“My childhood was one publicity stunt after another, beginning with my birth. My mother’s character was in constant need of reform.”
“I’m sorry, Cassius, that sounds really hard.” He lays a hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t meant to sound so tragic.
“I’m fine,” I assure him because I detest being pitied. “And I learned a few things along the way, one of which is to never let them see you in pain. Now, we have a couple of hours before the press migrates to my front gate and a few days to capitalize on this event. Are you ready to do exactly as I say?”
“Yes, sir.” He clicks his heels together like a good little soldier.
I nudge his dimpled cheek with my knuckles and say in my best Humphrey Bogart impression, “We’ll make a star out of you yet, kid.”
Chapter6
Adam
Cassius has this #ThreesCompany thing handled. What started out as an embarrassing scandal (for me at least) has turned into my best Insta campaign of all time. When Holly and Diego break up a few days later and Diego announces he’s bisexual, people start asking if he and I are getting together. Cassius advises me on how best to exploit the attention to my advantage, and even gives me the idea for the new trending hashtag #gentlemendonttell. I get a ton of new followers, which almost makes up for the fact that I have no work to speak of. When I start to spiral, Cassius assures me the sponsors will come, and SPG will be blowing up my phone once the media frenzy dies down. For now, I can use the down time to “build my brand.”
He even helps me with my accent. It’s a strange method, but Cassius swears it will work. Basically, he makes me stand in the living room with my pants pulled down while I read from his mother’s old scripts. Whenever I make a mistake, Cassius spanks me with a ruler.
“Enunciate,” he says after his third whack to my bare ass.
“I think you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever met,… Jack… Jacks… Jackez?”
“Jacques,” he corrects, making thejsound more like ashh. Thesat the end is silent, apparently. The strike of the ruler to my ass smarts like a motherfucker, but it does help me focus.
“What kind of name is that?” I ask, snippy because I’m not allowed to eat lunch until we finish the scene and I’m already hangry.
“It’s French, like the marine biologist Jacques Cousteau.”
“Never heard of him,” I say before continuing with the dialogue. “I want to feel your arms around me, for us to make love all night long.”
“Pronounce ityour, notyer,” Cassius says. I brace myself for the sting, but it doesn’t come. I repeat the line, trying to round out the sound ofyour. It feels exaggerated and unnatural. I’m probably making a stupid face too.
“Saying it like that makes my mouth hurt,” I complain.
“I’m sure that for a boy who blew the entire Pigeon Forge varsity baseball team, making your mouth into anOcan’t be that hard for you.”
I turn to glare at him, and he smiles.
“Are you going to use that against me forever?” I ask.
“I’m going to use it however I want. Right now, it’s as motivation. What was your high school mascot?”
“The Pirates.”
“Pirates are notoriously homosexual. I can’t believe none of them took a turn with your juicy little ass.”
I flex my cheeks without thinking. I wish he’d take a turn. “They probably would have if we’d been alone, but that’s pretty homo and they all insisted they weren’t.”
“In any case, you sound like a backwoods country bumpkin, which would be great if you were being cast for a remake ofThe Beverly Hillbillies, but you’re not. So, just pretend you’re sucking a nice, sweaty cock while pronouncing the word and you’ll do fine.”
Now I’m horny and hungryandthinking about sucking dick. I wonder if he’d let me blow him. I’d offer–shit, I’d even beg. But I’m too afraid he’d reject me. Like his cock is too fucking fancy or something.My cum is like Grey Poupon. That would be really terrible for my self-esteem. I try to put it out of my head for now. I say the line again and he nods.
“Better,” he says, then recites his answering line in a sexy French accent. “My dear, Victoria, I find you lovely, a truly charming woman, but what about my wife and children back home in Paris?”
“Damn,” I interrupt the reading again. “Victoria Childs was a real ho, wasn’t she?”
Cassius nods. “She did whatever it took to further her own ambitions, including seducing powerful men.”
Kind of admirable if you ask me.
