Chapter 4

She put me on speaker and giggled as she took off her clothes. I was equally as wound up. I lubed up the butt plug and stuck it inside me, quickly, wincing slightly as it passed my sphincter.

I set up on the bed, and put her on speaker too. The plug in my ass started to vibrate and the pleasure radiated through my pussy to end on my clit in waves.

“Oh, that’s nice. Are you naked? On the bed?”

“Touch both nipples. I want to be sucking on you right now.”

“You want me inside of you already, don’t you?”

She gasped with the relief as she rubbed herself. We touched ourselves, letting out little moans and grunts over the phone. The fire stoking on my clit warmed me up from the inside out, and her voice caused stabs of arousal to pierce my chest.

“I want to hear you lube up Liam to put inside you.” She rustled the bedsheets and squirted lube out. She must have brought it close to the phone because you could hear the wet sounds of her stroking the cock over the static of the call. “Good girl. Are you warm enough? Wet enough?”

“Fuck yourself. Keep touching your clit.”

I heard the squelch of the cock sliding into her.

My arousal spiked, hearing her say my name.

“You’re so sexy, baby girl. I’m getting so hot hearing you. You’re going to make me come just with your voice. If I was there, I’d be pounding into you so hard.”

The squelch of the dildo went up in speed.

“Oh! Ohh–” Her voice was hoarse.

“You’re doing so well, baby. Keep going.” I strummed my clit faster, my eyes closing with the intense pleasure between my ass and clit.

“Yes! Oh, shit! Ah–Mor!“

I forced myself to come at the same time as her, and bucked my hips harshly. The continued vibration in my ass wasn’t overwhelming but I was done now.

“Suz? Turn off the plug please?”

A few seconds later, the vibration stopped.

“Friday.” She continued speaking.

“Friday. Hotel. Sex.“

“Got it!” I grinned widely. “Don’t forget to bring Liam and my boxers.”

“Never!” She gasped in mock offense.

“I can’t wait to see you. I’m so whipped, I can’t go a few days without you.”

“Yeah, I don’t like this either. Let’s not do it again.“

“Agreed!” I smiled like a lunatic and could hear her mirroring smile in her voice. “Wait, how come you can have sex with me in the middle of the day?”

“I’m working from home today.“

“Ah! The perks of being the boss.”

She hummed in assent. I could imagine her lounging naked on our bed, her red hair splayed all over the white sheets.

“So what did work say when you told them you’d be out Friday?”

“They’re fine, but I do have to be on call in case there’s an emergency.“

“Of course. Heaven forbid they leave you alone for one day!”

“All hell would break loose!“

“There would be unnatural mutations everywhere.“

“I know I desperately need you all the time! I can’t imagine what it must be like for other people who don’t even get to kiss you.”

She giggled madly, and I was starting to pester her with my cloying come-ons.

“Other people must just see you on the street, sigh to themselves, then just sit in their room, dejectedly. They’ll just drink bourbon, without the opportunity to even meet you. It must be haunting!”

“Omigawd! Bye Mor! Have a good day! Save your charm for the podcasts. I’ll talk to you later.“

“If I can even survive without you until then! I might very well–“

She guffawed and clicked on me. I grinned widely as went to go take a shower.

The podcasts that day were tolerable. I met a couple of social media influencers I was a fan of.

I was dreading the morning talk show and ten AM on Thursday came faster than I thought.

I fidgeted in my three piece suit that now felt too hot under the studio lights. The makeup woman already had to come powder my face twice before we’d even started rolling. Each time she had to come back, she kept getting more and more upset.

“Moriah, I’m afraid we only have 10 minutes left on our show, so we’re going to be moving fairly quickly.”

I was trying to keep still and lower my heart rate. That may possibly bring my temperature down too.

“Rolling in 30! Set up camera C. Green screen playlist reset! GO!”

My heart hammered, and the two anchors flashed their brilliantly white teeth at me in creepy plastic smiles. I looked around and found Sully in the shadows of the set, grinning at me and giving me a double thumbs up.

The intro music blasted and spotlights flickered everywhere. The anchors moved smoothly and the camera panned to get their smiles. My smile suddenly seemed stiff and my jaw was hurting.

I heard the anchor introduce me as if it was from far away.

“–Two-time award winning novelist, one for her novel, In the Nest, that won the People’s Choice Read for 2019 and one for her book, Alley Cat Initiation, for Best Plot from a New Author in 2021. We’re lucky to have you, Miss Branson.”

“Thank you, Lisa! Harry! Nice to meet you too!” I grasped Harry’s hand in greeting. “I love watching you guys!” I gushed.

“Well, we’re even bigger fans of you!”

“She’s not kidding!” Harry interjected, jovially. “She has every single one of your books and cannot stop gushing every time you write another one.”

“Guilty!” Lisa chirped gaily.

“Always nice to meet a fan.” I started to get more comfortable. I can talk. I’m great at talking, especially when the topic is me.

“Yes! And your latest hit, Supernova Obsession is as horrific as they come. A bit of a stray from what you usually write, isn’t it?” Lisa took the lead in the interview.

“Yes and no. The drama elements are still there and there’s a hero trope to a lot of my writing that drives the main character the whole way. But yes, in the sense that this is my first real attempt at horror.”

“But I will say it was very refreshing the way you brought out the plot. We won’t find any jump scares in this horror, folks! Just good psychological thrills that will make you not want to put down Ms. Branson’s new masterpiece.”

“Let me know if you need your copy signed!” I said with a cocky grin.

“Oh, I definitely will! That leads me to the next question for you. Your work hasn’t technically fallen in the realm of romantic fiction. But you’re definitely not bad at it. There’s a particularly salacious scene in this book where two distinct species have sex. What drives your forays into sex scenes within a story? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining a bit except to say there’s fewer than I would like.” She fanned herself comically.

I chuckled. “Ah, yes. The sex scene. I’ll try not to give away any spoilers but sometimes the characters just have chemistry and it lends to exploring those feelings. I especially love romance tropes that aren’t very obvious or expected at first glance. It’s also a good storytelling device when you want to delve into motivations and charged situations.”

“Well, this story is definitely a hot one, and I’ve been telling Harry he needs to pick up a book of yours.”

“You’ve definitely convinced me today.” Harry smiled winningly. “I know this may be sacrilege, but I’m wanting to buy a copy and skip directly to the steamy sex scene.”

“Everyone knows sex is hotter when you work up towards it, Harry, love.” I said cheekily.

Lisa giggled at his discomfort.

“Well! You heard it here, folks! Our new favorite read this summer is Supernova Obsession. The newest work of young novelist, Moriah Branson. Featuring a low level cadet in space that runs into horrifying new beings that threaten the society they’ve built over hundreds of years. Branson is very quickly becoming a household name, and it won’t be long until every home has a copy of one of Ms. Branson’s works.”

“From your lips to god’s ears, Harry!”

“Lovely to meet you! And if anyone else would like to meet Ms. Branson, be sure to visit the USC book fair Friday and Saturday. She’ll be speaking at the New Fiction Writers panel.”

“Nice to meet you both! Thank you for having me.”

“That concludes our morning show with Lisa and Harry! Stay tuned for a preview of our three o’clock news. Have a great day, LA!”

Lisa came over to gush at me.

“You were excellent! You’re a natural! And you made Harry blush so you get extra brownie points for that!” She laughed.

“Thank you! That was fun! You have a cool job.”

“It’s exhausting, and there’s tape in places I shouldn’t have tape. But yeah, it more than pays the bills.” She took me by the forearm to lead me down a hallway. “This one is one of my favorites of yours. Your voice is changing a little with every new book but it keeps it new and refreshing. Here.”

She handed me her copy of Supernova Obsession, and I opened the first few pages to sign it.

It read: “To my favorite anchor, you’ve got first dibs on advance copies of any book of mine for being one of my biggest fans. Yours, Moriah Branson.”

“Ooh!” She exclaimed as she read the inscription. “I’ll hold you to that. Come by whenever you want, Moriah! Even if you don’t have a new book. We’ll always make space for you!”

“Thank you! That’s very kind.”

She kissed my cheek, and I left her dressing room. I found Sully talking to a producer. He was asking if they did indeed show the graphic of the cover of the book after the show.

“Yes, Sully.” He sighed out. “We said available in all stores where books are sold. We even have it featured on our website.”

“Excellent!” Sully rubbed his hands together. “Shall we go have lunch, Mor?”

“Yes please, I’m starving.”

“Okay! Thank you, Cecil!”

“You’re welcome Sully, you owe me.”

I wondered what kind of back deals Sully made on my behalf. But, I’d rather not know.

Suzie called me in Sully’s car.

“Mor! You were great!“

“Yeah? Honestly, it’s kind of a blur now.”

“Yes! You were charming, confident, a little too flirty for my taste, but that’s okay.“

I laughed. “Sorry! I can’t help but be a flirty smart aleck sometimes.”

“It’s attractive sometimes.” She hedged.

“When you do it with me.“

“Ah, right. You like when I’m cocky a little bit?”

Sully cleared his throat.

“Oops! Sorry, babe! I’m in the car with Sully.”

“Hi Suzie!” Sully shouted.

“Hi Sully!” I put her on speaker.

“Today’s show was great, right?”

“Yes, dear! You’re both doing great!“

“We’re trying to branch out into different demographics. Moriah does very well with women ages 20 to 35.”

“I’m sure she does.“

I cringed at the threat in her voice.

“Yes, well. I’m sure she’s told you already, but we have a meeting with our company tomorrow night.”

“Yes. She told me Sully. I have my hottest outfit ready for tomorrow.“

I frowned, not wanting to pimp myself out for these men, much less my hot girlfriend.

“Okay. Please let me know if you need anything. I’ll be happy to set anything up for you.”

I rolled my eyes. He was so much more gracious with her than he was with me.

As if she was the one making him money.

Whatever, she’s pretty awesome, I guess. Everyone should worship her.

“Okay, Sully! See you tomorrow! Mor, put me on your headset again.“

I took her off speaker and held the phone to my ear.

“Bye, darling. It’s nice to hear your voice. Call me by eleven tonight, my time, if you want to play again.“

“Yeah. Yes, of course.” I glanced at my watch. I could definitely get back in time.

“I love you too. Talk later!”

“I like Suzie.” Sully said, determinedly.

“I like her too, Sul. I like her a lot.”

SUZIE: I think I saw Rihanna!

I frowned at the text. The odds that she bumped into Rihanna at the airport were very slim. I wasn’t about to contradict her, though. If she says she saw Rihanna, she saw Rihanna. I haven’t had sex with her for three days. I’m not jeopardizing our reunion for just any international incident.

ME: Awesome! Anyone else?

SUZIE: Possibly Courtney Cox but I’m not sure. She has sunglasses on.

ME: You should go up to her and ask if she’s Monica

SUZIE: No! They want to be treated like regular people.

I was signing books as she told me her airport adventures, and I couldn’t wait to see her.

SUZIE: When am I going to see you?

ME: 1pm. I’ll escape and see you at the room.

ME: They have room service.

I don’t know what that meant. What the hell did that mean? I groaned in frustration.

Did it mean she wants me to ditch now and meet her? Did she want me to have food delivered to her? Did she just want to talk about food? What the hell?

ME: What are you in the mood for babe?

ME: Okay. I know some good ones. Want me to pick them up on the way home?

SUZIE: Yes, please! See you at one!