Double Love

But again, there was no real choice. So I just swallowed and smiled again.

“I’m saying yes,” were my quiet words. “Because it’s for my future.”

“That’s right,” replied Lauren comfortingly while patting my hand. “For the future and beyond.” With a small smile, I nodded, hoping against hope that my friend was right.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Zander

My brother and I were nervous, although you wouldn’t be able to tell just looking at us. We sat cool and composed in our office, idly watching some porn while checking our email and giving instructions to employees. After watching the audition tape, we’d been on the phone to New York immediately.

“Get her here,” was all I said, and Ralph had made the arrangements pronto.

Now we sat in our office, waiting for Melanie to arrive. Goddamn but life was weird.

The door opened, and our secretary popped her head in.

“Ms. Jones here to see you,” she said. I nodded, and Melanie made her way into the room.

She stopped short as soon as the door closed, unable to keep the shock off her face. Because instead of some seedy, anonymous, middle-aged dude, Zeke and I sat there, immaculately groomed, looking at her with a glint in our eyes.

“Zander? Zeke?” she said faintly. “What are you doing here? I was supposed to meet with the heads of Intercon Productions.”

“Melanie, we are Intercon Productions,” replied Zeke silkily. “Jack Strike at your service. It’s not one guy, it’s two. We’re both Jack Strike.”

“We were very impressed by your audition tape,” I added, giving her a cool smile.

Melanie sat limply on the couch in our office, her chestnut hair gently waving over an oversize college sweatshirt, her ass in tight jeans outfitted with sneakers. Perfect. She’d be amazing in our “Naughty Co-eds” production.

“But,” she stammered. “Weren’t you guys in college at USC? What are you doing here? What is this outfit?”

“Don’t worry, we’re still in school,” I replied. “But Zeke and I decided to be entrepreneurial and open our own film development and distribution production in the meantime. After all, why wait until we graduate? That’s four years of productivity wasted.”

“Plus,” added my brother. “Porn pays a lot, if you know what I mean.”

Melanie flushed.

“I’m not here to do porn,” she said stiffly. “I was supposed to interview for a stripper job at the Donkey Club but they told me I had to do an in-person interview with some producers. I figured it was someone from the club,” she stated.

“Oh yeah,” I said casually. “We don’t own the Donkey Club but we source girls through Ralph for our vids. We were pleasantly surprised, I might add, when we got your audition tape. Why were you there, Melly?”

Hearing her nickname seemed to make her crumble a bit.

“I don’t have money for school,” she said softly. “You know your dad’s getting government pay now, and with the furlough and all, we don’t know when his next paycheck’s going to be. Plus, my mom doesn’t have enough to help me with tuition, so I’ve been scrambling,” she admitted. “I’m desperate for tuition money. I love school and don’t want to drop out.”

My brother and I exchanged a glance.

“How much do you need?” I asked curiously. I mean, Trinity was an expensive place but could it be more expensive than USC? They’re both private schools, albeit on opposite sides of the country.

“Forty-six thousand,” said our sister, her eyes downcast, a glimmer of tears shining in those big brown pools. “Forty-six thousand that I’ll never be able to raise.”

My brother shot me a look and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Forty-six was a lot, but it wouldn’t be a problem. With our porn production shindig, we were raking in hundreds of thousands each month, and another fifty or so wouldn’t be a big deal … especially if it was to help our sister.

“Little sis,” began Zeke, his voice gentle and calm. “I think we have a solution for you,” he said.

Melanie looked up swiftly.

“You do?” she asked. “Please, I’ll do anything to stay in school. I’ve never thought of myself as a drop-out,” she said tearily.

“Yeah, we have some ideas,” Zeke continued. “And they all involve taking your clothes off. For us, though. Would you be okay with that?”

Her mouth gaped open, those lips soft and plush.

“I’m sorry?” she stammered. “What are you talking about?”

But we weren’t going to give it all away in one fell swoop. Instead, we wanted to show her, or to have her show us, which made it all the more pleasurable. So I grinned wolfishly while exchanging a glance with my brother.

“You’ll see, Melanie. You’ll see.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Melanie

I gasped with shock. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, my twin stepbrothers had pretty much admitted that they were running a porn distribution outfit, complete with filming, editing, distribution, and rights negotiation. It’s just that we were family. So what were they talking about? What did the two handsome men want from me?