First Read online

  “Hi, Paul,” Mike said with a cheery wave. “Has Dino arrived yet?” His gaze drifted to the young man slouched on one of the couches next to the desk. Dressed in jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, he looked bored out of his skull, barely acknowledging Mike beyond a quick shift of the eyes in his direction.

  “Nah, but he shouldn’t be long.” Paul handed him the usual clipboard with its attached documentation. He grinned. “Early as usual, I see.”

  Mike returned his grin. “You know me.” He walked through reception to the main area of the studio and into the little room with its table and plastic chairs. After slinging his bag onto a chair, he sat down and filled out the boring but necessary details that were required prior to a shoot. The studio had already received his latest test results electronically several days before.

  “Scott, can you do me a favor?”

  Mike glanced up. Paul stood in the doorway looking anxious, the bored young man at his side. “What’s up?”

  Paul inclined his head in the young man’s direction. “Chad here has an interview with Rod, but he isn’t here yet, and there’s a call I gotta take first. Seeing as Dino hasn’t arrived yet either, any chance you could maybe give him a little guided tour of the studio?” His eyes pleaded with Mike. “Pretty please? I know it’s unusual, but with you having been with us for so long, I’m sure Rod and Tony wouldn’t mind. I mean, they trust you, right? You’re one of the family, yeah?”

  Mike guffawed. “Quit digging and batting those eyelashes at me, okay? Sure, I’ll show him around.” He rose to his feet. “C’mon… Chad? Let me give you the fifty cent tour.” He winked.

  Paul heaved an overly dramatic sigh of relief. “Oh, thanks. I won’t be long. I swear.” He dashed off in the direction of reception, leaving Chad standing there looking amused.

  “What a flamer,” he commented under his breath.

  Mike arched his eyebrows, back stiffening. “Oh my, apparently here’s someone who hasn’t read How to Win Friends and Influence People. That guy is your first port of call for the studio, and yet you feel it’s okay to make disparaging remarks about him?” He shook his head. “Never heard anyone say first impressions count, kid?”

  Chad scowled. “I’m not a kid.”

  Mike tilted his head. “Where you from, kid?” Like he didn’t already have a pretty good idea, judging by that accent.

  “Idaho.” Chad stuck his chin out. “You got a problem with that? And who are you, anyway? That guy makes it sound like I’m supposed to know you.”

  Mike bit back his sigh. Another porn wannabe with fifty tons of attitude. He ignored the last comment and marched past Chad, out of the room, and onto the main floor, beckoning him to follow.

  “This section contains all the different sets the studio uses.” He pointed over at the empty sets. It wouldn’t be too long before Seb, the cameraman, and Tony, the director, would arrive. “Over there is your standard doctor’s office, and beyond that is the business office setup. Then we have a couple different bedrooms, hotel room, classroom, apartment, the usual….” He came to a halt and turned to peer at Chad. “You have seen some of the ManFactory scenes before, right?”

  Chad shrugged. “Couple. To be honest, I don’t watch gay porn, ’cause I’m straight.”

  Christ, gimme strength. Yet another gay for pay. “But you think you have what it takes to be a gay porn actor?” He folded his arms across his chest.

  There was that chin jutting out again.

  “Sticking my dick in a guy’s ass can’t be that much different from sticking it in my girlfriend’s, right?” Chad grinned. “Think I’ll do just fine.”

  That cocky expression on his face made Mike want to smack it.

  “Okay, Chad, you can come with me now.” Paul appeared behind them, slightly out of breath. He gave Mike a grateful smile. “Thanks, Scott. I’ll take it from here.”

  Mike waited until Chad was out of sight and then shook his head once more. “Christ Almighty.” He watched the departing Chad, taking in the lean, slim body. With your slight looks, boy, it’s not your dick that’s gonna be seeing much use. He went back into the small admin room to find Dino Spears already there, filling in his forms. Mike gave him a warm smile. He and Dino went way back, from when Mike had first started out.

  “Hey, you got here, then.”

  Dino snorted. “Still the early bird, I see. How you doing, Scott?” He got up and gave Mike a brief but firm hug, those thick arms enveloping him. “I heard about you and Dirk breaking up. Sorry. I always thought you two would go the distance.”

  Mike’s chest tightened at the mention of his ex. He’d had the same thoughts too. Unfortunately, Dirk hadn’t. “Let’s not go there, okay?” He was in no mood to discuss his breakup. It might have been over a year since Dirk had declared he couldn’t take being the partner of a porn star anymore, but the hurt was still there. Three years they’d been together….

  “Who was that with Paul?” Dino cocked his head toward the door.

  Mike scowled. “That was Chad, an aspiring porn star.”

  “Is it too much to hope that he’s gay?” When Mike let out a derisory chuckle, Dino’s face fell. “Oh hell, another straight boy.” Then he smirked. “Hey, you might end up with him as a scene partner if he gets the job.”

  “Christ, I hope not.” Mike got really frustrated every time he had to work with one of the gay-for-pay guys. There were some really sweet guys, very professional, but when it came down to it, filming with them was a nightmare. They could only film for about two minutes before they had to stop and watch titty porn for five minutes to regain their hard-on. And meanwhile there he was, his dick getting limper by the second. “Besides, he’s not my type.”

  Dino opened his eyes wide in mock surprise, hand pressed over his heart. “You have a type? And here I was thinking if it had a pulse and a hole, you were in there.” He snickered.

  “Bitch. And yes, I do have a type, so fuck off.” For a moment, there flashed across his mind the young guy who’d appeared at the bar on Saturday night. Tall, maybe six feet, possibly more, muscles, burly—just how Mike liked them. The face was pretty too. Too bad he wasn’t cooked enough yet. That blush was a dead giveaway, not that Mike couldn’t spot a newbie after all this time. But in comparison with Chad? Yeah, give him a shy, fresh-faced gay guy over a cocky know-it-all straight guy every time.

  Mike sighed and gestured toward the door. “You know what really galls the hell outta me? That little shit could end up being the next America’s gay-boy-next-door darling. And what’d you wanna bet are the chances that he’s a homophobic little prick on set, completely unprofessional, but who gets away with it ’cause he makes the company a fortune?” He frowned. “Yeah, Chad there will be laughing all the way to the bank, with our fag dollars in his pockets.” He crooked his fingers into quotation marks.

  Dino stared at him. “Whoa… cynical much?”

  Mike snorted. “Why, d’you think I’m bitching too much about his skinny furless ass?”

  “How d’you know it’s furless?” Dino was trying not to laugh.

  “Oh, please. Gimme some credit. I’d bet my next paycheck that he’s a bare little twink.” He sighed. “One who’ll be paid more than we are, that’s for sure.”

  Dino patted Mike’s arm. “You don’t even know if they’ll give him a job yet. How ’bout you and me concentrate on doing a fucking hot scene, and show Mr. Wannabe there how it’s done?” He sat down.

  Mike grinned. “Now you’re talkin’.” He sat down next to Dino and pulled out the scene notes from his clipboard. Dino did the same, scanning the sheet.

  “Okay, so we’re doing a guy comforting his best friend.” He grinned. “Ooh, I’m the straight best friend, and I’m having doubts about marrying my girlfriend.” The grin widened. “And I’m bottoming. Wow, what a surprise.”

  Mike laughed. “Yeah, right. You know you love it.” Dino rarely topped, but that was how he liked it.

  Dino gave a mock grimace. “We
ll, I’d better get the ol’ butt plug if I’m gonna take your humongous dick up my ass”—he waggled his eyebrows—“unless it’s shrunk with age, old man.”

  “Oh hush.” Mike studied his notes. “How you wanna do this? I’m thinking start out on the couch, then move it to the bedroom. We could use the apartment set.”

  “Sure.” Dino put down his notes. “So maybe a couple minutes of conversation, heart-to-heart, that sort of thing. I get up to leave and you stop me, y’know, with something ’bout how you’re worried and you care about me, yeah?”

  Mike nodded. He loved working with professionals, guys who gave 100 percent and who cared about their work. “Yeah, and then we should have a moment to build tension, right? Staring at each other, me hesitant, you bewildered…. And then we kiss. Make it like a dam bursting, yeah? Lots of emotion, touching.” He’d been long enough at this game to know what he was doing. That didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna discuss it first with Tony and Seb. “Let’s see if the guys are around.”

  They got up and wandered onto the apartment set, where the cameras were already being set up. Seb greeted them with a cheerful smile, and Tony beamed. “Yay! I get to spend my morning with seasoned performers. Always prefer working with guys who know what they’re doing.”

  Mike bit back his grimace. Seasoned performers sounded like another way of saying old and past their prime. Not that he could blame Tony. Many of ManFactory’s most popular models were in their early twenties or barely legal. Sometimes it seemed that experienced guys like him and Dino were only offered scenes to make sure the whole demographic got covered.

  Tony inclined his head toward their notes. “You’ve seen what we’re doing?”

  Mike nodded, and the four of them spent the next ten minutes working the scene out, planning positions to build variety into it and discussing lighting and camera angles. Mike felt comfortable working with Dino. They had enough chemistry between them to make it a pretty hot scene, which would please Tony. Lord knew there was no shortage of porn out there. All the free stuff online and the piracy just added to the pressure. And these days there was also the lure of bareback sites. Thank God ManFactory wasn’t about to go down that route. At least Mike sincerely hoped they weren’t. Such a decision would signify a parting of the ways, as far as he was concerned.

  Wayne, the photographer, arrived. “Let’s start with the publicity photos and the cover, yeah? You two get showered, and we’ll do the naked shots first. Then you can choose your wardrobe and we’ll do the earlier shots.”

  “Sure.”

  Mike and Dino stood up, grabbed their bags, and headed for the showers. Mike quickly went through his ritual, Dino taking longer than him. By the time Dino was ready for his shower, Mike was already under the jets, working on his erection. Not that it needed much effort. He hadn’t jerked off for a couple of days, knowing it made for a much better cum shot. Watching Dino’s lean body and nicely toned arms and legs, the water sluicing down over his tanned flesh, made things that much easier too. He smiled at the sight of a fat black silicone plug in Dino’s ass. Apparently he’d been serious.

  “Looking good there, Dino.” He gazed in appreciation at his scene partner while he stroked his dick, things firming up nicely. Dino was about his age but slighter.

  He flexed for Mike, grinning, and then grabbed his cock around the base and waved it at him. Mike laughed.

  “You still waxing your ass? ’Cause you know how much I love munching on a furry butt.”

  Dino chuckled. He turned his back to Mike, bent over, and spread his cheeks, revealing the light dusting of hair around his hole, visible beyond the butt plug. “That do ya?” He glanced over his shoulder at Mike, eyes sparkling.

  Mike couldn’t resist. He moved closer and ran his fingers through Dino’s crease, stroking lower to cup his balls. Dino shuddered. “Like that?” He leaned in closer and brought his lips to Dino’s ear. “Imagine how it’s gonna feel when it’s my tongue there, my fingers in your hole… my dick.”

  There was no missing the full-body shiver that rippled through Dino in spite of the warm water. “Fuck, Scott….” His voice quavered. Dino straightened and turned, moving as if to take things up a notch. Mike stopped him.

  “Save it for the scene, yeah?” he said huskily.

  Dino nodded and flipped off the shower, Mike doing likewise. They toweled off swiftly and then walked onto the set in robes, carrying their bags to where Wayne awaited them. They went through the ritual of holding up their ID next to their faces while Wayne took high-definition photos of them, their birth dates clearly legible on the camera screen. Then it was onto the couch, where he photographed them in various positions. Finally they ended up posing naked on the bed in some of the positions they’d discussed. All through it, Mike was as hard as a rock, Dino too. They knew the drill.

  “Okay, I’m done for now.” Wayne smiled at them both. “Right, guys, get yourselves dressed, and we can take the rest of the shots on the couch.”

  Mike and Dino entered the large room that served as the costume department, its walls lined with rack after rack of clothing. Then there were the boots and other footwear, along with various props. Dino dressed casually in a shirt, jeans, and leather jacket, while Mike opted for pants and a shirt. When they emerged from the room, the set was already lit, and a couple of cameras were in position. Wayne took a few shots of them on the couch and standing, before announcing he was finished.

  Tony clapped his hands together. “Okay, boys, let’s do this.”

  And then it was down to business.

  Mike and Dino went through their opening scene, and Mike was delighted with that first kiss. They got the passion just right, if Tony’s enthusiastic thumbs-up and vigorous nodding was anything to go by. Dino played it perfectly, presenting a very believable picture of someone discovering for the first time how damn good sex between two guys could be. By the time Mike’s pants came off, his cock was still rigid, leaking precome.

  They took a couple of breaks, one when they finished the oral scene and another when Mike had finished rimming Dino. It was great to be able to do those first sections in one take. With some companies, filming a thirty-minute scene could take an entire day. They came back to the bed from their break and got into the penetration scene, Dino on hands and knees, ass tilted. Mike gloved up and slowly slid into his scene partner. He let out a low moan.

  “Fuck, Dino. I don’t know about that butt plug. You’re so fucking tight.”

  Dino twisted to glance at him over his shoulder, grinning. “You complaining?” He tightened his muscles around Mike’s dick with an evil chuckle.

  Mike shook his head. “Oh, you are so gonna get pounded for that.”

  Dino’s eyes twinkled. “Bring it on. You know I love it rough.”

  Tony clapped his hands. “Okay, you two. Let’s take that again from the top, yeah?”

  Mike nodded, pulling out, only to repeat the penetration, keeping the movement slow at first, letting it go on for a minute or so before he began nailing Dino’s ass, on a mission. All trace of humor vanished as Dino groaned, head dropping to the bed, pushing back onto Mike’s cock. They had a short break when they changed position to lie on their sides, Mike sliding into Dino from behind, his leg hoisted into the air.

  After so many years doing porn, Mike was more than capable of controlling his orgasms, able to come at will. So it was something of a surprise when he felt his climax beginning to boil. He signaled to Tony. “Getting real close here.” He pulled free of Dino’s body, taking several deep breaths.

  “We talking an early cum shot?” Tony demanded. Mike nodded. “Okay, get into your final position. Dino, on your back, yeah, with Scott straddling your chest for a facial.”

  Dino stretched out, and Mike got into position, pulling off the condom. “Gonna come,” he gasped out, jerking his cock with firm tugs. Seconds later Dino’s lips, chin, and cheeks were spattered with spunk, narrowly missing going into his eye. When Mike had squeezed out the last drop,
Dino grinned and craned his neck to lap the head of Mike’s dick, cleaning it with his tongue. Mike shuddered, his body trembling as he was jolted by aftershocks.

  “Nice, very nice,” Tony commented.

  Dino ignored him, sucking the now sensitive head deeper, making Mike shiver.

  Tony arched his eyebrows. “When you two have quite finished, we’ll carry on, shall we?”

  Mike chuckled, as did Dino, his mouth still full of cock.

  “I don’t think Dino’s had enough.”

  Tony snorted. “Well, thank God we’ve got that cum shot in the can, just in case.” He regarded the two men on the bed. “Having said that, you should have no problems getting it up again, not with Dino’s talented mouth as incentive.” He grinned, and the two cameramen laughed. Dino had quite the reputation as an excellent little cocksucker.

  Mike laced his hands behind his head. “Talk amongst yourselves, boys,” he joked. “This might take a while.” He gave them a broad grin, and Dino chuckled around his dick before swallowing him to the root. Mike grunted and thrust into that hot, wet furnace.

  He fucking loved his job.

  Chapter Three

  “HEY, YOU.”

  Tommy glanced up to find Carla Brunell standing by his table, tray in hand, laden with a bottle of water, an apple, a small container of pasta salad, and a tuna sandwich.

  He gave her a brief smile. “Wondered where you’d got to.” He took a long drink of his own water.

  Carla slid into the empty chair facing him and deposited her tray in front of her. She dropped her bag onto the floor and sagged as she broke the seal on her water bottle. “Is it just me, or was that organic chemistry class as boring as a cold pile of dog shit?”