Title: Someone to Watch Over Me
Author: Libby Simone
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 01/11/2022
Length: 63900
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, crime, gay, pansexual, BDSM, porn star, private detective, film set, porn industry, voyeurism, blackmail
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Description
Arthur Adams takes his job seriously, keeping good guys safe and investigating bad guys. When his company is hired to secure the set for a film crew, the job seems straightforward, if not simple. Of course, the films are adult and graphic, so the situation can get hard fast. And it does.
Kit is an adult film star and an anomaly: he’s educated, experienced, and in the business for the fun of it. The seedy realities of his world reveal themselves, however, as his ex’s behavior grows more threatening. Unfortunately, the ex is wealthy and well connected in addition to being a stalker.
As Arthur watches Kit more closely, he finds it more difficult to look away.
The threats against the production become increasingly worrisome as Arthur’s team digs into the background of a rival studio, and they become personal as he unpeels Kit’s layers. As the case uncovers abusers, traffickers, and would-be murderers, all of Arthur’s skills and resources will be put to the test.
Someone to Watch Over Me
Libby Simone © 2022
All Rights Reserved
Therese and her partner, Nicole, arrive first, in a sleek black SUV with dark-tinted windows.
“You’re already here?” Nicole asks. She’s statuesque, with a sharp jawline and big brown eyes.
“We need to make sure we have the upper hand this time,” Arthur explains. “I have backup with me, on top of your team.”
Therese looks him over. “I do like a man who plans ahead.”
Nicole grins, as if they’re sharing a joke at his expense.
“I’m going to need to ask a few more questions. The information you gave before wasn’t enough. We need to know more about who these people are.”
Therese’s lips press into a tight line. “Michael Ward. That’s his name. The notes have said we should cancel these films—not others, so it has to be him. Empire is our most prominent competition in the adult film industry, especially in fetish and hard-core videos, and we’re mostly focusing on those right now. We have seven channels on our site; they have eight. We work with about twenty primary talents, five or so being our marquee performers—they have fifteen. And, these two weeks, we’re filming Kit. Everybody wants Kit, especially Empire. Especially Ward. Are you familiar with our videos, Arthur?”
“Uh…” Arthur clears his throat. “I don’t have a lot of time for—”
“Good. I won’t be so rude as to ask which of our channels you prefer.” Therese’s face is perfectly placid. “Personally, I am a fan of kink. Latex, bondage, group fun.” Nicole slips her arm around Therese’s waist and squeezes. “You’d find those on our primary fetish channel.”
“Primary fetish channel?” Arthur asks. He refuses to reveal he knows this from the previous night’s activities.
“It’s the twenty-first century, Arthur. We provide a variety of content. Our other fetish channel is designed to look amateur. Rough sex, more public scenes. It gets…messy.”
“Isn’t porn always messy?”
“No. We have our romance channel, which is all very artistic and polished. Rather vanilla for my taste, lots of soft lighting. Some studios still call these female-audience videos.” She scoffs. “Clearly, they don’t know many women.”
“What are the other channels?”
“We do soft-core films that are longer and more cinematic, lesbian-focused and gay-focused channels—which does not mean our other channels lack LGBT content—and finally a catchall covering anything left over.”
“Which includes quite a bit, I’m guessing.”
“Oh, so you do know something about the business.”
“I know if someone has thought of it, it’s probably been done. That’s one of those rules of the internet. The videos you’re making here—which channel will they be?”
“A variety. Don’t worry. I’ll get you a pass for all of them.”
“That’s…that’s not…”
“Don’t hurt yourself, big guy. It’s no problem. Anyway, Empire had a strong presence in the early days of the web. For a lot of consumers, they’re a known brand. We, however, have better talent. Like Kit.”
“Is he…famous…or something?”
Therese hums, sniffing out a prim laugh. “Yeah. You might say that. You didn’t notice?”
“Notice what?”
“He’s impossible to resist. It’s because he likes it, you know. Performing. He has a lot of options, and he chooses to do this.”
“Is that what it is?”
Nicole nods. “Mm-hmm. He likes being watched.” She lifts an eyebrow at him, smirks, and leads Therese away to get to work.
“I’m going to need to ask more questions,” Arthur calls after them. “I need to know more than your business model if I’m going to have a full security plan.”
Therese just waves her fingers at him and walks into the warehouse.
“Is she the porn star?” Jamie asks in his ear.
“No. She owns the company, and her partner is some sort of assistant or producer.”
“Damn. If the boss looks like she does, what does the actor look like?”
“Actor?”
“Actor, actress, doesn’t have to fit a binary.”
“I meant it isn’t actual acting. They’re fucking. It isn’t, like, Waiting for Godot.”
“For that long? In front of a camera? I’d call it acting. I’ve seen some things, man; there was no way they were comfortable, and they always look like they like it a lot. Besides, so you know, women don’t actually like to have their clits slapped the way they do in some of those videos. They’re sensitive.”
“Jesus, fuck, Jamie. Why would anyone slap someone’s clit? Did you do that? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
Jamie makes a point of laughing with the mic on, so his baritone rings in Arthur’s ear.
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Libby Simone lives in Kansas City, where she learns for a living and writes for fun. When she isn’t designing research or napping, she can be found taking long walks, people watching, and dreaming up different worlds.
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