Chapter 13 Lane
I was totally checking her out.
“Are you going to slow down, or is the idea to get us killed?” Lois asks from the passenger seat.
I was checking out those fucking perfect, rock-hard nipples piercing through all that wet fabric.
“Lane!”
“I wasn’t looking at your boobs!”
Shit. That’s not what I meant to say.
“Jesus Christ, I get the message already. Say it one more time, and I swear: I’m ripping off this T-shirt and shoving your dumb, stupid face between my tits.”
As soon as she says it, I start picturing the scene. A surge of electricity ripples straight to my dick, and I wince.
“No need to look so grossed out,” she hisses.
I open my mouth to correct her but decide against it. I don’t want her getting any ideas. It’s just a basic guy reflex. Nothing to do with her personally.
I hit the gas, doing my best to ignore her whining.
“What’s the rush?”
“Carter is waiting for me at home. We have work to do.”
I park the car and dash into the building without waiting for her, but Lois catches up with me outside the elevator, and we head up to the fifth floor together in silence.
I fling open the front door. “Cart?”
“Honey, I’m home!” He simpers.
I can see his head poking over the back of the couch, and as soon as he spies Lois standing behind me, he waves.
“Sorry, I stole your line.” He beams at her.
“I don’t think so.”
I make a beeline for the sink and pour myself some water, looking at Lois over my glass.
“I’m gonna make a smoothie. Want one?” she asks while opening the fridge.
“Sure, why not?”
“Carter?” she calls out. “Detox smoothie?”
“Beer!”
Lois is bent over shoulder-deep in the crisper, and I avert my eyes immediately. She sticks out an arm to thrust a beer at me. I grab it and stroll over to Carter, who’s busy wiggling his eyebrows.
“What?”
“Pretty sweet deal you got going on here,” he says, nodding over to the kitchen where Lois’s butt is sticking out from behind the fridge door.
Lord save me. Time to change the subject.
I fall back into the couch. “Show me what you’ve got.”
With a snicker, he starts spreading sheets of paper across the coffee table, all covered with notes.
“So I got the green light—we need to wrap up the big scenes as soon as we can. I just wired the first chunk of money over to your account, the second will drop as soon as we’re done.”
“Amazing.”
He starts talking me through the first scene, but we’re interrupted by the sound of the blender.
“You nearly done back there, Lois? We’re trying to work.”
The only reply I get is the sound of the blender roaring into action—once, twice, and then a third time.
“Ta-da!” She pours the green sludge into a tumbler and shakes it in my face. “There you go, buddy.”
“Don’t smoothies usually involve fruit?” I ask, eyeing it dubiously. “Why is it green?”
She sucks on her straw, ignoring me. “What are you working on?”
“A new movie,” Carter explains.
“A movie?”
“Didn’t Lane tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“We’re cowriters. We write movies together.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m studying screenwriting at SHU, remember?” I say.
She shakes her head. “Are you sure you ever told me?”
Considering how long she’s been living here, I’m pretty sure I have…
“Now our movie nights make sense.” She settles down on a cushion on the ground, and Carter snorts.
“Your ‘movie nights,’ huh? Sounds cozy.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Not that kind of movie.”
He bursts out laughing.
“Did I miss something, here?” Lois’s eyes dart between us.
“Oh, fuck!” Cart is in hysterics, slapping at his knees. “I can picture the scene. I need to write this one down.”
Lois kneels down and reaches for one of the pages. I watch her try to make sense of the scribblings, and as the pieces start falling into place, her eyes widen, a flush creeping over her cheeks.
“You guys are writing porn?” she asks through pinched lips. She puts down the sheet of paper. “Porn.” She blinks.
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Got a problem with that, Heartbreak?”
“It’s just that…” She stares at her smoothie, struggling for the words.
“Spit it out!”
“Do they really use writers for that type of movie?”
Carter gasps. I keep my eyes on her, resting my elbows on my knees.
“How dare you!” He shakes a cushion at her.
“Don’t look at me like that, guys! I mean, come on!” She shakes her head. “Porn movies always use the same old story, so excuse me for not realizing it’s an actual professional enterprise!”
I do my best to keep my voice level. “Do you watch adult movies, Lois?”
“No!”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I mean, yes,” she admits. “This one time. Once…”
She’s gone a bright shade of tomato, and I’m struggling to keep a straight face.
“And so that one time was enough for you to jump to conclusions?”
She folds her arms over her chest. “Okay, so maybe it was several times. But never all the way through—they’re disgusting. So male-centric.”
Carter seems suddenly interested. “What do you think they’re missing?”
“Romance, for a start.”
“You can’t be serious,” I snicker. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say—and trust me, you say a lot of dumb things. Romance? Even the word is a boner killer.”
She narrows her eyes. Warrior mode, activated.
“See, Lane? It’s because of guys like you that dirty movies don’t make girls come.”
I don’t know whether it’s hearing Lois say “come” or “dirty,” but something’s happened to my brain, and I can’t find a single thing to say. All I can do is sit and stare at her pouting. Don’t look at her boobs, dude.
“Lois!” Carter claps his hands together, cackling. “Nobody has said ‘dirty movie’ since the nineties!” He shakes his head. “Laney, get her to read through the concept. We need to enlighten her, man.”
“Don’t you have water aerobics class?”
“No, why? You scared, Laney?” She beams at me.
Two can play this game. “The file is on the desk down the hall. Go get it,” I snap at her.
“In your room, you mean?”
She’s making it sound like I just asked her to head into a haunted house.
“Why? You scared, Heartbreak?”
“Not at all!”
She gets to her feet and disappears into the hall.
“You two are adorable,” Carter singsongs as he fiddles with his empty beer bottle.
“Gimme a break.”
“Wasn’t she only supposed to be crashing here for a little while?”
I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to call me out on the one small detail I’ve been trying to downplay.
“This is all your fault, Cart. You dumped her on me. How can I kick her out now?”
“Yeah, that must be it.” He nods, but he’s still got that shitty little smirk on his face. “So is the plan still to keep her on the couch? Because you could—”
“No way,” I snap. “That room is not available.”
“Relax, that’s not what I was thinking. I was going to tease you about sharing your bed.”
“Right. That makes sense.” I cock an eyebrow. “Not. I’m not interested in Lois, man.”
An uncomfortable silence wedges its way between us. I feel stupid that I assumed he meant I should give her Mike’s room.
Carter assesses me.
“What?” I hiss.
“Nothing.”
“What’s taking her so long, anyway?” I turn to the hall, raising my voice. “You get lost down there, Lois?”
“Coming!”
When she closes the hall door behind her, there’s a strange expression on her face.
She walks over to us, a pensive look playing over her features.
What’s up with her? Did something in my room spook her?
I rack my brain, but I still can’t make sense of the vibe shift.
She looks over at the couch, staring at it for a moment.
Shaking her head, she squeezes in between me and Carter, pulling her legs up to her chest and making a start on our latest script. Cart shoots me a confused look over her head, and I respond with a shrug.
Her lashes flutter as she reads, her eyes darting back and forth from line to line.
It feels weirdly stressful, having her see this side of me.
I’ve never been ashamed of what I do, though people are usually surprised when they find out.
But seeing her focused on my work like this is the strangest feeling.
Or maybe it’s the way she’s easing herself into my world, smoothie by sludgy smoothie.
Delicious smoothies, come to think of it.
She tuts, and I snap back to reality.
“What?” I lean into her. “Too much for your little heart to handle?”
“Cut the crap! Just because I’ve only ever slept with one guy, doesn’t mean I’m a prude or anything.”
“Only one… You’ve only ever slept with Kirk?” I gasp and reach for the script. “Avert your eyes, sweet, innocent child.”
“Go to hell!” She lifts the pages where I can’t get to them.
“As you wish, then, but don’t say you haven’t been warned!”
Carter interrupts us. “So, what do you think?”
“It’s not bad. It’s got energy and depth.”
“Come again?” I snicker at her choice of words.
She ignores me. “Give me my smoothie.”
I hand her the drink, but instead of taking it from me, she mouths for the straw, sucking in a couple of long gulps.
I sling an arm over the back of the couch and wait for Her Highness’s thirst to be quenched.
She comes up for air, and when she tries to grab the straw between her lips again, I tease her by moving it away a couple of inches.
Once she realizes what I’m doing, she glares at me, and we keep the stare-down going for a few seconds, until I try and shove the straw up her nose, and she snarls.
“You’re so annoying.”
“You’re so annoying, too.”
Carter clears his throat noisily and heads to my bedroom to make a call. When Lois gets to the last page, she skims the sex scene drafts.
“How is this position even physically possible?” She gnaws at a nail and squints, trying to visualize what she’s just read.
“Oh, believe me—it’s totally doable.”
“The girl can’t have her legs up there while the guy’s mouth is… Anyway, whatever. It’s impossible, unless this is set in a circus or something.”
“I’m telling you it is.”
“I’m telling you it isn’t.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Heartbreak, but I’m way more experienced.”