Chapter 120

Ekaterina and her translator were gone by the time Adam finished showering. He had taken his time because he knew he had to head straight to Daystar for another scene with, well, someone. He couldn't remember her name, only that she was a famous gymnast before turning to porn.

Shelly and Melody were waiting for him though.

"Pulled another one out of the fire for me," Melody remarked. "Thanks for coming over. This girl is pretty far down on the pecking order. Today is the only day they're shooting one-offs. The rest of the week is features for the bigger studios. I wanted to make sure she had at least one positive experience in America."

She shook her head and showed Adam the contract from the European agency. He read through the list of acceptable sex acts. He couldn't think of a single one not listed that was legal in America. About the only thing the agency didn't included was bestiality, which was illegal, he was pretty sure.

"Jesus," he muttered. There wasn't a single word listed under the heading of prohibit acts. "She asked a couple of times I wanted to do her anally. I didn't really and I don't think she wanted me to. It was more like she was resigned to the fact I'd want to. They'll probably ship her down to Tijuana for a donkey show while the others are doing features."

Shelly smirked and for the first time in recent memory, Adam was angry at her for it.

"You think that's funny?" he asked hotly. "Because I don't think there is anything remotely humorous about this fucking contract."

Shelly's eyes widened and she gulped.

"No, no," she said. "I wasn't making a joke about that. I, uh, I gave her the number of the Russian Consulate and the Office of International Enrollment at USC and at Santa Lucida JC. I looked them up as soon as I saw the type of work she was doing over there. I think she is going to try to get a work visa or a student visa for the U.S. I called Sean and Allie while you were filming. Five Friends will sponsor her and if that doesn't work, so will Subarctic. Adam, I can't believe you'd think that about me."

"I'm sorry," Adam said. "It's just that you smirk at almost everything these days. Half the time I can't figure out what you find so amusing. I just wondered if this was one of those times."

Shelly frowned.

"It's not," she said. "I hadn't seen the contract but I saw the snippets of her shoots that you were shown. I'll try to find a new way to look when I'm plotting something. Is that cool?"

"I am sorry," Adam said. "I've had a short fuse lately."

"And you did look like you found some perverse pleasure in the thought of that girl doing a donkey show," Melody pointed out. "I don't think it was so much the look as the timing of the look that pissed him off. I have to admit I was disappointed when I saw it, too."

Shelly looked from person to person, and then nodded.

"Understood," she said. "I'll try to watch things and think about how they might be interpreted. You watch to make sure you don't jump down my throat until you get an explanation."

"Deal," Adam said. "Look, we have to run if we're going to make it to Daystar. What time am I supposed to be there?"

"The shoot is set for 7 p.m.," Shelly said. All trace of her annoyance with Adam was gone. It was difficult for her to stay angry with him, just as it was difficult for him to stay angry at her.

"If we leave now we can get there by 6:15 p.m.," Adam said, checking his watch. Melody handed over his envelope – which was immediately intercepted by Shelly with a giggle – and ushered him to the door.

"Do you have anything else set up this week?" Adam asked.

"Four shoots that are still uncovered if this lasts past tomorrow," Melody said, glancing at her calendar. "The rest of Five Friends has really stepped up for me. I called Parker at 10 a.m. and he was here by 10:30. He did a good job, too. This wasn't with a European, but he has one set with them for tonight, he said."

"Let me know if you need me," Adam said, shaking his head. His plan to work less had come unraveled in a big way. "Oh, and if... , hell Shelly, what's the girl's name, from the beach Saturday?"

Shelly smiled.

"Molly Caudill," she said.

"Yeah, how could I forget that," Adam said. "If Molly Caudill calls you to set up a shoot with me, it's fine with me if it's OK with you."

"She left a message this morning," Melody said with a laugh. "But I've been busy getting the rest of this shit covered. I'll call you if things turn sour. I pushed all my shoots tomorrow back to Wednesday but it could get nasty if they call off again. Hell, the one this morning didn't even call. He was supposed to be here by 9:30 a.m. I got a call from Ben at 9:45 a.m. telling me what the assclowns were doing – nice word by the way, thanks for introducing me to it. I called Parker at 10 a.m. and he made it here in 30 minutes. We finished only 15 minutes late."

Adam smiled. He considered what Melody said to be a compliment to him, too.

"So, right now, the first thing I'm short on is Wednesday evening," Melody continued. "You're the only one free that evening, but I'm not sure it is something you'll want to do."

"What is it?" Adam, like a dumbass, asked. "It's for 'Fantasy Time, '" Melody explained. She had a slightly pained expression on her face. "The girl is a decent name, Angel Pretty. But she wants to do a soft bondage scene."

"If she wants to do bondage why come here?" Adam asked.

"Soft bondage, Love," Shelly said. "That means she wants to be blindfolded and tied up but she doesn't want to be beaten or sodomized with a 2-by-4."

"She does want tied up and blindfolded," Melody admitted. "She also wants some light spanking and nipple play. But Shelly is right. She doesn't want to do a full humiliation scene. I think she envisions something an adventurous lover might go for. I had Rick Cage lined up but he didn't answer my call this morning and he hasn't called me back to confirm."

Adam shook his head.

"OK, if he doesn't call to confirm by tomorrow, cancel him out and I'll do it," he said with resignation. "But you're going to owe me for this."

"I'll pay extra," Melody said.

Adam grinned slightly but shook his head. Ben had mentioned something to Adam the week before about Judy Jackem thinking about a return to the other side of the camera for a scene or two.

"I think you and me on the set of 'Women Who Love Men' next month," he said instead. "I'll book it with Ben this evening for one weekend in late July."

Melody's mouth dropped.

"You want ... you want to work with me?" she asked. "I mean, uh, if that's your price, I guess you have me over a barrel."

She laughed and craned her neck to kiss Adam's cheek. He had come to her rescue this evening, given her a hell of a scene (and the girl involved a hell of a good time) and now the guy who could practically pick which starlet he worked with had chosen her. Plus he'd been sweet enough to give her a little time to tone up some.

"I'll most likely see you Wednesday," Shelly said. "God knows we can't trust him around whips, chains and candle wax."

Anya Kovec was as different from Ekaterina Federova as a person could be, Adam thought when he met her. Ekaterina had been pleasant and friendly to him. Anya seemed to look at him with disdain as soon as she entered the studio. Oh well, nothing he could do about that – although if she offered to take it in the butt, he might just put it there for her.

"What's her beef?" Shelly asked Ben, who rolled his eyes in response.

"She is perturbed that she is not working with 'a big-name American star, '" he said. "I guess she's hot-shit over there and thought there would be a line of guys here for her to pick from."

"Hey, if she wants to cancel, I'll trot my dumb ass right back home," Adam offered.

"I called the agency she works for to explain what was happening," Ben replied. "They made it clear that if I found a male who was acceptable to me, their girls would do the scene. I'm pretty sure they explained it to that one, too. I find you perfectly acceptable. In fact, if you weren't so overbooked, I would have asked for you originally. She has a list of 'won't dos' longer than the 'will dos'. Basically, anything outside of vaginal sex and a cum shot on her belly is a no-go."

"I'm OK with that," Adam pointed out. "Does that mean no oral?"

"Oral is OK – from both sides," Ben clarified. "But you don't nut anywhere but on her tummy. Oh, and she insists on a condom."

"Good," Adam said. "We stopped on the way down and picked up a box."

Ben chuckled.

"Adam, we provide condoms here," he said. "Even ones for a big boy like you."

"We got flavored ones," Shelly said brightly. "He just did a scene with a poor girl from the other end of the aisle. Her 'won't do' list was non-existent. He gave her such a good ride she almost passed out. Her poor little box was too tingly to go on so she finished him with her mouth. But he wore a condom during the shoot – for obvious reasons and because his test is a day too old. So he gave it a nice bath and flavored it up for her."

"These girls had a full workup on both continents," Ben said. "I mean full blood work with a whole battery of tests. If they so much as had a recent case of the flu, they weren't brought over. Every one of them went to AMS this morning for fresh tests. I'm positive you would have been safe. Adam, I hope you know this, but neither Judy nor Jerry nor I would expose any of you to anything like that. If I thought for a moment that you had to worry about anything – I mean so much as a case of crabs – I would cancel the scene. Judy would do the same and so would Jerry."

"I guess intellectually I understand that," Adam said. "But you didn't see the sort of shit they had that girl doing. After we wrap up, I'll show you a few scenes we found. Damn Ben, we ain't got nothing on the Europeans when it comes to degrading women."

Derrick made one more effort to introduce himself to Anya. She seemed to have relaxed somewhat and it made things easier.

Anya Kovec hadn't bothered to change her name when she entered the adult business. She wanted everyone to know who she was and she capitalized on her fame as an Olympic athlete by getting paid a lot more than other new starlets. She had started in the business when she was 17 mostly to piss off her parents.

Anya's talent on the vault and the floor exercise had been noticed at an early age. From that moment on, her life belonged to someone else. First it was her overbearing parents, who made sure she couldn't do anything remotely fun with the other kids. Then it was a series of coaches who monopolized every moment of her time. Then it was the Olympic Training Committee who dragged her away from her home when she was barely 12 and put her in a training regime with a battalion of other fledgling gymnasts. She had trained until she reached 16 – the minimum age for international competition – when she was thrust into the spotlight without a moment's consideration for how little she wanted to be there.

The Olympics came just after she turned 17. She won Slovakia's only gymnastics medal – a silver in the floor exercise – and her parents made plans to use her status for their own personal gain and aggrandizement. So Anya moved out, posed for a topless men's magazine and then made the leap into full-fledged pornography when she was 18. She was her own novelty act. She was an Olympic medalist, flexible to the point of amazing, and she could name her own price and her own set of rules.

The trip to America was basically to showcase her talents to some of the bigger agencies, but she had agreed to do a single one-off. The agency director picked Daystar because it had made significant gains in the American industry in the past few months. If Anya pushed Daystar over the top, the company would owe the European agency quid pro quo.

Anya was not a very talented worker. She had little experience with sex before she entered the adult industry and she didn't really understand that what happened in front of the cameras wasn't necessarily normal. Still, a lot of people forked out a lot of money to see the Danube Dove lay on her back and moan unconvincingly.

"I'm sorry I didn't have time to learn any phrases in Slovakian," Derrick said, extending his hand in greeting. "I understand you speak English better than I do anyway."

Anya looked at the proffered hand for only a second before she smiled and shook it.

"I'm Derrick Driller," he continued. "I know you were expecting to work with someone of more stature here and I hope someone has explained the situation to you. I'd offer to explain it, but I don't quite understand it myself."

"The big-dicked men are on strike," Anya said with a shrug. Unlike Ekaterina, her English was unaccented and she used all the articles in a sentence, too.

"Yeah, I can't figure out why though," Derrick admitted. "So, uh, anyway, if you're OK with muddling through with me, we'll give it a shot."

"You understand that there are things I will not do?" Anya asked. She had dropped her haughtiness and this was more of a simple question.

"I understand and I can't say I blame you," Derrick said with a smile.

"And the rubber?" she asked.

"No problem," Derrick replied. "Uh, I'm not sure how things are over there. I guess I haven't seen much European porn and what I saw, well, it creeped me out."

Anya's smile became broader. This guy might not be so bad after all.

"I couldn't do some of the things I saw today," Derrick continued. "I look at it this way: You're the star; I'm just an accessory in place to make sure you do as well as you can. I asked Ben to pull a video I did with Daystar a few months ago. It might help you understand me a bit better and you can decide if that is how you'd like to work. Do you mind?"

Anya raised her eyebrows but walked over to the video monitor. The girl who came in with Derrick was there and introduced herself as Michelle.