. Oh, she's a dancer in Lindy's show. Terry walked to the elevator.
"Come on, baby, lick my cunt a little," Sally said to Lindy. The three women were naked on Julie's bed. Ron had found someone shortly after dinner and was off with them for the night. But Julie didn't care. Now she had the room all to herself – and her girls.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Lindy said, getting up from the bed.
She walked to the bathroom, but Sally and Julie went with her. She stopped and looked at them as she turned on the bathroom light. "I have to go to the bathroom," she repeated.
"We're going to watch," Julie said.
"Yeah, I love to see a girl tingle! Can I touch your pretty pussy lips as it comes out, honey?" Sally asked.
Lindy was freaked – she'd never expected anything like this. She started to protest, but she knew it wouldn't get her anywhere… she'd do what they wanted. Hell, maybe it would be exciting…
She sat down on the toilet seat and spread her legs. Julie stood against the wall and Sally got down on her knees, pressing her tits to Lindy's knees. Lindy tried but nothing happened.
"Hey, wait, I want to see something exciting!" Julie said, and told Sally to get up. "I want to see Sally's pussy burn with Lindy's golden stream!"
Lindy didn't have time to think. In a moment she was squatting over Sally in the bathtub. The showgirl had her legs spread, her pussy held open with her hands, ready for Lindy to pee directly into her cunt. "Oh, Lindy, I want to feel your hot piss flooding my box." Sally moaned in anticipation.
"Come on, do it," Julie ordered sharply, working her fingers in her own cunt.
A trickle started. Sally gave a yelp of pleasure. Then Lindy let go completely and the urine flowed from her pussy lips, covering half of Sally's body, and ran down the little drain Julie watched in fascinated pleasure.
But it was too much for Lindy. When she finished, Sally started masturbating herself on the bottom of the tub and Julie was kissing her tits and playing with her own cunt Lindy stood up and suggested they take a shower, and turned the water on. In a minute the room was full of water as they played around with the soap and giggled girlishly. Finally, back in the bedroom, she let them fuck her with the vibrator till she came and then she left them so they could spend the night together.
She walked out into the hall and went to Terry's door. She was going to knock, but she knew it wouldn't solve anything. She went back to her room and dried her hair. Why wake up Terry? What could he tell her that she already didn't know? She was caught, he was caught, in a web they had helped spin themselves. The same web her mother had been caught up in till her suicide.
Lindy took a sleeping pill and waited forty minutes. Nothing happened. She grabbed the gin and put down a glass, and then took her sweater and went outside. The sun was just starting to come up. She walked around the grounds of the hotel for a few minutes, and then she started feeling sleepy and went back into the hotel.
As she crossed the lobby she happened to look into the keno parlor. The place was empty except for two people, a handsome guy with fairly long hair and a beard, and a beautiful woman dressed in a simple, lovely gown. They were laughing and giggling as if they were the only two people in the world. The keno caller watched them with a smile. The woman lit up a cigarette and said, "Last game unless we win."
They watched the numbers being called off. The guy yelled, "Kecky, we did it!"
The woman broke up completely. "We won a whole ninety cents! What are you talking about, we did it?"
"One more game," the guy said, and ran up to the keno counter.
Lindy watched as the woman watched him. There was the look of love in her eyes, and when the guy came back and sat next to her, he put his arm around her, and they sat waiting for the next numbers to come up. They were oblivious to the world. They were together, connecting, alone in a Vegas hotel. Lindy almost had forgotten such things could happen. If only she could find someone…
"One more game!" the guy shouted.
"Tom, you're crazy!" the woman said, opening her purse to find the last of their change.
They're probably more happy being broke, Lindy thought. She was rich and what did it do for her? She started to walk away and glanced back again. She envied the couple, not so much because they looked so good together, or because they both had a kind of class about them that she'd never had. She envied them because of the simple fact that they were happy – happy together.
Lindy walked down the hall. The picture of the couple in the keno parlor haunted her mind. Maybe, just maybe, she and Terry could take another try at it. Maybe the sexual part would happen after a while, maybe it would work out… She passed her door and walked to his room.
She tried turning the handle – she didn't know why she didn't knock, she had the feeling the door would be open – and opened the door slowly. She heard a voice and a groan. She opened the door all the way.
"Who the hell?" a voice said.
She recognized the voice.
She focused her eyes. There on the bed was Terry Peerce, lying bare naked, face down, his legs and hands spread wide. Kneeling between his legs, with his thick cock embedded in Terry's asshole, was Gerry, his face looking flushed, startled.
"My God, Lindy," Terry moaned.
They all froze. Lindy by the door, Terry and Gerry in the light coming in from the hallway. Lindy finally blinked and took a step back.
"Lindy, I didn't…" Gerry started to say, but there was nothing to say. He stopped himself and let his body fall down on top of Terry's. Terry closed his eyes as the door closed.
Lindy went to her room and downed another sleeping pill. She had many things to do the next day, and she needed some sleep. The sun was up now, the new day had begun. It was just like the times with her mother – Susan would stumble in drunk at seven in the morning and Lindy would help her into bed, give her a sedative. Now she had given herself a sedative. But the difference between mother and daughter was that mother had always had someone to take care of her.
Lindy Travis had no one.
Ron Feldman, at that moment, was sleeping between a young hippie-type guy and his chick in a trailer at the edge of the city.
Julie was cuddling Sally, the showgirl, in her bed.
Gerry was fucking Terry, wildly, brutally, taking out all the frustration he felt because of Lindy's unwanted and unplanned entrance to Terry's room.
Lindy was alone. She looked out the window. There was her name. She'd become what she wanted – to be more than her mother.
In all ways.