Fade Into Me by Kate Dawes Page B

When the TV came on, there was a still picture on it. I couldn’t tell what it was and thought the cable was out and had frozen on a channel, but it turned out the DVD was on and paused.
    I pushed PLAY on the remote, then found myself sitting there with two blueberries in my mouth, unable to chew, shocked by what I was watching.
    It was Krystal having sex with two guys.
    I probably should have hit STOP, or maybe even dropped the bowl of fruit and run out of the room in total astonishment. But the truth is, I couldn’t stop looking.
    Krystal was naked, except for a gold chain around her waist that attached to her belly-button ring. She was on all fours, her ass just off the edge of the bed. One guy stood behind her, fucking her, while another guy knelt in front of her as she sucked his cock.
    It didn’t dawn on me at first, but this wasn’t simply Krystal and two guys taping themselves having sex. Someone was operating the camera. The video also switched from different angles and skipped ahead to different scenes—Krystal on her back with one guy fucking her, another guy kneeling just behind her head with his cock over her face while she licked and sucked him; Krystal riding a guy reverse cowgirl style, with the other guy standing on the bed with his cock in her mouth; and the finale: Krystal on top of one of the guys and the other one behind her, fucking her in the ass.
    I’ve always had a nosey, curious side to me, but this was probably the worst example of lack of self-control on my part. I wish I hadn’t watched the entire fifteen minutes, but I did.
    My earlier suspicions about Krystal having a waitressing job were confirmed. She was doing porn for a living. No wonder she never asked me to help her get representation from an agent. What kind of aspiring actress would have a roommate who worked for a Hollywood agent, and never once float the possibility of using that connection to get her foot in the door?
    It wasn’t my place to judge her, but I was sure I wouldn’t be able to look at her the same way for a while.
    I jolted upright off the couch, realizing that if she walked in, she’d find me looking at the DVD. I didn’t want her to know, didn’t want that kind of awkwardness. I grabbed the remote and ran the DVD back to the point where I thought she had paused it before. I turned off the TV and went to my room to try to get some sleep.
    But it wouldn’t happen. My mind was racing. I had to tell someone. I couldn’t tell Grace. For one thing, it was almost 2 a.m. back in Ohio. Plus, I couldn’t be so sure that she wouldn’t freak out, blurt it out to my parents, and then I’d have to deal with a ration of shit about living in Hollywood with someone who does porn. No doubt my parents would project that on me and think I’d gone down a one-way street to Hell.
    I called Max, who answered almost immediately. “Everything okay?”
    “Fine. Why?”
    “Just making sure you didn’t have any unwanted visitors.”
    I sighed. “Let’s not bring him up anymore. I told you, he’s back in Ohio.”
    “He better stay there.”
    “I have something pretty wild to tell you.”
    When I finished telling Max about the DVD, he said, “Typical.”
    “Huh?”
    “It happens to a lot of girls who come here looking for stardom. They end up in low-budget porn. I’ve seen it happen a thousand times.”
    I said, “Really?”
    “Don’t get any ideas.”
    I laughed. “Uh, you don’t have to worry about that. I’d never do that. Besides, I’m having the best sex of my life right now.”
    “ Right now ? Who’s there?”
    “Shut up, you know what I mean.”
    “Yeah, I do. And anyway, you’re not breathless like you usually are when you’re doing it.” He chuckled, and then there was silence, which wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. I had hoped he would agree and tell me that he was having the best sex of his life, too. But he didn’t say it.
    It was a good thing that I didn’t confess to the other feeling