Sounds hard

“Sounds hard,” you say.

“It is,” she replies. “It’s OK.”

You don’t have a reply for that, so you just look at her and enjoy the situation. It’s more comforting than erotic, but after such a crazy weekend, that’s OK. And you got into that game just now. That game is so stressful. Colby’s insane. You used to find that insanity funny. Now you look at it differently.

“What are you thinking about?” Athena asks you.

You flinch. You’re literally in bed with the woman of your dreams and thinking about someone else.

“Nobody,” you say quickly, abashed.

“So what’s your plan?”

Right. The whole reason you came to see her. You sit up straighter, but stay close to her. The warmth of her body is your favorite thing right now.

“OK,” you say. “Here’s the overview. I think we’re going in the wrong direction with the slasher **** stuff. I think it turns off more people than it turns on, and I think that we’re attracting a weird crowd if we lean into it. But I do think we need to be more aggressive with the brand.”

Athena seems startled by what you’re saying, but she recovers quickly and twists her torso, laying her arm across the headboard and giving you her full attention. Also a bit of a look at her cleavage. That is a cute nightie. She has no idea how sexy you find her. She truly does not get it.

You stay focused.

“OK,” she says. “How would you do it? Where would you go with it?”

“Sex sells,” you say with a shrug. “I think there are people who are fascinated with the murders and if Netflix wants to come do a **** documentary for housewives, we should jump on it. But until then, sex.”

“You think girl on girl is interesting enough on its own?” Athena asks.

“No. Girl on girl is boring. That’s what porn is for. We’re real and porn isn’t. People out there have imaginations and we have a reputation. They wonder what we get up to around here. I know that because I used to wonder. It’s why I’m here,” you admit. “And the reputation fits. Last night…” You trail off. Last night, four sorority girls slept in one bed and got outrageously naughty… just like a porn movie.

Athena shakes her head. “It’s been brought up. I don’t want any Onlyfans here. CCL likes to have fun, but it’s not actually about sex. It’s about freedom.”

“I’m not suggesting Onlyfans. I’m suggesting that we…” You search for the right word. “Capitalize on the mystique.”

Athena looks fascinated. “Mystique.”

“Yes, mystique. We live in this old house, and nobody knows what goes on in here except for us. What would happen if we told people what we did last night? Would they believe us? They wouldn’t know whether to believe us or not,” you say. “But we’d have their interest. Wouldn’t we? Pretty attention-getting, right? Sorority foursomes?”

“We don’t do that on a regular basis,” Athena reminds you with a little smile, but she can’t hide it: she’s intrigued. “You don’t want to sell sex, you want to sell the idea of it.”

You nod.

“You have a way to monetize this?” Athena asks.