Newly Exposed (21 page)

Slowly wearing me down, she looked up at me through her eyelashes with a look of devastation. She was so beautiful, so sweet, it was hard to stay mad at her.
 

“Um, Zia called me this morning. She wants to do an erotic shoot with you rather than the normal one she originally set up.”

Disappointment washed over me from Solo actually pulling me out of the gym to talk about work rather than what happened between us last night. I thought she was going to apologize. Even though what Zia was asking was not my cup of tea, I really didn’t care, and I needed the money.
 

“That’s fine,” I said, as I started to walk past Solo and back into the gym.
 

“Wait,” she grabbed my arm. “Adam, you know what that means, right?”

“Yes and whatever, I don’t care.”

“But…”

“Listen, Solo,” I ran my hand through my hair and placed my hat back on my head. “Right about now, I would do anything for money, so if that means showing off my body, then so be it. I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big boy. I can make my own decisions.”

She nodded her head, so I turned around again. She called my name out, and instead of turning around to face her one last time, I stood rigid and waited for her to speak.
 

“I’m so sorry about last night,” she said with deep regret in her voice.

I nodded my head and then pushed through the gym door. She should have apologized first and foremost in person, then talked to me about work, but the second thought apology wasn’t working for me. I may be acting like a whiny bitch, but I knew what I wanted and what I deserved. I wanted a woman who wanted to be with me and wasn’t ashamed by it. Unfortunately, even though I was falling for her, Solo didn’t fit that description.
 

I climbed back up on the treadmill and started running to loosen my legs and arms up. My phone was on the shelf of the treadmill and it lit up with another text message from Solo.
 

I looked around and noticed all the guys were busy with their own warm ups, not paying any attention to me, so I straddled the conveyor belt and pulled open the message Solo sent me.
 

Solo: I know you’re mad at me and rightfully so. I deserve the cold shoulder you’re giving me. I should not hide the fact that we have some amazing and kind of a once-in-a-lifetime connection. I don’t want you to think I’m ashamed of you, because I’m not. I’m just not good at this, at having a guy in my life, so I hope you forgive me, because there is nothing more I want to do than to get to know you even better, Adam. I’m sorry.

Shit. I adjusted my hat on my head, put my phone back on the shelf, and started running again. The girl knew how to apologize, and what was even greater about her was that she had no problem apologizing for being wrong. It wasn’t very often you ran into someone who could straight up take blame for something that happened.
 

“You ready, baby face?” Ty called over to me. I was so lost in thought that I forgot what I was even doing in the gym until Ty so kindly reminded me.
 

I stopped the treadmill and nodded my head. I grabbed a towel and walked over to the guys, who were all standing around a bench press set, getting ready for the game to begin, also known as family bonding. So fucking weird.
 

“Let’s start off with my favorite bench press. Close grip bench press, you familiar?” Ty asked me.
 

“It’s not my first time in a fucking gym,” I joked.
 

“Well, by the look of your pecs, it seems like it is,” Ty laughed to himself.
 

“Yes, well try to not skip leg day, bro. Calf muscles need love too.”

Ty’s face contorted into a sneer as he said, “Fuck you,” and started loading weights onto the bar. All the other guys laughed and poked him, telling him that maybe he should just focus on calf raises from now on.
 

As Ty was loading up the bench press, I looked around at all the guys and noticed they really were all in good shape. I fit in with them on that aspect. We had a love for fitness and being healthy, something I’ll always have my dad to thank for, who would put me through fun Army drills when he was home. Those were moments with my father I would never forget; they were precious to me.
 

“Fuck stick, it’s your turn,” Ty called out to me, rudely interrupting my thoughts.
 

Slowly, I was really starting to hate Ty. He wasn’t a nice guy and, frankly, he seemed like a total douche.
 

“Who hit it?” I asked looking around.
 

Ty and Levi held up their hands, but the rest of the guys shook their heads. I looked over at the weight and grimaced. I had my work cut out for me, but hell if I was going to let Ty get the best of me. Call me stubborn, but given my fight with Solo and the fact that Ty thought he was the epitome of the fucking male form, I was going to teach the boy a lesson, even if it was going to kill me.
 

***

“Seriously, dude, I would have paid a million bucks to see you rip a blumpkin out of Ty with calf raises. That was the best fucking thing I’ve seen all year.”

I laughed as we walked into the offices of Teeg Model Management. I had a photo shoot that I didn’t really want to think about because of the fact that it was considered an erotic one, and I had no clue what that meant, so the light conversation with Scout was helping me forget about my next task at hand.
 

“The guy runs his mouth too much, so I had to teach him a lesson. I don’t care that I didn’t win; I just cared that he didn’t. Forget the fact that I will be unable to move for the next couple of days just from keeping up with him.”

“Yeah, Levi is pretty much impossible to beat.”

“The man is like a machine. What’s his deal? I saw him barely crack a smile today.”

“Not sure, just know he had a lot of shit that went down in his past. He really keeps to himself. I’ve had a few small conversations with him, and from what I’ve learned, he’s pretty awesome. He spends his spare time being a big brother for underprivileged kids down in the city.”

I nodded my head and thought about how I needed to give back like Levi, and hopefully I would get that chance once I got the rest of my life situated. Being a big brother sounded like fun; I would actually like that. I made a mental note to connect with Levi later.
 

I stopped and looked around the studio. There was nothing set up and it made me nervous. The last couple of times I was here, there was at least some kind of photo shoot set up, but there was nothing.
 

“You nervous?” Scout clapped me on the back.
 

“Slightly,” I shifted in place. “Where do I go?”

“Solo is in the back, probably prepping everything. You can go back there. I’m headed off to meet Nolly. I got a new phone today. It’s about damn time, mine’s been cracked for weeks now. I wasn’t sure if my selfies were coming out good or not until I posted them.”

I shook my head and laughed. “I need to start posting more.”

“Yeah, you do. It’s part of your responsibility, man. You don’t want to be reamed by Meryl or Zia about social media. Believe me, it’s not pretty.”

I nodded and then said, “How long are you staying?”

“Just picking up my phone. Can you catch a ride with Solo or Nolly?”

The thought of riding in a car with Solo right now was not ideal, but I wasn’t about to make Scout stay through my shoot because I was too much of a puss bag to be in the same vehicle as Solo. Plus, I really didn’t want him anywhere near my photo shoot, especially since it was labeled as an erotic one.
 

“Yeah, I’ll catch you later.”

“Hey,” Scout stopped me by gripping my shoulder. “This is going to sound really lame, but I want to tell you that you’re a perfect fit here. You make things light with all the testosterone swarming the halls of our house. It’s awesome, so whatever is going on between you and Solo, don’t let it get to you.”

“Nothing is going on…”

Scout held up his hand. “Please don’t bullshit me, Adam. The minute Solo walked into the gym this morning, I could see it all over your face. I like Solo a lot, but she’s skittish, man. I want to say don’t waste your time.”

“I’m beginning to see that,” I mumbled. I pushed Scout in a friendly manner and said, “I’ll catch you later, man.”

“Good luck,” Scout wiggled his eyebrows and took off toward the office space.
 

I took a deep breath and walked out back, where I heard running water and saw lights already shining even though the sun was still shining brightly in the sky. Once I turned the corner, I saw a running waterfall up against some man-made rock formation and tropical plants, as if someone brought a slice of Hawaii into the back of Teeg Model Management.
 

“You mother fucker, just fucking cooperate.”

I turned to see Solo with her back to me, pulling on a giant bin that seemed to be stuck. Her little backside shimmied as she tried to loosen the bin. She was so damn cute, and it killed me to admit it.
 

“Need some help?” I asked, trying to keep my distance.

Solo stood straight up from my voice and turned around. Her hands stayed at her sides as she looked at me with shock, as if talking to her was against my religion.
 

“Um, hi. I can handle it. You might want to go get ready. Zia doesn’t like waiting on models.”

“Don’t be stubborn; let me help you with the bin, which will take two seconds, and then I’ll go get ready.” I could be mad at her, but I wasn’t an ass.
 

“Thank you,” she said, looking down. “I just need the bin over there by the TV monitor.”

“Easy enough.”

I walked over to the bin and assessed that it was stuck between one of the fake rocks and the wall, so I shimmied it a little while lifting and plucked it from its stuck position and then set it where she wanted it.
 

“Where do I get dressed?”

Solo looked at me with mouth wide open and then shook her head in disbelief and pointed to a partition.
 

“Briefs are in there. Once you get changed, I’ll give you a run through.”

Nodding, I walked behind the partition and found a pair of light grey briefs that were barely going to contain my junk. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. This was my new normal, better get the fuck used to it.
 

I shucked my clothes, folded them, and placed them on a chair. I grabbed the briefs and pulled them up. They sat below the V of my hips and danced awfully close with my manhood. I knew my butt crack was showing; there was no doubt about it. From the looks of it, I was going to be showing some skin.
 

I took another deep breath and walked out of the partition and found Solo sitting in a chair, looking down at her iPad. The moment her eyes met mine, I felt completely exposed. Her eyes glanced down my body and I saw the slow gulp that worked up her throat. I felt the same fucking way.
 

She cleared her throat and said, “Uh, if you want to come over here, I’ll show you what Zia is looking for from you today.”

I walked over to her and leaned over her shoulder to take a look at the pictures Solo had lined up for me to study. The scent of her shampoo drifted through my nose as I leaned over her. The scent hit my very core and made me yearn for her. I’ve never wanted someone so bad in my life, and it killed me that she didn’t want me just as much.
 

“These are some photos from a shoot that took place earlier this spring. They’re for an underwear company, but the company turned them down because they were looking for something sexier to go in their portfolio. It’s an Italian-based company, so their marketing is slightly different than ours. Partial nudity isn’t necessarily frowned upon.”

Partial nudity?
 

As she zipped through the photos, I could feel my body start to heat up with embarrassment at what I was about to get myself into. The model was dripping in water and you could practically see his junk through the underwear.
 

“These weren’t sexy enough?” I squeaked out, trying to show that I was unaffected, but there was no use. I was terrified.
 

“Not quite.” Solo turned in her chair and looked up at me. “Zia is going to want you, um, semi-erect and wet, I mean…very wet.”

“Semi-erect?” I felt my eyes bulge out of their sockets.

“Yes, I told you this was going to be hard…”

“It’s fine.” I stood up and started pacing the small space, while shaking my arms out as if I was preparing for a fight.
 

I could do this, right? All I had to do was stand in front of Zia and Solo with my dick at half-mast and act like it didn’t affect me. Easy.

“How am I supposed to get semi-erect?” I asked, realizing that I was probably going to have to pull on my junk in front of the ladies.
 

I looked up at Solo, whose face went red. “Either Zia or I will, um, help you with that.”