Also Want to Thank Ch. 03-04

"You said last night that you weren't really a valet—that it was just temporary," Delores said.

"No one is really a valet, Del," Strange said. "It's obvious that the young man is an actor, between films."

"Is that true?" Delores asked, turning a smile on Dillon and reaching over and squeezing his knee. That didn't give him half the thrill this morning that it had given him in the backseat of the Cadillac.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered. "Well, mostly. I have an acting degree and am here to break into movies, but—"

"But you haven't broken in yet. Not even as beach candy in a teenager film?"

"No, ma'am, I haven't."

"Oh, you mustn't call me ma'am. It makes me sound so old. You don't find me old, do you, Dillon?" She fluttered her flash eyelashes at him.

"No, ma— . . . no, Ms. Mendez. Of course not."

"Are you any good as an actor?"

"Of course he's good, Del. He played the part of a valet superbly." They all laughed at Strange's joke. "And he's told you halfway convincingly that you don't look old." This time he was the only one who laughed.

"You look just the part of a character in the movie I've just started filming," Delores said, pointedly changing the subject. "He'd be just perfect as Paul, wouldn't he, Malcolm?"

"No doubt he would, Del, but hasn't that part been filled already by whatshisname?"

"I'm sure that's not set in stone. How would you like your first role to be in a film with me—playing my young lover, Dillon?"

"That would be wonderful, of course," Dillon answered. And indeed it would—especially the being in a film part.

"You can't really promise, Del," Strange admonished.

"No, of course not. But Steven fought to have me in the film and Craig Townsend, the major financial backer, has said I should be given anything I want. I want this young man for the love scenes. Here, you'll have to tell me who your agent is, Dillon. You do have an agent don't you, darling? No one comes to L.A. without getting an agent."

"Yes, ma— . . . Ms. Mendez. It's Walter Whalen."

"Well, of course it is, darling. I know Walt well. We're great friends. I'm sure I can arrange it. And, I see you've finished your breakfast, if you're going to play my young lover in the film, perhaps it would be wise to go back upstairs and practice."

"What a sterling idea. I'll come with you." Strange stood from the table and gave Dillon a brilliant style. Dillon could almost kick himself, but truth be known, he was glad Strange would be coming too.

Walt Whalen wasn't quite as pleased at Delores Mendez' intervention as Dillon might have thought, but he did accommodate it. His ire, expressed quite openly, had two prongs. "You know, don't you, that Cory Corbin was already penciled into that role in Paradise Ranch?" No, Dillon didn't know that. "And how did you figure out that Mr. X was Craig Townsend?" Dillon hadn't figured that out, but it was good to know.

What Dillon did know was that Whalen had gone for two weeks without contacting him after making him fuck half of Hollywood for a role and that Dillon had gone out and gotten a role all by himself. Well, sort of. He had had to fuck some frogs to get it as well.