“Lewis, stop antagonizing them,” Charlotte said. “We aren’t asking them to film porn. They’ve proven they can be intimate together for the camera, and naked, like you wanted. Their chemistry was spot on. With a bit of direction, I’m sure you can get all the shots you need and make this perfect.”

“The trailer videos will involve a lot more of what you gave us upstairs. You understand that? We edit them to make them tasteful enough for the public eye so they aren’t X-rated, but the idea will be to give the audience the impression you’re fucking each other.”

“Can’t wait. Sounds fantastic. Give up the pen, Lewis. You aren’t scaring us off. You thought we didn’t have it in us, and you were wrong. Admit it.” Asher held out his hand and waited. He was fiery and determined.

Lewis stared at him a minute then glanced from Charlotte to Jay. “You want them?”

“Yes,” they said in unison.

Lewis handed over the pen.

Asher took the contract, stood, and yanked me to my feet by the sleeve of my jacket. “Come on. If you’ll excuse us, we’re going over there to read this through and discuss more in private. We’ll be back.”

Asher dragged me to a table in the corner and tugged the two chairs until they were side by side.

We sat, and he held the contract like a shield, blocking us from view. “I hate that Lewis motherfucker.”

“Me too. He’s determined we should fail.”

“We did amazing today. Yeah, we slipped out of character a few times, but come on, we were naked and pressed together. It was weird.”

“And your hand was on my junk. That was—”

“We’re ejecting that from our minds, remember? Stop bringing it up.”

“Right. It never happened.”

We sat in silence, peeking around the contract at the other table.

“Except it’s gonna happen again since I have to fake fuck your nervous virgin ass,” Asher noted.

“I told you I’d end up being the bottom. Never fails. That’s okay. I’m cool with it. Whatever. I’m kinda a greedy, demanding bottom in real life anyhow, so not much to act.”

Asher turned to me, horrified.

“And that was the wrong thing to tell my brother. I see that now. So … thanks for talking them into more money. That’s incredible. It’ll help me get out of Aaron’s house.”

“I think we could’ve gone higher. They agreed way too fast.”

“It’s enough. Let’s not push it.”

“Agreed. Okay. Let’s look over this contract thoroughly and make sure they didn’t add anything sneaky.”