Page 40 of The Casting Couch

My whole body went stiff.

“What about it?”

Lola sighed dramatically, like this was her burden to bear.

“It’s too dark,” she said, moving around the room, grabbing a tube of something from a shelf that may as well have been labeled DOOM IN A BOTTLE.“On camera, it’ll look… unclean.”She gave me a long, pointed look.“And not the fun kind of dirty, if you catch my drift.”

A fresh wave of cold sweat broke out all over me.

“You’re joking.”

“Not to be gauche,” she said sweetly, snapping on a fresh glove, “but your asshole needs bleaching.”

I just stared at her.

“That’s… people really… do that?”

She gave me a look like I’d just asked if the Earth was flat.

“Of course they do.This is the entertainment industry, baby.Presentation matters.Now turn over.”

I covered my face with both hands.“Oh, my God.”

“Turn.Over.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered if faking my death and fleeing to Canada was still a viable option.

But then…

Riley Vega’s face popped into my head.

That glare.That tone.The very clear promise of bodily harm if I didn’t start paying her back.

Okay.

Bleach or baseball bat?

I sighed like a man going to the electric chair and slowly, with zero dignity, turned over and presented my ass to fate.

“Good boy,” Lola chirped, already pulling on her little headlamp like she was prepping for a cave rescue mission.

I heard the snap of another latex glove.The rustle of paper towels.The squirt of something being squeezed from a tube.

“Now,” she said, coming in hot, “you’re gonna feel a little tingle.Maybe a minor burning sensation.”

“What kind of burn?”I whimpered, clutching the edges of the table like I was bracing for impact.

She paused just long enough to keep me awake at night for the rest of my life.

“The fun kind,” she said cheerfully, then went in.

It hit me instantly.

Like battery acid and betrayal had a baby, and that baby was now doing gymnastics on my most sensitive area.

“Holy SHIT,” I yelled, jerking so hard my knee slammed into the table.

“Language!”she scolded, tapping my butt like I was an unruly toddler.“This is a professional environment.”

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