Page 98 of For Pleasure Or Worse

“Seriously, what do I do? I need one of thoseMen in Blackmind eraser flashbulbs,” I joked. “I can’t believe I actually thought they might be cool with the sex work thing. I’d imagined Bella might be a little more open-minded, being a lawyer and all, but she was all moral compass this and that, like she doesn’t represent sleazeballs in the courtroom weekly.”

“I’m a little surprised by it all, too,” she murmured. “But hey, at least you’re not a flop. If they found out you were a cam girl and you only had like two subscribers it would be way harder to plead your case. Thousands of people want to see your bits.”

“I’m no cheap whore,” I croaked. “Say my dad does find out, shuns me from the family and removes me from the will, what would really change in my life anyway? I’m already one foot out the door. It might even be a breath of relief for them to be able to say I went off the rails instead of being forced to face that they’re just shitty parents. I can hear it now. ‘We tried our best with that one, but we don’t know what went wrong!’”

“They’d probably tell people it was a cry for help.” She laughed. “That you were in a dark place and the only way out was through copious amounts of twerking on your boyfriend.”

“The only way out was through the field of bubblegum butt plugs.”

“You just had to follow the yellow dick road.”

I cackled but it tapered into a little growl of frustration. “Is this my villain origin story?”

Ophelia abandoned the bedside and crossed the room to the closet, swinging it open to look inside and finding it empty. “You are surprisingly high-spirited through all of this, so I don’t think so?”

“I’m not high-spirited, I’m processing trauma through humor like a normal person.”

“I think a normal person would be panicking. You seem like you’re in the stage of acceptance, maybe. Or you’re a possible masochist. Are you turned on right now?”

Frankie swept into the room, knocking his knuckles gently on the door. “Am I interrupting something?”

“I was just about to fuck your girlfriend,” I said without sparing him a glance.

“Nothing says foreplay like folding laundry.”

“We were just chatting about the odds that Nat will be exiled from the Russo family if her sisters force her to come clean about…you know.” Ophelia gestured vaguely.

Frankie’s lip curled. The hat he always wore was resting loosely on his hair, a single brown curl falling down the center of his forehead. “They can’t exile you if you exile yourself first.”

If only it were that easy. Part of the reason I could even make light of the situation was because Mateo and I were already secretly married. Half the pressure of having the wedding was gone. If the entire thing blew up in my face I could at least rest assured knowing we were no less legally bound.

Ophelia disappeared into the ensuite bathroom with an empty toiletry bag, flipping on the light with a gasp. I’d forgotten to put away the pink sex toy after that first night, and honestly, I didn’t think I’d have to explain myself now. “Why is this thing suction cupped to the mirror?”

“It’s air-drying,” I called out. “Avoiding shrinkage.”

“You can pack it yourself,” she shouted back. “I love you, but not that much.”

“That’s fair.”

“Gross.” Frankie knocked my legs off the arm of the chair so he could sit.

“How is it that everyone in this house is perfectly fine with the sex thing except for my sisters?”

“Are we talking about that?” The Swans appeared at the open bedroom door, entering the same way Frankie had. Tyler hopped onto the bed, spreading his long limbs across the comforter, and Sam leaned against the dresser with his hands in his pockets.

“No,” Frankie answered Tyler.

“Because I have some questions,” Tyler continued, ignoring him. “Starting with, how much money are we talking? Because I definitely have a sex tape or two somewhere on the internet.”

My eyes creased and my lips turned upward. “You’d make out handsomely, pretty boy.”

Sam drummed his fingers against the wood grain on the dresser. “I never would have guessed, for what it’s worth. And I’m pretty spot-on at figuring things out.”

“He really is.” Phee shoved my shoes into a separate bag at the top of my suitcase that I never knew was designated for shoes. Apparently luggage was not as self-explanatory as it made itself out to be. That, or I was best friends with Marie Kondo.

“You never would have guessed, or you never wanted to know?” I asked rhetorically.

“Are there any solo vids of Cap?” Tyler tucked his hands behind his head on the pillow and crossed his legs at the ankle.

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