A Mother-Daughter Act update

Carlie sucked away like she was trying to prove something. At the right time, it might’ve looked erotic, but this wasn’t the right time. Everything about her seemed flat and lifeless. Her hands diffidently stroked Bill’s legs and belly, squeezing his balls sometimes like an afterthought, while he held his palms on her head. Usually the cameraman was between Lana and the ‘action,’ which she was mildly grateful for.

Then Carlie pulled herself off of Bill’s erection. Her face was a sickly gray. She looked at Peter through slitted eyes. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry.” Then, like a bug under insecticide, she laid down, curling up on the floor and breathing shallowly. “I’m sorry,” she muttered again, looking small and helpless. “I’m sorry.”

“Fuck,” Peter said gently.

Lana took Carlie to the bathroom to be cleaned up with cold water. Splashing herself a few times seemed to stabilize Carlie, but she still didn’t seem in any shape to continue. She sat on the commode, muttering to herself in a conversation with someone who didn’t seem to be there, talking about rehab... 

Lana went out to let Peter know.

He took it about as well as could be expected—convincing Lana that the shoot had been a success up til now. She would’ve been able to notice if he’d been carrying around the bitter anger he now had. 

“Fuck! I should have gotten someone else and told Carlie to eat shit. Now she’s fucked us. We’ve lost the whole day!”

“Yeah,” Lana said gently. “But she is sick.”

“I’m sick,” Peter countered. “Sick in the head. I should’ve known she couldn’t be relied on, but it’s fucking in front of a camera, Peter. How hard can it be? And now look at us.”

Lana could understand his frustration. The movie had become important to her, too, as she watched Peter work. The porn industry was merciless. If Peter failed, even once, there were plenty who would be happy to replace him. He’d been trusted with an amount of money that his backers had expected him to replace with a finished movie, not excuses. It was a wonder he was being as calm as he was.

She went to him, rubbing his tense shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Peter. I know what this means to you. If there’s anything I could do… maybe we could go off for a few minutes, have a quickie. That would relax you. You might come up with something.”

“A quickie,” Peter repeated, turning his head. “You want to have a quickie with me?”

“Uh-huh.” Lana kissed the back of his neck. “No matter what happens, you’re still the sexiest guy I know.”

He came around to face her, taking the hands she’d been massaging his shoulders with. “Do it in front of the camera. That would fix everything.”

At first, she thought he was joking, but then she saw Peter was totally serious.

“You’re—!” Lana began, shouting, but then she lowered her voice. “You’re crazy. What if someone recognized me? No, no way…”

“Be reasonable,” Peter told her. “It’s one scene in one porno. A million come out every week. We’ll give you a fake name, put a wig on you—the only way anyone will know you were in it is if you tell them.”

“No,” Lana insisted, but his eyes were pleading with her, grabbing her harder than his words ever could.

“Look, I’ve done it myself. If a man had crapped out on me today, I’d have taken over for him already. Come on, Lana.” He squeezed her hands. “I need you.”

She mouthed the word no again, wanting to say it out loud, to really mean it, but she couldn’t. Her hands were clutched in his, the force of his personality was flowing into her, and she thought, haven’t you always said you’d do anything for him?

***

Lana felt naked, even with the pink robe she wore. The lights trained on her were unbearably hot, too, but she was even more aware of the burning eyes on her. Peter had cleared the set out of sensitivity to her. Everyone was gone except the bare-bones film crew. It was a nice gesture—she didn’t want to be ogled—but she didn’t feel much different knowing that only a few people would see her. With the camera running, the whole world could see her.

How could Peter have asked her to do this? How could she have agreed to it? And what if she enjoyed it, like she seemed to enjoy all of Peter’s instructions? What then?