Sex and Violence in Hollywood Read Online Free

he led her away from the table slowly, she glanced back over her shoulder at Adam and kissed the air silently, smiled.
    “Oh!” Michael blurted. “You go upstairs, baby, I’m right behind you.” He returned to the table, looked down at Adam. “If you don’t have any plans, we’re taking Money Shot out for the Fourth. The whole week. You wanna bring a friend, fine. We’ll be leaving early on the Fourth, as usual.” He headed out of the dining room again. Over his shoulder, he said, “Try to bring a girl, okay? Carter doesn’t count. You ask me, I think it’s way past time you two got your own place together and started a family.”
    When he was gone, Adam sat alone at the table. The smell of the food stirred his appetite again and he began to eat. Dinner was delicious, and the company had improved.
     
     

 
    THREE
     
    The next day , Adam drove over to Carter’s house, only a few blocks away. He parked behind the house and walked in through the back door without knocking. He had known Carter since third grade, and often felt more comfortable in Carter’s house than in his own.
    Adam walked through the large kitchen, said hello to Mrs. Sanchez, the maid, passed through the dining room—there were four cardboard boxes on the table—and nearly ran into Devin in the hallway.
    “Oh, my God!” Devin said, leaning against the wall to take a deep breath. “You scared the shit out of me!”
    “Sorry about that.”
    “I’m just preoccupied.” Devin held a cardboard box in his arms. It looked heavy, although it wasn’t very big. He was a thin man who stood a few inches short of Adam’s six feet. On that hot summer day, he wore a light blue sundress of thin, cool cotton, no stockings, which was rare for Devin, and a pair of deck shoes with no socks. His glasses rested on his chest, suspended from his neck on a thin silver chain.
    “What’re you doing?” Adam asked.
    “Cleaning out the library. C’mon.” He jerked his head for Adam to follow him back into the dining room. Devin put the box on the table with all the others. Sweeping the back of his hand over his shiny forehead, he turned to Adam and smiled. “We keep buying new books, but we have no place to put them. So I’m getting rid of the ones we don’t need anymore.”
    “I didn’t think Mr. Brandis ever got rid of books,” Adam said with a chuckle. “He’s got the biggest library I’ve ever seen.”
    “He’s got more books than he’s got library. But I’ve been working on him. I finally got him to agree that there are at least a couple hundred we can lose. I’m taking advantage of his fit of reason before he changes his mind. I figure as long as I don’t touch his collection of first-edition signed Harold Robbins novels, I’m safe.”
    “Is Carter around?” Adam said.
    “I haven’t seen him. Either he’s gone, or he’s in his bedroom or studio.” He glanced at his watch and gasped, pressing his other hand to his chest. “Oh, God. Jeremy will be home for lunch in a few minutes.” He squeezed Adam’s shoulder affectionately. “You make yourself at home, sweetie. I’ve got to talk to Mrs. Sanchez.”
    Adam went into the hall and headed for the stairs to look for Carter.
    Devin had been Jeremy Brandis’s partner in life for over three years. Mr. Brandis’s relationship with Devin had been his longest to date, not counting Mrs. Brandis. He had spent years going through one boyfriend after another before meeting Devin, who insisted on a serious, long-term relationship or nothing at all. While not a cross-dresser himself, Mr. Brandis had no problem with it. “He doesn’t mind my dresses,” Devin had said once, “and I turn a blind nostril to his cigars.”
    The summer before Adam and Carter entered the fifth grade, Mr. Brandis had announced to his family that he was gay. He regretted hurting them, but said he could no longer live a lie and needed to pursue his true nature.
    This came as a big shock to Adam, who had always