Get Ready

We stayed in bed longer than we should have after the call with her mum.

Veronica was still on top of me, warm and soft and full of my come, her forehead resting against mine while we caught our breath. Eventually she let out a quiet laugh and lifted her head.

“We should probably get up,” she said, even though she made no move to actually do it. “We’ve got a lot to figure out before Friday.”

I ran my hands slowly up and down her bare back.

“The agent meeting,” I said.

She nodded. “Yeah. If we’re going to do this properly, we need to be ready. I don’t want to walk in there blind.”

We eventually dragged ourselves out of bed and into the shower. It was supposed to be quick. It wasn’t. I ended up fucking her against the tiles with her legs wrapped around my waist, water running over both of us while she begged me to come inside her again. By the time we finally made it downstairs, it was nearly midday.

We set up at the kitchen table with her laptop between us.

Veronica pulled up Marcus’s website and a few articles about him while I made us coffee. She looked focused but a little nervous, chewing on her bottom lip as she scrolled.

“Okay,” she said once I sat down beside her. “Let’s start with what we actually want to know.”

I leaned in, resting my arm along the back of her chair.

“First thing,” I said. “What exactly does he get out of this? What’s his cut? What kind of deals does he usually make for people at your level?”

She nodded and started typing notes.

“Also,” I continued, “how much control does he want over your content? Especially after… everything that’s happened. I don’t want him pushing you into stuff you’re not comfortable with just because it’ll make more money.”

Veronica glanced at me, something soft in her expression.

“You’re really thinking about all of this,” she said quietly.

“Of course I am.” I reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “This isn’t just your career anymore. It affects both of us now.”

She leaned in and kissed me, slow and grateful, before turning back to the laptop.

We spent the next couple of hours working through questions. What kind of sponsorships he thought were realistic. Whether he had experience with creators who’d had “incidents” like hers. How much he’d want her to be public about her personal life now that we were officially together. What kind of long-term plan he actually had for her.

At one point she got up to make more coffee and came back wearing nothing but one of my shirts again. She sat sideways in my lap while we kept talking, her legs draped over mine, occasionally rolling her hips just enough to remind me she was still bare underneath.

By late afternoon we had a solid list of questions and a clearer picture of what she actually wanted from representation. Veronica saved everything into a document and closed the laptop with a sigh.

“Friday’s going to be a lot,” she said, resting her head against my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But we’ll handle it.”

She was quiet for a moment, then tilted her head up to look at me.

“My mum’s coming tomorrow,” she reminded me, like I could’ve forgotten. “Lunch. She wants to see the house. Meet you properly.”

I let out a low breath.

“Yeah. That’s going to be interesting.”

Veronica gave a small, slightly nervous laugh.

“She’s going to take one look at us and know we’re fucking,” she said bluntly. “Especially after that phone call this morning.”

I couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at my mouth.

“Probably.”

She studied me for a second, then reached up and cupped my face.

“Are you okay with all of this?” she asked quietly. “My mum coming. The agent meeting. Everything moving so fast?”

I thought about it honestly.

A few weeks ago I’d been grinding at a dead-end warehouse job, barely keeping my head above water. Now I was unemployed, sleeping with my housemate every night, and about to walk into a meeting with a talent agent while her mother came to visit.

It should’ve felt overwhelming.

Instead, it just felt like mine.

“I’m okay,” I told her. “As long as you’re here.”

Veronica smiled and leaned in to kiss me again — slower this time, deeper. Her hand slid down between us and cupped me through my sweats.

“Good,” she murmured against my mouth. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

She squeezed me gently, and I felt myself starting to harden again under her palm.

We didn’t get much more planning done that afternoon.