My skin went pale as I did remember. In fact, that was how Sydney had talked me into the second, more sexual shoot, claiming at first he wanted more photos from the first set before talking me into so much more. “You bastard.”
“That’s what they keep telling me,” he said with a grin. “You’ve got a week, Alix. Fifty thousand, cash. You can bring it by my apartment, you remember where it is. Or else the first person I send the photos to is your stepfather. I’m sure the man who’s angling for Humanitarian of the Year would love to see his lovely stepdaughter with my cock in her mouth. Hell, if he doesn’t have a heart attack, he may just start jacking off over them.”
I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I spat in his face. Syd jerked his head back before smiling, wiping the mess off his cheek. “For that, the price is sixty thousand,” he said before backhanded slapping me. My head rocked to the side and bounced off the wall, and my control totally broke, tears falling down my face in shame. “A week, Alix. Now get the fuck outta here before my price goes up even more.”
I fled the studio, running to my car and firing it up, for the first time in a long time cursing that I’d just bought a new BMW less than a month prior. It was just a sign of my predicament. You see, while modeling paid me good money, I lived in California, which meant that even a low six-figure salary can disappear like morning fog in the sun. I wasn’t in the category of the Victoria’s Secret Angels yet, but I was making more than most doctors, and in the past year had cleared about a quarter million dollars after taxes. Knowing that my modeling career wouldn’t last forever, I had taken most of it and sunk it into investment vehicles, including real estate and long term Treasury bills. So while I could get between five and twenty thousand dollars for an appearance, I lived a much humbler lifestyle. It was only after the UFC contract had come in, with its one-time huge bump of fifty thousand dollars, that I’d traded in my old Honda for the BMW.
This meant that, after my agency took their cut, and I got the money for this most recent photo shoot, I’d have just over eight thousand dollars in the bank. Nowhere near enough to pay Sydney, who I knew would only demand more. Hell, he had even put in an implied threat to demand to fuck me in the future. But what was I supposed to do?
Chapter 4
Kade
I love driving my Lexus. Certainly, it’s not the most sporty car on the road, and there are quite a few of my contemporaries who drop twice the money I do to get Mercedes roadsters, Porsches and other high-end sports cars.
But why? My Lexus LS has more than enough horsepower to do anything I want to do on the road, and I don’t plan on taking the thing onto a track. Best of all, I could cruise all day in my LS and still feel pretty fresh at sunset. Also, it was a bit deceptive in that while it looked like a big four-door sedan, it handled well, and best of all I could get all the way to Los Angeles on only two tanks of gas.
I took my time, leaving Portland and skipping Interstate 5 to cut over to the coastline. I’ve always loved the ocean, and got to spend hours cruising down US Highway 101 all the way to northern California, where it joined up with the famous Pacific Coast Highway and continued south. I kept to the 101 until San Francisco, where I stopped for the night before continuing on in the morning using just the PCH. By Friday breakfast time, I was on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and had to fight my way through standard LA traffic to Orange County. My dad’s new house was in Laguna Beach, and while I didn’t get there often, he still kept a bedroom just for me. With six bedrooms in the house, it wasn’t like he was hurting for the space, and it did give me a sense of comfort, even if some of it was a bit dated now. I mean, the room still had a poster of Roy Jones, Jr. on the wall, along with one of Tom Brady. At least Brady was still winning games, but it certainly gave the room a teenage guy feel.
“Hey, is anyone home?” I yelled when I walked in the front door. “I know you both can’t be at work, it’s your anniversary weekend!”
“Kade!” I heard from the back, and I got to see Layla come out. Tall like her daughter, Layla was forty-eight, ten years younger than Dad. I’d worried about that at first until I saw how they were together and knew that Layla truly loved my father. She was very beautiful for her age and had proven herself a wonderful match for Dad. “I didn’t expect you for another couple of hours. Derek’s actually not home yet.”