by Vicki Tharp
“You, too.” Vin turned to Niko and said, “This is the guy we’re shooting from the neck down, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Niko said, half distracted as he consulted with Rose about something.
Vin bobbed his head toward the set and Alex followed. “Should I know you from somewhere?”
It was almost a relief not to be recognized. “Not really. Not anymore. Niko’s being extra cautious, which I appreciate.”
“Leave the robe there.” Vin pointed at a hook on the wall at the entrance to the set.
When Alex did, Sebastian came over and said, “Pull up the waistband on the jockstrap and let the athletic shorts drop low on your hips.”
Along with the pair of navy-blue athletic shorts, he’d been given a jockstrap. As a baseball player, he wasn’t a stranger to them, but usually they were plain white or black and had an opening in the fabric to hold a cup for protection.
This thing he’d put on was not for protection.
There was so little of the light-blue material, that it had taken him a few minutes to make sure all his bits were covered.
Which, frankly now that he thought about it, seemed like a waste of time and effort considering he was about to get naked in front of the camera.
Alex did as Sebastian requested and hitched up the jockstrap’s waistband, the words King Dong emblazoned across the white elastic. Sebastian glanced over, and Alex turned to see Elijah come down the hall.
Sebastian walked toward Elijah. “There are a few seats behind the lights if you want to watch.” Then to Alex, “You good with him watching?”
Alex thought about saying no. There were already going to be at least four or five other people, strangers practically, on set from what Alex could see, all watching him jack himself. Did he really need the pressure of another set of eyes on him?
But then he glanced over at Elijah. His roommate. His future scene-mate. The man he’d kissed the night before and didn’t hate it.
Didn’t hate it? Pretty sure the semi you’ve had in your pants since the moment he put his lips on you means you did more than not hate it.
And really, of all of them, Elijah was the closest person on the set he could consider a friend. “It’s fine. He can stay.”
Elijah gave him the briefest of nods and Alex turned away to hide the hint of a smile that curved his lips.
Niko extracted himself from Rose and met with Alex on the set. “So, this is how it’s going to go. We’ll start with you on the couch, I’ll ask you a few questions so the viewers can get to know you a bit, some of them dig that shit. Then you can start stroking yourself. First with your shorts on, then we’ll have you take the shorts off, do some shooting with the jockstrap. Then we’ll lose that, too. Any questions?”
Alex knew he should probably have some, but with his brain hyper-focused on keeping the jitters at bay, he couldn’t think of anything to ask. “I don’t think so.”
“I like to give as little direction as possible on the solo scenes. You do your thing, and if something needs changing, I’ll let you know. Capiche?”
“Got it.”
Niko took one step away and then turned back around. “You need a few minutes in the Ready room, first?”
Between his recent streak of celibacy, the kiss with Elijah the night before, and remembering the feel of Elijah’s hard dick against his thigh, Alex didn’t think he’d have any trouble getting it up. He only hoped he wouldn’t come too soon and embarrass himself. Did he get paid less if he busted his nut in the first thirty seconds?
“I think I’m good.”
Niko extended his hand toward the couch for Alex to have a seat, then turned away. “Okay, places everybody.”
Alex took a seat on the couch and tried to swallow. For a guy whose previous profession included a lot of spitting, his mouth was unnaturally dry.
Vin moved in closer with his camera. “At some point, I’ll be all up in your business. Don’t focus on me. Focus on the job.”
Alex nodded, afraid a croak would escape instead of words if he tried to speak.
Niko’s voice boomed across the set. “Action.”
“Cut!” Niko hollered out.
Vin dropped the camera from his shoulder as Niko walked onto the set. Alex’s head fell back, not in ecstasy, but in obvious exasperation.
Elijah had found a place in the shadows out of the way to watch Alex’s scene. Even though Alex had given him permission to be there, that moment’s hesitation before Alex had given his consent couldn’t be ignored and he hadn’t wanted to add any more pressure.
“What now?” Alex let his hand drop from his cock. His very nice, very large cock, if Elijah were the judge.
Niko stepped closer to Alex, but with the mic boom above them, his words traveled. “You’ve got to relax. Get out of your head.”
“I am relaxed.”
“No, you’re not. Your legs are practically clamped together, your jaw is clenched, and you’re only half-hard.”
Alex blew out a breath. “Sorry, man. This is a lot harder than I’d thought.”
“The first time is always the hardest.” Niko’s voice had dropped, but not enough that the mics didn’t pick it up. “Forget I’m here, forget Vin’s here. Forget everyone’s here and focus on your dick.”
Niko glanced at his watch. “You think you can do that? Or do you need to go back to the Ready room?”
“No.” Alex’s expression shifted from frustration to determination. “I can do this.”
Niko slowly backed away. “Okay. Take a moment. Stand up. Shake the tension out of your arms and legs, then get your head back into whatever space you need to go to get it done.”
Niko walked back out of camera range, and Alex stood and loosened himself up. At this point in the shoot, he was completely naked. Alex worked his neck from side to side and shook the tension out of his arms, but it was Alex’s semi-erect cock that got Elijah’s full attention.
Elijah shifted and reached down to adjust himself in the jockstrap he’d been given, already close to busting a nut. At this rate, his own scene would be shot in record time.
He probably should walk off the set to give his erotic imagination a chance to cool off, but one glance at Alex as he stroked a hand down himself and yeah... Elijah wasn’t going anywhere.
Cat from makeup walked by, her eyes on Alex, and Alex’s on her. “Wow, nice cock, dude.”
Alex grinned, giving himself another couple of pumps and his cock was rock hard again.
“Hey, Cat?” Niko asked in a pretty-please voice. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Nuh, uh,” Cat said, “I’m not going to be Alex’s visual fluffer.”
“Awh, come on. I rarely ask—”
“You give me that paid week off I asked for at the end of the month, and I’ll do it.”
“Two days.”
“Four, my clothes stay on, and you’ve got yourself a deal.” Cat smiled, like... well, the porn cat that ate the canary. She knew she had Niko by the wallet.
“Four days,” Niko agreed.
She turned toward Alex. “Tits or ass, hot stuff?”
Alex laughed as he sat on the couch again. “Ass.”
Cat turned around and gave Elijah a wink. Her blouse was cut dangerously low in the front, and her skirt was so short Elijah was pretty sure if she bent over, Alex would see all the goods as well.
“You’re okay with this?” Elijah asked, though she didn’t really seem put out.
“Are you kidding me? Four paid days off for something that guys walking down the street do all the time for free? Hells yeah.”
Cat cocked her hip and glanced over her shoulder at Alex whose eyes had locked on that cute little ass of hers. Elijah had a hard time not picturing her as the soft filling between him and Alex.
From the cup of her bra, Cat pulled out her phone and scrolled through an app while Alex beat himself off. Even without the microphones, Elijah would have been able to hear the unmistakable sound of flesh on flesh, and the r
ough and raw groans escaping the back of Alex’s throat.
Elijah couldn’t take his eyes off Alex, his own hand reaching down to his junk. Then Alex’s gaze shifted and focused on him. Alex’s eyes went wide for a fraction as if he’d only now noticed Elijah standing there.
Elijah didn’t look away. He couldn’t. A cocky smile slowly spread across Alex’s face, his hand working harder, faster. His breathing, as well as Elijah’s own, going ragged.
In those moments before Alex’s head fell back and he came, it wasn’t Cat’s ass that Alex was staring at, but Elijah.
“And cut! That’s a wrap,” Niko said.
Alex stopped stroking himself. With his head resting on the back of the couch, he stared up at the high ceiling trying to catch his breath as his cock went soft in his hand.
A warm, damp towel landed on his chest. He glanced up to see Sebastian standing there. “Go ahead and get yourself cleaned up, catch a shower, and relax. You’ve got at least a couple of hours before your next scene.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Alex didn’t look Sebastian in the eye. Instead he glanced past Sebastian’s shoulder to where Elijah had been.
But Elijah was gone.
Surreptitiously, Alex glanced around, but no Elijah.
There had been a moment there when his and Elijah’s eyes had connected, and Alex had felt that same pull, that same erotic tension that he’d felt the night before when he’d kissed Elijah.
And Elijah had kissed him back.
Cat’s ass, which was an objectively fine ass, one that most of his ex-teammates would have killed to get their hands on, hadn’t been doing it for Alex.
What had been doing it was Elijah’s unapologetic, heated gaze. That unveiled lust that had shoved Alex over the edge of climactic inevitability like a full-on body slam, his muscles, his mind, reeling.
His limbs wobbled, and his hands shook as he cleaned his spunk off his belly.
“Nice job. Good to get the first one under your belt.” Niko handed Alex his robe. “What did you think of your first experience?”
“Honestly, it takes a bit of getting used to. It was easier to forget the rest of you were there, but the camera all up in my business was a little unnerving.”
“The more you come back, the easier and more natural it will feel.”
If he comes back.
If? You need the money, Payne. If you want any chance of standing on that mound again, of hearing the crowd cheer your name, of watching the eyes of the guy at the plate widen when your heater freezes them in the batter’s box. If you want any of that ever again, you have to keep up your sessions with Trevor. Which takes money.
Unless you really want to kiss baseball goodbye.
Which he didn’t.
Which meant—like Schwarzenegger was so good at saying—he’d be back.
Niko pointed to a lined laundry hamper. “Used towels go over there. Check back in an hour or so. We should have a better idea when your scene with Elijah will start. You can go back to the residence and chill, or you’re welcome to hang out here, watch some of the other scenes, see how the pros get it done. Either way, you’ll need to see Cat again before the next shoot.”
“Okay.” Alex slipped into his robe. He went to shake Niko’s hand, then realized that probably wouldn’t be welcomed considering where his right hand had been five minutes ago.
Alex gathered the shorts and jockstrap and put them in a separate laundry bin from his wash rag, then headed down the hall to catch a shower. He checked the dressing room first. The other guys were there, but no Elijah. Next, he stuck his head into the makeup room, not sure why he was seeking his roommate out. To tell him to break a leg maybe?
Or ask him why he ran off?
Cat was alone in the room, folding towels. “Hey, Cat. You seen Elijah?”
“Should be around here somewhere. I just finished his touch-ups.” She bobbed her chin in the general direction of his crotch. “Nice work out there.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”
Cat hadn’t been the one to do it for him. She didn’t know that, but he wanted to acknowledge her willingness to help. “Thanks for the assist.”
Maybe that thanks should go to Elijah. Maybe you should go find him and tell him...
What? What are you going to tell him?
Hell, he didn’t have a clue.
That spark when he and Elijah had kissed, and getting off watching Elijah watch him didn’t mean he was now into dudes.
Maybe he had an exhibitionist kink he hadn’t known about.
Besides, Alex had sex with women.
Which meant he was straight. Right?
And while he couldn’t say the sex had been earth-shattering, soul-transforming sex, it had been... pleasurable at least. Which only meant that he hadn’t met the right woman yet.
And thinking that someone found you attractive, was hot, no matter which sex that person belonged to.
Cat snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You in there?”
Alex pulled his head out of the deep, dark cavern of denial that was his ass. “Sorry. You say something?”
She leaned a hip against her makeup counter and went back to folding towels. “I said if you ever want to thank me properly, give me a buzz.”
What? “Um... yeah. Sure. I’ll do that. Totally.” And he’d shut up now before he made a complete, dorkified fool of himself. Smooth, Payne. Real smooth. Good to see you haven’t lost your touch with the ladies.
What touch exactly, he didn’t know. He wasn’t like some of the other guys on his team who’d slept their way through every city the team traveled to. It wasn’t that Alex hadn’t been interested per se, it was that he’d been too focused on his career, and then on his recovery, to have much time for catting around.
You still telling yourself that tired lie?
As he climbed the stairs to the residence, ladies weren’t on his mind. Not even a little bit. Men were. Or better said, a man.
Elijah wasn’t in their shared room, or the lounge, or the kitchen, or the showers. Had he scared Elijah the fuck off? Would Alex have a second scene after all?
He and Elijah needed to talk. About what, Alex wasn’t so sure. Maybe Elijah’s attraction had been a figment of Alex’s imagination all along. With Elijah standing in the shadows, Alex could have imagined the heat and lust in Elijah’s eyes.
Unable to locate Elijah, Alex headed to the communal bathroom with the bank of stalls and showers in the residence area. Alex didn’t rush his shower or dawdle. By the time he’d gotten cleaned and dressed—for the time being—he made it back down to the studio to a cacophony of whistles and catcalls as Elijah shrugged into his robe.
Alex had missed Elijah’s scene. That had to have been some kind of record. What did they do? Shoot it all in one take?
Reyes, Darius, and Grant were all standing around dressed in work pants and shirts, their arms and faces dirt and grease stained and made to look like they’d recently finished their shift at the local mechanic shop.
“Watch out, Grant,” Reyes said, “Elijah’s gonna be getting that room to himself if he keeps that up.”
“It was a jack-off scene,” Grant muttered. “My grandmother couldn’t mess that up.”
“Yeah, man,” Darius whooped and clapped his hands over his head. “A fucking natural. Hey, Niko, sign me up for a scene with this dog. That shit’s gonna get some massive views.”
Niko had his head together with Rose over some paperwork she had in her hand and didn’t hear Darius. Not that Darius seemed to care.
Reyes started in on Grant. “I’ve seen your grandmother, she—”
“Don’t.” Grant cut him a look that could have stripped the hide off an elephant and tanned it in an instant.
With a sheepish smile, Elijah joined everyone off set while Sebastian and Vin prepared a different set for the next shoot. A shoot which apparently would involve a three-way with Darius, Grant, and Reyes.
That might be inte
resting.
Elijah glanced at Alex across the group of men, his smile shifting. The intensity of Elijah’s gaze made Alex look away. Not from intimidation, but from arousal. What the actual fuck?
You’re on the set of a porn studio, the air is already supercharged and erotic. Any man, gay or straight, couldn’t help but be turned on in this environment.
Yeah. Alex would keep telling himself that until he believed it.
“Okay, everybody.” Niko’s voice boomed, echoing off the walls and the high ceiling. “Time to get back to work. Darius and Reyes, we’re starting with the two of you.”
Grant hung back as Darius gave Reyes a playful shove as they headed for the new set. “Hey, man, you heat up that beef tamale? If you’re gonna fuck me, I don’t want some limp—”
“Fuck you, man.” Reyes shouldered him back with a laugh.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Reyes turned and walked backward. “Hey, Vinny, make sure you’ve got that fish-eye lens, so my fans don’t need a magnifier to see Darius’ junk.”
“Jesus Christ,” Grant grumbled, “I know five-year-olds who are more mature than you dickheads.”
As Elijah headed to a refreshment table set up in the back, Sebastian pulled Grant aside a few steps, but not so far Alex couldn’t overhear.
“Hey, babe.” Sebastian laid a hand on Grant’s shoulder, but Grant shrugged him off.
“I told you not to call me that.” Grant’s eyes snagged on Alex then kept on moving, settling somewhere in the shadows on the far side of the studio.
“I... Are you all right? You seem a little... on edge. Even for you.” Sebastian added a soft chuckle as if that would help ease the blow of the dig.
“Got a call from my grandmother.” A statement, not an invitation for an interrogation.
Sebastian must have missed the not-so-subtle tone. “Everything okay?”
Grant rubbed a hand across his stubbled jaw, smearing the fake grime Cat had applied. “It’s—”
Grant caught Alex staring, and Alex stepped away, giving them their privacy, but he managed to catch Grant’s words when he said, “It’s nothing. Some personal shit.”
“If there’s...”