Because she’s mine.

As soon as I step out onto the terrace, JD stops what he’s doing and shoots me a look. “What’s up?” he asks with a smile.

I ignore him and walk to the other side of the girl and bend down in front of her. Her head is lolling to one side, that’s how out of it she is. “What’s your name?” I ask her.

She straightens her chin and shrugs JD’s hand off her shoulder as he tries to get her attention back. “Fuck you,” she spits. “I just want my money.” Her words come out slurred and her head drops down towards her chest.

“Well,” I say back calmly, “I’ll call you Blue Eyes, then. How’s that?”

“You can call me whatever—”

I lean in and grab her face, my fingers wrapped along her jaw and my thumb pushing into her cheek. “Do you want your money or not?”

She slaps my hand away and tries to get up, but her legs buckle underneath her again and she falls into JD.

“Jesus, Ark. Just go back to the camera and let me handle this.”

“Fuck that,” I say back, my eyes never leaving the girl. “I want in on this one.”

“What?”

I look over at him, logging his surprise, but not caring much.

“Why?”

“Why not?” I say back, settling down next to him, my back against the clear wall that separates us from the Denver city streets eight floors below. “Is she even conscious, JD? Look and see.”

He leans down to try to see her face through the curtain of long hair and the drooping slope of her neck. “Fuck, I don’t know.”

I reach for her hand and she’s suddenly all arms and legs as she tries to push me off. “Get away,” she growls. “Get off me. If you try to take my money—”

“Quiet,” I snap back at her, forcing her face close to my mouth. She’s panting, and the hair falling over her face puffs out with each breath. “You’re on something. We don’t film girls on drugs. So we’re gonna have to cut this short. You can take your two hundred and go.”

I start to get back up to my feet, but her small hand darts out and grabs my wrist. “Wait.” She pushes her hair out of her eyes with her other hand and tries to look me straight on. “Wait, please. I’m not a druggie. I swear. I’m not. They shot me up with something last night. They got me high and I don’t know what happened next. I just…”

Her words trail off and I look over at JD and shrug. “Dude, this is bad news. She’s not good for anything. We’ve got no contract, we’ve got no test, and there’s no way we can sell anything we’re doing here. Why bother?”

JD opens his mouth to say something, but the girl beats him to it. “Just, please. One more chance. I’ll sign anything you want. I’m not underage. I’m not on drugs. I just got caught up in something bigger than me. I just need money to get home.”

“Ark,” JD says. He takes a deep breath. “Maybe we can’t use her for business, but we can make some good memories trying.” He laughs a little and that smile he’s famous for breaks through. “Right?”

The girl turns to him now, realizing he’s her ticket to the promised money. “Please.” She places her palm flat against his stubbled cheek. “Please, JD.”

The fact that she knows his name is what does it, I think. Because he slips a hand up her thigh, grabs her leg, and hikes it over his, spreading her halfway open for his pleasure.

I see red again. But instead of putting a stop to it, I pull her closer to me so her ass is straddling both our legs, and I slide my hand along the soft inner skin of her thigh. She moans out, and I’m not sure if it’s JD’s kiss or my fingertips pressing against her wet cotton panties that makes that noise come from her mouth, but it’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.

“Dude,” JD says, pulling his lips away from hers. “Get back to the camera. We’re missing the moments.”

“It’s shooting right now,” I say. “It’s gonna keep going until it runs out of battery.” And then I turn the girl towards me and lift her chin. Her eyes are closed and her mouth is open. “Look at me.”

She struggles to open her eyes, heavy from whatever drugs she was fed last night, but she manages to get them to half-mast. Help me, she mouths. No sound comes out. Just her lips move. Help me.

I look up at her to make sure I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing. “What?”

But instead of a silent Help me, she says, “Take me. Please, just take me.”

JD’s hand wanders down the inside of the thigh draped over his leg, softly caressing her. Just then the sky lights up with the crack of lightning and the rain pours down so hard, the noise drowns out all the questions.

Her words.

My thoughts.

She wiggles against me as JD’s hand crashes into mine, which is still cupping her cotton panties. And then he’s past me, his fingers underneath the soaked fabric, searching for the release she wants. I can feel his movements, just the thin fabric between us. He plunges inside her and she buckles her back, shifting into my lap. I grab her throat with my other hand and she tilts her head my way. JD goes down on her tits, biting her through the dress that clings to her hard nipples. And then he yanks the front of her dress down, making her breast spring free, and he devours it.

I take her mouth at the same time. She moans into the kiss. Little mewling whimpers. Slight squeaks as JD reminds her whose fingers are between her legs. And then a hard grunt as he pushes another finger inside her.