Chapter 24

Chloë stayed at Adam’s until they returned to Westmouth in mid-January. By that time, Laura had stopped being star-struck and had struck up a friendship with Chloë. Adam was happy about this but wasn’t quite so happy about the amount of time they spent making fun of him. Chloë’s parents sent word that her grandmother was going to be fine and that they would be returning to London. They also arranged to visit Chloë and Adam in Westmouth.

On the Saturday evening before lectures began, Chloë and Adam were watching a movie at her house. Empty Chinese takeaway cartons lay abandoned on the coffee table and Chloë lay on the sofa with her head in Adam’s lap while he absentmindedly stroked her hair. Every now and then she would purr like a contented kitten.

The film was the latest from Chloë’s collection of bad action movies. Whenever she bought a new one she always told Adam that action blockbusters were her favourite because she could watch them without thinking. She claimed she did enough thinking about plot and character on her course. The film was coming to an end. The good guy had just despatched the bad guy in a suitably gruesome manner and he was about to get his reward with the sexy leading lady.

“I almost got that part,” she said. “The student intern was originally going to be on a gap year before going to Cambridge. They wanted someone with a sexy English accent.”

“So what happened? Wasn’t your accent sexy enough?”

“Nikki Mount happened. Or rather, her stolen sex tape did.”

“I remember that. It was all over the papers. It got leaked onto the internet, didn’t it?”

Chloë nodded. “Yep.”

Adam frowned. “But I don’t understand. I’d have thought something like that would have ruined her career.”

Chloë sat up. “You are joking, right? One moment she’s just another stick thin, blonde-haired, fake-boobed wannabe with questionable acting ability at best and the next she’s all over the tabloids and the talk of the gossip magazines. She goes from relative obscurity to box-office draw overnight. It’s not fair really, but that’s the way the game’s played. You either have to work hard, learn your craft and go for the long-term rewards, or you make a bundle of cash as quickly as you can by going for maximum exposure. And I mean maximum—she did a Playboy shoot just before this film came out to keep her in the news. I tell you, Adam, she is such a mean bitch. Never has a good word to say about anybody—least of all me. For some reason she hates me.”

Adam stared at the screen. “Are her boobs really fake?”

Chloë giggled and playfully punched his arm. “You are so bad.” She got up and fetched them each a beer from the kitchen. After she’d taken the DVD out of the player and switched off the TV, she sat back down.

“Adam?”

“Yes?”

She shuffled in her seat and then curled her legs up so that she was sitting on them. “Did you ever see Nikki’s sex tape?”

“No. Why?”

“I was just wondering what it was like. Not necessarily her tape. Just ... I mean ... Watching someone else ... Doing it.”

Adam grinned. “You mean porn. You want to watch some porn?”

Chloë blushed. “Maybe. Have you got any?”

“I haven’t actually. But I do know where we can get some if you’re that interested.”

“Where?”

“The internet. There’s plenty to download if you know where to look.”

“And do you know where to look?”

Adam grinned. “I might.”

Chloë thought for a second and then stood.

“Where are you going,” Adam asked.

“To switch the computer on.”

Five minutes later, Adam had logged on to a search engine.

“What are you doing?” Chloë asked. “That doesn’t like very ... porny.”

“You need to download and install a torrent client first.”

“A what?”

He swivelled the chair around to face her. “There are two ways to do this. You can either join a site and have to give them your name and credit card details—”

She huffed. “No way. How long do you think it’ll take The Daily Echo to find that out?”

“Exactly. The other way is to file share.”

“You mean steal? File sharing is theft.”

“Depends on your point of view. But if you’re that adamant we can always go with option one.”

She shook her head. “Just get on with whatever you have to do.”

A few minutes later, the software was installed and the web browser was pointed to a torrent index site.

“You have to be a member of this one. We’ll need an e-mail address. Let’s set up a fake one. Agreed?”

She nodded. “Can I be, I don’t know, ‘Wannabe porn star’?”

“If you want.” Adam set up the new e-mail address and joined the torrent site.

“Finally,” she said. “Who’d have thought it took such an effort to watch some people fucking?”

“Okay, what do you fancy?”

“You, stupid.”

“I meant, what sort of porn do you want to watch.”

“There are different kinds?”

Adam sighed. “Of course. You’ve got straight boy & girl porn. Or you can have threesomes in any combination. Orgies, anal—”