Ron Jeremy tried to punch me.

He was furious that a newbie like me had been chosen to star in Karmen Sutra’s first boy/girl scene instead of him. One second he was yelling at me, and the next he completely lost his shit and lunged in my direction.

I barely had time to react. Before his fist could connect with my face, Ray Victory and Joey Silvera tackled him. The three of them nearly went down as Ray and Joey struggled to hold Ron back while the rest of the cast and crew stared in disbelief.

I just stood there wondering how the fuck Karmen choosing who she wanted to have sex with had somehow become my fault.

Before we get to that, I need to catch you up on what had been happening in my life.

The premiere of Getting Together went better than I ever could’ve imagined. The audience gave us a standing ovation, one critic was already calling it the best adult film of 1987, and by the afterparty, producers were pitching me movies they wanted me to star in.

Then Jim South came running over, barely able to contain himself, to tell me Vivid wanted to sign me to a five-picture deal.

Until that night, I still felt like the eighteen-year-old kid from Michigan who’d somehow ended up doing porn and couldn’t believe nobody had figured out I didn’t belong there.

That night was different.

For the first time, I felt like a porn star.

Emphasis on the star.

Nearly two weeks after the premiere, the first of my friends discovered my new profession.

It was Thursday, October 8th, around eleven-thirty at night. Annie was sound asleep after school and a shift at the coffee shop. Ashley and I were on the couch making out and only half paying attention to whatever was playing on MTV.

When the phone rang, Ashley told me not to answer it. I ignored her.

I didn’t even get a chance to say hello.

“Dude, you fucked Amber Lynn!” the voice on the other end shouted.

It was Paul, my best friend from back home.

“Hey, Paul,” I replied.

“Should I call you Mr. Mitchell or Mr. Rodz?” Paul asked, laughing.

“I’m still the same old Tommy Mitchell,” I replied.

“Are you sure?” Paul asked.

That question hit me harder than I expected. To me, Tommy Mitchell and Tommy Rodz were the same person.

At least, they were back then.

“How come you didn’t tell me you were doing porn?” Paul asked.

“It didn’t seem real,” I replied.

“Yeah,” Paul said. “It didn’t seem real to me either when I watched you fuck the girl in the schoolgirl outfit.”

“Her name is Heather Wayne,” I replied.

“Yeah, so?” Paul asked. “Does the girl you’re seeing know what you’re doing?”

Every week, I wrote Paul a letter about my new life in Los Angeles. I’d told him about Ashley, the gorgeous blonde downstairs I’d started seeing. I’d neglected to mention that Ashley was also Kelsey Lynn.

When I told him, Paul completely lost his shit. Kelsey was his second-favorite porn star, and apparently he’d recently jerked off to her Hustler centerfold.

Then he begged me to put her on the phone.

“Can you do me a favor and say hello to my best friend from back home?” I asked Ashley.

Ashley grabbed the phone.

“Hello,” Ashley said.

Paul knew almost nothing about Ashley.

Unfortunately for him, Ashley knew almost everything about Paul.

“Is the head of your penis really shaped like a giant mushroom?” Ashley asked.

Silence.

While Paul tried to recover, Ashley got on all fours on the couch. I lifted her enormous Beaver Canoe sweatshirt and discovered she had nothing on underneath.

I quickly pulled off my gym shorts and moved behind her.

“Yes, Paul, it’s okay if you play with yourself while we talk,” Ashley said as I started fucking her. “But only if you’re okay with Tommy fucking me.”

Apparently, Paul was okay with it.

“Did you jerk off when you watched Tommy fuck?” Ashley asked between increasingly heavy breaths.

Paul apparently decided silence was the safest answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ashley said.

Then, because Ashley never missed an opportunity, she added, “If you want to see me take Tommy’s onscreen cherry, go see Getting Together. I’m sure it’s playing somewhere in Detroit.”

I started laughing.

Ashley had somehow turned phone sex with my best friend into an advertisement for our movie.

“It sounds like you’re getting close,” Ashley moaned. “Tommy is too.”

She was right.

Ashley’s breathing got heavier as I continued fucking her.

“I want both of you to come together,” Ashley told us.

A few seconds later, I came inside her.

Ashley came almost simultaneously, and judging by the noises coming through the phone, so did Paul.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything.

Then Paul finally caught his breath.

“You should see the love stain on my bed,” Paul said.

“Take a picture and mail it to us,” Ashley replied. “Do you want to talk to Tommy?”

Ashley handed me the phone.

“Hey, man,” I said. “And yes, I was really fucking her.”

“Dude, she’s a keeper,” Paul replied. “And don’t make any plans for New Year’s, because I’m coming out there to party.”

We spent a few more minutes before Ashley made me hang up because we needed to go to bed so we could get up early for work. We had to be at Bill’s studio the next morning to shoot our scenes for the new Karmen Sutra movie.

I was scheduled to do a scene with Ashley, Ray Victory, and Joey Silvera while Karmen watched and masturbated. After that, Ashley was doing a lesbian aerobics scene with Karmen, Erica Boyer, Raven, and Ebony Ayes.

The only mystery was who Karmen had chosen for her first boy/girl scene.

According to Ron Jeremy, the mystery had already been solved.

He’d been telling anyone who would listen that Karmen had chosen him. Ron and I already didn’t like each other, but I had no reason to think he was lying.

As far as I knew, he was fucking Karmen.

I’d briefly met her at the Getting Together afterparty when Jim was dragging me around introducing me to practically everyone in the business. Most of those introductions blurred together.

Karmen’s didn’t.

Karmen Sutra was gorgeous. She was East Indian, about five-foot-five and 115 pounds, with a curvy 34C-24-36 figure. She had a tiny waist, full natural breasts, and wide, rounded hips that led to an incredible ass. It was big, round, and surprisingly voluptuous on someone with such a small frame. I tried not to stare at it. I failed.

But Karmen had the kind of face that could actually distract you from her body. She had warm brown skin, long, thick dark-brown hair, full lips, soft cheeks, and enormous dark-brown eyes framed by ridiculously long lashes. There was something naturally sweet about her expression, especially when she smiled.

Which made what she was famous for even more intriguing.

In her first year and a half in porn, Karmen had done solo and girl/girl scenes, but she’d never worked with a man.

Somebody was finally going to be that guy.

I just assumed it was Ron.

The next morning, Ashley and I were driving to the set when she started laughing for no apparent reason.

“What?” I asked.

“Your friend Paul,” Ashley replied. “I was just thinking about him.”

“That’s disturbing,” I said.

“Not really,” Ashley replied. “I wish I still had friends from back home.”

Back then, I never thought much about the fact that Ashley rarely talked about where she came from. I knew almost nothing about her parents, her brothers or the crazy shit she’d gotten into during high school. There wasn’t a single picture of her family or anyone from back home in her apartment.

In fact, almost everything I knew about Ashley’s life before I met her came from what she’d told me when I gave her a ride to a set and somehow ended up making my first porn movie.

We drove another couple of miles before Ashley looked over at me.

“So, are you nervous?” Ashley asked.

“About what?” I replied.

“Karmen,” Ashley said.

“Why would I be nervous about Karmen?” I asked.

Ashley stared at me. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Apparently not,” I replied.

“Every guy in the business wants to be her first,” Ashley said. “Every producer wants to shoot it. Whoever she picked is going to be a pretty big fucking deal.”

That hadn’t occurred to me.

“I thought she was fucking Ron,” I said.

Ashley made a face.

“What?” I asked.

“Maybe Ron should stop telling everybody things nobody actually told Ron,” Ashley replied.

“What do you know?” I asked.

“I know Ron Jeremy,” Ashley replied.

“So do I,” I replied.

“No,” Ashley said. “You’ve met Ron Jeremy. There’s a difference.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Did Karmen tell you who she picked?” I asked.

“No,” Ashley replied.

The answer came quickly enough that I looked at her.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

“I answered your question,” Ashley replied.

That wasn’t exactly the same thing.

Ashley reached over and put her hand on my thigh.

“Just enjoy your day, Tommy,” Ashley said.

“Why?”

“Because I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy it,” Ashley replied.

“Of course I’m going to enjoy it,” I said. “I’m fucking you.”

Ashley smiled innocently.

I should’ve known right then that she knew something I didn’t.

As soon as we arrived at Centerfolds, Ashley transformed into Kelsey. It was almost like they were two separate people. Ashley was quiet and surprisingly private. Kelsey was a nymphomaniac who never seemed satisfied. She believed the Buzzcocks’ 1977 song “Orgasm Addict” was somehow written about her.

She once told me that Debbie and I were the only two people in the business who knew her real name. At the time, I believed her. Ashley wasn’t something she shared with people.

At the time, I thought it was just her way of keeping her personal life separate from her career.

The set had been dressed to look like a gym. Erica Boyer, Ray Victory and Raven were standing around shooting the shit. Joey Silvera was off by himself reading a book while Ebony Ayes smoked a cigarette nearby.

Kelsey and I had barely made it through the door when I spotted Ron Jeremy walking across the studio toward Karmen.

One of the crew guys stopped him and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Congratulations, Ron,” the crew guy said.

“Thank you,” Ron replied.

“Big day,” the crew guy said.

“Big day for Karmen,” Ron replied with a smile.

A second crew member caught him a few steps later.

“Have fun today, Hedgehog,” the second crew member said.

“You know I will,” Ron replied.

Everybody called Ron the Hedgehog, a nickname Bill Margold had supposedly given him years earlier after Ron came out of a hot shower with his pink skin and body hair sticking straight up. Once you saw Ron naked, the name made a lot of fucking sense.

Apparently, Ron had told enough people that Karmen chose him that everybody had started treating it like a fact.

Ron finally reached Karmen on the other side of the studio. He leaned down and said something that made her laugh, then moved behind her and started massaging her shoulders.

He looked pretty fucking pleased with himself.

Ron was thirty-four, short and compact, with a little belly and enough body hair to make the Hedgehog nickname even more appropriate. His huge nose, thick black mustache and dark curly hair made him impossible to miss.

He wasn’t particularly handsome, especially compared to someone like Jamie Gillis, but Ron carried himself like he was the most interesting person in every room he entered.

And Jesus Christ, could he talk.

Ron could turn a question about the bathroom into a twenty-minute story involving three celebrities, two porn stars, and somebody he supposedly knew at Paramount. The annoying thing was that half the time, the stories were true.

I might’ve found him entertaining if I hadn’t already thought he was an asshole.

A few minutes later, Karmen noticed me from across the studio and smiled.

Ron was still behind her, rubbing her shoulders. He followed her eyes until he saw me.

“Tommy,” Ron called. “Come here for a second.”

I walked over. Ron stopped massaging Karmen and held out his hand.

“Listen, I owe you an apology about the last time we saw each other,” Ron said. “I was being an asshole.”

“Yeah, you were,” I replied.

Ron laughed.

“No hard feelings?” Ron asked.

“None,” I replied as I shook his hand.

There were absolutely hard feelings.

Since our last encounter, Erica, Raven and Debbie had all told me some version of the shit Ron had been saying about me. According to him, I was an arrogant little prick who thought having a big dick made me a star, was difficult to work with and wouldn’t last six months.

None of it was true.

So, no, I didn’t believe Ron was sorry.

“I’m glad we’re good,” Ron said.

“Me too,” I replied.

Ron went right back to massaging Karmen.

“You know, I’ve been telling everybody this kid’s got potential,” Ron told her.

I looked at him.

Ron looked back without the slightest trace of embarrassment.

The motherfucker was incredible.

I walked away and found Kelsey talking to Raven.

“Everybody here thinks Ron’s fucking Karmen,” I said.

“Ron certainly does,” Kelsey replied.

“You still think he isn’t?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Kelsey replied with a smile.

“You didn’t have to,” I replied.

“Maybe you should stop asking so many questions,” Kelsey said.

“You’re the one who started this in the car.”

“And now I’m ending it,” Kelsey replied.

Before I could press her, the room suddenly went quiet.

Svetlana had walked onto the set.

Almost immediately, everyone stopped talking. Ebony put out her cigarette. Even Joey lowered his book.

Svetlana had that effect on people.

She was beautiful, with long blonde hair, striking features, and an elegance that seemed almost out of place in porn. If I’d passed her on the street, I would’ve guessed actress, model, or somebody important before porn director.

She also intimidated the hell out of me.

Svetlana wasn’t loud. She didn’t need to be. She carried herself like someone who knew exactly what she wanted and expected everyone else to figure it out pretty fucking quickly.

David Frazer followed her onto the set.

“Listen,” Svetlana called out. “We have three scenes to shoot, and we need to be out of here by five o’clock. Does everyone understand?”

“Yes,” we answered.

“Good,” Svetlana replied. “We’re changing the shooting order. The aerobics scene with Erica, Karmen, Kelsey, Raven, Tami and Ebony will now be second.”

Svetlana looked at her notes.

“We’re starting with the gangbang,” Svetlana continued. “Karmen will play with herself while she watches Kelsey, Ray, Joey and Ron go at it.”

I looked at Kelsey.

She was already looking at me.

That was supposed to be my scene.

“Did you say Ron?” I asked.

“Yes,” Svetlana replied.

“I thought I was doing that scene.”

“You were,” Svetlana replied.

Were.

Before I could ask what the fuck that meant, Svetlana continued.

“Then we’ll finish with Karmen’s boy-girl scene,” Svetlana said.

Ron smiled.

Of course he did.

Svetlana looked at her notes again.

“Karmen Sutra and Tommy Rodz,” Svetlana announced.

I stared at her.

“Me?” I asked.

“Yes, you,” Svetlana replied.

I looked at Karmen.

She smiled.

Then I looked at Kelsey.

She had the exact same innocent fucking smile she’d had in the car.

Suddenly, that entire conversation made sense.

“You picked me?” I asked Karmen.

“I picked you,” Karmen replied.

For about five seconds, I completely forgot Ron Jeremy existed.

Then I heard him.

“What the fuck?” Ron shouted.

Everybody turned toward Ron.

He looked at Svetlana.

“Anna, baby, I think you made a mistake,” Ron said.

“I don’t make mistakes,” Svetlana replied.

“Obviously, you just made a pretty fucking big one,” Ron shot back.

Ron turned to Karmen.

“Karmen, tell her she made a mistake,” Ron demanded.

“I didn’t pick you,” Karmen replied.

Ron stared at her.

“What do you mean you didn’t pick me?” Ron asked.

“I mean I didn’t pick you,” Karmen replied.

“You told me I was doing your scene,” Ron said.

“No, I didn’t,” Karmen said.

“You made it pretty fucking clear,” Ron said.

“I never told you anything,” Karmen replied.

A few people started laughing.

“You knew I was telling everybody,” Ron said.

“That doesn’t mean I told you,” Karmen replied.

More laughter.

Ron’s face turned red.

“I’m Ron fucking Jeremy,” Ron shouted. “I’m the most famous guy in this room. You should be begging me to be your first onscreen dick.”

“Ron, be professional,” David said.

“I am being professional,” Ron snapped. “I’ve been telling everyone I’m going to be her first. If she fucks him now, I look like a fucking idiot.”

Nobody said anything.

Ron had finally said something everybody could agree with.

“Ron, did anybody actually tell you that you were going to have sex with Karmen?” Svetlana asked.

Ron looked at Svetlana, then Karmen.

“I just assumed,” Ron admitted.

“When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me,” Svetlana replied.

I laughed.

My mom had been saying the exact same thing to me for as long as I could remember.

That was a mistake.

Ron snapped his head toward me.

“Are you fucking laughing at me?” Ron demanded.

“No,” I replied.

“You think this is fucking funny?” Ron asked.

“No,” I said.

It was absolutely fucking funny.

“You think having a big dick makes you a fucking star?” Ron asked.

“I didn’t say anything,” I replied.

“You didn’t have to,” Ron snapped.

That was when I realized this wasn’t really about me laughing. Ron had spent weeks telling people I was an arrogant little prick who didn’t deserve the attention I was getting. Now Karmen had chosen me over him in front of everybody.

And I’d laughed at him.

“Ron, enough,” Svetlana said.

Ron ignored her.

“You’ve made, what, three fucking movies?” Ron asked.

“Fifteen,” I replied.

“That doesn’t make you a star,” Ron shouted.

“Ron,” David warned.

Ron clenched his right hand into a fist.

I saw it happen.

For half a second, I wondered if he was really stupid enough to hit me in front of everybody.

Then he lunged.

I barely had time to react before Ray Victory grabbed Ron from one side and Joey Silvera caught him from the other. The three of them stumbled backward before Ray and Joey wrestled him to the floor.

I just stood there wondering how the fuck Karmen choosing who she wanted to fuck had somehow become my fault.

David quickly whisked me off the set and into Bill’s empty office. I was still trying to process what the fuck had happened when we heard Svetlana tearing into Ron from the other room.

“Ron, the only thing big about you is your fucking ego!” Svetlana screamed. “I’m sure plenty of women haven’t wanted to fuck you. Get over it.”

Even through the closed door, we could hear every word.

“Now you’re going to go back out there, act like a professional and do the scene you were hired to do,” Svetlana continued. “And if you don’t, I’ll call every producer I know and tell them exactly why you walked off my set.”

I looked at David.

“Does she always get this mad?” I asked.

“You should see her when she’s really pissed,” David replied.

Eventually, Svetlana walked into the office and sat across from me.

“Tommy, you have every right to press charges against Ron,” Svetlana said. “But I’m going to ask you not to. If you call the police, they’ll shut down production, and we won’t finish the movie. A lot of people, including you, won’t get paid. Do you understand?”

I understood perfectly.

She was telling me I had every right to call the police while giving me every reason not to.

So I agreed.

To be honest, I felt like I had to.

David, Svetlana and I walked back onto the set. Ron was trying to crack jokes with the rest of the cast.

Nobody was laughing.

Svetlana walked over to him.

“Ron has something he’d like to say to Tommy,” Svetlana announced.

“I do?” Ron asked.

“Yes,” Svetlana replied. “You do.”

A few people laughed.

Ron looked at me.

“I’m sorry,” Ron mumbled.

“For what?” Svetlana asked.

“Anna...” Ron pleaded.

“For what, Ron?” Svetlana repeated.

Ron took a breath.

“I’m sorry I tried to hit you,” Ron said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

“And?” Svetlana asked.

“And what?” Ron replied.

“Karmen had every right to choose who she wanted to work with,” Svetlana told him.

Ron clenched his jaw.

“Karmen had every right to choose who she wanted to work with,” Ron repeated.

“Good,” Svetlana said. “Now can we please make the fucking movie?”

About thirty minutes later, Kelsey returned from makeup looking pretty whored up.

Her words, not mine.

She was wearing a tank top and a pair of red panties.

The scene started with a naked Karmen walking into frame.

“My best friend, Kelsey Lynn, goes to the gym every day to keep her body looking sexy,” Karmen said directly to the camera. “I bet you her workout is more pleasurable than yours.”

We cut to Kelsey lifting a pair of small weights before Ron, Joey and Ray walked into the scene and started undressing her.

Karmen stayed nearby, watching and masturbating, just as planned.

Except Ron was standing where I was supposed to be.

When Kelsey got to him, it became obvious pretty quickly that something wasn’t working.

Ron was having trouble getting his rocket into launch position.

Kelsey did her best to help while Ray and Joey continued the scene around them, but nothing was happening.

Finally, Ron looked down at her.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Ron said, completely in character. “I have to go. My wife is expecting me.”

Kelsey stopped and looked up at him.

“Your wife?” Kelsey asked.

“Yeah. My wife,” Ron replied.

Then Ron grabbed his clothes and walked off the set like leaving had always been part of the script.

Nobody said anything until the door closed behind him.

“Ron’s married?” I asked.

Erica looked at me.

“No,” Erica replied emphatically.

Svetlana didn’t even blink.

“Keep rolling!” Svetlana yelled. “It’s a threesome now.”

It turned out to be a really hot scene. Kelsey and Ray had insane chemistry, and Joey worked naturally with both of them.

The funniest part was that Svetlana kept Ron’s portion in the finished movie. She still had to pay him, so she figured she might as well get something for her money.

After a short break, Svetlana moved on to the aerobics scene.

Erica led Karmen, Kelsey, Raven, Tami and Ebony through what started as a fairly normal workout before becoming increasingly sapphic.

Apparently, Svetlana had a very different idea of what happened at a gym than the people who ran mine.

I was watching from the side of the set when Joey walked over.

“You’re doing good,” Joey said. “People like working with you.”

“Except Ron,” I replied.

“Ron doesn’t like anybody getting more attention than Ron,” Joey said.

“That must be exhausting,” I said.

“For Ron or everybody else?” Joey asked.

“Everybody else,” I replied.

Joey laughed.

I liked Joey. He’d been doing porn since the early seventies and had somehow managed to survive without developing the ego that seemed to infect half the guys who stuck around long enough.

Joey nodded toward the set.

“You and Kelsey together?” Joey asked.

“I wouldn’t say we’re together,” I replied.

“How long have you known her?” Joey asked.

“A couple months,” I replied.

Joey looked at me.

“Ashley?” Joey asked.

I stared at him.

“How do you know her name is Ashley?” I asked.

“I’ve known her a long time,” Joey replied.

Apparently everybody knew Ashley.

“How well do you really know her?” Joey asked.

“Pretty well,” I replied.

Joey didn’t say anything.

“Is she in trouble?” I asked.

“No,” Joey replied. “Nothing like that.”

“Then what are you trying to tell me?” I asked.

Joey looked back toward Ashley.

“Get to know Ashley,” Joey said. “Not Kelsey Lynn.”

I watched him walk away, then looked at Kelsey.

I was going to ask her what the fuck Joey meant as soon as she finished filming. But when the scene ended, she walked over, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me.

“So, what did you think of my scene?” Kelsey asked.

Before I could answer, Karmen tapped me on the shoulder.

“Tommy, can you come to the shower with me?” Karmen asked. “I want to talk about our scene.”

I looked at Kelsey, then Karmen.

Whatever questions I had for Kelsey were going to have to wait.

While Karmen showered, I sat on the other side of the curtain while we talked about what she wanted from our scene.

“Before you cum, can you pinch me?” Karmen asked. “And I’ll pinch you when I want to change positions. Cool?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Anything else?”

“Don’t treat me gently,” Karmen said. “I want to show the world that I can handle a cock as big as yours.”

“Is that why you picked me?” I asked.

“Of course,” Karmen replied. “I want my first boy-girl scene to be memorable.”

“So I was your first choice?” I asked.

Karmen turned off the water, stepped out and grabbed a towel.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Karmen said. “You were my second choice.”

Just like that, my confidence disappeared.

“Who was your first choice?” I asked.

“John Holmes,” Karmen replied as she wrapped the towel around herself. “It was either him or you.”

“John Holmes?” I asked.

“VCX reached out to Bill,” Karmen explained. “Bill said John wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t do it.”

Losing out to John Holmes somehow bothered me less. If Karmen had said Ron Jeremy, I probably would’ve walked into traffic.

“So how’d you get into this?” I asked.

“Porn?” Karmen asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I was a stylist,” Karmen replied. “That’s what I wanted to do. Hair, clothes, makeup. I never wanted to be in front of the camera.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“I ended up styling a porn movie and got turned on watching everybody else fuck,” Karmen replied.

“That’ll do it.”

Karmen laughed.

“One of the producers noticed I couldn’t stop watching,” Karmen said. “He asked if I’d ever considered performing.”

“And you said yes?” I asked.

“I said absolutely not,” Karmen replied. “Then he offered me a scene where I wouldn’t have to touch anybody. I played a prisoner watching another girl fuck a guard in the next cell.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Watched them and masturbated,” Karmen replied.

“That was your first scene?” I asked.

“That was my first scene,” Karmen replied. “I loved it.”

“Apparently,” I replied.

“After that, I did solo scenes, then girls,” Karmen said.

“But never guys,” I said.

“At first, I just didn’t want to,” Karmen replied. “Then I realized every time I said no, the next offer got bigger.”

“So you kept saying no,” I said.

Karmen smiled.

“Wouldn’t you?” Karmen asked.

That was when I realized Karmen wasn’t just beautiful. She was a hell of a lot smarter about the business than I was.

“Until they finally found your price,” I said.

“Ten thousand dollars,” Karmen replied.

“Jesus,” I said.

“Actually, fifteen,” Karmen said.

“I thought you said ten,” I said.

“Ten for today,” Karmen explained. “The other five is because I can’t do another boy-girl scene for thirty days after this movie comes out.”

“You got them to pay you five thousand dollars not to fuck anybody?” I asked.

“Yep,” Karmen replied.

“That’s fucking brilliant,” I said.

“Thank you,” Karmen said. “And you’re welcome.”

“For what?” I asked.

Karmen looked at me like she couldn’t believe the question.

“How much are they paying you today?” Karmen asked.

“A thousand,” I replied. “That’s my day rate.”

“You think you’re getting a thousand dollars?” Karmen asked.

“That’s generally how a day rate works,” I replied.

“Not today,” Karmen said.

I looked at her.

“How much am I getting?” I asked.

“Ten thousand dollars,” Karmen replied.

“For today?” I asked.

“Yes,” Karmen replied.

“Ten thousand fucking dollars?” I asked.

“That’s generally what ten thousand dollars means,” Karmen replied.

“Why the fuck are they paying me ten grand?” I asked.

Karmen smiled.

“Me,” Karmen replied.

I stared at her.

“You negotiated my fucking rate?” I asked.

“I told them I wanted you,” Karmen replied. “If they wanted me, they had to pay you ten thousand.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because they were going to make a lot of money selling my first scene with a man,” Karmen replied. “And they were going to use your name to sell it too.”

“My name?” I asked.

“You just starred in Getting Together,” Karmen said. “People know who Tommy Rodz is now.”

I wasn’t sure I knew who Tommy Rodz was yet.

Apparently, Karmen did.

“Does Jim know about this?” I asked.

“Of course Jim knows,” Karmen replied.

“That motherfucker never told me,” I said.

Karmen laughed.

“Maybe he wanted to see your face,” Karmen said.

At eighteen, my entire business strategy was answering the phone whenever Jim South called and showing up wherever he told me to go.

Karmen had just negotiated me a ten-thousand-dollar payday without me even knowing I was negotiating.

I suddenly felt like I had a lot to learn.

While Karmen was in makeup, I went to wardrobe.

My tight jeans were fine. Apparently, I already dressed enough like a porn star. The only problem was my T-shirt.

The wardrobe girl handed me another black shirt.

“What’s wrong with mine?” I asked.

“Nothing,” the wardrobe girl replied. “Svetlana wants you in this one.”

I unfolded it.

A huge picture of my face stared back at me, with TOMMY RODZ printed underneath.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.

“Nope,” the wardrobe girl replied.

“I’m supposed to wear a T-shirt with my own fucking face on it?” I asked.

“That’s what she wants,” the wardrobe girl replied.

If the shirt had Ron Jeremy’s face on it, he would’ve worn the fucking thing everywhere. He probably would’ve asked if they had matching pants.

Svetlana walked past the doorway, then stopped when she saw me still holding it.

“Why aren’t you dressed?” Svetlana asked.

“I am dressed,” I replied.

Svetlana pointed at the shirt.

“Wear that,” Svetlana said.

“Do I have to?” I asked.

“Yes,” Svetlana replied.

“I look like an asshole,” I said.

“Exactly,” Svetlana replied.

I looked at her.

“You’re not playing yourself,” Svetlana explained. “You’re playing a douchier version of yourself.”

“How much douchier?” I asked.

Svetlana looked at the giant picture of me.

“You wear a T-shirt with your own face on it,” Svetlana replied.

Fair enough.

I changed shirts.

Svetlana studied me for a second.

“Sunglasses,” Svetlana said.

The wardrobe girl handed me a pair, and I put them on.

“Good,” Svetlana said. “Now you look like Tommy Rodz.”

“I am Tommy Rodz,” I replied.

“No,” Svetlana said. “You’re Tommy. He’s Tommy Rodz.”

Svetlana pointed at the asshole on my T-shirt.

I looked down at him.

I was beginning to understand what she meant.

The whole setup for our scene was supposed to be ridiculous. Karmen played a woman completely obsessed with Tommy Rodz. Her living room was covered with pictures and posters of me. She watched my movies. She fantasized about me. Then, through the kind of coincidence that only happened in porn, Tommy Rodz’s car broke down directly outside her house.

And apparently, this version of Tommy Rodz was such a fucking douchebag that he drove around Los Angeles wearing his own merchandise.

The weirdest part was that I was starting to become famous enough for the joke to work.

The scene began with a naked Karmen Sutra walking into the room. She stopped in front of the wall and stared longingly at the posters of me while she slowly played with her hairless pussy.

Every few seconds, Karmen pulled her fingers away and seductively licked them clean, never taking her eyes off my picture.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough.

Karmen moved to the largest poster on the wall, the one that showed me completely naked. She ran her wet fingers across it, smearing her juices over the picture before slowly working her way down to my cock.

Then she leaned forward and started licking it.

“I wish I could really suck it,” Karmen moaned.

I was standing just off camera watching the whole thing.

There are probably worse ways to discover somebody has made a giant poster of your penis, but at eighteen, I couldn’t think of any.

The strangest part was how seriously Karmen committed to it. There was no wink at the camera. No indication that she thought any of this was ridiculous. As far as the woman she was playing was concerned, Tommy Rodz wasn’t just her favorite porn star. She was fucking obsessed with him.

Which meant I was standing three feet away, wearing a T-shirt with my own face on it, watching Karmen Sutra lick a poster of me and my dick.

Karmen finally pulled herself away from the poster and sat down on the couch. She picked up the remote and turned on the television.

Bachelorette Party was already playing.

Of course it was.

Onscreen, I was playing a male stripper who ends up fucking Bunny Bleu and Stephanie Rage. Karmen settled back into the couch and watched me while she continued pleasuring herself.

Then she reached between the couch cushions and pulled out a John Holmes dildo.

I almost laughed.

Even in a movie about a woman completely obsessed with Tommy Rodz, I was still competing with John fucking Holmes.

Karmen wrapped her lips around the dildo and tried to deep-throat it, occasionally looking up at the television as she continued touching herself.

She was watching Tommy Rodz fuck two women while sucking John Holmes.

Porn had apparently found a way to give her both choices.

After a minute or two, Karmen pulled the dildo from her mouth and stared at the television.

“God, I wish you were here,” Karmen moaned.

Right on cue, the doorbell rang.

Karmen froze.

She looked at the television.

Then at the posters covering her walls.

Then toward the front door.

She had no idea that the douchebag wearing a Tommy Rodz T-shirt on the other side was about to make her day.

“Come in,” Karmen yelled as she continued finger-fucking herself.

I thought this was ridiculous. Nobody in the Southland left their front door unlocked and casually invited a complete stranger to come inside. But in the pornoverse, not only did people do shit like that, it was actually encouraged.

So I opened the door and walked in.

There was Karmen, naked on the couch, masturbating while watching me fuck two women on television. There were pictures of me covering practically every inch of her walls. She’d basically turned her apartment into a shrine to Tommy Rodz.

None of this seemed to faze the version of me I was playing.

A normal person might have wondered why the naked woman he’d never met had giant pictures of him hanging all over her apartment. He might have backed slowly toward the door. He might have called the police.

Not this asshole.

I looked around at the shrine to myself like I’d walked into somebody’s kitchen and noticed they had the same toaster as me.

“My car broke down,” I said. “Can I please use your phone?”

Karmen looked at me.

Then she looked at the television.

Then she looked back at me.

“You’re Tommy Rodz,” Karmen said.

“Yes, I am,” I replied. “And I can see that you’re a huge fan.”

She got off the couch and kissed me before whispering in my ear.

“I’m your biggest fan,” Karmen whispered. “Of course you can use my phone.”

“Great,” I said.

“On one condition,” Karmen said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Karmen smiled.

“You have to strip for me,” Karmen said. “Just like you did in Bachelorette Party.”

I looked at the phone.

Then I looked at Karmen.

Apparently, even emergency roadside assistance came with terms and conditions in the pornoverse.

Karmen grabbed me by the hand and led me over to the couch. She immediately plopped back down and continued masturbating while I awkwardly stood in front of the television.

Apparently, it was showtime.

I slowly pulled off my shirt and tossed it onto the floor. Then I kicked off my shoes.

Karmen watched every move I made, her eyes moving up and down my body as I reached for my jeans.

As I slid my jeans down, two things became immediately obvious.

First, I wasn’t wearing underwear.

Second, my dick was already rock hard.

Karmen stared at it.

Her mouth actually fell open.

Then she jumped off the couch and dropped to the floor in front of me, still holding the John Holmes dildo. She looked at the toy, looked at my dick, and then held the two of them side by side.

Her eyes widened.

“It looks bigger in real life,” Karmen exclaimed.

I looked down at the comparison.

Considering what she was holding in her other hand, I decided to take that as a pretty fucking impressive compliment.

Karmen wrapped both hands around my penis and stared at it.

“I’ve never touched a cock before,” Karmen said.

“Ever?” I asked.

“Ever,” Karmen replied.

I looked directly into the camera.

“Looks like I knocked on the right door,” I said.

For the next several seconds, Karmen nervously explored me with her mouth, kissing and nibbling at my dick and balls. She played the nervous virgin surprisingly well. If I hadn’t spent the last twenty minutes talking to her about the business, I might have believed her.

I looked down at her.

“Do you know how to deep-throat?” I asked.

Karmen picked up the John Holmes dildo and demonstrated that, despite supposedly never having touched a penis before, she had absolutely no problem with that.

Apparently, her character had been preparing for this moment.

Karmen put the toy aside and looked up at me with a deliberately petrified expression. She opened her mouth wide.

I pushed myself into her mouth. Instead of easing into it, I quickly thrust forward, put my hand behind her head and began fucking her face.

Karmen gagged and drooled all over my schlong as I pulled it out of her mouth. I slapped her across the face with it a couple of times before sliding it back between her lips and starting all over again.

Whatever nervous virgin Karmen had been playing thirty seconds earlier was disappearing pretty fucking fast.

Next, Karmen sat on my lap with her legs spread wide while I fingered her cunt. My cock rested behind her, tapping against her back as she moved. Sweat ran from her forehead and down her warm brown skin, which looked almost golden beneath the hot studio lights.

She must’ve come two or three times before turning her head to look at me.

“Do you love my pussy?” Karmen moaned.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then why don’t you get a closer look at it?” Karmen demanded.

That was my cue to go down on her.

Once on the floor, I got on my knees between Karmen’s freshly shaven legs. As she slid her hands through my hair she said, “Show me how good you eat pussy.”

I spread her vaginal lips and rubbed her clit before massaging it with my tongue. I could tell she liked it from the increasing tempo of her moans and the way her legs tightened around my face.

I slipped one finger inside her.

Karmen squirmed.

Then I added a second.

She squirmed even more.

By the time I worked in a third and then a fourth, her entire body had started quivering.

“All of them,” Karmen begged. “Put all of them inside me.”

This hadn’t come out of nowhere.

Before we shot the scene, Karmen and Svetlana had pulled me aside and told me they wanted to make this part a little more special. Karmen occasionally did fisting in her scenes with women, but this time she wanted something different.

She wanted me to be the first man to fist her on camera.

I had never done anything like that before. In fact, the idea made me incredibly uncomfortable. Karmen was the one asking for it, Svetlana had discussed it with both of us beforehand, and I still wasn’t completely sure I wanted to do it.

But I agreed.

So when Karmen begged for the rest of my hand, I knew exactly what she was asking me to do.

I clenched my fist and pushed it inside her.

Karmen immediately started coming.

After slowly licking the juices off my fingers and palm, she begged me to fuck her.

I bent Karmen over the back of the couch and moved in behind her. She planted both hands on the cushions while I held tightly to her hips. Her warm brown skin glistened under the hot lights.

When I slowly entered her from behind, Karmen arched her back.

“It hurts,” Karmen cried out.

It was exactly the kind of cliché you’d expect from a scene like this. The movie wanted Karmen to be a slutty yet innocent virgin experiencing a man for the first time, even though everything she’d done for the past fifteen minutes suggested she was remarkably gifted for a “beginner.”

We stayed that way for a while before I pulled out and sat down on the couch.

Karmen turned around, climbed onto my lap and straddled me. She lowered herself onto my cock, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

She was an amazing kisser. Somewhere during that scene, Gail Force officially got bumped off my list of best kissers, and Karmen shot straight to number three.

Still straddling me, Karmen sat upright and started grinding against me. She pinched her nipples as she moved her hips back and forth.

Then, for reasons I still can’t explain, I said something so completely stupid that I was positive I had just ruined the scene.

“Show me your imitation of a bunny,” I said.

Without missing a beat, Karmen shifted from grinding to bouncing up and down on my lap, apparently taking my stupid bunny request very seriously. She committed to it so enthusiastically that I nearly started laughing.

After a minute, I slid farther down the couch until I was lying on my back. Karmen followed me, keeping her knees planted on either side of my hips as she continued riding me.

I grabbed her underneath the ass with both hands.

The next time she rose up onto her knees, I lifted her the rest of the way, separating our bodies and holding her several inches above me.

Karmen tried to lower herself again.

I wouldn’t let her.

Instead, I kept her suspended above my hips until she started begging me to let her continue.

That turned into a game between us.

I’d lower Karmen back onto me and let her ride for a while. Then, without warning, I’d grab her ass and lift her again. Because her knees were still on the couch on either side of me, she could squirm and try to push herself back down while I held her hips above mine.

Every time I did it, I made her beg before lowering her again.

At first, Karmen seemed amused by the game. Then she became impatient. Then demanding.

Eventually, I lowered her back onto me one more time and Karmen decided she was done letting me control the pace.

She planted her hands against my chest and started riding me with wild abandon.

The faster Karmen moved, the closer I got to coming, and that wasn’t going to do the movie any favors.

Finally, she leaned forward until her chest was against mine and kissed me.

I wrapped one arm around Karmen’s waist, pulled her closer and whispered in her ear.

“Sit on my face,” I said.

We quickly moved to the couch. I lay on my back, and Karmen climbed on top of me, putting her ass directly in front of my face while she went down on me.

As I kissed every inch of it, she was sucking my cock.

I almost laughed. Five minutes earlier, she’d been playing a woman who had never touched a cock before. Now she was a fucking expert.

But I understood what she was doing. Karmen wanted this performance to keep escalating, and it only worked if I matched her every step of the way.

As my tongue moved between her pussy and asshole, Karmen started paying less attention to me.

I didn’t mind.

At the pace she’d been going, I probably would’ve shot my load a hell of a lot earlier than either of us wanted.

Then Karmen lightly pinched my balls.

I knew exactly what she meant.

Time to change positions.

Karmen reached down and picked up the John Holmes toy before we moved over to the wall.

We stood against the wall covered with posters of me and made out. Karmen wrapped one arm around my waist while tightly gripping the toy in her other hand.

After a few minutes, Karmen pulled away.

“Assume the position,” Karmen said.

I laughed but did what I was told. I turned toward the wall, planted both hands firmly against it and leaned forward.

Karmen moved behind me, and for a second, I could only feel her there. Her hands slid around my waist as she pressed herself against my back, kissing between my shoulder blades before slowly working her way down.

She placed the toy upright on the floor, then reached between my legs and pulled my hard cock backward until it rested directly beneath my ass. I felt her hands guiding me into exactly the position she wanted before she lowered herself behind me.

A second later, I felt her mouth on my cock. Then she pulled away and moved higher, her tongue finding my ass before dropping back down to me again.

She kept moving between the two, taking her time with each one before switching back.

I have to admit, I was really enjoying myself. As much as I’d been trying to match Karmen’s intensity, there were moments when I almost forgot we were making a movie.

This was definitely one of them.

Then something hilarious happened.

Karmen started riding the toy harder and harder until the fucking thing suddenly snapped underneath her.

She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

For half a second, the entire set went completely silent.

Then I heard people behind the cameras starting to laugh.

I was still standing there with my hands against the wall, desperately trying not to lose it myself. I knew if I broke character, Svetlana would probably yell at me.

Karmen, on the other hand, didn’t miss a beat.

She picked up the broken toy, looked at it for a second and tossed it aside.

“That was the universe’s way of telling me that now that I have your dick, I don’t need to play with silly toys anymore,” Karmen said.

We got down on the floor and continued making out. My mouth moved down to Karmen’s breasts, and I quickly discovered just how sensitive her nipples were.

The first time I sucked on one, her entire body quivered beneath me.

That got my attention.

I kept going, and the longer I sucked, the louder Karmen moaned. When I started alternating between licking, sucking, and lightly pinching her nipples, her reactions became even more intense.

She came once, then almost immediately again.

I’d never seen anyone respond quite like that before. At first, I thought some of it might have been for the cameras. Then another orgasm rolled through her body, and I realized I wasn’t watching Karmen Sutra perform anymore.

As we rolled around on the floor, something between us changed.

Somewhere along the way, we crossed that proverbial sexual line in the sand. We weren’t two performers making a movie anymore. Whatever was happening between us had become personal.

Tommy Rodz disappeared.

I was Tommy Mitchell again, making love to a woman whose real name I didn’t even know.

When we finished rolling around, Karmen ended up on top. She leaned down to kiss me as I moved my dick in and out of her love tunnel at a much slower pace.

Even the kisses felt different.

Before, we’d been kissing for the cameras. Now she was kissing me the way Ashley did when there was nobody else in the room. There was no performance in it. No Tommy Rodz. No Karmen Sutra.

It just felt good.

Karmen slowly pulled her lips away from mine. For a moment, we simply looked at each other.

Then she smiled.

“Hi,” Karmen whispered.

“Hi,” I whispered back.

Suddenly, Karmen changed.

She sat upright and started riding me hard and fast again, snapping us both back into the movie.

I’ve always wondered if she’d looked over at Svetlana and gotten some kind of signal reminding her that we were supposed to be fucking, not making love. Whatever happened, the private little moment we’d fallen into was over.

I followed Karmen’s lead and increased the speed of my thrusts.

Then I remembered what I’d discovered about her nipples.

I reached up and pinched them.

Karmen immediately lost control. Her body tightened as another intense orgasm tore through her.

She immediately collapsed onto me. We kissed for a long moment before she brought her lips to my ear.

“Fuck me like a dog,” Karmen whispered.

Karmen rolled off me and onto her hands and knees.

I moved around behind her and knelt between her legs.

From that angle, her ass looked even more incredible. It wasn’t just how round it was. It was the way her tiny waist seemed to disappear into it, making the curve of her body look almost exaggerated.

Karmen looked back at me over her shoulder.

“What are you waiting for?” Karmen asked.

I grabbed Karmen by the hips and pulled her back against me as I entered her. She let out a filthy, guttural moan, arched her back and pushed her ass harder against me, practically demanding more.

I grabbed a handful of Karmen’s hair and pulled her head back. She gasped, then let out another deep moan as I started fucking her faster.

The harder I went, the more she pushed back against me, matching my rhythm. I tightened my grip on her hair, and Karmen arched her back even farther, her moans getting louder with every thrust.

I was getting closer to cumming, but I knew I couldn’t. The version of Tommy Rodz in this movie was supposed to be a sexual superstar, and that was what I needed to deliver. I needed to finish strong.

Without breaking our rhythm, I took hold of Karmen’s hips and guided her through a half turn on the floor, rotating her body until she was facing me. I shifted with her as she turned, keeping us connected the entire time.

Once Karmen was facing me, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against my chest. She immediately hooked her arms around my neck.

I got one arm beneath her ass, pushed myself to my feet and lifted her with me. Karmen wrapped her legs around my waist as I carried her across the room, still fucking her.

Every few steps, I bounced her harder against me. Karmen buried her face against my neck, moaning into my ear as her arms tightened around my shoulders.

Several minutes later, I lowered Karmen onto the couch and knelt between her legs. We both looked down, watching my cock disappear inside her over and over again.

“Faster,” Karmen begged.

I gave her exactly what she wanted. I turned into a human jackhammer, pounding into her as fast and hard as I could.

Not even forty-five seconds later, I pinched her nipples. Karmen cried out and her entire body tightened beneath me.

I pulled out just before I came and shot my jizz all over her pretty face.

I could still feel that tingle in my still-hard cock. I knew I wasn’t finished.

So I put my penis back into her pussy and once again became the human jackhammer.

Karmen’s moans got even louder as I pounded away, her hands gripping the couch beneath her.

A few minutes later, I pulled out again and came even harder than the first time, shooting across Karmen’s face, the couch and, somehow, one of the cameramen.

I looked down at Karmen and smiled.

“Can I please use your phone now?” I asked.

Karmen scooped some of the cum off her face and smiled back at me.

“After you do one more thing for me?” Karmen asked.

Svetlana smiled.

“Cut,” Svetlana yelled.

A P.A. hurried onto the set with a towel and started cleaning Karmen up while Svetlana came over to us.

“That was great,” Svetlana said. “That could win Best Sex Scene of the Year.”

I couldn’t help smiling. I was still new enough that hearing something like that meant a hell of a lot to me.

Once Karmen was cleaned up, we still had one last piece to shoot: the button at the end of the scene.

Karmen got back onto the floor and started masturbating. The camera stayed on her for a few seconds before quickly panning across the room to reveal me standing at her shrine, autographing every picture of Tommy Rodz she had plastered across the wall.

After showering, I ran into Karmen as she was getting ready to leave. She smiled when she saw me and gave me a hug.

“It was fun working with you,” Karmen said.

“I had a blast,” I replied. “You gave my cock a great workout.”

Karmen laughed.

“It might take me a few days before I can walk normally again,” Karmen said.

That got both of us laughing again.

“We should hang out sometime,” Karmen said once we finally stopped.

“Yeah,” I replied. “If you’re ever in Santa Monica, let me know.”

Karmen gave me a strange look.

“I’m always in Santa Monica,” Karmen said. “I live about two miles from you.”

“How do you know where I live?” I asked.

“I’m friends with Ashley,” Karmen replied. “I’ve been to her place lots of times.”

That caught me completely off guard.

“How did you know that was Kelsey’s real name?” I asked.

“Because she told me,” Karmen replied. “We’ve known each other for a while.”

“She’s never mentioned you,” I said.

“Maybe she calls me something else,” Karmen replied.

“What else would she call you?” I asked.

Karmen smiled and held out her hand.

“Priya Nayyar,” she said.

I stared at her hand for a second before taking it.

“Tommy Mitchell,” I replied.

“I know,” Priya said.

That made me laugh.

“Of course you do,” I replied.

Someone across the sound stage called her name.

“I have to go,” Priya said. “But I meant what I said. We should hang out.”

“I’d like that,” I replied.

She gave me another quick hug before heading out.

I was still trying to process what she’d told me. Ashley knew Priya. Priya knew where I lived. They were close enough to know each other’s real names, and Ashley had never once mentioned her.

It also seemed pretty fucking obvious now that Ashley had known I was going to be Priya’s first male onscreen partner. She just hadn’t told me.

I wasn’t sure how to bring any of that up with her.

I found Kelsey outside talking to Erica Boyer. The second she saw me, she gave me a mischievous smile, grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss.

When she finally let me go, Kelsey was still smiling.

“You’re going to have to fuck me the same way you fucked Karmen,” Kelsey said. “That was so fucking hot.”

I blushed.

“Erica was wondering if we wanted to go back to her place and order Chinese food,” Kelsey said.

“Thanks for the invitation, Erica, but I’m beat,” I replied.

“No worries,” Erica said. “The invitation is always open.”

Kelsey and I said goodbye to Erica and headed back through the strip club toward the parking lot.

“You look exhausted,” Kelsey said. “Do you want me to drive?”

“Yes,” I replied. “That would be great.”