Double Take: A Leading Man Romance (18 page)

I can’t help myself. I grin and add, “Yeah, it was. I was on the elevator with him.”

The girl looks like she’s going to lose oxygen completely at any moment, but my attention turns away from her. It depresses me, somehow, seeing all of these people here waiting for their big break. I’m sure some of them actually wanted this career, but I want to cry for those that don’t. But knowing what it has cost Brett, I want to tell them that it will never be worth it.

The meeting cannot be over soon enough.

Lori is ready for war. I can see it in her eyes as soon as I step into her office. And she can smell reticence on me. I try not to let it show, aware that it gives her a leg up, but there’s far too much at stake for me now. She’s sitting at her desk, back erect, hands clasped on the top of her desk.

“Sit down,” she says.

I’m reminded of the movies of hers I used to watch as a teenager, where she wielded a crop and barked orders at young men who obeyed her every whim. I do the same and ease into the chair across her desk. I sink into it easily, folding a leg so my ankle lies over the other thigh. My arms are crossed across my chest still. I don’t break eye contact.

This is it. This is our final stand. This is the moment we’ve both been dreading since I accepted a role in
The House
.

Lori speaks first. “The answer is no.”

I struggle to look casual as I lift an eyebrow at her comment. “You don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Yes, I do. And you know damn well that I do.”

Playing naïve is an obvious insult to the both of us, so I drop the implication entirely. “You’re right. I want out.”

“Like I said.” Lori turns to her computer and starts typing as though the discussion is so fucking unimportant to her that she can’t even give me the benefit of eye contact. “No.”

“There’s a little thing called free will…”

“Free will? You’ve got to be joking.” Lori turns the screen of her computer around, and there it is. My contract. I wonder if she had it up on the screen, waiting the whole time. “Signed, sealed, and in a lock box. Electronic copy just in case. You remember, don’t you? Your ass is mine until 2019.”

I look at the contract, squinting at the screen as though I can make it disappear with just a look. “They’re words on a page, Lor. They don’t mean anything.”

She turns the screen back to face her again, uses her mouse to scroll, and reads, “
During your employment with Kinked Up, you shall devote competent energies, interests, and abilities --
that means your cock
-- to the performance of your duties under this agreement. During the term of this Agreement, you shall not, without Kinked Up’s prior written consent, render any services to others for compensation or engage or participate, actively or impassively, in any other business activities that would interfere with your duties hereunder or compete with Kinked Up’s business
.” Lori looks up at me expectantly, and I barely raise an eyebrow.

“I know what it fucking says. I signed it. Why are you telling me this?”

Lori leans forward again. Her tits press against the desk, and she’s obviously trying to distract me. My eyes don’t waver from hers, however. “Because we didn’t
have
to lend you out so you could be De Niro for a few weeks. We let you as a gesture of good faith. You’ve got three years left. That’s it. There’s no fucking around.”

She’s right. I don’t have a hand to play here. All I’m doing is beating my head against the wall and hoping something sticks. I’m hoping for mercy that Lori is obviously incapable of giving me.

I also have no fucking clue how I’m going to be able to continue this for another three years. I hate that I’m desperate. “Can we negotiate at least?”

Lori pauses. She’s considering it. I’m glad she’s not a totally
cold-hearted bitch, but I can almost guarantee her reaction, regardless. She’s going to get the best deal here, and I’m going to be shit up a creek no matter what.

Still, she decides to play ball as she asks, “What do you have that I don’t have already?”

I’m drawing a blank. I can think of nothing. She’s already got my dick in a proverbial vise here and there’s nothing I can do to pry it loose. “Name your price.” I put the burden on her.

This delights her, and I instantly regret it. She’s trying to make it as impossibly hard to agree to as possible. I’m absolutely fucking horrified when she finally answers.

“A series of amateur videos. Give me… let’s say… five more.”

I already despise where this is going, but I’m going to ride this negotiation out as far as it will go. “Five more amateur videos, then I’m out?”

“Then you’re out.”

It seems too easy. It seems like there should be another addendum to this. Lori is more manipulative than this. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s a hell of a lot better than I thought I was going to get. “Yeah. Draw up the new contract, and I’ll sign it.”

I rise and I head to the door, hoping to escape before the deal gets worse. I don’t quite make it.

“Oh, Brett?” I turn to see Lori’s shark smile. “One of those movies has to feature your pretty girlfriend. Get her on camera and see how she looks.”

“Fuck you.” My heart is in my stomach as I consider for a moment launching myself over her desk and wiping that smile off her face. She’s lucky I have a hard and fast rule about putting my hands on a woman. But the idea of sucking Kylie into this part of my life is nauseating.

“You’ll go out with a literal bang,” she says cheerily.

“No. No fucking way,” I hiss.

Lori looks surprised, though the faked expression is so fucking horrible that I wonder if she didn’t climb out of hell moments before. “Why not? Isn’t she the reason you’re leaving? I bet she’d be
happy
to help you get there.”

“God damn it, Lori!” I’m furious now, and I can’t hide it anymore. I raise my voice, railing against her. “She’s fucking innocent in all of this!”

“One movie,” she counters, and her calm makes me want to scream. “Just one movie with her, and you’re done.” She smiles again, and this one is more evil than the last. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“We all hope,” I spit, and pry open the door to her office. “No fucking deal.” I would rather film scenes every day for the rest of my life than allow Kylie to be objectified for even a moment. Lori knows that, and she’s used my weakness against me.

I think about Kylie out there in the waiting room, unaware of everything that’s happened. I imagine her hesitance, her frustration. I imagine that she’s praying for an outcome that I now know won’t come. I don’t know how I’m going to face her. And I sure as hell don’t know how I’m going to explain to her why I have to stick around for the next three years.

“Wait,” I say, my hand still on the knob as I turn back to Lori with one last ditch effort at gaining my freedom while keeping Kylie out of this. “I do have something you don’t have…”

“Oh? And what would that be, dearie?” Lori asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“Someone who deserves you just as much as you deserve him.” I grin wickedly, delighting in the thought that everyone might get exactly what they need.

“No. There’s no way,” Rob half-screams when he looks down at the contract in front of him, his pen poised in mid-air. He’d been all ready to sign and make all of his problems go away via a binding non-disclosure agreement, but stopped when he saw the letter head. “I’ve submitted at Sundance! My last project has been accepted to mother fucking Cannes! I am NOT producing porn!”

“It’s this, or someone named Hannah gets fifty percent of every film you ever make,” Brett says knowingly, cocking his head in mock sympathy. He really is a good actor, I realize for the umpteenth time.

Rob turns and glares at me. “This is blackmail. I could have my attorneys all over your skinny ass.”

“But you won’t. You don’t want this to leave this room. Besides, don’t think of this as buying my silence, think of it more like doing penance. You screwed up—a lot, and with quite a few people—and I’m prepared to keep my mouth shut and state that nothing physical happened between us if it comes to that.” I fold my hands and smile benevolently. “In return, you’re upping the credibility over at Kinked Up, and helping a really great guy buy back his life. Don’t think of it as lowering yourself by filming porn, think of it as making the world a better place for a lot of people.”

Rob blew out a breath that caused the hair falling across his forehead to flutter. I can’t believe that’s the kind of “little boy lost” move that once made me half-swoon. Now, it just makes him look like a spoiled kid who’s finally come up against someone who won’t give in to his tantrums.

He picked up the pen and put the tip to the signature line, but then he hesitated again. Underneath the table, Brett found my hand and gripped it tightly, silently willing him to sign. If this didn’t work, if Rob didn’t go through with it, the agreement was off and Brett was locked back into his three years in porn.

Neither of us dared to look at Lori, who wore a practiced expression of nonchalance. We knew she was actually beside herself at the thought that Rob Mulligan, the great it-boy of Hollywood producers, was agreeing to a four-movie deal, to be worked out at one film per year for the life of the contract. This kind of thing, while maybe not guaranteeing anything in the mainstream, still meant tons of exposure and the option to bring in high-dollar, big-name talent for what would amount to pornographic art films.

Rob sighed and let his forehead drop to his open hand, resting it on the table. He let his eyes glaze over for a moment then signed on the line before flipping it over a few pages and initialing in the other places. He let the pen drop to the table and pushed back his chair, storming out of the room without saying a word to anyone.

“Well, that was only a little bit awkward,” I finally said, breaking the silence with a weak attempt at humor. Brett laughed along with me though, finally feeling the weight of his contract lifting from his broad shoulders. Even Lori smiled triumphantly.

“Don’t forget, dearie,” she began, pulling a stack of papers out of her Berkin bag and tossing them across the conference table to Brett, “we made you. And you’re good. If you ever want to come back…” She cut her eyes at me for a moment, realizing what she was actually hinting at. “…we’ll leave the light on for you.”

“That won’t be happening,” he said, fighting to keep his voice stead before softening slightly. “But thanks…for everything.”

My heart is still pounding out of my chest when we arrive back at my place. The idea that this is finally over is hitting me at last, and I can’t be happier. There’s something in the back of my mind that tells me I now have no career, no income, no plans…but so what if I have to start over? It’s better than the world I’ve been
living in.

I head in to take a shower, and I hear myself laughing before I realize the sound has come out of my lips at all. Kylie peeks her head into the bathroom just as steam starts to fill the place. I run my fingers through my hair, spreading the water, and push open the glass door. “Come here.”

She does, shedding her pants and shirt quickly. She rests her glasses on the edge of my sink and climbs into the shower, diving in for a hug almost immediately. I hold her tightly, her body so perfectly flush against mine, and kiss the top of her head. “I can’t believe you got Rob to agree,” she says, but the gratefulness is there.

I push back a bit of her wet hair and lean in to kiss her, water pounding against both of our sides. She gives easily under me, her mouth parting, her hands digging deeply into my hair. She holds me against her, and I oblige, giving into her as well. I crouch so my hands can find her ass and I hoist her up. She winds her legs around my waist to hold herself up.

I shift so her back is pressed against the stone on the shower wall, and she gasps from the cold. But she just deepens the kiss and tastes me, greedy for the parts of me she’d put on hold this morning.

I couldn’t be more in love with her. I grind into her as my kiss goes messy, and I kiss down the silky skin on her neck, sucking little places here and there as I go. I reach her nipple and take it between my teeth as her back arches to get closer to me. She whines softly, and I suck her nipple harder.

I can feel that she’s growing wetter as her hips grind and her pussy slides against my lower abdomen. It makes me hungry. I abandon her nipple to give attention to the other, kissing and licking and sucking it as I take in each of her reactions. She keeps giving me reactions I love, and I want more.

“Take me,” she finally demands through a gasp, and who am I to deny her?

I draw back in order to take my cock in my hand, and I guide it to her. With a firm thrust, I’m inside of her. She whimpers. I make sure I have firm footing before I begin thrusting into her, but I’m impatient. It’s the first time we’ve been together that it’s just been
us
, nothing looming in the imminent future. Nothing over our heads.

Her nails dig into my shoulders and I groan, the pace picking up quickly. I love the wet slap of noise as my skin hits hers. Kylie can feel it, too. Her eyes shut and she squirms, nails digging deeper, grounding herself.

In the past, I’ve been so focused on her pleasure that each of my movements has been somewhat measured, or at least thoughtful. Now, I’m just focused on getting closer to her. It’s like I can’t be close enough. I close my lips over hers as we both let out a muffled noise, desperation edging the kiss as my movements grow shaky.

She digs her heels into my ass to get some movement, and she rolls her hips into me. I’m completely wrecked and undone and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

My thrusts border on frantic as my speed increases, and Kylie cries out with each one. I grunt and hang my head against her shoulder, water splashing against the shower wall as I brace myself against it. I suck the skin of Kylie’s shoulder until it leaves a nice red mark, and I feel my cock throb and my balls tighten. I’m aware that I’m getting close, but I don’t want this moment to end.