Different Circles

“Really?” Pauline said, her eyes shining a little. “That’s kind of hot, you know.”

“Thinking about your brother having sex with two women should not be hot,” Jake told her.

“I don’t think about you when I think about it,” Pauline told him. “I think about me and Obie doing it with Celia at the frequency that you and Laura do it with her. That’s the hot part.”

“You two need to find your own third for the threesome and leave ours alone,” Jake said.

“I suppose,” she said. “I’m sure Obie would be easy to please in that department. Anyway, my suggestion is that you be upfront with Meghan from the start. Sit her down before she signs the NDA and you offer her official employment and feel her out about the subject. See what kind of vibes you get from that. You’re a pretty good judge of character, bro. Use that ability to determine if you can trust her to abide by the agreement or not.”

“And if my judgement is wrong?” he asked. “If she signs the agreement and then goes and blabs about me, Laura, and C anyway?”

Pauline shrugged. “Then the story will get out. You fire her, sue her ass for violating the agreement, and then deal with the fallout. There are already rumors about you three circulating anyway. You just hide behind that wall of denial again.

“We are getting pretty good at that,” Jake said.

“Indeed,” Pauline said. “And, quite honestly, do you really think that your CD sales will suffer if your fans are given reason to believe that you and your wife are getting it on with Celia Valdez?”

“No,” Jake said. “They might even go up if they thought that. It might hurt Celia’s career though.”

“That’s where that wall of denial comes in,” Pauline said. “But hopefully, this will be a non-issue. Talk to Meghan. Try to figure out if you can trust her. Try to instill her with the same sort of loyalty that Elsa displays.”

“We will do that,” Jake said.

“And there’s one other thing,” Pauline said.

“What’s that?”

“If this works out, you’re going to have a young, attractive, sexually active girl living in your household. Don’t fuck her, no matter how tempting it might be. There can be no good outcome from that.”

Jake smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “I’m already juggling two women. I do not want or need a third.”

Pauline returned the smile. “Very good,” she said.

“A twenty-one-year-old nanny named Meghan?” G asked in astonishment. “Fuckin’ Meghan? You’re making this shit up just to fuck with me, right?”

“I’m not making this shit up,” Jake assured the rapper, who was sitting in the copilot’s seat next to him. They had just leveled off at ten thousand feet above the Santa Susana Mountains and Jake had declared the sterile cockpit condition null and void for the time being. He had then told Gordon and Neesh about the nanny they were considering hiring.

“You are such a pig, G,” Neesh said, shaking her head in wifely disapproval. “Just because she’s named Meghan and is twenty-one years old doesn’t mean she’s attractive.”

“Actually, she is pretty attractive,” Jake said. “You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

“Young twenty-one-year-olds named Meghan?” G said, grinning now. “Naw. Not many homies are into shit like that.”

“And Teach is okay with this girl?” Neesh asked, her brows now raised in enquiry.

“Yeah,” Jake said. “I talked to her on the phone while I was driving to the airport. She said she’s great, very personable, very good with Caydee. She took care of her most of the day while Laura was out car shopping.”

“But ... well ... isn’t she afraid that you might ... you know...”

“Bone her?” Jake asked.

“Well, yeah,” Neesh said. “Not that I’m saying you would or anything. I just know that if we ever hire a nanny it’s going to be some bitch in her fifties or sixties.”

“Aww, you ain’t no fun, baby,” G said, shaking his head at the tragedy of it.

“I am not going to bone the nanny,” Jake assured her. “Not even if she wants to bone me. Laura knows this.”

“She does?” Neesh asked doubtfully.

“She does,” Jake assured her, diplomatically not mentioning that she and G had a completely different relationship than the Kingsleys had with each other. G routinely cheated on Neesh, usually with groupies out on the road but occasionally with women he picked up in local nightclubs as well. Neesh routinely cheated on G, usually with her friend Talia when she came to visit or when Neesh visited her. They kept these episodes of infidelity from each other. Though they were a seemingly happy couple on the outside, there were obviously some significant trust issues between them.

“Well ... I guess that’s all right then,” Neesh said, though she was obviously not convinced of this.

“The only real question left is whether or not she’ll abide by the nondisclosure agreement we’ll have to present to her,” Jake said.

“Yeah,” said G, “I’m guessing that it’s a little harder to keep the gossip under control when you live in a small town.”

“That is the truth,” Jake said. “At least they’re not saying that you’re Caydee’s daddy anymore.”