Play to Win

by A. C. Arthur

  “No,” Camy whispered behind her. “She’s not even worth it.”

  “The police are on their way,” Del said as he stood in front of the bank of televisions with now blank screens. “Whoever was responsible for hacking into our system and uploading that video will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

  Portia’s chest hurt. She was breathing, because surely death was too easy of an exit for her. Tears flooded her eyes, but she shook her head praying they wouldn’t fall. She couldn’t cry. Not here. Not in front of everyone, especially Melissa. That’s what the woman wanted. That would be the perfect victory for her. So instead, Portia looked down at Camy’s hand on her arm and then up to her new friend.

  “I’m good,” she told Camy. “You can let me go.”

  With a nod, Camy did as Portia said. Portia walked across the room until she stood directly in front of Melissa.

  The woman wore a haughty smirk. She folded her arms across her chest and stood with one leg forward, her chin tipped up, daring Portia to touch her.

  “You’re so beneath me, you can’t even see your way up here,” Portia said evenly. “You think you’ve won something, but you’ve only proven how childish and miserable you really are. I’ve already endured that video being played for millions of people on YouTube years ago, Melissa. This small crowd here in poor little Providence, is nothing. The fact that you thought it would be is quite funny.” Portia surprised herself by chuckling.

  “Oh. Look how quickly your look of triumph turns to one of indignation. Can you do tears at the drop of a dime too? If so, I might be able to talk to some of my friends in the film industry to see about getting you a job,” Portia continued.

  “You filthy little—”

  Melissa’s words were cut short when two uniformed officers came to stand beside her. “Melissa Bannon Colefield,” one of them said. “We need you to come with us.”

  “What? Are you serious?” Melissa yelled as she was being directed toward the doors. “You can’t prove a thing, Del Greer! You and your delinquent friends are going to pay for this! I promise you that!”

  She squawked and complained the whole way out of the bar and a few of the customers actually applauded. Portia felt nauseous and as soon as Melissa and the officers were out the door, she followed.

  Ethan watched her load another box onto the back seat of her car before closing the door. He stepped out of his truck then and met her where she stood on the sidewalk. It had already grown dark, but he could see her as clearly as if she were in a fully lit room. She was beautiful and dangerous and he couldn’t let himself forget that.

  Every second he was near her, all he’d believed he needed in his life to be happy was threatened. But he couldn’t stay away from her. Not after what had happened earlier today.

  “I was going to send you all a card with my apologies,” she said when she noticed him.

  She’d tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans so that she now looked as defenseless as she had back during their high school days. He knew now that look was a façade, there was nothing defenseless about Portia Merin.

  “That’s not necessary,” he told her.

  “Yes. It is,” she insisted. “I brought negative exposure to the bar you’ve all been working really hard to build. That was never my intention and it’s important to me that you, the guys and Camy know that.”

  “They all know that without you having to say it, Portia.”

  Del had been so sure of it that he’d immediately known that Melissa was behind the video being played and he’d singled out the part-time server that she had bullied into uploading the video to their system. The server was fired and Del fully planned to do whatever he could to keep Melissa in jail or at least tied up in legal woes, for as long as possible. Ethan wasn’t against that plan, especially not after the threats Melissa had levied the last time he’d seen her.

  He was, however, still a little confused as to what exactly had happened in Portia’s life after she’d left Providence.

  “I’m not a porn star,” she said evenly. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “I wasn’t thinking that,” Ethan said. Which was true. That thought had entered his mind for all of three seconds after the video disappeared from the screens. But there was no way the woman who’d admitted to being a faker had once been a porn star.

  “And even if I were, it’s a high paying and respectable job in the adult entertainment industry, no different from any other acting position,” she said.

  Ethan wasn’t going to debate that fact, having seen more than his share of X-rated films while in high school and college. He was well aware that adult entertainment was a billion-dollar industry across the world, and he didn’t begrudge anyone who made their living that way.

  “Nobody is judging you, Portia,” he told her. “You can rest easy about that. We’re not the immature kids we were back then. At least not all of us. You’ve come to mean a lot to our little circle and I just wanted to stop by to make sure you were alright.”

  “I am,” she said quickly. “Thank you.”

  She turned and had taken a few steps up the path to the house when she stopped. Ethan was glad. He knew there was more he should say to her, that he should try to explain, he was just having the hardest time finding the words.

  “I’m going to tell you what happened, Ethan. Because I think you should know.”

  “Okay.” He didn’t know what to expect, only that he needed to know. He needed to understand what had happened to this woman who’d changed his life. “Do you want to go inside and talk?”

  “No,” she answered and shook her head. “I’ll be quick about it and then we can both get on with our lives.”

  Ethan didn’t like the way she’d said those words or how they made him feel inside.

  “I began dating Bobby the early part of my senior year in college.” She eased her arms around to clasp her hands in front of her.

  Ethan could see her fingers moving but she kept talking.

  “I thought we were good together. He was my first,” she said and then cleared her throat. “On one of the occasions that we had sex, Bobby thought it would be cute to record us. He also thought that video should be shown to the world, so he uploaded it to YouTube without my knowledge. I was mortified when my roommate showed it to me. I was going to barricade myself in my room to escape the embarrassment. But Sunny called me that next morning. I don’t know how she found out what was going on, but she knew and she wanted to board the next plane so she could whip Bobby’s ass. I talked her out of that.” She chuckled.

  Ethan could imagine that reaction. He wouldn’t mind getting in a punch or two with Bobby himself.

  “But then Sunny said something that made a lot of sense. She always did. Among other things that were said during that hour-long phone call, she told me to never let anyone have the last word over my destiny. I thought about that for days. And then I made my first video. It was a blow-by-blow replay of the sex tape with Bobby, wherein I explained everything that he’d done wrong.”

  “You did what?”

  She nodded and smiled. “Yep. I turned the tables on that bastard and made him the laughingstock of the school. And for a few weeks, it felt really good. Then I was flanked by guilt that I’d turned into my own worse nightmare. So I was going to take the video down, but when I logged into my account, I saw that the video had over three million views in just those few days. I did some quick research on paid YouTube channels and wondered if I could do it. If so many people were interested in what I had to say on this video, would they be interested in what I said on others? Within a month, I’d done research day and night, developing a script, toying with the idea of using a fake name, everything. Then one night I just did it. I taped the video and I uploaded it, charging for each view this time. And that’s how Pleasure Inc. began. Two years ago, I was approached by a literary agent who thought I had the perfect platform for a series of how-to books to go along with the
videos.”

  “Your success came from a vicious act,” he said incredulously. “You built an empire on the back of the fool who tried to hurt you.” She was a fuckin’ genius.

  She shrugged. “I did what I had to do to survive. And I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. So, that’s what I plan to do again, Ethan. I’m leaving Providence to continue on with my life.”

  He didn’t speak, didn’t really know what to say. Stay. Be with me even though I’ve been a jackass. Live in this town where there’re still vengeful bitches like Melissa. None of that sounded right. It didn’t sound fair to her and all she’d fought to become.

  “We had a good time, but I don’t belong here.” She continued because he hadn’t spoken. “I never have. Say goodbye to everyone for me. I really enjoyed these past weeks with everyone.”

  She turned away from him then and started back up the path.

  “Wait,” he called out to her. “Just wait a minute. I don’t want you walking away thinking that what we did was just fun and games. You just don’t understand where I’m coming from. You don’t understand—” And he was doing a horrible job trying to explain it to her. His parents had left him, Stacey had betrayed him and this woman who’d opened his heart again was leaving him. Yet he couldn’t find the words to make her stay, couldn’t get out of his head with all the negative thoughts to beg her to be with him.

  “Oh no,” she said when she turned back to face him. “I understand completely, Ethan. We’re both messed up by our pasts. And while we were strong enough to pick ourselves up and move on, we still hold the doubt and fears that made us who we are today. It’s okay, I believe in always learning from my mistakes. I learned that I deserve more than an idiot who would video me without my consent, and a fling that was based on words I’d written in a book instead of anything either of us admitted to feeling in our hearts.”

  “Portia.” He tried again. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “And you didn’t,” she told him. “You helped me grow. I hope I did the same for you. Goodbye, Ethan.”

  16

  Three Weeks Later

  Ethan stood across the street from the dilapidated house at the corner of Furley Street in Providence. He glanced with fondness at the fire hydrant he and the boys up the street used to break open on the sultry summer days so they could play in the water. The lecture from the fireman and a slap from his father, was worth the fun they’d had.

  He heard a car door slam and then another, but he didn’t turn around. He knew who was walking up behind him.

  “So, what’s up, E?” Rock asked when he came to a stop beside Ethan. “You called us all over here to look at this shack.”

  Noah jabbed an elbow in Rock’s side. “He used to live here, idiot.”

  Rock frowned. “I know that, jackass. I’m just trying to figure out why he’s here now. He hasn’t come back down this street since we all returned to Providence.”

  “He’s right,” Del said. “What’s going on, E?”

  Ethan inhaled and rolled his neck. Rock was right, Ethan hadn’t come back to his childhood home when he returned to Providence. It was a part of his past that he never wanted to relive. So he’d simply steered clear of it. But three weeks ago, Portia had said something before she’d left him standing on the sidewalk alone. She’d told him that their pasts had made them who they were and that it was okay to carry a part of that inside them because it showed their growth.

  He had grown since the years he’d spent in this house with his father drinking and physically abusing him. And he’d changed from that boy who was angry about his mother leaving him. He’d changed and he’d made something out of himself, it was time he gave something back in return.

  “I bought it,” he announced. “This house, the land and that vacant lot over there. I bought it all.”

  “What?” Lance asked. “Why? It’s an eye sore. Nobody lives on this street anymore. It’s a dead end, so there’s not even traffic down here.”

  “How’d you afford this?” Jeret asked. “We all gave our savings to open the bar. I thought you were tapped out as far as free money to use.”

  “I owned some properties in D.C. I’d been renting them out while I was living and working there trying to offset the huge mortgage on my apartment. When I came back here, I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing for income, so I kept the properties,” he said.

  “Good move,” Del added with a nod.

  “I sold them last week and with the proceeds negotiated workable terms with the bank to clear this land and build something new.” It felt good to announce that.

  He looked around at all his friends and continued, “It’s going to be a rec center, so the kids in Providence have somewhere to go when home isn’t safe. Not a jail or a house designed to be another means of incarceration for kids, but a place where they can go to express themselves and maybe learn a few life skills. To encourage them and put them on the path to success.”

  “Oh man,” Rock said. “That’s what’s up.”

  Jeret stepped up and clapped a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “You’re a class act, Ethan Henley. A class act indeed.”

  “I’m gonna need some help, so I figured you guys—”

  “Absolutely,” Noah interrupted. “Whatever you need. We’ve got your back.”

  “Always,” Del said. “Always.”

  Lance nodded his agreement. “And because we’ve got your back, we feel we can be totally honest with you.”

  Ethan lifted a brow. “Totally honest about what?”

  “In short, we think you’re being an ass,” Lance said and then turned to the others for their opinions.

  “Outside of this really cool idea you’ve come up with here, yeah, you’re being kind of a jerk,” Rock stated.

  It was Jeret’s turn to add his two cents. “For the last three weeks, you’ve been a sulky jerk. You even gave up a couple hundred during our monthly poker game because your mind’s not clear.”

  Ethan stared at each of them in confusion. “How is it exactly that my mind’s not clear? I mean I’ve been working hard at the bar and coming up with a great way to give back to our community, and you guys are standing here giving me flack.”

  “We’re staging an intervention.” Lance grinned.

  Ethan frowned. “You’re not funny.”

  “I think what they’re trying to say, E, is that you may have made a mistake letting Portia walk out of your life,” Del stated.

  “Are you serious?” Ethan asked them incredulously. “She left. Just like my mother and just like Stacey. I didn’t tell her to go.”

  “But you didn’t tell her to stay,” Lance added.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he continued, stalking across the street until he came to a stop directly in front of the steps that led to the house he’d sworn to hate forever.

  He paced back and forth, trying to push back the immediate anger that had erupted in him at their words. They were out of line. Way out of line coming at him this way.

  “You, Lance, are the last one of us that would beg a woman to do anything for you. Are you really suggesting I should’ve insisted that she stay here with me? And do what? What?”

  Lance and the others had followed Ethan across the street, so as he’d shouted, Lance had stood toe-to-toe with him waiting.

  Rock stood a few steps away, his arms behind him. “You ever thought your life was meant to be different, Ethan? Maybe all the bad things that happened to you were meant to prepare you for something good.”

  Ethan shook his head. “None of you believe in happy ever afters. We’re all back here trying to make the best of the hands we’ve been dealt. There’s no fantasy world we get to reside in after going through hell.”

  Del shrugged. “Not a fantasy world, but maybe just a place where we can have happiness. Finally. Kind of like what you’re trying to create for the kids here in town.”

  Ethan swung around to stare at Del.

  “That’s different.”
>
  “Is it?” Del asked. “You plan to offer those kids hope and solutions, but you’re not willing to put your ego and your stupid three strikes deal out of your mind, to go after the one thing you’ve always wanted. It’s her, E. We all saw it the moment she walked back into town. You’ve always wanted her. You had her and you foolishly let her go.”

  “So now what do you plan to do about that?” Lance asked.

  “Your book has been on the bestseller’s list for a month,” Sunny said, her voice brimming with excitement. “And now they’ve offered you a movie deal. Is it going to be like that other sex movie that came from a book that everybody was raving about?”

  “No.” Portia shook her head and laughed as she held the phone between her ear and her shoulder. “I think the plan is to be more like a documentary type production, with actors from the adult entertainment industry performing some of the things I wrote and commentary from couples who actually put my steps into play in their relationship. At least that’s what my agent said after her preliminary discussions with the production company. We’re planning a face-to-face meeting in the next few weeks. Even though I won’t have control over what they ultimately decide to do, they’re open to at least sharing their ideas with me.”

  Her agent had told Portia that was a good point to negotiate in the deal. Portia had simply taken her advice because this wasn’t something she’d ever imagined would happen. Tonight, she was speaking at another conference in San Diego. This time it was a psychiatrists’ convention where she’d been invited to talk about her theories connecting intimacy to cognitive human functioning. The invitation had sealed the deal for the new proposal presented to her agent and in addition to the movie deal, another book deal was now in the works.

  Her professional life was on a fast and invigorating track. As for her personal life, well, that was once again on the back burner.

  “I think I’m going to come back to the states for Christmas,” Sunny said.