Riley took another sip of his beer, dragging the reveal out, and I considered how hard I’d have to punch if I wanted to break through the barrel and hit him right in the stomach the same way he’d done to me by uttering Mads’ stage name.
“If you asked me to make a list of my top five favorite porn stars, I’d probably give you Lexi Grey’s name five times.” His gaze drifted off as he thought about Abbie. “She’s so fucking hot.”
I was grateful for the barrel now. Twenty bucks said he was sporting a boner under it.
His focus snapped back to me. “I watch anything of her I can find.” His smug smile made my stomach turn. “I wish you could have seen my face when I recognized it was Madison in the shower with Lexie, and then you—you fucking legend—walked in.”
Well . . . this was a goddamn disaster.
My mind raced into damage control, and I struggled to catch my breath. “Who else have you told?”
I wasn’t embarrassed that he knew I was working in adult film, but it did make me uncomfortable to think he’d watched any of my scenes. Strangers enjoying my work was kind of hot, but someone I knew? Definitely not hot.
And he was the absolute worst person to have this information about Mads.
“No one,” he said. “Yet.”
His threat caused so much anger to flare inside me, it burned away the last of my self-control. I wrapped my hand around his neck and shoved him back against the water heater. His eyes went wide, nearly bugging out of his face, and his beer sloshed over the side of his cup, dripping down over his hand.
“What the fuck—?” he gasped.
I relaxed my grip so there wasn’t pressure in my fingers, but I held him pinned in place like that, letting him see how deadly serious I was. “No one,” I snarled. “You tell no one. Understand?”
“Dude, chill. I know you’ve got a good thing going on. I’m not going to fuck it up for you.”
We couldn’t stay like this. My aggression hadn’t gone unnoticed by some of the guys nearby, and I felt their gazes drilling into me. They sensed the threat of a fight, causing them to go on alert, readying to break it up.
So, I released Riley with a final shove and stood back, glaring at him as he straightened and rubbed his neck.
“Tell me how you did it,” he said.
“No.”
He wasn’t even listening. “How’d you get the job?”
“Drop it, Riley.”
“I will, but you gotta give me something, man. I’d kill to get into the business.” The sad thing was he looked serious. “Was there an open casting call?”
“No.”
“Then, how?”
It was clear he wasn’t going to let it go until I gave him some sort of an answer. I didn’t trust him at all, but throwing him a crumb felt safe, and it might help him keep his mouth shut about Mads. “I answered an ad.”
“Online? Which site?”
I instantly regretted saying anything. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had everything he wanted, and that was never going to happen. “This conversation is over, and we’re not having it ever again. Got it?”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I stepped forward, dominating his space.
“You utter a word, and I’ll have Elijah tell everyone you cheated. Half the frat wants you gone, and this is just the excuse they need to send you packing.”
He scowled in disbelief, and I saw his thoughts play out on his face. That can’t be true. I’m awesome. Everyone loves me.
Jesus, he was delusional.
“So, we both keep our mouths shut,” I said. “Tell me you get it.”
His eyes were dark and grudging. “I got it.”
“Great. Enjoy your summer, Riley.” I turned and walked away before he could say anything else.
The basement was fucking packed, and I wove my way through the crowd, ignoring the drunk people who bumped into me as I went. I’d come to the party to confront Riley, and now that it was done, I wanted to get the fuck out of—
“Colin!” A hand grabbed my shoulder, getting me to turn around.
Fuck my life. I stared at Jack, who wore a white bath towel around his waist, held closed by binder clips. His eyes were glazed. He was either high or drunk or both, and his idiotic smile did nothing to calm me down after my conversation with Riley.
“Glad you made it,” he said, slurring his words. “Such a shitty situation what happened. We’ve missed you around here.”
If I’d never gotten to know Mads, maybe I would have been pleased to hear him say this, but all it did was make me rage-y. Jack’s lie had powered my cruel statement, which sparked the mudslinging, so I was pissed about that. But I was even angrier about him running around on Mads.