The time around Winterfest 2008 was special. Aiyana's pregnancy was coming along splendidly.

 

 

And red was finally being released. The studio had timed it for a holiday release to maximize award buzz.

 

 

For the three of you who didn't see it, in the film, Erin plays an artistic soul desperately trying to make a name for herself.

 

 

She performs in grungy bars, all the time dreaming of becoming a famous singer or actress.

 

 

And she's in an emotionally co-dependent relationship. For her boyfriend, we cast Jamal, on purpose. He wanted to break into mainstream acting, and we wanted the buzz that a famous porn actor would bring.

 

 

Also, an important climax near the end of the film was a very erotic sex scene between the two of them.

 

 

Of course, they didn't actually have sex on camera.

 

 

But that's what all the gossip rags speculated.

 

 

Which is exactly what we were banking on.

 

 

The official statements were intentionally coy: of course the costars have great chemistry, and of course someone with adult film experience would draw out these kinds of questions, but great blocking and directing can make even simulated sex look very real, and we'd never ask our actors to do something they weren't comfortable with.

 

 

Not exactly a denial, right? That was on purpose. But I can assure you, they did not actually have sex on camera. What they did in her trailer between shoots? I can't speak to that.

 

 

Anyway, the film was a huge success, and I was at Erin's mansion celebrating. I brought my best bottle of wine, which could have earned me quite a few simleons.

 

 

We spent a lot of time talking about how may Starlight awards we thought we might pull down. We even went online to see what people were saying in their first reviews of the film.

 

 

And then we decided we were too high on adrenaline to not keep going, so Erin whipped out a bottle of tequila, and we started doing shots.

 

 

And, well, shots with Erin do tend to lead in a particular direction.

 

 

What can I say? After all these years, I was still hot for this girl. She had a special hold on me.

 

 

So what came next felt perfectly natural for both of us.

 

 

It wasn't just a one-time thing, either. Erin and I were most certainly rekindled.

 

 

I knew Aiyana would not be happy, but I justified it to myself by remembering that Erin was one of only many lovers I was juggling.

 

 

So there was no reason for Erin to cause a particular problem, right?

 

(That's what we writers call "foreshadowing.")

 

Anyway, during one of my trips, I stopped in to have drinks with Pedro.

 

 

He said business was booming on all fronts.

 

 

Except for one little problem.

 

 

One of his girls, a young one, disappeared. Runaways happened in his line of work, of course.

 

 

But with the killings before, and this fugitive psycho from the military still out there somewhere, plus the fact that one of Maya's strippers had recently also vanished, he was worried about the worst case scenario.

 

 

I tried to cheer him up, but I think both of us knew what the most likely explanation was.