Page 80 of The Casting Couch

“Ohhhh.”She grinned.“She’s hot.”

Moira looked her up and down.“She looks like she could kill us with her pinky toe.”

“Exactly,” Nessa said, turning to me.“Jack and Liam have been wanting to expand into more lesbian content.Authentic vibes, y’know?Less fake moaning, more rage.”

She looked Riley up and down like she was appraising a racehorse.

“You ever think about doing movies?”she asked.

Riley blinked.For a split second—one second—her face softened.Like she was genuinely flattered.

Then she scowled again, as if her own feelings had betrayed her.

“I just want my fucking money.”

Nessa recoiled, lips pursed.“Jeez, okay.Someone’s hangry.”

I cleared my throat.“Where’s Jack?Bradley had to rush out earlier, and he didn’t get paid yet.”

“Oh, he’s in his office,” Nessa said, pointing toward the back hallway.

Then, because Nessa is occasionally a dumbass with vibes, she turned back to Riley, winked, and said, “Seriously, though, you’re hot stuff.I’ve never been with a woman, but for you?I’d consider some light bondage and a shared cheesecake.”

Riley actually looked… startled.

Like her brain couldn’t process being both respected, and flirted with by a woman who smelled like vanilla body spray and lube.

Bradley looked like he was somewhere between death and a nap.

I grabbed his wrist.“Come on,” I said, dragging him toward Jack’s office before Nessa started pitching a lesbian porn series or Moira asked Riley if she could borrow her boots for a meeting at her sex club.

But as we walked, I stayed close.Closer than close.And not because of the knife.I mean, yeah, that was part of it, but because Bradley had been through enough today.

No.Too much.

We finally reached Jack and Liam’s shared office.The door was half open, and thank God, only Jack was inside—legs up on the desk, fingers tapping at his laptop like he was trying to out-type a demon.

His eyebrows shot up as we barged in.

“Oh my God,” he said, pointing at Riley like she was a repressed memory coming back to haunt him.“You used to come to our apartment, right?When Bradley lived with us.Y’know, before he was arrested.Were you selling drugs, too?”

Riley folded her arms.“I just want my damned money.”

Bradley visibly shrank into himself.

And because this building runs on bad timing, Nessa suddenly popped up beside Jack.“Doesn’t she look like she’d dominate in lesbian porn?Like the genuine stuff.Raw.Gritty.”

Jack blinked.“Nessa…”

“Look how handsome she is,” Nessa continued, gesturing at Riley like she was auctioning off a prized bull.“We could put her in a short video with one of the new baby femmes.Call it Leather and Lip Gloss.Or maybe Machete and Mascara.”

Jack, who, thank God, has some neurons firing at normal speed, narrowed his eyes.“Okay.Is something wrong here?”

Before anyone could answer, Nessa turned to Riley again, like a recruiter from Porn University.“We can shoot a demo next week.Just you, a camera, maybe a few toys and a vaguely hostile interview…”

“JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING MONEY!”Riley shouted, voice booming like she was about to slam a gavel and sentence us all to death.

I instinctively jumped in front of Bradley again.Jack threw his hands in the air like a suspect in a very awkward sting operation.

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