Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (76 page)

“Wait a second, Damen got a star role in a
movie? And now Julienne and Jose are taking him to New York to hurt
him?” Tom asked in a nervous voice. He knew if Damen succeeded in
beginning and completing this movie, that his fame from it would
give him the power to confess Tom’s crime to everyone.

“Yes, I think. Or maybe they’re going to stop
him from having the star role. I mean, I guess they thought I
wouldn’t catch on to it, but I did.”

“Calm down, Darell. Listen, where’s Jose
staying at right now?” he anxiously questioned.

“He’s staying at Julienne’s place.”

“Alright, do you know the number to
Julienne’s home?”

“Yeah, I think I have it in my phone book.
Why?”

Tom grabbed the phone book from off the
coffee table, and stared at Darell with confusion. He didn’t want
to tell him the real reason why he had to contact Julienne, so he
tried to think up of a lie, prevarication, pausing his words, and
analyzing a good fib to tell Darell. “Well, um, um, because I’m
going to call Jose and discuss this with him.” He looked up at his
red ceiling and discerned the perfect lie, smiling for his own
deviant ability, and adding, “I’m going to tell him to leave you
alone.”

“No. Please, I told them I wouldn’t tell
anyone,” Darell yelled before he took a sniff of cocaine. He
started sniffing hard, pulling oxygen through his nose, attempting
to numb his pain and confusion by this fiberglass, this white
substance.

“Listen, Darell, I’m going to be in the next
room. Don’t worry, nothing will happen with the photos.” Tom went
into his bedroom and closed the door. He picked up his cell phone
and began dialing Julienne’s number.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

Julienne put on her white night gown, see
through, showing her perfectly formed figure, and went over to her
cell phone. She grabbed it, pulled up the antenna, pressed the
‘send’ button, and said, “Hello?”

Tom looked at the bottom of his door, and saw
a shadow, knowing that it was Darell, pressing his body against it.
So, he whispered, “Hi, I was wondering if Jose Rodrigo’s
there?”

Julienne walked down her hallway and looked
out her back window, answering, “May I ask who’s calling?”

Julienne gazed at Jose, seeing him swimming
in her Olympic-size pool, and then hearing this strange, quiet
voice replying, “This is Tom Fryer.”

“Um, Jose isn’t here at the moment, could I
take a message?”

Tom looked at his door again, saw the shadow
was still present, and then walked over to the other side of his
room, trying to get as far away from the door as possible. “Well,
maybe you could help me. You see, Darell O’Conner told me
everything about a certain fabrication, misrepresentation that was
told concerning Damen Schultz.” Tom replied before Julienne dropped
her phone. “Hello, hello, are you still there?”

Julienne’s eyes widened as she dropped the
phone on the ground. Staring at it, watching the phone from a short
distance, Julienne was afraid of it. All of her perfect planning,
all of her perfect threats to keep her lies undercover, and now a
man, Tom Fryer, found out about it. She was shocked, picking up the
phone again, and hearing Tom adding, “Hello, hello, are you still
there?”

She started biting her nails, questioning in
fright, “Um, what fabrication?”

“Listen, I know you’re trying to cover your
ass, but I know about the distort, the fabrication, the lie, and
how it could, inevitably, destroy both yours and Jose’s career in
this business. What interests me is why would anyone believe Jose?
I mean, I’m not trying to blame it on you, being a celebrity and
all, but why would they believe Jose? I mean, after all, when he,
supposedly, told it, it had to be before he got his first role.” He
was trying to play with her mind, her feelings, wanting to
terrorize her into a panic; which was working. “And besides, you’re
known, as, pardon me, but a liar to Hollywood, Miss Wells, so why
would anyone believe you too? I figure, that you and Jose are in
cahoots, and had to of begun this falsehood together, that way, by
chance, by luck, they would believe you two. But, that’s just my
opinion. You’re, oops, I mean Jose’s very lucky that Damen wasn’t
bright enough to get a drug test to prove his honesty. But, Miss
Wells, that’s not why I’m calling. I just want you to know if
there’s anything I could do, to help you out with this, so-called,
‘Damen problem,’ that I would be open to help.”

Julienne just stared and gazed out at Jose,
seeing him jumping off the diving board, watching the splash that
his body created, traveling over the edge of the pool. “Well, Mr.
Fryer, first tell me what you know about the, as you put it, ‘Damen
problem’?”

Tom explained the whole situation to her,
even explaining on how he didn’t want Damen being successful in
this business either. Yet, the thing was, Julienne really didn’t
care if Damen was successful or not. The only reason why she did
care a bit, is because if he became well-known, and great in this
industry, the jealousy that Jose would have, would cause him to
approach Damen, tell him about the lie, and beat him up for messing
with her, which was another lie that she created. Tom talked,
explained, and conversed as Julienne listened for twenty minutes,
and then realized she had a major problem on her hands. She
discovered that Tom thought Jose took the pictures, when really she
took them. But, a smile appeared on her face when Mr. Fryer told
her why he didn’t want Damen to gain fame. All he said was he
committed a crime that Damen saw, he didn’t say what crime.

Julienne noticed Jose was exiting the pool,
watching him entering into the back door, not wanting him to know
about this little discussion with Tom Fryer. As Tom talked,
Julienne waited on her second floor, still gazing out of the
window’s glass, and then cut him off, questioning, “Well, what
crime did you commit? I mean, you know about the lie Jose
told.”

“Listen, that’s not important. All I know is
if Damen actually goes through with this movie and has the star
role, I’m screwed and you are too. I know that you had to have some
part in this groundbreaking, and ingenious lie, and don’t deny it,”
Mr. Fryer said. Julienne paused from biting her nails, listening to
Tom explain in anger, “As soon as he finishes this movie, I know
Darell will tell Damen about who started the distortion, this
corruption of a lie, and as you know, Hollywood can’t stand
deceitful people. And after that, you, Jose, and even myself could
forget about working in this town again.”

“Okay, okay, listen to me. Let’s just say
that I was a little bit, just a little bit involved in this
so-called, lie. What do you think I should do to make sure Damen
doesn’t follow through with this star role?” Julienne asked in a
suspicious manner, trying to find out what exactly Mr. Fryer
wanted.

“Well, I don’t know. But, this movie begins
very soon, and we have to figure out something to do about this
situation. Miss Wells, to add some clarity in this problem, and to
make it simpler, you can’t have anyone find out about this lie that
consisted about Damen’s fake addiction and I can’t have him being
successful in this business, for my own reasons. The only way to
make everyone happy, content, and free of worries, is to make sure
no one finds out about the fabrication, and to make sure he never
reaches the height of fame and success.”

“Okay, listen to me, this is beginning to
sound like a soap opera. I already know what to do. I’m going to
New York tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll stop Damen from going through
with this film, I mean, hopefully Jose will stop him. If I need
your help, I’ll call you, just give me your number,” Julienne said,
hearing noised by her foyer. She walked down the hall, looked down
her staircase, and saw that it was Jose, sitting outside of her
house, smoking a cigarette. So she walked back down the hallway,
and stood by her back window again. “Wait a second, before you give
me your number, you have to swear to me that you’re not going to
breathe a word of this conversation to anyone. That means, I don’t
even want you talking to Jose about this. Just pretend that Jose
doesn’t know anything about it. Alright?”

“Sure,” Tom replied.

Abruptly, a smile came over her face,
thinking about something, showing her sinister glare toward the
window. “Wait a second, there is something you could do for me, but
it involves breaking and entering,” she stated with a vicious
voice. “Would you be up to it, Mr. Fryer?”

Darell started knocking on the door to Tom’s
room. So, he went over to his wall that was beyond the farthest
away from the door, knelt down on the floor, and answered, “Sure,
just give me the address, and I’ll break in.”

Julienne grinned and walked down the hallway
once again. She entered into her bedroom, closing the door and
explaining, “Alright, this is what you have to do.”

Chapter Sixty-Two

Jaunting to the New York airport, going on
an enigmatic, mysterious excursion, voyage, trip with his thought
to be friends, Damen was feeling exhilarated, happy, prosperous,
knowing in his astute yet gullible mind that it wouldn’t be long
till he would behold Vivian’s aura, catching her beauty again,
caressing her face once more, and kissing her lips one more time.
To him, everything was coming together: his subconscious that held
his ambitions and his loves, was finally meeting with his
consciousness that held reality, traveling on one line,
corresponding with one another, and not being prejudice to either
form of thought. This is very hard for many people, to capture the
basement of your mind, bring it forward to the upstairs of your
thoughts, and show them both, that this is the reality that you’ve
been waiting for, and worked hard to finally see the beginning of.
Both thoughts separate visions from dreams, fantasies from
realities, long-term memories from short-term thoughts and,
literally, black from white. Yet, when seeing the vision of your
dreams, the reality of your fantasies, and the short memories of
your greatest memories, that doorway, in your mind, opens itself up
automatically, without warning, without you being prepared for its
birth, and captures that perfect moment, where everything is
conjoined, and that’s when you’re prepared for the realism of a
thought; the realism of a vision. Damen was almost there with his
thoughts, but not yet. Sometimes, it takes more than just hard
work, to see a vision, to feel that border, that connection of your
two thought spans, and to feel prosperous; when this occurs, it
feels as if God’s working against you, when in reality, he’s
working for you.

As Damen held these captivating thoughts of
realism, reality of prosperity, ready to grasp onto his hand any
day now, Julienne and Jose were picking up their luggage from the
pick-up area, trying to seize it while it spun around on the belt,
with other luggage surrounding them. The airport was stuffy,
overheated because of winter’s frost outside, and crowded, from
people trying to get away from this irritating coldness that New
York holds. As they picked up their suitcases, Damen had a
lingering thought that was lost for a short time, but suddenly
showed itself to him at this moment. He turned to Jose and
Julienne, feeling this thought hitting his memory like a speedboat
hitting a wave, and spoke, “Wait a second, I have to call Chuck
before we leave the airport.”

Mr. Schultz ran over to a public phone and
began dialing the digits. Jose dashed over to him, holding his two
suitcases, feeling them weighing down his arms, each time his legs
would run closer to Damen’s figure, and said, “Damen, we just got
here, can’t you call him when we get to the hotel?” But it was too
late, the phone was already ringing, and Damen just waited
patiently for Chuck to pick it up. “Listen, Damen, we really have
to go, before anyone notices Julienne here,” he added, trying to
come up with any excuse, just to get this plan over with. Yet,
Damen didn’t pay any attention to him, listening to all the rings
that came on the phone, Damen just stuck to wanting to call Chuck
and ignored Jose, by accident.

Chuck ran over to the ringing phone, in the
café, picked it up frantically, and answered with panic to his
tone, “Hello?”

“Hey, Chuck, it’s me, Damen.”

Chuck showed relief to his face, saying in a
father’s voice, “Damen, did you get there okay?”

Julienne and Jose just sat on their luggage,
waiting for Damen to get off the phone. They wanted to get this
trip over with. Not being patient to Damen’s delay, Julienne blew a
gasp of air from her mouth, yearning to leave and begin her plan of
abandoning him in New York stranded, alone.

Damen smiled toward the phone, replying in a
son’s voice, “Yes, don’t worry, the plane ride was nice. We’re on
our way to the hotel, and then we’re gonna see Vivian.”

“Listen to me, if you have any trouble, and I
mean any trouble at all, I want you to call me,” Chuck said with
Damen suddenly hearing the operator coming on, with her vexatious,
annoying computerized voice, saying to deposit more money for the
next three minutes. Chuck also heard this operator’s tone, adding
with anger, “Wait a second, we’ve only been on the phone for less
than a minute. You don’t know what you’re talking about,
bitch.”

Damen Schultz, with his simple way of finding
humor in everything, started laughing at Chuck’s words. “Listen,
Chuck, I got to go now, the operator is yelling at me.”

Chuck wanted to talk to him more, already
missing him, in this short time, thinking of him as a son, worrying
about his well-being. He didn’t want Damen to hang up, so he said
with panic, “Here, hang up the phone and call me collect then.”

“Listen, I got to go now, Dad, but I’ll call
you if I have any troubles,” he chuckled in a smart-alecky
version.