Debt Collector

by Weston Parker

  "I started acting like most people do in junior high and high school. I joined up with the drama club, though I was a cheerleader. Odd combination, I realize. I just wanted to express myself in a way that brought people joy or sadness or something. Drama was my outlet. I graduated valedictorian of Billmore High just down the road, and my speech at commencement was more of a dramatic retelling of the last four years for some of us. I used humor and strong emotions to bring the crowd every experience I could provide. Darren approached me afterward and offered me an audition for a commercial."

  "His niece must have graduated with you." She smiled. "Keep going."

  "I started at UCLA, hoping that the acting career would take off, but it never did. I tried to get my foot in the door over and over the first two years, but after that it was easier to pull my head from the clouds and get a real job that would pay the bills. My dad died when I was little, and my mom never has gotten herself back together. I kept hoping that I would land something big so that I could pull her out of her poverty, you know?"

  She nodded and took a slow breath. "That's powerful stuff. I love it. Thank you for sharing yourself with me. Most actors will make something up and live behind that made-up persona just to survive. I'm scared that Ethan has started to do that."

  I tilted my head to the side and studied her a little. "You really care about him, don't you? I mean, not just as a meal ticket, but as a brother or friend or lover."

  She smirked. "Is that your way of asking if we're sleeping together?"

  "No. I would have just asked. I'm embarrassingly straight forward. I can't seem to help but be direct, even when it's detrimental." I laughed and picked up my mixed drink, lifting it in the air and smiling at her. "To new beginnings, even if we never get one. Someone's getting it."

  She laughed and hit my glass. "I think you have one coming, kiddo. You've got a great story, a good cause to push you forward and passion. It's the thing that will drive you to be better than the best."

  "I'm not sure that's who I want to be, but I'm willing to show up for the audition whenever it is." I leaned back. "It's another love scene, right?"

  "Yeah, but this one is long and far more intimate. Ethan actually hates them, but we figured if we were going to do another action movie, that we'll be filming two to three sex scenes that force him to make like he's having sex with his co-star. They are the hardest scenes to pull off."

  "I know." I tapped the table and pursed my lips, thinking through whether I wanted another scene with Ethan's hands on me. I wasn't sure it was such a good idea, but it was just acting. Just play making. Nothing real or sustaining. No commitment.

  I needed to find Jace and have him take me to his bed the night before going to see Ethan again. That would at least chill me out. I was far too sexual to just show up and go through the motions with him without wanting to push things past the casual working relationship. Not that a guy like him would ever want a simple girl like me, but one could dream.

  "So we'll do another one and then make our final decision. Should you get the part, we'll give you a week to think things through."

  "And would you guys consider letting me have a long conversation with Ethan? I want to pick his brain and make sure we would be compatible as co-workers. He's a little more crude than I expected, and where that doesn't bother me too much, I want to understand what I'm getting into." I picked up my glass and took a drink, enjoying the burn of the liquor as it raced down my chest.

  "You're not like anyone I've ever met. Most women would jump at the chance to breathe Ethan's air, but something tells me that you're going to give him a run for his money, and honey, he's got loads of it." She laughed.

  I smirked. "I'm just practical. I want the part, don't get me wrong, but I can't chase a dream that's too hazy to make out. I want to understand it better and make a good decision should the offer come up."

  "Then we'll have you meet with Ethan either way." She thanked the server as the girl set the sushi platter down. "One more thing."

  "Sure." I picked up my chopsticks and started to pull a few items onto my plate.

  "Darren isn't doing you any good. Consider letting me pick you up to be agented by me whether this offer goes through or not. I have time for one more strong actor on my list. I'd like that to be you." She lifted her eyebrow at me. "Just consider it."

  "Okay. I can do that, but if we decide to work together, I have one request."

  "Sure, anything."

  "You tell him." I laughed, teasing her as her face fell.

  "Never mind! You're not that great."

  Chapter 10

  Ethan

  I'd talked myself out of texting Riley a million times by Saturday morning. I laid in my bed, watching shadows move across the open window and wishing like hell I had someone next to me. Where it would have been nice to look over and see the pretty girl from my dreams, I was willing to take just about any warm body. Just someone to hold and have hold me.

  I rolled over to my stomach and let out a long sigh as I pulled my phone toward me and pulled up her picture.

  "Text her. Fuck. You're Ethan Lewis for shit’s sake." I dropped the phone and rolled back onto my back, as I tugged the cover down and glanced down the length of my body. My cock was hard as a rock, thick and huge. "I hate you sometimes."

  I got up and stretched before walking out to the balcony and leaning against it, grateful that the privacy I paid for actually afforded me complete seclusion.

  "Ethan?" Deza's voice surprised me.

  "I'm out here." I turned toward her as she stopped at the open door and screamed, turning quickly.

  "You ass. Why didn't you tell me you were naked? Shit, Ethan. Ain't nobody trying to see that." She walked back out into the hall. "I'm going to the kitchen. Put some fucking clothes on. Trying to give me a heart attack."

  "Bet your black man ain't sporting a cock like this." I leaned out the door and laughed as she flipped me off. Life had very few pleasures, but shocking D was my favorite.

  I pulled on a pair of jeans and tugged a t-shirt over my head, owing her as little skin on display as I could manage. She was good to me, and let me act like a child most days of the week. I'd keep her as long as she'd let me.

  "All right. Better?" I walked in and made my way to the large espresso machine that sat on the counter near the stove.

  "Why are you always trying to showcase your cock? Girls want a man with a heart and a great personality. Nobody cares about the size of your stuff." She glanced over at me with the big sister look on her face.

  "You're telling me that women wouldn't be thrilled to see something like this fall out of my pants on our first date?" I grabbed my dick and laughed hard as she popped me in the chest three times with a spatula.

  "You're going to hell, Ethan Lewis. Go sit down and rest. It must be exhausting carrying all that dick around." She rolled her eyes and dropped some sausage into the pan on the stove.

  "Finally. Someone who understands me." I walked to the coffee machine and made her a cup and then myself one. She smiled at me as I set hers beside her. "You know I love you. I'm just teasing."

  "Whatever." She picked up her coffee. "This helps, but really... no more streaking around me. I'm a single girl, and you're a good-looking young man."

  She gave me a look that said she was thinking about things that perhaps she shouldn't.

  "Really?" My eyes widened. All these years and finally she wanted a romp in the sheets with me?

  "Nope. Go sit down. Ain't nobody interested in your emotional ass. Stop playing around." She swatted me with the spatula, getting sausage on my t-shirt.

  "Gross." I pulled it off and tossed it back at her. "You know raw meat is nasty to me."

  "You’re such a girl." She glanced over her shoulder and winked. "So guess who I had dinner with last night."

  "Let's see... Darren?" I sat down and pressed my forearms against the counter in front of me.

  "Nope." She turned and lifted a carton of eggs. "Wan
t an omelet, a scramble or some breakfast tacos?"

  "Tacos." I took a sip of my coffee. "Stop teasing me with foreplay and just tell me."

  "Oh Lord. You need to get laid. Soon." She walked to the pantry and got out the tortillas. "Speaking of that girl... I had dinner with-"

  "Riley?" My ears perked up as my heart skipped a beat.

  "Oh. I see I hit a nerve." She laughed. "What is it with this girl?"

  "She's beautiful, seems smart, confident, a bit of a bitch, and the look in her eyes during the audition was..." I took a shallow breath and chuckled. "Mesmerizing. So much passion. I wanted to throw her down on the bed behind us and work her into a moaning, wet-"

  "Okay. Thank you for the visual. Jeez." She turned back to the stove as I chuckled.

  "She's got me thinking about her nonstop, D. I can't shake her." I ran my fingers through my hair. "I keep pulling up her damn headshot and staring at her like a stalker."

  "No you don't." She turned to face me and took a sip of her coffee.

  I picked up my phone and held it toward her, showing her the picture. "Yeah, the fuck I do."

  "Oh my goodness." She laughed and walked toward me. "Have you texted her? I shot you her number the night of the audition."

  "No. I want to so bad that it hurts, but I really don't need a woman in my life. They're all the same. She'll like me at first, but soon she'll have dollar signs in her eyes. Then she'll deny me access to her body and things will just go down from there. No thanks." I took my phone back, glanced down at the beautiful girl and pressed the delete button. "I need to let it go."

  "She's coming back for the last audition." Deza moved back to the stove and moved around as I tried not to react.

  "Just her? If I recall, I only saw her." I finished my coffee and got up to help her plate up the tacos.

  "We're bringing in a few well-known actresses. Trish Desmount and Dani Lee." She turned and handed me a plate with three tacos on it.

  "You're trying to fatten me up. I should take a picture of this. It's proof." I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "This looks great, but I'm not kissing Dani Lee. She's a bipolar witch with voodoo dolls. I'm pretty sure my left nut hurts all the time from her playing with those dolls’ balls."

  "Are you serious right now?" She laughed loudly and grabbed her plate. "I mean, really, where do you come up with this shit?"

  "Reality becomes fiction, D." I sat down and gave her a cheeky grin. "I'm not kissing her."

  "There is no kissing in the scene we chose, so you're welcome." She sat down and picked up her taco, lifting it to me. "To you being the bestest friend a girl could ever have."

  "Can we add the kissing scene in just for Riley, or would that be a little unethical?" I slapped my taco against hers. "Us girls gotta stick together."

  She rolled her eyes and took a big bite, talking around it. "We're not doing the kissing scene, but it's a love making scene. You're going to be in bed together. Good enough?"

  "Hell yes, except with Dani. Can we do a scene where I dangle her ass over the side of a building and for some odd reason I greased up my hands with lotion first?" I shoved half a taco in my mouth as she slapped me.

  "You guys fucked, didn't you? You're only salty about women when they've denied you or you have bad blood between you." She turned and pinned me with a hard stare.

  "What? No. Fuck no." I finished up my first taco. "She got in my face a few years back because she was pissed she didn't get that role in Deep Dive with me." I shrugged. "She wasn't at all the girly type. You remember that poor blond girl they cast to play-"

  "Mitsy. Yes. She was horrible." Deza shook her head. "I'm sure glad for where we are instead of where we were."

  "Me too." I took a big bite of my second taco and chewed slowly, enjoying just how well Deza could cook. I picked up her coffee and drank most of it before letting out a long growl of contentment. "You're the best cook ever. Can you and I just get married and stop acting like it's not going to happen?"

  "I'm holding out for a big black man." She glanced over at me and wagged her eyebrows.

  "What? No way. I'm packing what they pack, and I'm much prettier." I batted my eyelashes at her.

  "You, my favorite, are a bipolar mother fucker." She got up and walked to the fridge, pulling out a gallon of juice. "Why don't you just text Riley and get it over with?"

  "Maybe after the next audition. I really don't think it would be smart to do before then." I finished my second taco and got up, walking into the kitchen and setting my plate down by the stove. "Leave this one. I'll eat it for dinner."

  "That's in twelve hours, Ethan. It's going to taste like shit. It's eggs." She reached for it as I pushed her back softly.

  "I'm serious. I'm a bachelor. I'll eat it." I leaned against the counter and smiled. "Thank you again for breakfast. Sorry I made you jealous with the monster."

  "Oh, brother." She rolled her eyes and walked toward the living room. "Why would it be better for you to wait on talking with Riley?"

  "Because at this point, I would just be trying to bed her." I walked into the living room, picking at my teeth.

  "Is it always about sex with you guys?" She sat down and pulled a pillow into her lap.

  "It is at the beginning. That love crap comes later... I guess. I've never been in love." I shrugged. "I wouldn't even really know what it feels like."

  "I don't believe that. You star in romance movies or at least movies that have a strong focus on romance. Every woman in the world thinks you’re Casanova."

  "They're wrong. I understand sex, but love? Hell no." I leaned back, turning to stretch out and put my feet in her lap.

  She reached down and rubbed them as she watched me. "You've really never been in love?"

  "Not unless you consider me loving how tight some girls are. That's love, right?" I smirked as she pushed at my feet and got up.

  "Damn, you're gross."

  "Typical male, D. Don't be a prude. Come rub my feet." I yawned and turned onto my side, letting my thoughts slip back to Riley. She was everything I wanted in my bed and then some. But love? No way. I wasn't interested in anything more than making a great movie with her and then offering her a physical release or two. Something told me that she would be more than capable of matching me in the sheets, but would she beckon to my request to strip down and bend over?

  I laughed at the thought. I barely knew her, and yet something told me that she would be the one making the requests.

  "What are you laughing at?" Deza stopped by the couch and put her hands on her hips.

  "I was fucking Riley in my head." I tapped the side of my head. "Why?"

  "Why is that funny?" She pulled her keys from her pocket.

  "Because I'm thinking she might own me far before I own her." I rolled onto my back and cupped my hands over my stomach. "Come back over here and rub my feet."

  "Nope. You lost your chance by being nasty." She walked to the front door. "Get Riley out of your head, handsome. You know as well as I do that Frank won't go for you dating a co-actor. It's a huge no-no. It could fuck up everything in the movie because of tension between you guys if things don't go right, and honestly, I've never seen your relationships turn out well. Just forget her, okay?"

  "Relationships? I'm talking about a quick fuck in the trailer." I sat up and gave her a cocky grin. "Relationships. Please. I’m Ethan Lewis, remember?"

  “How could I forget?” She turned and walked out, leaving me to my thoughts.

  Chapter 11

  A Week Later

  Riley

  A text came in early that morning that they were hoping to swing the auditions at seven that night, which gave me about eight hours to pace the floor. I'd accepted their invite, though I was a little wary of trying to pull off my facade in front of Ethan again.

  My mother wasn't staying with me and Charlotte anymore, but with some old friends of hers. To say I was uneasy was a massive understatement. My mother's friends reminded me a little too much of my brother,
Derick's, old friends.

  I dropped down on the couch and let out a shaky sigh, wishing that Charlotte was home for the day so we could talk things through. I needed someone to unload my shit on, and after hiding from the world for a few years, I was alone.

  I pulled out my phone and texted Jace to see if he was free for an afternoon romp in the sheets. It was tacky and not something I did too often, but between lamenting over my brother's death four years ago, my mom's shitty choices and having to make out with Ethan Lewis later that night, I was a hot mess.

  Jace called, surprising me a little.

  "Hey." I leaned back against the couch.

  "Hey yourself, sexy. You need some stress relief?" He chuckled.

  Bastard. "Yep. Come over and fuck me. I'm at Charlotte's place."

  "I'm headed that way. Give me fifteen minutes. I gotta drop off a paper for my psych class first."

  "All right. Bring condoms." I tried not to think about just how stupid I was being in my current mood, but guilt had a way of lingering around until it was acknowledged and dealt with. "And hurry before I change my mind."

  "All right, sexy. I'll be right there."

  I hung up the phone and pursed my lips. It was a mistake to call him.

  I grabbed the phone and stared at it, thinking through how badly I wanted to call him back and say never mind, but I couldn't. I hadn't been with a man in four months at that point. There was no way I could shake like a leaf in Ethan's hands later that night. That shit wasn't happening no matter what. He was far too much man for his own good. I wasn't playing the role of ego feeder.

  A knock on the door a few minutes later had my hormones standing to attention.

  "Coming," I called out and opened the door.

  "Not yet you're not, but you will be soon." Jace walked in and dropped his keys on the table before turning and wrapping me in a tight hug. He lifted me off the ground and gripped the back of my neck, pulling me down to press his lips to mine.