That makes me laugh harder, and he gives me that mischievous smile.
“Your secret’s safe with me, dude,” I reply, barely containing a snicker. “I won’t tell anybody how you’re my big sweetie pie.”
“Shut up,” he says, his face taking on the tiniest hint of embarrassment.
“Nobody will find out that you’re my big, honey bunny, teddy bear,” I tease in a baby voice.
“Zip it!” he commands with a laugh.
“I’m not gonna tell everybody how you’re my cuddly, snuggly schmoopy.”
“I will put this bottle down, tear your clothes off and fuck you on the goddamn floor, and we’ll see who’s cuddly and snuggly!” he warns, trying to sound menacing.
“All talk.” I shake my head. “Bark and no bite.”
He takes a deep breath, puts the lid on the bottle, and gives me that predatory grin that says he’s primed to attack.
“You wouldn’t dare!” I giggle, tensing in anticipation.
With that, he lunges onto me and pins my arms above my head. He’s pushing down on me with his full body weight, and I have no chance of escaping his grasp. I feign a struggle, but I’m laughing too hard.
“You’re lucky that I am your schmoopy or I’d have to teach that smart mouth of yours a lesson,” he says in a slightly more seductive tone.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I smirk as he lets my hands go. I reach around him and swat his butt, which makes him laugh. “Now finish my toenails, cupcake.”
“You are the eternal pain in my ass,” he says, flashing me the classic James-Laird-World-Champion-Smart-Ass grin.
Sure enough, though, he opens the bottle of nail polish and finishes painting my toes. I resist the urge to tease him. He knows he totally caved, and I know he totally caved, so there’s no need to be merciless about it.
I’m ready to call it a night after The Colbert Report, and I walk him to the door. He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head before giving me a wink.
“Watch your ass, young lady, or I’ll be forced to watch it for you.”
“Oh, shut it!” I laugh and lean up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“’Night, babe.” He nods and steps out the door.
I snicker to myself as I retreat to my bedroom. No one would believe that one of the world’s most famous porn stars was just sitting in my living room giving me a pedicure, and I can’t help but feel a little smug about the way James becomes a total softy with me. He’s always been that way, and I have no doubt that he always will be.
Chapter 4
James
I’M SITTING IN THE CHAIR by the small conference table in Rick’s office while he checks his Blackberry before coming over to join me.
Rick’s my boss and the owner of Sin Cinema, the production company I work for. The dude looks exactly like the sleazy scumbag character soccer moms would picture when someone says “porn producer,” but he’s an okay guy under the dyed black hair and too-tight Armani suits. He took a chance on me when I was barely nineteen and put me in my first movie with Shawnna Hendrix, who used to be a superstar in the business. Since then, I’ve built a major career for myself. I’m one of few dudes in the industry who are household names—at least in households that watch porn—and I’m making some very decent money under my current exclusive contract.
Rick can be kind of a tight-ass when it comes to money, but I trust him. He’s never done me wrong. Frankly, he owes me. He’s making a huge fuckin’ profit off my movies, and my dick has practically put Sin Cinema on the map.
“Where are we at with the product line?” I ask him before he has a chance to open his mouth.
I’m looking to put out a line of sex toys modeled after my anatomy. A lot of porn stars do it, and it’s a huge moneymaker. People dig having a toy that’s created from an actual performer’s body. It makes them feel like they’re fucking the real thing. Rick and I have been talking about this for a couple years now, and I really want to get the ball rolling so I can have that steady, reliable source of income for the future.
On Lola’s advice, I’ve been saving up as much as I can for the day I eventually retire. “You can’t fuck forever,” she always tells me. I’ve stashed a pretty hefty amount, but most people in this business don’t last too long past their thirties, and thirty’s not all that far away for me. Lola tells me that it might be hard to get work after this, too, because that porn stigma might follow me everywhere.
“It’s coming along,” Rick says in response to my question about the product line. “I’m working on an appointment for them to do the mold. You free next Wednesday? They said they’ve got an opening and it should only take a few minutes for them to do the cast.”
“Yeah, that works.” I nod. “What else you got for me?”
“Well, kid, I need you to do three shoots on Saturday,” he says as he comes over to sit across from me at the table. “They’re easy, just video, one location, all handheld; I know you can knock it out in no time.”
“That’s a lot, Rick.” Even a few quick blowjob videos could easily consume the entire day, and I planned to go to the beach with Lola on Saturday.
“That’s a lot?” He laughs that nicotine laugh that makes me think he’s been smoking since he was a fetus. “Come on! I’ve seen you do fifteen scenes in a week. Nothing’s too much for you!”
I know what he’s doing. He’s hoping to flatter me, to act like I’m the Michael Jordan of sex, and challenge me into doing the scenes.
“All right,” I agree with an eye roll. “What’s on the lineup?”
“I got bondage with plain fucking—no dialogue, just sex so it shouldn’t take too long. I got a threesome with anal, and then Eva’s renting out one of her girls for some kind of big S&M shit,” he lists off.
“Eva Satana?” I ask with surprise.
“Yeah, she called, said she wants to make a video with you.” He can pick up on my apprehension, but he’s trying to brush it off.
Eva Satana was a big name in the industry about fifteen years ago when she made a name for herself as a dominatrix. She started her own company after she retired, and now she sells mostly to a niche market who like more extreme BDSM scenes than the stuff in mainstream pornos. Some of her videos are borderline illegal, but her customers have a shitload of money, so she gives them what they want.
“Eva’s lending you one of her girls?” I ask with disbelief. “She hates you. Why would she do that?” Part of that’s my fault. Eva doesn’t like Rick because I work with Rick, and he’s made a lot of money off my sweeter, gentler BDSM movies, which tend to appeal to the growing female market.
“Here’s the deal, kid,” Rick says as he leans over the table toward me. “Nothing’s finalized, and you gotta keep this between us, but Eva wants to negotiate a multi-film deal with me. She’s seen the numbers, she knows you got a big fan base, and she wants you in her films. This would mean a lot of money coming in for the both of us.”
“I don’t know, Rick,” I reply, already feeling uneasy. “She does some shit in her movies that I’m really not into. She’s more…hardcore than I want to be. I don’t think I can do choking, or fisting, or some of that shit she has in her videos. I didn’t get into this business to hurt girls, and she’s into all that extreme shit.”
“I understand,” Rick says with phony sympathy, “but it would be a ton of fuckin’ cash, and you’d get a percentage of it.”
“I should get all of it, you greedy fuck!” I joke.
Rick’s gravelly laugh rumbles as he pats me on the back. “I tell you what, kid, we’ll negotiate.” He cackles at the thought.
I narrow my eyes at him, but snicker. Rick’s been like my agent and manager for my whole career, and he’s always been pretty fair with me, so I’m sure he’ll cut me a nice chunk of change from this.
Just then, Christie, Rick’s bubbly, blond assistant, comes running down the hall and into his office.
“Uh, Rick,” she says breathlessly, “Eva Satana’
s here.”
“What the fuck is that bitch doing here?” Rick says, running his thick fingers through his receding hair and grabbing his forehead like this is giving him a migraine.
“She says she’d like to speak with you…and James,” Christie clarifies.
I swallow hard. Why would she want to see me? She’s working out a deal with Rick that involves me, but I can’t see why there’s a reason for us to even be in talks about this yet.
“Should I send her in? She doesn’t seem to like waiting,” Christie adds quietly. Eva’s got a rep for being a total bitch, and I feel bad that poor Christie had to ask her to wait in the first place.
“Yeah, yeah, all right,” Rick relents and takes a seat behind his desk.
I nervously shift in my chair as I hear the click-clack of heels in the hallway. I realize I’m holding my breath when Eva rounds the corner. She’s wearing black, patent leather, knee-high boots, black leggings, a red corset, and a leather jacket. Her long black hair hangs down to her ass, and her lips are painted stop-sign red. All she needs is a camera crew and a whip and she’d be ready to film a scene.
“Gentlemen,” she says, her voice all husky and sultry.
Rick gets up to greet her and usher her to the chair across from his desk. “Eva, so nice of you to stop by today,” he says with such fake friendliness that I have to consciously stop myself from rolling my eyes.
“Ah, James Langdon, so finally we meet.” She smiles wickedly at me as I go over to shake her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Eva,” I say, wondering if I should call her ma’am. Miss? Madam? Your Majesty? She’s oozing a pretty intimidating and vaguely dangerous vibe, and I feel like I should be formal with her.
I can feel her eyes scanning me from head to toe, and it makes me a little nervous. Girls check me out all the time, but this is way different. She’s looking at me like I’m a cow and she’s determining which parts of me will produce the best cuts of meat. I hurry to take a seat at the table so I can get a little farther away from her.
“I understand you’ve accepted my generous offer to loan you one of my subs,” she says to Rick. She’s smiling, but there’s something malicious going on behind her eyes.
“Yeah, I think we’re a go on that.” Rick nods, trying to camouflage his obvious anxiety. He’s been in the business for nearly thirty years, and even he’s suddenly become all quiet and submissive around her. She’s got a rep for hanging out with some pretty rough characters who muscle people into cooperating, so maybe there really is a reason to be worried.
“And you will be staring in the scene?” she says, turning her blazing gaze to me once again. I think it’s more of a command than a question.
“Rick and I haven’t worked out all the details,” I reply nonchalantly.
Her scowl makes me feel like I’ve done something really stupid.
“You are aware that I have offered ten thousand in addition to your usual fee?” She raises an eyebrow.
That’s a lot of money for one scene, but that hefty price tag makes me a little nervous about what she’s expecting. The more they pay you, the crazier the shit they want you to do.
“James, you have a gift,” she says, looking in my eyes. I feel like she’s one of the vampires on True Blood, and she’s trying to glamour me. “I need someone who can genuinely dominate these girls, not one of these failed actors who think they can fake their way through it. I need someone who can make these girls obey. I need someone who will punish them if they fail to meet his demands. Authenticity, James. I need authenticity. This business is sorely lacking anything real, anything visceral and genuine.”
I take a deep breath and try to think of how to respond to that. Girls have always done whatever I want them to, but it’s because they like me, not because they’re scared I’m going to “punish” them. All that punishment stuff is just something I pretend to do in movies. I’m not a real Dom; I just play one on TV. When I’ve spanked or tied up my girlfriends outside of work, it’s just for a bit of naughty fun, not for some mindfuck domination scenario.
“I do hope you’ll do the film,” Eva says, grinning at me. “Savannah will be so upset if you refuse.”
“Savannah Slade?” I ask nervously.
Eva nods and shoots me a look that dares me to challenge her.
Savannah Slade is well known in the industry as the ultimate submissive. She’s the girl who will do absolutely anything, no matter how painful, dangerous, degrading, or taboo. She’s been in some of the most scandalous videos of the past five years—stuff you can only find on obscure, foreign websites. I know a couple people who’ve worked with her in the past, and they all came out of it with horror stories like they’d served time in Vietnam.
“Um, I don’t usually work with girls like Savannah Slade,” I say, trying to reject her offer in a polite way so she won’t get all pissed.
“And what’s wrong with Savannah?” she shoots back with that sharp eyebrow raised like it could boomerang off her face and slice my head off.
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Nothing’s wrong with her at all. She just takes things a little far—at least that’s what I’ve heard. I think I’d be a little uncomfortable working with somebody who has such a high tolerance for pain. I don’t like to hurt girls for real, and I’m not down with having to do that.”
“James, a high pain threshold is a prized asset in our genre,” Eva says like I’m some bratty child.
Our genre? I don’t know that I want to be lumped in with the kind of shit she does.
“So you got numbers for me, or are we just gonna sit around and chat all day?” Rick pipes up, thank God.
Eva turns her attention to him, and I take a deep breath and try to figure out what the hell is going on right now and why I have a sudden sense of impending doom. It’s weird. I feel like there’s a thundercloud of total dread just hanging over me, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t start pouring.
I’m jolted out of my dark thoughts when my iPhone buzzes on Rick’s desk where I left it to charge. Eva picks it up and glances at it for a moment before she hands it to me. It’s nothing important, just a reminder to pick up Lola’s dry cleaning. I put the phone in my pocket as quickly as I can.
“Who is that?” Eva asks, pointing to my pocket.
“Who is who?” I say, still kind of flustered.
“The woman on your lock screen,” she clarifies, referring to the pic of Lola in a yellow bikini from a fun day we had at the beach. It’s a hot pic of her, I’ll admit, but I have it for sentimental reasons, not sexual ones.
“Oh, uh, that’s my friend Lola,” I nervously reply.
“She’s very sexy. Does she work in the industry?” Eva continues her questioning.
“No way!” I chuckle. Lola? A porn star? She may have the looks and the potential for supreme sexiness, but the last career path my pure little angel would ever choose would be fucking on camera.
“This is funny?” Eva sharply responds to my laughter.
“No, no, I just…” I nervously struggle to explain. Eva’s intimidating as hell. “She’s not really, um, the adult entertainment type, I guess.”
“You only fuck her off-screen?” she continues, and it makes me feel aggravated and defensive. I get weird whenever anybody talks about fucking Lola, whether they’re accusing me of doing it or they’re assuming somebody else has done it.
“No, she’s my best friend. I don’t fuck her at all,” I protest with irritation. “She’s never even had sex, all right?”
Eva’s bright red lips curve into a devilish smile, and I immediately feel like an asshole. Lola’s sexual history is certainly none of this chick’s business, but I was nervous and flustered, and I blurted it out by accident.
“James Langdon’s best friend is a virgin?” Her words come out in a purr like a fuckin’ cartoon villain. “Very interesting.”
“Can we forget about James’s hot virgin for five fucking minutes and talk about this fucking
deal?” Rick interrupts in a sudden surge of ballsiness. Phew!
“Yes, of course.” Eva nods graciously. She and Rick start talking about scenes and going over my limits list, but I don’t think she’s fully concentrating on it. I can practically see the wheels turning in her head. What the fuck did I just do? I feel like I just gave my treasure map to a fuckin’ pirate. Eva’s crazy, and I don’t feel like a pussy admitting that she scares the shit out of me. From what I’ve heard, she scares the shit out of everybody.
Finally, there’s a gap in the conversation, and I try to slip out undetected. I dart down the hallway, but I’m momentarily stopped by Christie, who can’t remember where she put my bonus check. I’m impatiently tapping my foot as she looks for it, wanting to get as far away from Eva as possible. That chick just radiates a “bad news” vibe.
I finally rush out to my car, but before I get to the door, I hear the click-clack of heels on the pavement.
“James!” Eva’s husky voice comes from behind me.
I crinkle my nose in disgust, but I try to put on a smile when I turn to face her. “Hi, Eva.”
“It’s a shame you and I never got the opportunity to work together,” she says, trying to be all seductive and tempting. “I’ve seen what you can do, and I would have loved to experience it for myself.”
She licks her lips as she looks me up and down. It’s not hot at all. In fact, it just pisses me off. I’ve banged older chicks, but I’ve never felt like they wanted to exploit and use me. Eva doesn’t even look at me like I’m a person; she looks at me like I’m a thing, an object, something for her to toy with.
“Yep, too bad I was only twelve when you were working,” I say, wondering if this little remark will come back to bite me in the ass later.
She’s holding back a scowl, I can tell from the way her jaw clenches, and I know I should have kept my attitude in check.
Captured (Vice, Virtue & Video Book 2) Page 3
