Page 19 of Dreamers Often Lie

“Oh, sex worker… I get it,” I chuckled. He hefted his glass up, and we met in the middle with a dull clink. “I just like to cut to the chase, and it is the world's oldest profession.”

“Did you see who’s directing?” He changed the subject deftly. Another small clue about himself that he didn’t mean to reveal. He was ashamed of what he did for a living.

“Yeah… Both of them. That should be… Let’s try not to get involved in their squabbling. Let’s focus on each other.” I offered and took a sip of my beer but kept eye contact with his beautiful emerald eyes. I could drown in them.

He smirked. “So… you want me to focus on you, huh?”

I felt the blush creep into my already flushed cheeks. The way he looked at me as if he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to fuck or kill me was already making me twisted up inside. “That’s… uh… not quite what I meant. For the cameras, you know… Let’s stay in the scene and not... Supposedly, we’re doing a live stream. So, there won’t be all those setups if that’s true. We can just keep getting down to… uh… business.”

He chuckled. “Top-tier porn, huh? I haven’t paid too much attention. It’s happening, and I know it’s withyou, so… That’s all the power I have. The rest will be their decisions.”

“Isn’t it always?” I shrugged and waved at the bartender to bring us another round.

“I heard they used to be together. That was before I came to live there. He never really talks about it.” Ty got this faraway look in his eyes. It made me want to reach out and touch him. But we weren’t to that point yet. Maybe we never would be. But I hoped – maybe. He excited me and scared the fuck out of me.

“Is he really your uncle?” I asked slowly, wondering if this would be a sore spot for him.

“I’d rather not talk about that,” he replied flatly, and just in time, we were saved by the bartender dropping off our drinks. “Thanks.”

“All right. No problem. Yeah, they were together. That’s the story I heard, anyway. You’ve seen the videos where they share a twink pretending like it’s an audition, right? You can still find them on some of the torrent sites. They’re… I think they’re hard to watch. Not my kink, I guess.”

“I don’t want to see them, but… It’s hard to imagine that they ever liked each other, much less loved each other. I never knew Monty when I was younger. Cappie always hid me away with a nanny until I was old enough to join him. Sometimes, I miss that little house and her tamales. I almost never saw him until… Well, here we are.”

“That’s… damn. Sorry, Ty.” I exhaled slowly. “That’s a lot.”

“I didn’t ask for your sympathy.” The steel in his voice told me that I should move on quickly.

“I know, but… Anyway… It’s still shitty. The business got between them. That’s what I’ve always heard. When they dissolved everything, it took them both a few years to pivot, and within a few months of Monty starting his studio, Cappie did too. Now here we are living intheirshit.”

“What’s your story? Turnaround is fair play.” He glanced around the bar and then looked back at me, waiting for an answer.

“I don’t really have a story.” I shrugged. “Not a good one anyway.”

“Everyone has a story who does this, Merc. I mean, if you’re too scared to…”

“It’s not that.” I laughed. “I just… I woke up a few days after my eighteenth birthday and decided that what I wanted to do more than anything in the world was to have sex. It was all I thought about. The family and I were… Well, we weren’t in the best of places. They didn’t like that I was gay. So, I hopped on a… a Greyhound and came to Los Angeles. The first place I stopped was Monty’s, and here I am.”

“You chose this?” he asked incredulously. “No one chooses this. Not what we do.”

“Yeah, I never said I madegoodchoices.” I stuck my tongue out stupidly, trying to veer the conversation away from this topic. That was a secret that I didn’t want to share and hadn’t with anyone. Only Monty knew because he made it his mission to learn more about me after a time. When he called me into his office and told me that he knew everything, it scared the hell out of me.

“Apparently.” He took a sip and then set his glass down quickly. “Only a fucking moron chooses to give away pieces of their soul.”

“What soul?” I chuckled. “Hey, I invited you here. Was that a good choice?”

“The jury’s still out. You do appear to be, however, a nut.” He laughed easily, and I took a deep breath. The crisis was hopefully averted.

“Am I a hard nut to crack? Because you sure are.”

“A swift kick to the nuts will usually suffice.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a very sexy growl. “Maybe I’ll grab and pull them while I’m pounding you so hard you have to beg for mercy on our livestream.”

“Maybe I’ll enjoy it?” I winked. “The life of a whore.”

“Sex worker,” he demanded, keeping his voice low.

“Listen,prettyboy.”

“Aw, you noticed.”

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