48. THE ONE WHERE WEST CRAWLS
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
THE ONE WHERE WEST CRAWLS
NBTWNtequila posted a collaboration with HexedHeroine and WestParkerComedy: Behind the scenes of their in betweens
Comment: If I drink this will it make me as hot as them?
Comment: ok but where can I buy the full video?
West sips a neat glass of the samples we’d been given, a crackling fire casting shadows across the dimly lit room.
He didn’t hear me come in, and I take a moment to prepare myself for the video we’re about to record. It’s unlike any of the others we’ve filmed before.
The crew arrived earlier today, mapping out the best location based on sound and lighting, and then gave us a detailed rundown on where each camera is located so we don’t break the fourth-wall.
They want this shoot to look like no one else is in the room with us, giving the world a peek into what happens behind closed doors with Hex and West Parker.
West and I understand what that means.
What does the world think it looks like behind closed doors—not what actually happens behind closed doors.
The company’s slogan is: for every moment, especially the ones in between.
NBTWN is a smoky tequila, pairing well with a spicy book—as I’ve said a bunch over the last few years on social media when I’ve recommended their brand to my readers.
Never in a million years did I think they’d reach out to work with Hex.
The home they put us in for the week goes well with not only Hex’s brand, but NBTWN’s too. The cottagecore decor in an old Michigan home with decades of history and dark-colored walls creates the perfect aesthetic for what they’re expecting us to deliver.
The master bedroom includes an original fireplace, and the second the lead designer for the shoot saw it, she wouldn’t let anyone tell her the lighting would be too hard to figure out.
It seems she got her way, because the moody lighting turned out gorgeous, the flickering fire creating an ambience we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else in the home.
Faux fur piles the bed, soft to the touch when I walk by, leaving my mask on the blanket for later. I step on a floorboard that announces my presence.
West pivots, and when he sees me, he lowers the glass at his lips before taking a sip.
He’s dressed in a pair of dark-wash jeans that fit him better than anything I’ve ever seen him in and a white T-shirt to keep his overall look simple.
Part of the crew is a small style team in charge of making sure we look camera ready, and I bet it took them ten minutes to make West look this effortlessly handsome.
“Fucking hell.” He finally breathes, dragging his eyes over every inch of my exposed skin. “I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this when I would have done it for free.”
It took the style team over two hours to get me completely ready, between the hair, makeup, nails, and wardrobe.
They touched up the grown out blonde money pieces I haven’t had the time to take care of before styling it in a beachy wave, and then gave me the manicure I meant to make time for last week.
Makeup didn’t take terribly long since they’d chosen a muted and natural look.
My face will be covered by a mask mostly, so there wasn’t any need to waste time there.
They did have me change a few times, finally settling on a tiny black satin slip dress that hugs my curves, barely covers my ass, and has a slit on the left side stopping above my hip. The pushup bra I’m in makes it hard to breathe, but it draws attention where they want it to be.
Their intentions for this shoot are clear. All eyes on Hex and West Parker. I’m not in full Hex wardrobe, but they’ve alluded to the idea of what might be underneath the clothes we’re used to seeing her in.
They did request my most intricate Hex mask though, which Hilda shipped to me.
It’s West’s favorite too. He’s made sure to tell me.
West hums a satisfied sound and downs the shot in his glass, placing it on the fireplace mantel.
“How’s the tequila?” I ask, smirking.
His eyes fall to my deep red lips. The makeup artist made sure to tell me it’s a kissable lip stain with little to no transfer.
There’s no script here. We’re on our own, expected to make everything up as we go. We were given a direction: sexy, passionate. Hex and West Parker—who we’ve shown them we are online.
Not who we are behind closed doors.
There’s this underlying understanding between myself and the creative director—they’ll show the in betweens.
I can trust them. My gut made the decision long before my brain did.
The cameras are rolling until we unplug the main power source… Which we were told to do when we decided we’d gotten the content they’ll need.
“Wanna taste?” he asks.
“I’d love one.” I prop myself on the corner of the bed, slowly throwing one leg over the other.
The second I walked into the room, the cameras started rolling. They know nothing where my face is visible is allowed to be used, but they can clip from wherever they want.
Joey didn’t walk into this room.
Hex did, masked yet or not.
Cameras watch our every move, but with West I always feel like we’re in our own bubble where no one can reach us. It’s just me and West… Recording together like we have been since Baltimore. We’d fallen into a comfortable routine, usually able to get videos within a couple takes now.
West snatches the bottle off the mantle, stalking towards the bed.
He towers over me, forcing me to crane my neck back to catch his hungry stare.
“Let’s get this over with quickly, okay?
I don’t want to waste a single second of you looking like this.
” He reaches out and runs a hand up the side of my arm, his ringed fingers scattering my skin with goosebumps.
“And since they have to edit anything with your face out anyway...” West brings the bottle to his lips, tilting his head back to take a gulp of the smooth liquor.
He grabs me by the underside of my jaw at the tip of my throat before he pulls the bottle from his lips, guiding me to my knees on the edge of the bed and slamming his lips to mine.
I don’t know where the open bottle goes, and I don’t care.
This isn’t a sweet, go slow and enjoy the ride kind of kiss… This one’s starving. It has something to lose.
I get the taste I asked for when West slides his tongue into my mouth, the burn of my favorite tequila lighting every single one of my senses on fire.
I might have come into this room as Hex, but West doesn’t see it that way. He’s never seen me as two different people but is still able to separate them when it’s needed for me.
On stage and in front of fans, I’m Hex, but behind closed doors with him in my everyday life, I’m Joey. He knows there’s no Hex without me.
He leads the kiss, making sure to keep my face angled away from the main camera so they can’t sneak in too much from this moment.
West acts like a simp on stage, and I know he would probably do anything for me, but that’s not the West I want all the time. I like when he makes the decisions, or when he cusses his best friend out for being too pushy when it comes to business that affects my feelings.
The way West kisses me tells me everything I need to know about him. About us.
My hands slide up his sides, slipping beneath his shirt to explore the lines of his muscles as they flex beneath my touch.
West’s hand moves from the top of my neck to my chin, yanking his lips from mine with a deep rattled groan. He holds me in place, my hands still holding his shirt halfway up his back. “Let’s get you masked.”
I yank the shirt over his head before he spins me around and hauls me flush against his chest, hands roaming the silk fabric clinging to my torso. When I lean forward to grab my mask, he shifts with me, kissing down my shoulder and spine.
West helps me into my mask, and when I turn around, he’s looking at me like he did the first time he saw me as Hex.
Astonished.
Drunk off the sight of me.
Some might even say he looks bewitched.
Under a spell.
Hexed.
The difference between the first time and this one isn’t West. It’s me. He makes me feel confident enough to be Hex again.
A slow, deadly smile slips across my lips. West Parker once said he’d crawl to me…
I drag a freshly manicured finger down his bare chest, my nails the color of fresh blood. “Give me the bottle.”
His throat bobs, and the muscles in his jaw tick, but not from anger. He might be dominant most of the time, especially in these situations, but West doesn’t mind being bossed around by me.
In fact, I know he likes it when I’m a little mean—he’s said so himself.
He leans down, grabbing the bottle he’d opened before I came in, handing it to me.
My fingers wrap around its neck one by one, and I nod my head across the room, telling him what I want without words. The room’s silent, no sound other than the crackling fire and the patter of my heartbeat in my ears.
West’s eyes don’t leave mine as he steps back, putting distance between us until I nod once more, bringing him to a stop. I break our eye contact, glancing down at the floor without moving my head this time. When our eyes meet again, West understands, a smug smile creeping across his lips.
He falls to his knees on the plush rug and almost eight weeks to the day since we met, West fucking Parker crawls to me because I told him to, not because I asked.
I wish I could slow down time and stay in this moment forever. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to explain the look in his eyes no matter how long I had to try.
Once he’s close enough, I reach down, placing my index finger gently under his chin and allow him to rise from the floor.
On his way up, he grabs the bottle from my grasp, his free hand sliding up my neck, tipping my head back before getting a grip on my jaw to keep me still.
His touch isn’t commanding, it’s slow and intentional, like a man who can’t believe he’s lucky enough to be in the presence of Hex. “An offering.”
I open my mouth, and West pours until tequila runs down my neck and chest. On his way back to his knees, he doesn’t let it sit for long, following the droplets from my chin to the swell of my breasts with his tongue.
His eyes meet mine when I sink lower, bringing one hand to hold the underside of his jaw like he’d done mine. West opens his mouth, and I make sure the cameras get a clear shot from every angle of Hex spitting an entire mouthful of NBTWN tequila into West Parker’s mouth.
He’s barely got the shot down before he’s propelling himself off the floor and pinning me to the bed.
West doesn’t kiss my lips, he trails them down my neck and chest, and I arch my back to press into him harder.
We give the cameras a hot and heavy show, and just before West’s lips touch mine again, I pause and say, “unplug the fucking cameras. They’ve seen enough. ”
If they can’t get a fifteen second ad out of what we’d just done, I’ll show them how to edit a viral video myself.
West is sinking between my legs seconds later, moving the expensive lace underwear out of his way, using nothing but his mouth to bring me to my first orgasm.
Four days later, on the night before our last show in Detroit, our ad with NBTWN goes live, and I think it’s truly the most stunning work I’ve ever seen.
Everything from the setting to the music is a perfect fit, but that’s not what the world is commenting on.
The ad highlights all the moments in between, never showing too much of one scene.
It flips through West crawling, then jumps to his tongue lapping up the spilled tequila on my chest, before landing on him pouring the shot into my mouth with perfect label placement.
We see him lifting my silk dress before he settles between my legs, returning to me tipping his head back.
The finale is Hex spitting into West’s mouth, the brand's logo fading onto the screen with their slogan to follow.
For every moment, especially those in between.
They never showed us kissing, and it doesn’t give away anything more than what we’ve been doing on our own pages. It shows the world only what we allow them to see.
We receive an email from NBTWN the day after the shoot:
Hex & West,
We cannot thank you enough for the passion you showed for this collaboration. I think your ad is going to make history.
Let us know when you’re ready to do another!
Love,
Your NBTWN Family
And it does.
They break sales records. We break view records and increase our followings to numbers I still can’t believe are possible overnight.
Our inboxes are flooded with more brand deals than I can keep up with, offering double what NBTWN had, and West has booked three talk shows in LA and NYC after the holidays.
There’s less than a week left on tour, and if we take any more joint deals, I’ll be working for West for the rest of my life.
Anything worth West taking I forward to Enzo.