“You really don’t see it, do you?” He clicks his tongue and chuckles, shaking his head again, and I feel like I’m on the outside of an inside joke all of a sudden.
“See…what, exactly?”
Dante is still smirking at me as he ties his wild hair up into a topknot. “You and Riley. You guys haveinsanechemistry together. There were a couple of times I figured I could probably pack it up and go home, and neither of you would notice.”
I roll my eyes and hope that the sudden warmth in my cheeks isn’t visible. “Oh, whatever. He’s just new. He’s excited to work, and it shows. He’s just having a good time still.”
“Sure he is,” Dante agrees. I sense a ‘but’ coming. “But he’s also smitten with you. He was doing so well for me before you got in the mix, don’t get me wrong. That ass is incredible. But everything changed when you agreed to come in. He forgot I was even there. And it was fucking hot. The fans are definitely going to notice, and they’re going to eat it up. You guys should think about doing some couples work.”
I snort at that. “We’re not a couple, though.”
Dante rolls his eyes at me. “You don’t have to be in an actual relationship to do couples porn. I’m not saying you should merge your Fanboy accounts or anything. But you should definitely work together more often. People are going to be speculating like crazy between this and that massage video you boys did.”
I raise a skeptical eyebrow at him. “I don’t know about all that. I collabed with ColtX last week, and it’s like our third video together. No one is speculating anything about me and Colt.”
“Your latest with Colt probably hasn’t even had half the hits that your video with Riley has.” He’s got me there, but I don’t admit that to him.
The truth is, something big shifted inside me during that threesome, and I’m not really sure I’m ready to deal with the implications of it. There’s no denying Riley and I have a connection, no matter how hard I’ve tried to ignore it. Maybe a part of it is how green he is, but the way he looked in that video with Benji, and even the way he looked with Dante, isn’t even close to how we look together. When it’s the two of us, it’s…explosive. You can practically feel the heat between us through the screen, and people are taking notice. I’m sure it will be even more obvious when we post this collab with Dante.
Dante, who’s still looking at me with that smug, knowing smirk on those pretty lips.
“Yeah, yeah,” I finally grumble. “I’ll think about it. Let’s just get this thing finished so we can actually post it and get paid, yeah? Not all of us are out here selling silicone replicas of our dicks.”
Dante’s words are ringing in my ears as I drive home. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to working with Riley as often as I can. But what would that look like? How often would we collab? Would he even be up for that? He said he wanted to have sex with lots of men, and so far it’s only been three, including me, as far as I know. Unless he’s done another collab since Benji that he hasn’t posted yet.
The thought of that makes my skin feel too tight for my body. I don’t think it’s the idea of him working with other people that bothers me. It’s just that some of these guys don’t know how to behave, and I want Riley to be treated with the care and respect he deserves.
I exhale loudly in frustration. Okay, fine, that’s probably notallit is, and I’m probably going to have to deal with that sooner than later.
A shrill ring cuts through the music in my speakers, and Jess’s name pops up on my console.
“Where are you right now?” she asks as soon as I answer.
“Well, hello to you, too, Boss.” Technically, I’mherboss, since I’m the one paying her, but she’s a little firecracker and has my life organized to a T. I go where she tells me to go and do what she tells me to do, so who’s really in charge of who here?
“Seriously, I’m hangry and I’m near the taco place at the beach we like,” she says impatiently. “I don’t feel like eating by myself, and I haven’t seen you in like a month. Come get tacos and margaritas with me and give me all the latest tea in the biz.”
Iamactually pretty close to the beach, and I didn’t have lunch because we were working on the video. My social battery is almost drained for the day, though. I make a half-hearted attempt to turn her down: “But Aggie?—”
“Is at daycare for another three hours, and I know you know that I know that,” she cuts me off.
“Okay, okay,” I laugh. “But only because it’s Taco Tuesday and I’m already out. Otherwise, you’d be bringing me sushi at home.”
“Ew, no,” she scoffs. “I don’t know what your obsession is with that place. Tacos are so much better. I’ll meet you there, I’m like ten minutes away.”
She hangs up before I can even respond, and I smile and shake my head, turning back toward the beach.
Twenty minutes later, I find Jess in a corner booth with a margarita already in hand. She looks somewhat frazzled, but gorgeous as ever. I tease her all the time because she mostly works from home but always dresses as if she’s going into an office, and today is no exception. Her dark hair is pulled into a bun on top of her head that’s artfully messy, and her hot pink cat eye glasses accentuate the sleeveless black shift dress she’s wearing. It looks like she might have added some new ink to her floral tattoo sleeve, but I’d better not ask or she’ll tell me that I would have known about that already if I had taken the time to see her lately.
“I would have ordered you one too”—she gestures at her margarita between bites of chips and salsa—“but I wasn’t sure if you’re in a cut right now or not. I barely know what you’re up to these days.”
I laugh and shake my head, sliding into the round booth next to her. Of course she was going to find a way to call me out anyway. “I know, I know,” I sigh good-naturedly, reaching over to give her a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve been working a lot, I’m sorry!”
She eyes me over the top of her glasses as she takes a long sip of her margarita. “You know I’m in charge of your calendar, right? You haven’t been any more busy than usual. Same number of collabs scheduled, same amount of social media and Fanboy content. Don’t lie to me, Luke Larson, you should know better than that by now.”
She’s not wrong. I have no idea what I’d do without Jess in my life. Over the last couple of years, she’s not only elevated my content, but she’s also made my life so much easier day-to-day with things like finding a doggy daycare. After teasing me relentlessly for adopting a dog in the first place, of course. She and Nate are all I’ve got in the way of real friends, and I’ve been slacking on keeping up with her on non-work stuff, so the calloutis warranted. In my defense, though, I’ve been avoiding the elephant in the room. The one whose name rhymes with ‘smiley.’
“Alright, fine, dinner’s on me tonight then,” I offer. She claps her hands in glee at that, and we make small talk as we peruse the menu and place our orders. Once I’ve got my own margarita in hand and I’ve snapped a picture to post on my stories, I settle in and prepare for the inquisition. I don’t have to wait long.
