Exposure (11 page)

When Tricia’s on top of me, I slide
her panties down her legs and she sinks down on top me. I groan,
savoring the feeling of being inside of her.

We don’t speak.

When I offer to get her off after I
finish, she kisses me and tells me that it’s okay. That she’s
tired.

She rolls over and turns off the lamp,
and we go to sleep.

Chapter Eight

Evan

What the fuck am I doing?

I’m bringing Dallas to my mom’s house,
that’s what I’m doing.
I think that we were both much too polite to tell the other that
this is a really dumb idea. I’m wondering if he feels the same way
as me. That going to Chico is just getting our minds off the fact
that EPE is in a printing weekend, and on Monday, our naughty
school girl and professor photo shoot will be readily available to
anyone willing to pay five dollars.

Dallas needs a distraction so much
that he’s willing to visit my mother and her crappy
apartment.

As I drive up the freeway, I tell him,
“So my mom thinks that you are my coworker. As far as she knows, I
do clerical work for a tech support office.

“
So… I’m supposed to be
like, part of the geek squad?”

“
Sure,” I say. “You fit
the role.” I bite my lip, trying to hide the fact that I’m amused
at my own damn joke.

“
Har har. Hey, just
because I am a grad student in biology doesn’t mean that I can’t be
hot. Britain seems to think so.”

I nod, keeping my eyes on the road.
“That she does.”

“
And so do
you.”

“
Okay, Mr. Cocky-Ass. Way
to assume.”

“
So you don’t think I’m
hot?”

I open my mouth to respond, but is
there really a reason for me to flat-out lie to him? I maneuver my
way around the question instead. “Well, you were kind of forced on
me, so I guess, given the circumstances, dealing with you hasn’t
been the hardest thing.”

He scoffs. “Okay, Evan.
Sure.”

I feel my entire face flush. I
remember how wet I was during our last shoot. How much I wanted
Britain and Andrea to be gone and my lingerie to be gone and for
him to just take me. He spread my legs apart. My panties were
incredibly thin.

He had to have seen how much I ached
for him.

Luckily, he veers from the subject.
Maybe he sees how uncomfortable I am. “So, I’m the nerd that you
work under.”

“
She’ll assume we’re
together. Just be honest and tell her we’re friends.”

“
Or I can tell her I had
you bent over a desk in your panties yesterday.”

“
God, you’re an asshole.”
I take in a deep, shuddering breath, less because I’m angry and
more because the way he said it sounded so fucking hot.

“
Chill, Evan. I’m kidding,
of course.” And then he’s back to his goofy self, his dark, sexual
aura suddenly absent. It’s incredible how quickly he can change
like that. Must be the model side of him. The ability to reflect
whatever character he must. “I think it’s unfair that our scenarios
have me continuously dominating you.”

“
Well, we’ve put on the
professor-and-naughty-student pants. What more can you
expect?”

“
But it’s unfair. I feel
like we have to make it even somehow.”

“
Like have a shoot where
I’m whipping your ass with a riding crop or something?”

He burst into laughter. “Ouch? Is that
supposed to be sexy?”

“
To some
people.”

“
How about something a
little gentler?”

Suddenly I’m imagining myself
straddling him as we both sit, pinning his hands above his head and
grinding my hips into his groin.

Stop it, Evan.
Stop it.

“
You convince Britain, and
I’m down,” I reply.

“
You got it,” he pulls out
his phone.

“
Seriously? Well,
alright.” I keep glancing at him from the corner of my eye as he
texts Britain. When he slides his phone back into his pocket, I
ask, “What did you say to her?”

“
I asked if you could pin
me down and spank me with a riding crop next shoot.”

“
Shut up.”

A grin creeps up onto his face, but he
says nothing.

^^^^

An hour and a half later, I pull into
my mom’s complex. I told her I was bringing a friend from work and
we were going to be studying at the coffee shop later. Only thing
is, she doesn’t know he’s a gorgeous grad student that’s two years
older than me.

The apartment complex is a dump.
Peeling paint and foggy windows. There’s even a shopping cart full
of trash bags parked on the curb. I sigh and park my car in front
of her number—105. Dallas and I get out of the car and he follows
me up to her apartment.

My mother—God bless her soul—looks
like a crazy cat lady. Today she wears a long gauze skirt, frizzy
hair pulled into a bun on top of her head. Her eyes are magnified
into huge orbs by her thick wire-rimmed glasses. Standing in the
doorway, she spots me, blinks, and then her bug eyes expand even
more when they rest on Dallas.

“
Oh
my,” she says, entirely unabashed.

“
Mom,” I mumble, pointing
to Dallas. “This is…”

Dallas steps forward, stretching out
his hand. “I’m Dallas Whitley, Evan’s boss.”

I do my hardest to not roll my eyes.
Oh, dear God.

“
Well, Mr. Whitley,” Mom
says, brushing her hands over her skirt. “I hope you don’t mind a
vegan dinner.”

“
Not at all. I’m fully
aware of Evan’s eating habits.”

I shoot him an icy glare. Way to
fucking make us sound casual.

“
I hope you don’t mind me
bringing him,” I tell Mom. “We’re in the same major. He’s a grad
student, and he’s been helping me study.”

“
Study. Sure,” she says.
“Won’t you come in?”

I nod, and wait for Mom to re-enter
her apartment before I turn back to Dallas. “Please stop trying to
charm the pants off of her,” I beg. “She’s been waiting for me to
‘find a man’ for ages and I don’t want her to get her hopes up with
you.”

The corners of his mouth perk up as he
leans against the door frame. “Why ever would I do that?” he
asks.

“
Because you’re evil,
that’s why.”

He chuckles and follows me into the
apartment.

^^^^

Mom has really outdone herself. I’m
impressed.

I’ve been living a semi-vegan
lifestyle since I was a teen, mainly having Mom as guidance. We did
our best with what we could afford, making the most with our patio
garden and practically living off of lentils. But tonight, she’s
conjured a sweet and sour tempeh dish, with stir-fried vegetables
and rice. I’m half expecting Dallas to be completely grossed out
and not eat anything, but to my surprise, when we’re all sitting
around Mom’s meager dining room table, he digs in.

“
This is amazing,” he says
in between swallows. “I don’t miss the meat one bit.”

I catch his eyes, trying my best to
convey a look that suggests he’s full of shit. I’m not sure if it
comes across.

But Mom seems happy and unfazed of any
fakeness that Dallas may carry within him. “I’m quite glad,” she
says. “I’ve been cooking without meat since Evan was in middle
school. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had more energy in my fifties
than I ever did in my thirties.”

Dallas stirs the content of his plate
with his fork. “Evan tells me that she was quite the photogenic
child.”

He did
not
.

I look at my mother. It’s like
Christmas came early. “Did she, now?”

I groan and hang my head in shame. But
then a thought comes to me, a thought that could get me out of this
mess. I shoot a look of contempt as Dallas before responding,
“Actually, Mom, Dallas and I were stopping for dinner. I have a
huge test next week and—”

Mom scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous,
Evan. I haven’t seen you in weeks.” She glances at Dallas and
grins. “If this is about bringing your boyfriend over…”

“
He’s not—”

“
I’m not entirely old
school. I mean, I know I pulled that whole, ‘touching a boy will
get you pregnant’ thing when you were younger, but do you honestly
think I’m naïve enough to think the two of you aren’t sleeping
together?”

“
Mom—”

“
Forget it Evan. You’re
not leaving tonight. I turned the second bedroom into a guest room
just for you—for the two of you—and I’ll be damned if you don’t use
it.”

My mouth hangs unhinged.

“
If that’s okay with you,
of course,” she adds, nodding at Dallas.

Dallas leans back in his seat, a
stupid, arrogant smirk growing on his face. He crosses his arms.
“Perfectly fine with me.”

^^^^

“
What is your
problem?
” I hiss when the bedroom door is
shut and Dallas and I are alone together. It’s only ten. First I
had to endure dinner after Dallas agreed to stay the night, and
then what felt like endless hours as my mother pulled the most
cliché move ever and showed my
not
-boyfriend old baby photos of me.
And he said
nothing
that would indicate that we are not—in any way, shape, or
form—dating.

“
Chill out, Cosette.” He
casually sits on the bed. The
one
bed. “Every time we spend time together it’s in
the studio.”

“
There was that one time,
at that one coffee shop.”

“
Oh, okay,” he says
sarcastically. “That one time at that one coffee shop.”

“
You want to spend
time
with me to get to
know your fake fuck buddy, fine. But how the hell is this not
weird? Please, enlighten me.”

He gives me that goddamn crooked smile
of his. “It’s only weird if you make it weird.”

“
So how does this work?
You want me to snuggle up next to you so you can
get to know me better
?”

“
Use your brain, Evan.” He
nods toward my backpack in the corner of the room. “We’re going to
study, so when you get accepted into UC Berkeley and they want your
official transcripts, you’ll blow them away with all of those
sparkling As.”

Studying? Really? Why do I feel so
disappointed?

Focus
, Evan.

I huff and pick up my backpack,
plopping on the bed next to him. “Fine.”

He grins. “Perfect. Can’t think of a
more distraction-free space.”

Distraction-free space. Dallas thinks
this is a distraction-free space. That might be the funniest thing
I’ve ever heard.

But surprisingly, he’s very adamant on
getting me to study. He races through drills with me and walks me
through protein structures I’m unfamiliar with, and before long,
I’ve practically memorized chapter fourteen. Perfect timing, too.
My phone starts to buzz—It’s Britain. I slide the lock and raise it
to my ear.

“
Yo.”

“
Evan. Have you seen the
interview?”

“
Interview?” I suddenly
remember that Britain’s interview with an erotic journal blogger
was posted a couple of hours ago. “Shit, no.”

I direct Dallas to look it up on his
phone. When he finds the article, his eyes go wide. He holds the
phone out for me to see. “I’m not really familiar with the erotic
blogging scene, but is this normal?”

I squint at the screen, and when I
spot the numbers, my mouth falls open.

“
One-hundred and
sixty-three comments. Fifty-four tweets, and twenty posts to
Facebook.”

“
I know, right?”
Britain squeals.

“
In two hours?”

“
I KNOW, RIGHT? Evan, the
issue hasn’t even been released yet and people are going nuts over
the thought of the couple shoots.”

I swallow. If the excitement on the
blog post is any indication of what the sales are going to be like,
then Adam and Dallas are going to be sticking around for a
while.

“
And have you read the
comments?” She chuckles. “Girlfriend, just about everyone can’t
wait for Rylan to get banged.”

I gape at Dallas. He seriously raises
an eyebrow, and I can’t tell if he overheard Britain or
not.

“
We’re… just going to
be
simulating
that in the final shoot of the series, right?”

She laughs again. “I
guess… I mean, unless you guys actually
want
to fuck for the camera. You
know me. I’m open-minded.”

“
Can you hear what she’s
saying?” I ask Dallas.

He shakes his head, even though a coy
smile grows ever so subtly on his face. I can’t believe
him.