Page 13 of Down & Dirty

“Spell it out, Bruce.”

He grumbled something I couldn’t make out before his voice came through clear again. “Nicki Parsons was in a sex tape.” He let out an awkward chuckle. “Or several, it seems.”

“What?”

Nicki was the woman I was currently “dating.” She was a fledgling actress. And not exactly sex-tape material, at least not from what I’d seen the handful of times we’d hung out and worked together.

“Her face is currently being splashed all over every porn site and entertainment news channel known to man, and the headlines about it all point to her recent rise to stardom. On your arm.”

Fuck. I barely knew the woman. My arrangement with her had been the same as it had with every other woman I’d been linked to publicly for the last ten years. Each of them was looking for the same thing I was; good press and a good time. This was neither.

This couldn’t be happening.

“How bad is it?”

“Jesus, Cory. How bad do you think? Every damn article is littered with the images of you two out on dates at the Ivy, and Nobu, and walking hand in hand in Central Park. You’re practicallythis woman’s entire resume. And the Harmsch Watch Company is about as thrilled as you’d imagine to have one of their main spokesmodels linked arm in arm with a porn star. Especially when that arm features one of their damn watches in every shot!”

I grimaced. This was bad.

“You know we’re at the end of the three-year contract we signed with them. At this point, I’m not even sure if they want to see that through or just cut you lose early.”

“That’s bullshit. I didn’t make the damn sex tapes!”

“It doesn’t matter, Cory. You’re guilty by association. They’ve already called three times. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get them to keep you.”

My mind was spinning. A third of that contract had yet to be paid out. We had a magazine shoot next month. Even if this season was going to be my last, it wasn’t supposed to be the end of racingandmy modeling deals, those were what I was counting on to carry me. If Harmsch was considering dropping me, no doubt the rest were too. I was going after this combo title to bolster these partnerships, losing them now would mean all this was for nothing.

“Can’t you get them to hold off? This will all die down. She’s a nobody, who cares about a sex tape with her in it?”

Guilt stabbed at me; Nicki wasn’t a bad person, and I had no doubt she was freaking out about this right now, worse than me. The poor woman didn’t deserve to have this shit splashed all over tabloids, even if she might have made some shitty decisions in her past. Who the hell doesn’t make stupid choices when they’re young?

“People care, Cory. You’ve always presented yourself as the refined side of an otherwise rough sport. An elevated potential. You know as well as I do, that image is a tenuous one. And something like this brings you right back down to earth.”

He was right, and I hated to admit it. My riding had given menotoriety, but it had been the combination of my success at a dangerous sport and my good looks that had opened doors. Being linked to a sex scandal like this would ruin all of that.

“What can I do?”

A rush of air filled the speaker and I could practically imagine Bruce’s exasperation. “See what Cass knows. Maybe there’s some angle to this we can use to distance you from Nicki. If nothing else, get her to send the press some other photos of Nicki to use. Some without you in them!”

“On it,” I said, hanging up before he had the chance to respond. I hit the button to call Cass and braced myself when she picked up. “I was on with Bruce.”

“You better have been, cause shoving me into voicemail for anyone else is grounds for fucking dismissal.”

I scraped my hand down my face as I navigated traffic back to my apartment. “Please tell me you have something to make this go away.”

“I’m not a magician, Cory. I can’t just snap my fingers and make my client’s horrible, career-ending, past decisions disappear.” She sounded exhausted. “I didn’t know, in case you were wondering.”

I wasn’t. Cass was one of the few people I trusted, and her livelihood depended on this as much as mine did...Well, maybe not quite as much. But still, it looked bad for everyone. Besides, she wasn’t like most of the vipers in LA. She actually cared about people and wanted to help them succeed. I had no doubt she was stung by this betrayal.

“Not for a second. What’s your game plan?”

“I’m still trying to sort out how this happened. Nicki making those tapes years ago isn’t a shock. The timing of their release is, though. She just nailed a massive audition. I refuse to believe this is all a coincidence. Someone’s been sitting on these for years, why now?”

“Not to sound like a self-centered asshole here, but I don’t careso much about how her past comes back to haunt her. I’m worried about us.”

Cass laughed ruefully. “You’re worried about you, stud.”

I started to cut her off, because that wasn’t true. I cared about how this affected Cass too, but she went on.

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