“Did you know about this?” Lucia asks.
“No, this is the first I’m hearing about it. When did the story break?”
“Last night. But they updated it this morning with Adam’s identity. What do you make of it?”
It doesn’t take much sleuthing on my part. “Diego is ready to come out of the closet, and Holly wants one last media splash before the news of them breaking up hits social. He’ll go on to be a gay icon, and she’ll write an album of sappy synth ballads for her broken-hearted fan base. Everyone wins.”
“Except Adam,” she says. Despite her ruthless girl-boss persona, Lucia is sometimes very tender-hearted.
I glance again at where the paused video shows Adam looking positively horror-struck. Poor baby. This must be his first brush with real fame.
“Do you think he was in on it?” Lucia asks.
“No, his terror is real,” and arousing. “Besides, I don’t think he’s that good of an actor. Not yet at least.”
“Did you orchestrate it?” she asks, eyes canny.
I press one hand to my sternum in a gesture of offense. “Lucia, I merely introduced them. I didn’t tell Holly to seduce him or Adam to agree. He’s a grown man, after all. And I definitely didn’t film it or release the tape. Have you seen it?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty hot.”
“Send me the link. I’ll add it to my archives.”
“Adam was over just last week, and you seemed pretty into him,” she says, still with an air of suspicion. “I figured you’d have him moved in by now. Or chained to your bed.”
Lucia has only a loose idea of the kind of sex I enjoy, which is intentional on my part. A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.
“What a scandalous insinuation.” I toss her phone aside and stretch my arms, then twist my torso to rid myself of the lingering stiffness in my back. I’d swear my mother’s ghost makes me sleep in weird positions just to torment me. “I’m playing the long game here, Lucia, but I’m ready, should Beautiful Adam call on me in his moment of need.” I appraise her again. “I appreciate you coming all this way to alert me. Let me make you a cup of coffee and get you some face cream for those bags under your eyes.”
“Okay, bitch,” she snarls. “Right back at you. See if I interrupt my morning routine for you ever again.”
It’s over coffee, roughly twenty minutes later, that I get a breathless, panicked call from Adam, and I am prepared.
“Cassius, I’m sorry to call so early. I don’t know what to do. Have you seen the news?”
“I have,” I tell him, combating his chaos with my calm.
“It was so fucking dumb of me. We were drinking and they were paying me all these compliments. I was weak and horny, and they were… very convincing. Now, there’s all these reporters outside Elliot’s door. My sponsors have been blowing up my phone, saying they’re going to go in a different direction or some shit, and I just got an email from SPG about my misconduct. I think they might drop me from their roster. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Adam,” I snap and give him a moment to collect himself. “First off, calm the fuck down. Are you breathing?”
“Yeah,” he says and then again, “yes.”
“All right, fuck your sponsors. They were small potatoes anyway. A sex tape with Holly Hamilton and Diego Perez is going to catapult you into a whole new stratosphere of visibility. There will be many more sponsors, trust me. Second, SPG isn’t going to drop you now that your popularity is on the rise. Their executives are probably jerking each other off over at headquarters while watching the video. The email is a formality, so forget about it. Third, stop acting like you didn’t know you were involved in a threesome with the two hottest pop stars currently making music. Own that shit. Own the narrative. You’re new to L.A., too beautiful and dumb for your own good. Holly and Diego see you from across the bar and beg you to fuck them, and you do, both of them in the same night, one right after the other because you’re a motherfucking beast. Hashtag young, dumb, and full of cum.”
Adam clears his throat. “Actually, Diego and I didn’t…” a breathy pause. “We just sort of made out for a while. And I gave him a blowjob, I think.”
Hethinks?Adam and his proclivity toward indiscriminate sex is astounding. I’m relieved Diego Perez didn’t get to pop Adam’s ass cherry, but I can’t believe that smooth-talking bastard got to him first.
“Did you know they were filming?” I ask.
“Yeah, but they said it was just for themselves. Have you seen the video?”
“Not yet.”
“It’s pretty graphic.”
“I gathered as much.”
