So Hot MC Boxset

by Blair Grey

  As he slammed down the paper he’d had clenched in his hand, I saw the title of my last film. ‘Diamond Leaves Lust in the Dust’ had done well. I’d gotten a hefty chunk of change from it so far and more royalties came in all the time.

  It was too bad that my left ass cheek was the focal point of that damn flyer. And a man’s hand was poised to strike it while I looked at it over my shoulder with my hand up to my open mouth as I’d been saying, ‘Oh, no!’

  “What happened to you?” pity dripped off each word.

  I could handle lots of emotions. Pity for me wasn’t one of them. “You have no idea what my family has been through. So, before you judge me, you should know that I didn’t do any of this for myself. I did it all for my parents and my aunt.”

  Just as I pulled the bottle back up to take another swig, he took it away from me. “Come on, baby.” He reached underneath the bar to the minifridge and pulled out a couple of beers. “Let’s sit down and talk. I want to know why you’ve gone down this road.”

  He pulled me to sit next to him on the sofa, handed me one of the beers he’d opened, then sat back to listen to me. After I took a drink to try to steady my nerves, I whispered, “My parents committed tax fraud. They sold one thing after another and another. The last thing to go was our house. But still, the interest kept building on the amount they owed the IRS.” I took another drink to try to get some courage to say more.

  “Okay, so they lost everything and still had more to pay.” He nodded as he took a drink too.

  “And while that was happening, my aunt – the one I went to live with in New York so I could take acting classes – she got sick. She got real sick. And she didn’t have health insurance either. She lost her job at the art studio. She got so far behind on the rent that the landlord was about to kick her out. And by now, my parents also lived in the tiny, one-bedroom apartment. We were all about to be living on the streets of New York.” My hand shook as I took another drink.

  His hand on my thigh moved back and forth, slowly and comforting. “So, you sought out a gig like this?”

  A laugh shot out of me as that wasn’t what I’d done at all. “No. No, not at all. I wouldn’t have ever sought this out. I was doing a dramatic reading at an improve night near our apartment when the president of the Wicked Warlocks came in. He approached me after the show and asked me if I would like to become a star. He had a movie studio in Atlantic City. Along with being the star of his movies, I would get a penthouse apartment. When I told him about my family and how we were about to become homeless, he handed me a wad of cash, telling me to help them.”

  “Noble.” He rolled his eyes. “Not.”

  “Yeah.” Leaning back, I snuggled up to him, needing that old familiarity only he could give me now. “So not noble. Angelo Moretti fed me drugs and alcohol until I had lost all my inhibitions and did whatever the director told me to do. Take off my clothes and let the men do things to me to make me feel good, both physically and financially.”

  Ryder kissed the side of my head as he wrapped his arm around me tightly. “Please tell me that you weren’t a virgin still when this happened to you.”

  Even though it was awkward, I laughed a little. “No. I’d had sex a whopping three times before that. All with this one guy – a fellow actor - who ended up dumping me when he got a gig in an off-Broadway play.” My life sounded like a Hallmark movie gone wrong.

  “At least you didn’t come here as innocent as you were when we parted ways. So, how much more money do you need to get your family out of their hard spot? I’ve got plenty that I can help you out with.” He took my chin in his hand, making me look at him. “And you will let me give you whatever you need to get out of this life you had to get into. I’m here now, baby. You’re not alone anymore.”

  Getting out of this life was a thing I’d been trying to do. “I got my parents’ debt to the IRS paid off two months ago. And I was able to pay off my aunt’s medical bills a few weeks ago. All of them are working now and getting back to more normal lives. They don’t need my financial help anymore.”

  “Do they know how you were getting the money to give them?”

  “No way.” I’d lied about what I did for the MC. “They know that I work for the MC, but I told them that I’m an acting coach for them.”

  “If you don’t need the money anymore, then why are you still here?” His eyes wouldn’t let mine go as he seemed to be looking all the way into my head.

  “I still make them lots of money. They won’t let me go. Not yet. Angelo isn’t mean about it. He’s very nice. But he says that I have lots of movies left in me and that I should pad my bank account before I leave this lucrative career. He calls me a star.” I shook my head. “I’m not one. Not the kind I would like to be. You know, the kind with a trophy case full of Oscars and other great achievement awards.”

  Ryder’s hand moved slowly along my arm then his fingers entwined with mine. “You were the first girl I ever said, I love you too. And I meant those words when I said them to you. I think I meant those words more when I said them to you than I’ve ever meant them when I’ve said them to other women. And that includes the woman I married.”

  “You don’t have to say things like that to me. I don’t need all that anymore. I’m not that girl, Ryder. I don’t believe in the kind of love I did back then when we were kids.” The life I’d led taught me that love like that was make-believe.

  “To be honest, I don’t believe that we’re capable of having that some kind of love as grown people who have had some bad hands dealt to us. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t still have a love for one another.” He ran his hand through my hair. “It’s still just as silky as it was when we were young. And your eyes are still as blue.”

  My fingers trembled as they touched his breaded cheek. “Your touch still makes my heart race and my body heat up. My lips tingle, my breath goes shallow, and my mind gets laser-focused on only you. Those deep green eyes that sparkle like magic when you look at me still makes me feel like I’m melting inside.”

  “I’m here now, Janeen. No one will be able to drag me away from you now that I’ve found you again.” His lips touched mine and I lost myself in him in a way I never had before.

  And this would be insanely great if I just wasn’t a pornstar.

  Chapter Seven

  Ryder

  I wanted to take her away from all she’d had to endure, and I wanted to do it right then and there. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You go wash off all that makeup and pull your hair into a ponytail the way you used to. Get out of those glammed up clothes and put on jeans and a t-shirt. No high heels either. Sneakers, boots, anything but heels. Get back to that girl you used to be before life threw a curveball at you.”

  Sucking in her lower lip, she looked worried. “I had plans with some of the girls I work with though.”

  “Text them that you have a date and you won’t be seeing them tonight.” I wasn’t about to let her get away from me. She’d been torn down and I was the only one who cared about the real woman inside. I was the only one who wanted to see her do what she’d left our hometown to do. And that was to become an actress. A real one.

  “I guess I could do that.” She pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her skintight pants.

  “I know you can do that.” Helping her up, I took out my cell to find a good hamburger joint for us to go to. “I’ll make reservations at the burger hut for us,” I joked as I urged her to get moving. “Now, go on and do what I told you to. I’d love to see Janeen Smithers come out of the bedroom to meet me for our date tonight. See if you can find her for me, will ya?”

  Her laughter pealed through the air as she went to get ready. “You are still so funny, Ryder. No one has ever made me laugh the way that you do.”

  I’d made her laugh lots of times when we were in high school. But my talk with Clyde earlier told me that I might’ve made her laugh too much. I wanted to be more than just her best friend. I wanted to move
ahead with what we’d started eleven years before.

  The cell phone told me that there was a three-star burger joint only a mile away. We could take my bike to go eat and then I would take her on that moonlit walk on the beach. Janeen was about to let Diamond Desire go, so she could come back to life.

  Not long after I’d sent her to her room to get ready, she emerged with a freshly scrubbed face, a white t-shirt that she’d tucked into blue jeans with a tan pair of cowboy boots to finish out her look. “There she is. Miss Janeen Smithers is ready to go.” Hurrying up to her, I took her in my arms, spinning her around in a circle with me. “Sweet as ever.”

  “So are you.” Looping her arm with mine, she started heading to the elevator. “You know what I was thinking the whole time I was getting unready to get ready for our date?”

  I pushed the button on the elevator to open the door. “What were you thinking?”

  We stepped inside and the door closed, our descent began. “I was thinking about how you found out who I was and where I lived.”

  “Oh, that.” She couldn’t be angry with anyone for spilling the beans. “I had a meeting with a few of the men in the MC and asked about you. Not the actress named Diamond, but the woman named Janeen Smithers. No one knew who you were. Why does no one know your real name, baby?”

  “Why would I want my real name out for anyone to hear, Ryder?” her frown said it all. She was ashamed of what she was doing. “Do you think I want Miss Randle from our Sunday school class to know what I’ve been doing? Much less if the word got back to my family. They can never know about this.”

  “What about when you quit and move on to something better?” She was going to do that. Come hell or high water, she was going to quit. I didn’t even want her to finish whatever movie she was working on at the time. Which reminded me of the title I’d seen on the studio door that morning. ‘Diamond Does Delaware.’

  How many men are in Delaware anyway? And does she have to do all of them?

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” Her eyes lit up as we walked outside, and she saw that we were heading to my Harley. “Ryder, is that yours?”

  “It is.” I handed her my extra helmet. “Let me put this on for you.” I tightened the strap then couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. “Adorable. Just like the old days when you used to ride everywhere with me.”

  That’s how we’d ended up being a thing. Every time she heard me start up my old Yamaha 250, she’d hurry out of her house to see if she could get a ride. Which I was happy to give her of course.

  I got on my bike then put my helmet on before helping her get on behind me. Her arms wrapped around me tightly. It felt just like old times. Only I had a much more badass bike vibrating underneath our asses. “Oh, yeah, Ryder. Let’s go, baby!”

  Just like old times.

  Taking her for a nice long ride, I finally pulled into the burger place to find it pretty much packed. But I didn’t care how long it took us to get our food. I wasn’t there to eat. I was there to recreate our dates of long ago.

  Draping my arm around her shoulder, I pulled her close to me. “Having you with me is better than anything I’ve done since we both left Camden.”

  “You got married, Ryder,” she reminded me. “That had to be better than this.”

  “Nope.” I wasn’t sure how to tell her that I’d married a woman simply because she’d reminded me of her. It seemed sort of shallow and frankly sad now. “Nothing is better than this.” Kissing her cheek, I knew that this time around, we were going to work out.

  I would support her acting career. Not the porn one, but a legitimate one. We could go to Hollywood or Austin, Texas – the place some people called the new Hollywood. We could even try New York again if that was what she wanted. Janeen had me in her corner now, so the sky was the limit.

  Looking at the menu as we took our places at the back of a long line, she checked out her choices. “Ryder, I don’t see anything I can actually eat. I suppose I can get a burger and eat the vegetables off of it. I hope they have bottled water too. I don’t drink sodas.”

  “Why not?” I didn’t see any reason she would be watching her weight. “You’re perfectly sized, baby. Get whatever you want to.”

  “The camera adds ten pounds. So I stay fifteen pounds lighter than I should weigh.” She watched the tray full of burgers and fries as a waiter walked by us with it. “Damn, that smells amazing. This is going to be a real test.”

  “Yeah, a test to see if you’re going to be stupid or if you’re going to get a damn cheeseburger and some greasy fries. I’ll share a chocolate malt with you, just like we used to.” We’d actually shared the entire meal when we were younger. I wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough back then. “See, I can afford to buy you a meal this time around, so we don’t have to share. So, enjoy it. I’m going to.”

  “I can’t have cheese. That is out. It gives women cellulite. One cannot have human hail dents in my business.” She hadn’t fully understood that she no longer had to be in those movies.

  So, I made it clearer to her. “Here’s the deal. I’m going to take care of you now. That way you can get back on the track of becoming a real actress. Get it now? You’re going to get to follow your real dream and make your family proud of you. And me too. I know I’ll be proud of you too.”

  “I’m pretty proud of myself right now. I did manage to save all the people I love and that’s very fulfilling.” Pointing at the huge menu over the serving counter, she found something she could eat. “Yes! A veggie burger without bread or mayonnaise. I’ll have that and a side of baked kale chips. And water to drink. Thank God for that little treat.”

  “Treat?” Shaking my head, I couldn’t disagree more. “That’s a nightmare, not a treat. Please get human food. I am begging you. If you’re fifteen pounds underweight, then you need to eat. I’ve got to get you to a healthy weight before I take you to see your family. I can’t wait to see your parents again after all these years. I bet your dad still likes me.”

  “Why wouldn’t he? You brownnosed him like crazy. I mean, taking out our trash for him and mowing the lawn too? You were a real suck up.” Her cute smile told me she was just giving me the business. “Is that your plan again to win him over – do his chores?”

  “Maybe. I’ll do anything to make sure your family likes me. Getting to hang out with you makes all those chores worth it.” I didn’t care if she teased me. I liked it actually. It took me right back to high school and the easy way we’d always gotten along.

  Our turn had come, and I made my order first, hoping to entice her into ordering real food. “I’d like a double – no – a triple meat cheeseburger, all the way with mustard and mayo. Grill the buns and add some avocado and jalapenos too, will ya?”

  The kid at the counter nodded. “Sure thing. You want fries or onion rings with that?”

  “Fries and lots of ketchup on the side. And fix me up a chocolate malt too.” I bumped Janeen’s shoulder. “Make it a large and extra thick too.”

  “Got ya.” He looked at my date, his eyes went up and down her too slender body. “Let me guess. Kelp chips and the bunless veggie burger with a cup of water.”

  “Can you make it a bottle of water?” She had to mix it up at least a little.

  With a nod, he shouted our order out to the cooks in the kitchen right behind him, but he did so through a microphone that squealed loudly with feedback as he pushed a plastic number seven to us.

  I took it, then we went to find a place to sit. Seeing an empty corner booth in the back, I headed for it, holding Janeen’s hand as we made our way through the crowd.

  Letting her get in, I sat next to her, leaving the other side of the booth empty. We’d always sat that way. I didn’t see any reason to change it. Her phone started ringing and she silenced it right away after giving it a glance.

  “Anyone I should know about?” Jealousy sparked and I wasn’t sure I would always be able to control that. Anger wasn’t far behind it either.
The men who made money off her body weren’t going to be happy when I let them know that her days as their money machine were over.

  “It’s Max. I sent him a text, saying that I wasn’t going out and I would be going to bed instead. I have no idea why he’s calling.” She sent the next call to voicemail. “Geeze, this guy.”

  “Maybe I should answer it if he calls again.” I had no problem letting her bodyguard know that his services were no longer needed.

  “I didn’t tell anyone that I was with you. I said that I was going to be. Alone. If Max knows that I’m out without him, then he’s going to shit a brick. No one needs that.” She eyed my malt as they brought our drinks out.

  Sliding the bottle of water to her, the waitress placed the large frosty glass in front of me. “Enjoy.”

  Unwrapping the straw, I tried not to let drool fall from my mouth as I gazed as the chocolatey goodness. “I will. Thank you.”

  Janeen opened the bottle of water. “I’ll enjoy my water too. So refreshing.” Nudging me with her shoulder, she cocked her head to one side as she looked at my drink. “You know that cow’s milk isn’t even fit for human consumption? It’s made by thousand-pound cows to build other thousand-pound cows. And there’s the cellulite causing dairy again.”

  I took a sip and moaned with how good it tasted. “One taste. Just one, baby. You will forget all that nonsense and come back to the yummy side of life.”

  “No. I’ll be bloated if I do that. I’ve got a scene to shoot tomorrow. Mark, our director, will chew me out if I’m pudgy.” She ran her hand over her flat stomach.

  That bothered me that a man was being that critical of her body. But it also bothered me that she actually thought she was going to shoot a scene the next day. But our food came before I got to start on that topic of conversation. “Now that is a burger.” I snapped a quick pic of the plate with tons of fries and the monster burger. “All my social media peeps are going to be so jealous.”