Threads: The Island

The Indian girl shrugged. "The shopping's good for me in either city."

"LA? If I go to New York I can visit my family," Peter suggested.

Lakshmi nodded. "Sure."

"Can I just ask," Kyle said, holding up his hand. "How many of you guys think this is the best approach to take?"

His eyes looked at each of them, getting nods from Heidi and Lakshmi, a smirk from Patricia and a shrug from Garius.

"Garius?"

"I'll go wherever Kara wants me to," He said simply. "I think the decision should be made by you three, not us."

"I'm trying to get your thoughts on it though."

"I think it's as good an idea as any," He explained. "I think if the three of you are together you can help each other out, but there is an imbalance there right now. If we can address that, then it'll help going forward."

"So you're all basically agreed then?" Katie asked, getting a chorus of nods in reply. "Kara?"

"I don't know. Whatever. I've never been to New York."

"I'll show you around," Katie smiled. "We can go shopping too. Oh, and clubbing."

"That sounds fun," Kara replied, a hint of a smile on her face.

Kyle nodded. "Then it's settled. You guys are going to the Big Apple, Patricia, Lakshmi and I are going to Tinsel Town."

"Okay," Peter nodded. "Now, let's talk about schedules while we're there. If we split into two focus groups and..."

Kyle chuckled as Heidi, Patricia, Garius and Lakshmi all groaned theatrically.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Running joke. Apparently I say focus groups too much," He explained. "Anyway, Lakshmi, Patricia. If you would take Kyle and start knocking a schedule out of this," He said, tapping a large pile of printouts on the table at his side. "Then we can start sorting out this," He continued, tapping a larger pile right next to it.

"What's in those piles?" Kara asked, a hint of trepidation in her voice.

"Memo's, emails, invitations, social events, appearances, meetings," Peter explained. "Basically, everything we think you should do, or other people think you should do if you're in New York in the next few weeks."

"Jesus," She muttered.

"Don't worry," Peter added. "We've already culled the crazy stuff."

Kyle chuckled as he got to his feet and gathered up the pile of notes.

"Let me," Lakshmi said, moving to take it off him, but Kyle chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure I can manage a pile of notes. Now, where are we going with them?"

Patricia and Lakshmi exchanged a few looks and shrugs.

"Upstairs?" Kyle suggested, and the two women nodded. "Let's go."

Kyle set the pile of notes down on the coffee table in his suite and the three of them sat on the sofas. The initial plan was to make a first pass to split everything into three stacks. The discarded, the 'must do' and the 'needs discussion'.

They set to work, and for the next hour Kyle laughed, shook his head or muttered. There was invitations to do all the chat shows, lots of press requests, invites to meetings to discuss investment in productions, many of them disguised as lunches or dinner invites. There was visits to be made to the Production company they now owned, as well as the Talent Agency and Music producers offices, and an invite to attend the recording studio to hear one of their up and coming artists record their new album. There was also the offices of the magazine group they owned, as well as a branch of the Consultancy firm Kyle worked for to visit too.

Patricia ripped through her part of the pile, while Lakshmi pulled up data to answer Kyle's many questions, everything from who was inviting him where and why to what does this charity do.

It was almost a surprise when Patricia ordered him off to get changed for his workout. Kyle stretched as he stood up, realising they'd been sat there for two hours straight, and suggested that they both take a break.

Lakshmi chuckled and Patricia rolled her eyes. "This is like a hint of getting a normal workload," Patricia explained. "We'll just keep with it for now, Kyle. It won't take long."

"Okay," He said, leaving them to it. He got changed and jogged down to the gym, where Julian was waiting for him. This time he gave him a thorough examination to check the development of his musces and any signs of injury, weighed him and took a few measurements.

Then, with an enthusiasm that Kyle was sure was part hysteria, Julian got him working out again. His legs bore the brunt of it in this particular session, although he was aching all over when he left.

"No jogging back this time," Kyle muttered to himself as he tottered back to the main house.

Patricia had drawn him a bath but was still hard at work in the lounge with Lakshmi, arranging the paper into dozens of piles on the desks across the room, so he stripped off and sank into the water, groaning as he lay back. Patricia appeared a moment later, a cheeky smile on her face.

"You're on your own in there for this bath, Kyle," She said softly. "Lakshmi's right next door."

Her hand drifted down to touch his chest and she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. Kyle could feel his heart rate accelerating as her tongue darted into his mouth, a quick swipe, before she sat back up.

"Just wanted to do that," She whispered. Her hand drifted down over his stomach, and her smile broadened as she wrapped her fingers around his cock and gave it a gentle squeeze, then let it go.

"Any time you like."

"I'll remember that later," She told him, standing up. Patricia reached for a towel and dried her hand off. "In a few minutes, Sarah, the masseuse, will be arriving. She's going to do her thing, but Shmi and I will be right next door."

"Sarah?" Kyle asked, remembering her reputation. "Wait. What do you mean by do her thing?"

Patricia chuckled. "Relax. She's just gonna give you a massage. We're right next door, remember. Might even pop in and ask you a few question," She winked. "Just to make sure no-one poaching on my territory."

Kyle smiled, liking the possessive side of her. "So I take it you're cool with us breaking the rules now?"

She shrugged. "We've crossed the line, so we might as well see what's on the other side. Unless you'd rather step back again?"

"Fuck, no," He replied with feeling.

She smiled, eyeing him in the water, then her shoulders slumped and she groaned. "I better get back to work now, or I'm gonna end up wetter than I am already."

Kyle smiled as he slid under the water. Today was turning out to be the best day he could remember in a very long time.

Sarah turned out to be an excellent masseuse, not that Kyle had a lot of experience to compare her skills against. She had arrived, laid towels out on his bed, heated oils, dimmed the lights, and told him to lie down.

He was quite surprised at his first impression of her. Shoulder-length dark hair framed a pretty face with a fit but voluptous body, reminding him more of Katie than Kara. Sarah was dressed in a black vest-top and black track-pants, and he could see at least a dozen tattooes around her upper body. Her entire right arm from her shoulder to her wrist was a mixture of aquatic creatures intermingled with waves and stars, a strange yet beautiful and colourful combination, and she had a large tribal dragon on her left arm.

She seemed a little uneasy to Kyle at first, maybe nervous, but she settled quickly as they chatted about her tattoos for a few minutes while she got sorted out, Kyle sitting wrapped in a towel, Sarah busy getting set up, until she told him to lie down on the bed.

Kyle lay there on his back, a towel across his lap, feeling more than a little uncomfortable, yet her hands put him at ease. There was no haste in her movements, but a lot of strength and control, as she worked each muscle of his upper body.

Eventually she told him to turn over and he did, becoming so relaxed as she worked his back that he barely noticed she was astride his hips. He could barely keep his eyes open, and slid into a half-snooze.

Sarah worked his upper body and then his legs while he lay face down on the bed, and Kyle's muscles felt tired but the pain was gone from them. She asked him to flip over, and he felt that momentary discomfort as he held the towel over his lap and turned onto his back.

"I'm just going to work your thighs now, and that's us done," She explained.

Kyle lay back, closing his eyes as her hands rubbed the large muscles, one at a time, easing the pressure and tension from them, her hands warm and firm on his skin. She was sat astride his feet, kneeding his thighs, and as he lay there with his eyes closed something nagged at him, like he'd forgotten he was meant to be somewhere.

"You're done," She announced a few moments later, and before he could open his eyes, he felt her press her hands down on either side of his hips and she sprung back off the end of the bed.

The recognition was instant, as Kyle remembered someone making that exact same movement a few nights ago, in the darkness, just before she fled.

He tensed and looked at her, frowning.

"Something wrong?" She asked casually as she bent to retrieve her bag from the floor.

Kyle wanted to ask her straight away if it was her that was in here the other night, fucking him and sucking his cock, and why she'd done it, but something made him hold his question back. He needed time to think.

"No, everythings fine," He replied a moment later.

"I'll just tidy up and then I'll be off," Sarah said, giving him a smile. "Let me know if you want me to come back again tomorrow. Or whenever."

"Yeah. Will do."

She bustled about for another few seconds and then slipped out. Kyle heard Patricia and Lakshmi say goodbye and then Patricia appeared in the bedroom doorway. She caught his expression.

"What's wrong?"

Kyle sat up, propping himself on his elbows. "I think I've figured out who the boogeygirl was."

Patricia's eyes widened and she mouthed, "Sarah" at him, her face framing the question.

Kyle nodded. "I didn't say anything or ask her, but I'm sure it was her."

"How do you know? Did she..."

Kyle shook his head. "Nothing like that. It was the way she got off the bed."

"You know just from that?" Patricia asked, sounding unconvinced.

"It's an unusual way of doing it." A thought struck him. "I take it she used to give Danny massages up here, in this bed too?"

Patricia's eyes narrowed. "How did you know that?"

"I'll tell you later."

Patricia frowned and came over and sat on the side of the bed. "She's so getting fired."

"Not yet," Kyle said immediately, although he realised he had no idea why. "I need to think about what I want to do."

"What does that mean? You better not be thinking about a repeat performance!"

Kyle chuckled. "No, nothing like that. I mean why did she do it? Just randomly sneak into someones room and take advantage of them? It doesn't really make sense."

"I told you. She's a self-confessed slut," Patricia said, a hint of anger in her tone. "Can I be there when you fire her?"

"You're angry, aren't you?"

"I don't see why you're not," She pointed out. "If I was you, I'd be pissed."

"I'm more confused than angry right now," Kyle said, trying to puzzle his way through it. He felt like there was a game going on that he didn't know how to play, with rules he didn't know and no idea how to win. Gut instinct, his dad would have called it.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Think first, act second," Kyle told her. "Can we put this to one side just now?"

She sighed. "I suppose."

"So how's it going through there?"

"We're getting there. Couple more hours and we'll have a first draft itinery."

"Sounds complicated."

"It is," She told him. "Dinner's in ten minutes. You should get dressed. There's an outfit in the dressing room for you."

"Thanks, Patricia."

She left the room and Kyle got up and got dressed. He slipped on a tight black v-neck top, dark blue jeans and a pair of black boots and then wandered out to the balcony where Patricia and Lakshmi were having a break.

"Feel better after that?" Lakshmi asked.

"Yeah. Certainly eased the pain," He replied, lighting up. "How's it going with the schedule?"

"Well, we're trying to cut it down from insane to manic, but we'll have a better grip on it later," She replied, sounding pleased with herself.

Kyle took a seat. "If you can get it from manic to chilled, that would be awesome."

"On another note, your friends Casey and Ed will be here late tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Kyle smiled, then chuckled as he thought of how Ed would react to this place. "This could be fun. Hey, what about Margarita? When's she arriving?"

"Katie's friend? Late tonight, along with her sister."

"So two of them?"

"Yes," Lakshmi replied. "We're giving them the guest suites next to Katie's. Your friends are going in the one next to Kara's, above the bar."

"Okay. Did Kara invite anyone out?"

Lakshmi shook her head. "No, but I think that's one of the reasons why Katie's friends sister is coming out, although she didn't say so."

"Katie didn't?"

"No. I mean, no, she didn't say."

Kyle chuckled. "Anything else going on?"

"Oh, there's always something else going on, Kyle," Patricia said, smirking. "You should know that by now. How much do you want?"

He shrugged. "Give me anything you've got."

"Okay," She said, leaning forward. "Someone made an audio recording of your speech at the funeral and gave it to the press. The Wall Street Journal described it as hesitant and stuttery."

"It wasn't hesitant or stuttery at all," Kyle said quickly.

"And it wasn't naive or panicked at times either. The journalist who wrote it used to work for one of our magazines and got fired a few years ago. Since then he snipes at every opportunity he gets on anything regarding Mister Tripps," Patricia explained.

"Even his funeral? What an ass-hat."

"Yep. I spoke to your folks earlier and we're going to bring them down to LA for a couple of days when they're finished their hiking trip. They're having a great time, lots of photos, meeting nice people and apparently the air is really fresh."

Kyle chuckled. "No problems with them?"

"Nope, they're having a great time."

"Good to hear. I need to phone them more often," He said, feeling a pang of guilt that all this stuff was happening to him and he was barely giving them a moments thought.

"I've been keeping in regular contact with them, so don't worry too much. They know you're busy."

"Okay. What else?"

"Shmi?"

"Oh, that was mean," She protested as Patricia leaned her head back and laughed.

"What was?" Kyle asked, not getting the joke.

"She just gave me a... sensitive one to deal with," Lakshmi said, looking unhappy. "Okay, if you're going to be in LA for a couple of weeks, you're going to be attending a couple of film premieres, social events, parties. That kind of thing, right?"

"Yeah," Kyle nodded.

"So you need a date for them."

"I could always take you guys," Kyle suggested, meaning he would take Patricia.

"You can't," Lakshmi told him. "You can't sit us at a table with people and introduce one of us as your date, because they first thing they'll do is ask what we do, and then you're the guy who dates his assistants."

"Oh."

"Plus," Patricia added. "We can't get taken seriously if people think we're employed as girlfriends first, assistants second. Playboy bunnies with blackberry's, know what I mean?"

Kyle made an unhappy face. "So I can't socialise with you guys?"

"Yes, you can," Lakshmi replied. "But there are occasions when you'll need a date and so we've started a shortlist of suitable single women."

"You're picking out dates for me?" He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Patricia.

"Well, it's not set in stone that they'll agree, but we're looking for you to trim the list a bit and then we'll investigate our options from there," Lakshmi continued.

Kyle frowned. "Have you got it handy?" He asked, finding it absurd, especially considering Patricia had a hand in picking out the names.

"Later. We're still working on it."

"Oh. Okay."

"Anyway, it's time for dinner," Patricia announced. "Shall we?"

Dinner was fantastic.

The food was really good, as always, and Katie was really excited about the imminent arrival of her friends, chatting constantly to Kara about Margarita and her sister. Kyle told them a few stories about Ed and his crazy antics in the past, and everyone seemed quite relaxed in each others company. Most people had a few glasses of wine with the exception of Kyle who was in training and Patricia who everyone agreed should steer clear of alcohol for at least forty eight hours.

Peter brought up his challenge to a game of Call of Duty, and then everyone got involved, dispersing quickly to their various suites and rooms to get on the Islands network. Kyle picked up the X-box controller, finding it strange in his hands as he was used to a PS3 at home, but he could see the benefits on their choice of console on the Island. Peter had told him how they recorded the matches on a server, playing back particularly awesome kills or streaks in the bar afterwards, and Kyle was hoping to have some of his included.

He got his ass handed to him.

Kyle put it down to the controller being different and not being able to adapt quick enough, but he just couldn't seem to get the instinctive reactions to put the sight where he wanted it and have the trigger pressed before he got killed. Either that or Patricia and Lakshmi chatting while they worked behind him produced some strange gaming effect that made him a bullet-magnet.

After a particularly humiliating defeat where the match finished with him having two kills and twenty deaths he logged off and went outside. Kara was already sitting there, smoking his cigarettes and to his surprise, Katie was sitting next to her. He shut the door, not wanting to hear Patricia and Lashmi arguing over who he should lunch with next Thursday.

Kyle took his seat and lit up.

"How did it go?"

"Not my night," He grunted. "And Peter really is a freak. First game we played he was on my team. Thirty seven kills, one death."

"Is that good?" Katie asked.

"Freakish," Kyle replied.

"So, busy day," Kara noted.

"I know," Katie agreed. "Saying goodbye to the guests, meetings, shooting a gun, flying in a helicopter and we saw dolphins. And I've got a shoot with Johnny Depp! Way cool."

"I liked the dolphins," Kara agreed. "And I want to learn to fly a helicopter. And a plane. That looks like fun."

"Make sure you tell Garius. I'm sure they'll arrange it," Kyle said.

"Already have," She replied, then grinned at Kyle. "Big day for you, too."

"How do you mean?" He said, looking out to sea as he tried to hide his grin.

"Oh, come on, Kyle," Katie replied. "You're not exactly Mister Pokerface, and Patricia's been smiling all afternoon."

"Don't know what you're talking about," He muttered, getting a loud laugh from Kara.

"Plus, he got hit on this morning too," Katie added, grinning.

"Really? Who by?" Kara asked.

"The gorgeous Miss Theron."

"Really?"

"You keep saying that," Kyle protested. The two of them were enjoying his discomfort a little too much for his liking.

"Oh, come on, Kyle," Kara replied. "It's not like you're fugly or anything, but she's totally stunning."

"Have you got a bi side we don't know about?" He teased.

"Hey, if I had to choose a woman to get it on with, she'd be in the top ten," Kara replied, laughing. "And besides, how do you know I'm not a lesbian?"

"That's a good point," Kyle grinned. "Are you a lesbian?"

"Kyle!" Katie said. "You can't ask her that."

"Why not?"

"It's not polite."

"She is my sister," Kyle pointed out. "Kara?"

"Don't answer that, Kara," Katie said quickly. "In fact, tell him you're a lesbian. Then his friends won't hit on you every two minutes."