Page 12 of Bobby Green

“Awesome!” Digger sighed then, his shoulders drooping. “Okay—I guess that’s all—”

“No, wait!” John frowned like he was thinking. “No, Digger, no. Actually, if you can wait out with Kelsey for a minute, let me talk to Vern here. If he’s up for an audition, I may need a light man. I can pay you.”

Digger brightened. “Very cool. Something to do today! I’m down!” He practically skipped out of the office, and Vern watched him go, utterly bemused.

“Digger,” he said philosophically.

“Yeah.” Dex shrugged gamely and stood up, offering John the desk chair. “I’m glad you came in, Vern. Talk to John here, and hopefully I’ll see you around.”

John accepted the offer and sank into the desk chair. “Thanks, Dex. Give Tommy my best.”

He turned to Vern and smiled slightly. “So, now you’ve met Dex, and you’ve met Kelsey and—”

“And Kane and Digger,” Vern supplied.

“Good!” John gave a fond glance out the window at Digger. “Digger’s a good guy. Not bright—but a real good heart.” John looked up at the group photo. “They’re all good guys,” he said with decision. “Or most of them.” A brief scowl, and Vern wondered who up there John didn’t like. “The thing is, we try to make this a good place to work.” A blink and a sudden realization. “You, uh,doknow what we do here, right?”

Well, if he’d had any doubts before he’d walked in, he sure didn’tnow. “Porn?”

John nodded. “Wejustadded girls to the mix, so we’re not sure how profitable it will be. Now, people think porn is easy and great—it’s just fucking for the camera, right? Yay spiffy! Let’s fuck! But there’s more to it than that. You up for the spiel?”

Vern’s turn to nod. “Hit me.”

“Okay, first of all, you’ve got to get it up and keep it up, and you’ve got to do it while we’ve got a camera guy, a light guy, and someone to run the board. Sometimes we can do it with just one guy, but not if we want it to look great, and we want to make great porn. You’ve got to take care of your body—work out, keep clean, don’t eat crap all the time—and you’ve got to have your mind in your work. We’re selling fantasy, so if you can’t fuck while you’ve got your body stretched one way and your dick in someone you met five minutes ago, you should probably rethink this, right?”

Oh. He hadn’t thought of that. “I, uh—I’ll be honest. I’m not sure. I think I could do it, but guys talk all the time. My, uh… you know. Little Vern—”

“Well, we hope he’s not that little,” John said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah—that guy. Anyway, he doesn’t seem to actually give a shit who’s doing what. If sex is on, he’s on. So I think I could do this.”

John bobbed his head, longish ginger hair flopping as he did so. Vern decided he liked John. He wasn’t as warm as Dex, but he was… well, dreamy. Involved, but dreamy. Vern could handle that. John was the kid who had other things to do in school besides school.

“Okay—good,” John was saying. “Now, we usually have a solo audition, followed by testing.”

“Like, uh, a written exam?” Vern asked, confused, and John laughed like a little kid.

“HIV testing, you precious little pumpkin, you. The testing is a big deal. You’re tested three days before, you’re tested on set, you’re tested three days after. You sign a contract that says no sex—alone or with a friend—three days before the shoot. Part of that is to make sure the tests are good. Part of that is to make sure you’ve got plenty to shoot, if you know what I mean. But in a month I want all my shoots filmed bareback, girls or boys, and we want to make sure everybody’s safe.”

Vern blinked and tried to tamp down on the roiling in his stomach. He’d never thought of testing when he was sucking Keith Gilmore’s cock. It probably wouldn’t matter. If he and Keith were only sucking each other, that was fine. But Keith didn’t think of it as sex. What if he’d been “not” having not-sex with a thousand other guys?

“That’s fair,” he said.

John tapped his pen affirmatively. “A clean boy is a happy boy. Now, about girls or boys—I’m not going to ask who you like best. I’m not even going to ask about your history, but you can tell me if you feel like it. It makes good copy. I’m just going to put it out on the table that guys pay more and ask you if you’re willing. And I’m not going to do it now. First let’s see if you can get it up and make it work in front of me and Reg—goddammit,Digger—and then we’ll go from there.”

Vern swallowed. “Right now?” he asked, thinkingWait, I’m going to go masturbate in front of strangers?

John shot him a look as level as it was unwavering, and Vern realized this was where shit got real. “You can do it in a room or a courtyard. Is that going to be a problem?”

A vision flashed behind Vern’s eyes of being naked in the sun, with his fist around his cock, as he showed this pragmatic dreamer and his sweet, more mortal buddy exactly what it was he could do.

He’d be the center of their attention. He’d be the star of the show.

Unsurprisingly, the vision made him hard.

“Outside would be fine,” he said without blinking.

John grinned. “Solid.”