Billie Jean

Maitland was...well Maitland. I just couldn't believe that this seemingly

granite man had ever had human feelings. I knew his history, the marriage gone bad, the hot ex wife, the possible romance with Helena's aunt. But seeing him in person made him seem somehow above the human condition. He was all business.

He was serious, focused and on the job. He had already come up with three possible scenarios for how to handle the case moving forward. Then I saw her, she looked up at me from a chair and the heaven's opened up. Her smile lit up the room. Sarah who'd already figured things out simply twitched her nose and made a face. Maitland kept looking back at us and then just decided to carry on.

I moved over to the table and sat down next to her. Instantly she entwined my fingers in hers and leaned towards me. Our legs rubbed against each other's as if we both sought every possible inch of contact.

"As soon as I found out about your brother," said Maitland, staring at me. "I ran his record and found out that he's a convicted felon. That means that in this state he can't be bonded and therefore can't be licensed as an official child care provider. Billie Jean's mother has been found also to be physically incapable of caring for a child due to her health issues. The woman has to drag an oxygen tank around with her all day long."

"Billie Jean is going to have some problems. I'm going to have the California state police extradite her here to face child endangerment and child abandonment charges. I also ran your brother's DNA the preliminary investigation looks like you're an uncle, not a father."

"I don't know which one of them cooked this up, but it looks like your brother is going back to jail. And Billie Jean may get to see the inside of prison walls too. They're both guilty of trying to defraud you out of probably millions of dollars in child support, and of trying to misuse the power of the Florida State attorney's office."

"There's also a good case for libel and slander for them trying to destroy your reputation and ruin your good name. Even though it's not used much anymore this seems like a case for alienation of affection since their schemes and plans facilitated the destruction of your marriage. Why would your own brother hate you that much?"

I clasped Helena's hand and kissed it as everyone looked at us. Across the room I could tell her aunt approved. "Growing up, Cam and I came from a relatively well off family," I began. "But although we were only a year apart in age, we were never close. We were simply too different. I tended to work very hard for everything I got. Cam expected everything to be given to him. When we got to college, I hung out with the jocks and worked hard to keep an A- average. I wasn't a genius, but I was never far from the top of my class. Cam hung out with the stoners and while I can't actually prove or disprove that he sold any drugs, he did sometimes hold merchandise for the guys who did."

"He was always on the verge of being expelled. Anyway, he came up with this scheme where I'd take one of his finals for him. Before he got really into the drugs and went to prison, people had trouble telling us apart. He thought that since I'd taken his history class the year before with the same professor, and gotten an A in the class that I could use his ID card and take the final for him. It was his last shot at staying in school. The dean had told him that if he failed one more class, he'd be expelled."

"I told him that I had no intention of taking the test for him. But I guess he didn't believe me. Up until then anytime he'd needed anything from me I had gone along with it. So the morning of the test, he was sitting in his dorm getting high, thinking that I was taking his exam. When I didn't show up, the professor notified the Dean, who sent a security officer over to bring Cam to see him. The security officer smelled marijuana smoke coming from Cam's room."

"He decided to call the police since smoking weed on campus was illegal. The police raided Cam's room and found not only his personal stash of weed, but all kinds of other drugs that he was storing for friends. The amounts were staggering and he was charged with a felony for possession of numerous controlled substances and narcotics for the purpose of sale."

"Naturally he blamed me. Notice he never blamed the guys he was holding the drugs for or himself. In his mind it was my fault because I refused to cheat for him."

"My brother and I haven't spoken since the day in court when they sentenced him. Originally I told him I'd get him a better lawyer and I'd visit him and make sure he had a job and a home when he got out. But he wouldn't have anything to do with me. After a while I just forgot that I even had a brother." Everyone just shook their heads.

"Hey Bill, I have a good idea for how to do this," I smiled. As everyone gathered around the table, I explained my idea.

The next morning Billie Jean was scheduled to appear on A.M. California again.

At the last minute, the producers of the show told her that they wanted to do the show a different way. Instead of just interviewing her, they wanted her to discuss the case with someone else who'd been involved in a similar case.

The other person was a supposed "Deadbeat Dad," who'd been hounded by the justice

system to make payments. That way they'd be able to show cases from both sides. Billie Jean was told that she'd be viewed favorably and the additional publicity might help her out because her story was actually beginning to become stale. This might possibly extend the story's life.

Billie Jean, sensing that her fifteen minutes of fame were up, agreed. When told that a social worker would also be part of the interview to give a professional insight into the case Billie Jean just said, "Whatever, the more the merrier. Just make sure to make me look good."

A few moments before the taping was to begin Billie Jean sat in a chair on the set. Over the last month or so she' gotten used to being prepared by top make-up artists for the taping of the forty or so TV shows she'd done. She'd gotten herself an agent and was taking acting lessons.

Most of the money she'd gotten from her TV appearances was gone. The apartment she'd rented was far more expensive than a similar place in Florida would have been. She'd also bought lots of clothing for the TV shows. Her acting lessons and agent hadn't been cheap either.

She'd also had to pay the plastic surgeon back for her breast implants and nose job. She'd be glad when the money from Cam's brother started rolling in.

As Billie Jean pursed her lips to have her make-up applied she noticed another

woman being seated across the set from her. She also noticed that the men on the set seemed to have trouble taking their eyes off of the other woman. The woman's breasts were incredible but she had them covered up. Billie Jean wondered who she was.

A few seconds before the cameras started to roll, the guy came onto the set. Billie Jean heard the count-down and saw them sit the guy down near her. Her heart nearly stopped when she noticed it was me. I smiled at her.

The lights went up; there was an audience of women in the studio. The announcer introduced Billie Jean and the women in the audience looked at her. Then they announced Helena and finally me. When they said my name there was dead silence and then a round of booing. I smiled and bowed.

Billie Jean smiled when the audience booed me. The host of the show went over to Billie Jean and asked her to tell her story. Billie Jean launched into the story that had made her famous and a household name, the same story that had made my life a living hell and cost me my marriage.

Then the announcer stepped away from Billie Jean and came over to me. "Blake Alexander," she said. "Is what Billie Jean told us true?"

"Not a word of it," I said. The studio audience was suddenly stunned. "First off," I said "I never met Billie Jean in my life until she showed up at a media event I attended a little over a month ago. Forty days ago Billie Jean turned my life into hell with her allegations that have never been proven."

"She's cost me my reputation, my job and even my marriage. All of it with no proof."

"What about the DNA?" screamed a voice from the audience.

"Great question," I said. "the DNA wasn't conclusive. It didn't exactly prove that I was the father or disprove it. It only proved that there were enough genetic similarities to indicate that the child was fathered by me or someone with my genetic traits."

"Because you're his father," said Billie Jean. She was getting upset; she'd never expected to have to face me.

"If I'm his father, I want custody," I said.

"No, you can't have it, I'm his mother. I'm the one who takes care of him. I won't let you take my baby away from me because you've got money." Billie Jean was going for the full dramatic effect. She was trying to make the audience sympathetic towards her. She wanted them to feel that she was a mother struggling against a rich man now.

"That's what this has all been about from the start isn't it Billie Jean, money?" I asked.

"Billie Jean where is the child now?" asked Helena.

"None of your business," snapped Billie Jean. "Who are you?"

"I'm Helena Martinez from the Child Welfare department of the State of Florida. We're charging you with several crimes including felony child endangerment."

"What, you're crazy," said Billie Jean. "I didn't endanger the kid. He's safe."

"Did you or did you not leave your child in the care of a convicted felon?" asked Helena. The audience was shocked.

Billie Jean tried to run off the set but saw that there were police officers stationed at both sides. Suddenly the audience noticed how she was acting and realized that they'd been had.

"Answer the question, bitch," yelled someone from the audience.

"He doesn't count as being a felon, really," said Billie Jean.

"Why not?" asked the host.

"Because, he's my baby's father. He wouldn't hurt his own son," she said sadly. She knew the jig was up, then. There'd be no saving this. It was over.

"Cameron came up with this plan to get money from his brother. He read this thing about how brothers have very similar DNA. He's always blamed Blake for his life. I guess it started a long time ago. So we decided to get child support money from Blake and ruin his life to get revenge on Blake for ruining Cam's life. No one would really get hurt. Blake had a lot of money and could spare some of it. And Cam thought that Blake needed to learn how to lose something important to him too."

"We were as surprised as everyone else when his wife started to divorce him. I'm sorry." She hung her head and started crying. I got up and walked across the stage and patted her on her shoulder. The audience ate up my compassion and started cheering.

As the police took Billie Jean away she told them where to find Cameron and their son. But it didn't matter, Sarah had already found him and Maitland's people had arrested him and taken the child into custody before we started taping the show.

There had been some excitement involved in the capture and actually it had been Chris who saved the day again. Maitland had relayed what happened to me later.

Sarah, Maitland and Chris had gone to a derelict apartment building to take the child into protective custody. They had found the apartment that one of Sarah's tips said the child was in. There was seemingly no one home. Sarah had turned the knob and found the door open but before they could go inside. Three men had forced them inside of the apartment.

The three men had been Cam and two of his jailbird friends. One of the men had a shotgun and kept it leveled at them, while Cam started packing. Maitland, Sarah and Chris had no idea of what the men planned to do to them.

Sarah and Chris knew each other well. He could tell by the things she said that she was going to do something. Maitland could also sense that something was going on but didn't know what to expect.

Suddenly they heard the sound of a police siren. The three thugs looked to the windows for only a fraction of a second. Actually it hadn't come from outside. It has come from Sarah's pocket. Her phone had a bunch of sound effects on it, but the distraction was all Chris needed.

Maitland told me that he'd never seen anyone move like Chris did. In the split second of the distraction Chris had grabbed the barrel of the shotgun. The gunman felt Chris pulling the barrel of the gun downward and tried to prevent it by pulling the barrel in the opposite direction to regain control of it. Chris suddenly reversed his movement and the barrel of the gun slammed into the gunman's own face. Then Chris snatched the gun away from him and swung it into the gunman like a baseball bat.

Maitland himself started using his own knowledge of boxing to deal with Cam. Cam threw a punch at Maitland who slipped it and counter punched, landing a blow to Cam's chest.

Maitland said that he saw Chris run up to the last guy and do another one of those weird moves of his. He leaped straight up into the air like a diver on the diving board. He did that step they call a hurdle where one of their legs bends at the knee to drive them upwards. Chris wasn't doing a dive; he drove that knee into the last guy's jaw which shattered. The guy never woke up until after the surgery to repair his jaw in the hospital.

Maitland and Cam were so shocked by Chris that they just stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Chris calmly picked up the shot gun and stuck the barrel in Cam's mouth. That was how they were when the police arrived.

After it was all over here in California, Helena and I went back to my office. "I want you to explain something to me," she said. She pulled out a newspaper with the headline about the night I spent with Amanda Kingsley. She didn't look pleased.

"Explain this," she said to me. My heart lurched. Why the hell did this keep happening to me.

"It didn't happen," I said weakly. "Helena, I know you won't believe me. I met her that evening at a business dinner that Gascon took us to. I danced with her one time, to a fast song. We didn't even dance close together."

"I love you, Helena. You have to believe me. It's not true," I said.

Everyone in my office was looking at us because we hadn't closed the door. Myra

was smiling.

Helena came around the desk and hugged me. I almost went into shock. Her breasts were so soft but so firm at the same time. They also seemed to push themselves into me a while before she got there.

"Blake what are you talking about?" she asked. "Of course I believe you. I'm not

an idiot like your last wife. If you read the article and looked at the date and the time difference between Florida and Paris, you couldn't have been in a hotel room with her. Because at that exact same time you were on the phone with me, making me text you pictures of my boobs."

"I did not ask you to do that," I smirked. "Besides, you did say they were mine."

"Give me your phone," she said. I handed her my phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, If you don't want the picture, I'm going to delete it," she said.

"Uhm, I'll keep it," I said quietly.

"You don't need the picture, you've got the real thing," she said. "But if I ever run into Amanda Kingsley, I'm going to kick her ass for using you for publicity."

Billie Jean and my brother Cameron both got jail time for their scheme. They both tried to claim that the other was responsible for it and tried to rat each other out for a reduction of their relative sentences.

The next day the papers were full of new headlines. "Billie Jean goes to jail," was my favorite. Of course the articles telling about how I wasn't the father were all on page fourteen of the second section.

Mary Beth called me and apologized for not believing me. She told me she wanted to stop the divorce and try to work everything out. I reminded her that we'd already been through that. I also reminded her that it had been her lack of trust in me more than anything else that killed our marriage and I had someone now who did believe in me.

Mary Beth signed the divorce papers in exchange for the video tape of her performance with the stripper, so I got off easy there. I gave her enough money to start her life without me. She wasn't very happy, but for a person as vain as she was, having anyone know what a slut she turned out to be would have been worse than death. I don't feel too badly for her because if she'd just had a little bit of faith in me, we'd still be happy.

Helena and I did get married and we adopted my nephew, Michael. I'm also extremely glad that Helena was right, she's very very good in bed. It's so different from the sex I had with Mary Beth. There's nothing frantic or violent about it. Just two people who really love each other communicating and joining on a very emotional level. We do get kind of wild every now and then, though. I still remember the first time I woke up with my head nestled between those pillows of hers and reached up to suck one of her nipples. I was in heaven.

McMillan Worth bought out Anthony-Alexander LLC for twenty million dollars making me richer and Caesar rich. I became a titled partner and Seize became a partner. So the company is now called McMillan Worth Alexander. I fired Arthur Harris.

Tyler Collins wrote a book about the whole Billie Jean incident and it became a

best seller. Sarah still works for Arturo Rios Investigations, but I pay her a very big retainer to handle any problems that come up for me. I gave her a big cash bonus and Chris too, but she was still angry with me. A few days after she and Chris headed home it seems they pulled up into their driveway and discovered where I'd had the Shelby GT-H delivered. She sent me an e-mail begging me not to encourage him. And that he didn't need two cars that he never let anyone else drive.

One year later, we're back where I started this story. I'm driving my Cobalt blue Shelby to a charity dinner where I'll be accepting my second consecutive award as the top grossing man in advertising. As my beautiful wife and I get out of the car flash bulbs start popping and there are lots of pictures being taken. Sadly though Mary Beth showed up. Somehow the fashionistas she'd always worked so hard to impress must have realized that she was wearing the same dress she wore last year and none of them photographs her. I notice a single tear slide down her cheek ruining her make-up as Helena and I walk by her. Helena and I both wave to her, but she turns and runs away.

Again this is my night but there are more pictures being taken of Helena than of me. This is her first time going to one of these big charity things and her version of the little black dress is incredible. Maybe it's just the body that's squeezed into it. Helena wouldn't let me see the dress before she put it on.

The top barely contains her breasts and I'd never have let her wear it. "Relax honey," she told me. "I'm all yours and I always will be. I need to show off this body now before everyone sees how you've ruined it. And there's something I need to do here tonight."

"Helena, what are you talking about," I asked.

"Well in about 8 months, Michael will have a little brother or sister," she smiled.

"And in about 8 minutes someone here is gonna have some Hell."

In the background I heard someone say, "Hey isn't that Amanda Kingsley?" I turned

back to Helena and she was already heading in the direction of the voices.

"Oh Amanda," she yelled, taking off her shoes and ear rings. "I want to talk to you about something you said about my husband!"

I wonder what the papers will say tomorrow.

Life goes on

The end.