CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
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Hey Spankers, what’s up? This is Adam, coming to you this week with a quickie bonus update. I’ve got very special clip featuring yours truly and a special girl I used to know. I’ve been holding on to this one for a while, but I think it’s time to share. This naughty hottie is Katie Ferris. You might not have heard of her, but I guarantee you’ve heard of her new boyfriend. She’s recently been spotted around town with Nick Archer, star of The Carriage House, Spy Love You, and, ironically, Backing Out (you’ll get that joke when you see the video). But before she got herself a piece of Hollywood beefcake, she had a taste for this luscious prime tenderloin. That’s right, I hit that long before Nick dipped his wick. Want to see all the hot action for yourself? Check out the full-length video on my site, SpankBanks.com. And to whet your appetite, I’ve got a yummy clip for you to enjoy right now. Let me know what do you think, Spankers. Is this the technique that helped this babe lock down Nicky boy? Have your say in the comments. Don’t forget to like and subscribe! Now go spank it out! Peace!
I paused the video and the image of Adam froze on my laptop, fingers forming a peace sign, that disgusting grin stretched across his face. I turned the power off and wiped my eyes with a crumpled tissue. In the black mirror of my screen I could see Nick on his phone behind me, pacing. He’d started dialing not long after I hit play.
I turned around in my desk chair to face him. “Who are you talking to?”
“I’m on hold with my agent. She’s working on getting the video taken down. She’s got connections high up at YouTube. We might be able to get his whole channel banned, or at least suspended.”
“What about the other sites?”
“She’ll get to those too. She’s good at this stuff. And just to be sure, my next call is to my lawyer.”
His attention snapped back to the phone. I could hear a faint female voice on the other end, though I couldn’t make out what she was saying. He was as angry as I’d ever seen him in real life.
As he said he would, he called his lawyer next. I sat on the couch and picked at my fingernails as he wore a groove into my wood floor, talking about statutes and OSPs and takedowns. It couldn’t make much sense of it. For a discussion of a sex video it was remarkably dry. Twenty minutes passed and he barely looked at me. I found a stray thread coming off a couch cushion and pulled at it idly. A small hole opened up, revealing the white stuffing inside.
Finally, after another half an hour, he asked me, “Can I use your laptop?”
I told him to go ahead, though I’ve never been comfortable letting other people use my computer — it was like someone borrowing your toothbrush. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night, so I went to my room to wait it out. I left him tapping away at my desk, phone cradled between his shoulder and his ear.
An hour later Nick found me sitting cross-legged on my bed in sushi-patterned pajamas, listening to Nina Simone. He came in and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. It creaked under his weight.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “He won’t get away with this.”
“He already has,” I said, defeated. I knew how the internet worked. Nothing could ever be permanently erased. Even if you could cut off the distribution of the video at its source, getting every copy out there would be like playing a game of whack-a-mole.
He ran his hands through his hair and let out a long breath. “What if I paid him off? And the sites that picked it up, too. Whatever it takes.”
I rubbed my face with my hands. “You can’t throw money at every problem and make it disappear.”
He shrugged. “Everyone has a price.”
“You don’t get it,” I said, my voice a razor’s edge. “Adam doesn’t care about money.”
“Then we’ll go the legal route. I’m not going to rest until every trace of it is fucking scrubbed away. Okay?”
He put his arm around my shoulder. A mild breeze blew through the open bedroom window, fluttering the linen curtains. Despite the warm night and Nick’s gentle touch, my skin was covered in goose bumps.
“Are you mad?” I asked. The question had been rolling around in my head since we left the restaurant.
He considered it for an uncomfortable second. “Not at you.”
“Maybe you should be. I set up the lunch with Adam.” A look of distaste crossed Nick’s face, the same look that appeared every time Adam’s name came up. He’d never been a fan, but this was beyond the pale. If it were possible for Nick to hate anybody, Adam would be at the top of that list. “I thought he was the one shopping gossip about you. I was only trying to help, but I kind of went off on him. This is his way of getting back at me.”
“Maybe you could talk to him again. Apologize. Tell him whatever he wants to hear, just get him to delete it.”
Something about Nick’s reaction had been bothering me all night. Now I knew what it was. “Are you more concerned about how this affects you? Is that why you’ve spent all this time trying to get the video taken down?”
“It affects both of us.” He couldn’t even look at me when he said it. Because I was right.
“You’re not the one whose naked ass has a million views on YouTube, and counting. I think it affects me a little more.”
“Have you seen the comments? Whose name do you think shows up more often?”
“You want me to read the comments on my own sex video? Do you care about my mental health at all?” Maybe I didn’t know Nick as well as I thought.
“No. I mean yes. Of course I care. I’m sorry. This is bad for me too, okay?”
“I can’t believe you’re making this about you.” I held up my hands, palms forward. The numbness was wearing off and anger was setting in.
“I’m not. It’s just that I’m already in a precarious position right now and this could make things more difficult.”
“What about me? I quit my job tonight. This is going to make it a lot harder to find a new one. Everyone I meet will be picturing me in that video.”
“At least it’s not an unflattering picture.” He ventured a smile, but stopped when he saw my withering look.
“So not the point!” I fumed.
“I know it seems awful right now, but you’ll survive. Look what it did for Kim Kardashian.”
I didn’t even bother to dignify that comment with a response.
Aware that his efforts to cheer me up were backfiring, he adjusted his tone. “I’m sorry. It’s not a good time to make jokes. I feel like I’m saying and doing everything wrong tonight.”
“You said you were in a precarious position. What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means this is bigger than you or me. It could affect things in ways you don’t understand.”
My wrath was a heat-seeking missile. It should have been aimed squarely at Adam, but he wasn’t there, so it chose the next closest target. I turned toward Nick, livid. “Then explain it to me,“ I snipped. “You have all this emotional shit going on, all these secrets, but you won’t let me in. And you blame me for not understanding? That’s not fair.”
“I think we’re losing sight of the real problem here.” His voice was steady and even. The fact that he managed to remain calm in the wake of my ranting somehow enraged me even more.
“No, I think you’re right. Our problems are much bigger than a sex video.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He stood up. I felt the bed shift again, the mattress springing back into place.
“But it’s true,” I said, not letting up. “I really needed you tonight. I appreciate you trying to work your Nick Archer magic to make this go away, but all I wanted was for you to be there for me. And you’re more worried about your career.”
“It’s not about my career. Kate, please.”
I hopped off the bed and went to the door. “You should go. I need some time to think.”
“What are you saying?”
I took a long, deep breath. “Did you know that before I met you I swore I’d never date another actor? Two soul-sucking relationships and a couple of really awful dates and I told myself, ‘Enough.’ But then you came along with your unassuming charm and that smile and those eyes. I should have known you were too good to be true. You’re as self-absorbed as the rest of them. You just hide it better.”
He looked struck, as if I’d physically slapped him across the cheek. I immediately wanted to take it back, but the damage was done. He didn’t argue or defend himself. He only nodded and said, “Got it. I’ll go now.”
I followed him down the hall, through the living room, to the door. It took some time to unlatch it, but once he got it open he turned back to me, eyes glassy. “I’m sorry. I really am,” he said, and disappeared down the stairs.