Behind the Lens (Behind the Lives) (45 page)

Dante
started walking through the crowd, his hard gaze on Corey, who lowered his
eyes, realising Dante had caught him ogling his cock. He grabbed his beanie and
pulled it down, horrified that he’d seen Sledge’s brother like that, the night
getting him into more and more trouble.

People
started shouting at Dante, trying to catch his attention, while the guards
barked at them to back up. A chair scraped next to Corey, then a hand gripped
his leg.

“What
the fuck are you doin’ here?” Dante said, the anger in his voice barely
contained.

Corey
lifted his beanie. “They kidnapped me and Juliet,” he whispered back.

Dante
went rigid. “What?”

“They’re
holding her to make sure I do what they want. They said they’ll let her go
after I finish the job.”

Dante’s
jaw clenched, his eyes flashing murder. “They also have Beth.”

Corey
sat up straighter at the mention of his sister.

“Chill,”
Dante said, patting his lap, “she’s alright, just as long as I do as I’m told.”

A
loud clap reverberated around the room, Ant capturing everyone’s attention yet
again. “You may line up now for the signing. Please don’t rush, as I said,
everyone will get a turn, however, don’t take too long with each of the stars
as there are many other delicious activities planned for the evening.”

Corey
looked up as people started forming a line. A tall, severe looking woman in her
mid-fifties stopped in front of Dante, her face instantly softening. Dante
looked up at her, fixing her with a fake smile, although the woman didn’t seem
to care whether it was genuine or not. She let out a happy little laugh,
looking like she was standing in front of a celebrity, then held out a DVD case
with... Corey’s eyes latched onto the picture of a guy blowing Dante as he
sucked on a woman’s breast.
Whoa!
He knew Dante was sexually out there,
but ... that ... that, oh crap, that just gave him a boner.

“Can
you please sign: ‘To Lucy, Love Dante’?” the woman asked, looking like she was
going to faint at any moment.

Dante
picked up the marker pen, scrawled across the case, then handed it back to her.

She
took it. “Can I touch your face tattoo?”

“Yeah,
sure, love.”

She
extended a shaky hand, her fingertips tracing the curves and lines of the
tattoo. “It’s beautiful, like you.”

“Thanks.”

She
smiled. “Can I have a kiss?”

“Sure.”
He stood up, going rigid as she grabbed his face. She planted a big fat one on
his lips, then pulled back with a giggle, sounding more like a teenager than a
nana.

A
guard placed a hand on her arm, asking her politely to move along. Dante sat
back down, allowing Kara to wipe the woman’s lipstick off him with a tissue.

“I
didn’t know you were bi,” Corey whispered to him.

“I’m
not; I only let the guy blow me cos his girlfriend wouldn’t lemme suck on her
tits if I didn’t.”

A
camp man in a red suit stopped in front of Dante. Like the woman, the man asked
for his DVD to be signed and a kiss. Dante hesitated; looking like he was going
to say no, then he signed the cover and stood up, leaning forward for the kiss.

The
man grabbed Dante, practically mauling his face off. Corey screwed up his nose,
because the dude was really going for it, tongue and all, one of his hands
feeling Dante up at the same time. A guard tapped him on the back, telling him
to stop. The man let go of Dante, who appeared stunned, his face a mask of
disbelief.

Pulling
out a card from his jacket pocket, the man slid it down the back of Dante’s
pants. “I can’t afford the two million, but I’m very willing to pay a hundred
grand for you.”

Dante
clenched a fist. “I—”

The
man placed a finger to Dante’s lips. “I’ll take that as a yes. Call the number
when you’re finished for the night.” He ran a hand over Dante’s cock, then
walked off.

Dante
pulled out the card and sat back down, glaring at the back of the guy’s head.
“He bit my tongue,” he muttered under his breath to Corey. “And the only thing
I’ll stick up his arse is my fuckin’ boot, the vile cunt.”

Kara
elbowed Dante. “Keep your voice down.”

“He
didn’t bloody hear me.”

“But
she did.” Kara indicated to a woman with thick, wavy red hair, who was staring
down at Dante.

Dante
focused on her, giving her a knicker-dropping grin, this one actually looking
genuine, but then again, the woman was beautiful. “Now, you’re someone I’d much
rather kiss,” Dante drawled. “I bet you taste like strawberry shortcake.”

The
woman giggled.

“So,
what do you want from me, beautiful?” Dante asked.

The
woman handed over a DVD case, her hand shaking badly. “Can you sign this
please?”

“Sure,
I’d love to.” Dante scribbled his name, then glanced over at Kara. He turned
over the DVD case and wrote a number, laughing as Kara elbowed him. He handed
the case back to the woman, along with the photo of himself lying on the bed
naked. “So, do I get to see if you taste like my favourite dessert?”

A
tall, good-looking man standing next to the woman shook his head. “No, she’s my
wife, and if that’s your phone number, she’s not ringing it.”

The
woman turned to her husband. “Please, John; I only want one kiss, and I’ll let
you kiss Kara if you say yes.”

The
man looked at Kara, then back at his wife. “Only if there’s no tongue, I’ve
seen where his has been.”

The
wife nodded, looking ecstatic. Dante stood up, his cock still jutting out proud
and hard. He took the woman’s face gently into his hands and slipped his tongue
inside her mouth, giving her the kiss of her life, her husband too busy pashing
Kara to notice.

Dante
squeezed her breast, then pulled back with a wide grin. “Now, that wuz a
pleasure.”

Without
warning, the woman fainted. The husband pulled away from Kara and dropped to
his knees. “Penelope!”

“Don’t
worry, mate, she just fainted,” Dante said, smiling maliciously. “I have that
effect on women.”

The
man picked up his wife and carried her over to a chair by the wall.

Sneering,
Dante shook his head. “If I wuz him, I wouldn’t have let her kiss me, but at
least she got the taste of that twat outta my mouth. He tasted of arse. Ow!
Stop elbowing me,” he said, throwing a glare at Kara.

“I
will once you stop being so vulgar,” Kara growled. “And you shouldn’t give out
your number to clients.”

“I
only did it to piss you off, but if she rings I’ll give her a good licking out
and maybe a fuck or two just to be polite.”

“Hold
your tongue.”

He
flicked it out at Kara, ignoring the woman standing in front of him, who was
watching on in amusement. The woman glanced over at Corey, her smile dropping.
She looked about his mother’s age, just plump and with fluffy hair. “How old
are you?” she asked, sounding like a Pom.

Corey
placed his arms over the naked photos of himself. “Seventeen.”

“You
don’t look it, and seventeen’s too young for this place.” She turned to the
guard behind her. “
I like them young but not still in
nappies.
I want a word with Mr. Craven.”

“I’ll
take you to his son,” the guard said. “He’s running the show tonight.”

The
woman nodded, following him. Corey’s attention moved to the next person in
line, the fat cowboy who’d made the comment about wanting to see Dante fuck. He
was looking at Corey like he was grilled ribs with lashings of barbecue sauce.

The
man lifted up Corey’s arm, making him flinch away. He pulled out one of the
photos that Corey had been covering. “
Very
nice,” the man drawled,
smiling at the one with Corey’s arse in the air. “Maybe I’ve got a spare two
million for you.”

Corey
shrank back further.

The
man’s eyes twinkled. “I like your scared look, makes my mouth water. I’m going
to speak to Anthony about purchasing you.” He ran the back of his hand down
Corey’s cheek. “See you later, my sweet cherry pie.” He picked up a few of
Corey’s pictures, gave the redhead’s hair a tousle, then walked off.

Corey’s
eyes followed the cowboy, his heart pounding as the man stopped behind the
concerned woman. Ant indicated to a guard to come forward, then told him
something. Nodding, the guard took a hold of the woman’s arm, directing her out
of the ballroom. Ant’s attention moved to the cowboy, a frown creasing his brow
as the man started talking. He shook his head. The cowboy grew louder, his
voice heard over everyone else’s. “I’ve got the two mil, so take it!”

Ant
said something that seemed to calm the man down. The cowboy looked back at the
table, eventually nodding after several seconds. Ant patted the man’s back,
then headed for the table with a smile.

Corey
pushed into Dante, terrified he was going to be forced to go with the fat man.
Dante wrapped an arm around Corey’s shoulders, pulling him in tight, which got
oohs and aahs from the crowd.

Ant
stopped in front of the redhead. “Looks like you’re second choice, so get up
and go with Mr. Royce, he’s paying a discounted rate of a mil for you,” he
looked at Corey, “because no one touches what’s mine, so get your hands off
him, Dante.”

“He’s
not yours, he’s my brother’s,” Dante snapped.

“Not
anymore, and I gather you’ve heard about your sister being here.” Ant smiled,
leaving the threat unsaid.

Dante
removed his arm.

“Good
boy.” Ant patted Dante’s cheek, then turned and headed back to his previous
spot by the door.

“You’re
fucked,” Dante said to Corey.

“Don’t
tell me sumpthin’ I don’t already know.”

“Can
you puke on demand?” Dante whispered, as a couple of men chatted up Kara,
blocking others from getting past.

“Easy.”

“Then
if Ant tries to do anything to you, puke on him.”

Corey
nodded, sitting up straight as a new line of people filed up to them, followed
by more, Corey getting pinches and pecks on the cheeks, and a couple of
maulings which almost made him cry, while Dante got pashed and grabbed in
places Corey was too afraid to look.

“Why
are you hard?” Corey asked between people, because he was softer than a melted
marshmallow below.

“They
made me swallow Viagra,” Dante whispered back, then stood and gave a hug to a
woman, the dirty cow groping his arse. She walked off, being replaced by
another woman, this one getting Dante to sign her breasts, then she gave him a
kiss and a grope, her hand squeezing his cock.

Dante
sat back down, looking like he wanted to hit the next person who touched him,
but instead continued to be polite and do what people asked of him, without a
doubt Beth and his sister’s safety the motivating factor. Corey also did the
same, although he almost puked on demand when an old fart asked for a kiss, but
instead he closed his eyes, the man thankfully just giving him a peck.

After
the last person came up to Dante, a sweet looking woman who only asked for her
DVD to be signed and a photo, Dante slumped back into his chair and closed his
eyes, looking worn out. “Thank Jesus that’s over,” he muttered.

People
began surrounding Ant, many of them pointing at Dante.

Ant
clapped his hands. “I’m sorry, people, but Dante’s worth more than two million,
plus too many are asking for him, so we’ll have an auction for him after his
performance. The highest bidder will get him for twenty-four hours, while four
more lucky people will get him for an hour each.”

“Fuck,”
Dante said, looking horrified.

Yeah,
fuck
alright, Corey thought, feeling sorry for Dante.

Afro
Man stepped in front of Dante. “Move to the centre of the room; it’s fuck time,
arsehole
.”

Dante’s
face paled. “I’m not fucking a bloke.”

“It’s
a chick. Fuck her mouth, pussy, arse, then come on her face. That’s your
orders.”

“I’ll
fuck how I please.”

The guard leant close to Dante’s ear.
“Not if you want your woman to stay alive.”

Dante
got up and shoved his chair back, the crash resounding throughout the room. He
ignored the alarmed stares from the patrons, spitting out: “Where do ya want
me, fucker?”

Afro
Man glared at him. “In the middle of the room, arsehole.”

Dante
walked around the table as the guards parted the crowd, clearing a large space
for him, then headed for centre of the room as Ant warned his customers about
the consequences of interfering with the performance. Music started, a slow
sexy tune, the singer’s husky voice accompanied by the patrons’ excited
chatter. Four tall, muscular men dressed in gold G-strings appeared in the
entrance to the ballroom, carrying a bed with a naked woman—