Page 48 of For the Fans

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he repeats with conviction, and I roll my eyes.

“Okay, sorry.Hook-up friend… Whatever. Same thing.”

“No. Also false.” Avi scoots off the bed. “We’ve never hooked up before. This is just one of Frankie’s elaborate schemes she’s concocted to make money. And while I have to give it to her…” He peeks at Frankie and faux claps. “Brava. You tried. And I hate to say I told you so, but… Oh, wait. No… Ilovesaying it. I freakingtold you so!There’s absolutely no way this asshole would ever evenentertainthe idea of a threesome where I’m one-third, just like I really have no desire to witness whatever his idea of hooking up is.”

I’m utterly stunned right now. There’s so much to unpack in this situation, my head is wobbling.

“Fine, Avi…” Frankie rasps petulantly. “You made your point. I just figured if there’s anyone we know who needs fast cash…”

“What do you mean,fast cash?” I ask with bewilderment taking over my tone. “What kind of money would be involved in having a threesome with you and my idiot stepbrother??”

“Um, fuck you very much,” Avi grunts.

“Well, I’d be recording the video for my OnlyFans,” Frankie explains calmly. “Selling it to viewers at a price… So naturally, I’d split the profits with mycollaborators.” She slopes her head.

My eyes shift to Avi once more. “Is that why you were going along with this? For the money?”

He nods, losing a bit of the animosity as his chin drops and he stares at the floor. “I need to come up with like ten grand to stay in school.”

The mood quickly shifts to one much more serious, the weight of Avi’s and my situation clearly sitting heavily on both of our shoulders.

But still, I have to scoff. Ihaveto. “There is no way in hell I would—”

“Yea.” Avi cuts me off, squinting at my face. “We heard you the first time.”

“Hey.” Frankie grabs Avi’s hand and squeezes it. Then she shoots me a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry about it. It was just a stupid idea. Forget I said anything.”

Shaking my head, I turn toward the door, ready to leave the dumb-as-fuck proposal in this room and never look back. But something stops me.

I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m cruising down the pretty-drunk expressway, or the insecurities from my loss yesterday, or if I’m really justthatfucking terrified of losing everything I’ve been working towards and being forced to move back home…

But as I stand, paused in front of the door, my mouth can’t stop from asking quietly, “How much do you think we would make…?” Peeking at Frankie over my shoulder, I add, “Hypothetically, of course.”

Her lips twitch. “Hypothetically…? Probably at least two grand each, maybe more.”

My lashes flutter in a rapid blinking that must not be disguising the dollar signs in my eyes, because she steps over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. “And that’s just the beginning.”

I turn around slowly, my hesitations being slowly swallowed up as I visualize that glorious much-neededmoney.

“What does that mean?” I ask Frankie, forcing myself not to look at Avi. I refuse to see whatever way he’s reacting to the fact that a teeny, weeny sliver of me is actually considering this.

“The more I promote it, the more people pay for it.” Frankie shrugs.

I shake my head in protest. “I really don’t even see how I could…”

My eyes find Avi, even though I don’t want to. He’s just standing there, looking particularly shocked at how this conversation is progressing.

“I’m not into dudes,” I growl at him, and he huffs.

“Yea, asshole, neither am I.” He folds his arms over his chest. “Especially not ones like you.”

I step closer to him. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean??”

“Alright, alright, Jesus!” Frankie steps between us again. “Seriously, I’m loving the tension here, but you two know you can have a threesome without actually hooking up witheach other, right?”

“This is too fucking weird.” I shake my head, backing off while I fist my hair. “He’s my fuckingstepbrother. I just don’t see how it could work…”

“Well, no one’s forcing you, superstar,” Avi hums. “It’s fine. Just go back to your boring old sex life with cookie cutter cheerleaders, and we’ll find someone who’s adventurous enough to help us make bank.”