Page 15 of Double Obsession

“Mom!”

“Eight on the nose.” Jenna’s finger did its mom waggle. “And if I find out you guys are vaping again, I’ll ground you until you’re thirty.”

“You’re impossible,” Kylie grumbled. “I’m not vaping anymore. Dad’s paying me seventy-five dollars a month to give it up.”

When had Jenna’s family taken the cliff dive? Oh, that’s right. The day her husband had called her the wrong name as he climaxed in her mouth.

Kylie bent down to kiss her little sister. “Bye, cutie. Be good.”

Lisa gurgled.

“And Mom, make sure you’re paying attention to her.” With that reminder, Kylie carried her fifteen-year-old body, with its fifty-year-old attitude, into the hallway.

“Eight,” Jenna called after her. “And I know you have algebra homework.”

She felt pretty sure there was an inconspicuous middle finger shot in her direction.

Lisa smiled, then stuck a long, mangled bunny ear into her mouth. Thank god one of her children had been blessed with a decent disposition.

Since Lisa seemed content to sit on the floor sucking on her stuffed animal, Jenna turned her attention to the book in her hand. Her brain had become one big crap pile the last few months. She could no longer guarantee she’d put on fresh underwear, and she barely recalled her own name. However, memories of the young model finally flooded in.

Her debut contemporary romance had sold so well that Holmes-Colson Publishing had gone all out and arranged a photoshoot for her historical romance cover. They’d hired an up-and-coming model that appealed to women of all ages. He’d flirted with her as he busted out sexy poses. The cover had helped her sell over a million copies in its first two quarters.

Although he looked like a grown man, he’d barely been out of puberty and she was happily married with two kids. Nineteen-year-old guys were not her thing. But now he had to be what? Twenty-five?

Guys in their mid-twenties were fair game. Right? And if he had been into her six years ago, would a few wrinkles, another kid, and a divorce diminish his attraction?

Before she changed her mind, she grabbed her phone and tapped away.

Hi, Hunter. Love your pics. Sign me up if that muse position is still open.

She powered down her laptop, shoved her phone into her bra strap, and hoisted Lisa onto her hip. Perhaps her attempts at flirting were awkward. Still, she strutted from her study while singing to her youngest, “It’s just the two of us for dinner, cutie pie.”

Chapter Eight

Hunter enjoyed sleeping in. So, when his alarm clanged at five am, he whimpered like a baby and buried his head under the pillow. Enough was enough! He needed to give up the booze and weed.

Although...maybe…if he just cut back….

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Lizzie barked, and the mattress vibrated as she leaped up and down beside him.

“Fuck,” he mumbled.

From the bottom of the bed, ol’Buddy sighed.

Hunter’s voice crackled as his vocal cords woke up. “I feel ya, Bud.”

He needed to find a less discordant, gentler alarm if he was going to do this shit. He moved his pillow to the side and quieted his phone.

Today was the big day. Four thousand twenty-six people had each paid one hundred dollars to spend virtual time with him. According to Bianca and Clark, after word got out, he could have as many as twenty-thousand subscribers. And once they were hooked, he could charge them even more for exclusive content.

The dirty little secret was that even the best male models fought to eke out a living while the top females made millions. He struggled to maintain the lifestyle expected of a celebrity and deserved some kind of payment for living on fucking egg whites and broccoli.

“Give ‘em raw,” Clark suggested. “They’re paying to get up close and real with you.”

He couldn’t get morerealthan morning breath and sleepies in the corners of his eyes. Grooming his eyebrows and goatee, to give them a disheveled masculine look was time consuming and the damn things became unruly overnight. Lying in bed, Hunter held his camera above his head, clicked on the video, and gave his audience hairy andraw.