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“I feel like I’m going cross-eyed trying to find something interesting in all those files. Ever since Jill hired me to work on Toni Granger’s reelection campaign, I’ve been trying to combat the fact that I’m completely unqualified with a rigorous dedication to research. Granger’s office delivered like thirty boxes of these documents for us to go through to help craft our PR angle. Lawyers love paperwork.”
“I’ve heard that,” Josh said. “If I help you look through these boring files for let’s say, thirty minutes, would you be allowed to take a break and watch a movie? I’m worried about your big brain combusting.”
“Oh my gosh. That would be amazing.” She handed him a huge pile. “But who gets to pick the movie?”
“Obviously me.”
“Why obviously you?”
“Because I’m the one saving you from early-onset cataracts.”
“Fine.” She resumed reading. “But can we please watch Speed?”
His eyebrows sank together. “You like Speed?”
“No.” She highlighted something on the paper. “I love Speed.”
“You mean you love Keanu Reeves?”
“Are you trying to minimize my excellent taste in movies to a mere celebrity crush?”
“Oh no. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Good. Because I’ll have you know I am a dedicated and lifelong fan of the action movie genre.” Clara reached for a set of documents at her feet. “I actually wanted to ask you about one of these.” She handed him a file. “Does the name Black Hat mean anything to you? I thought I came across the name in one of those articles that popped up when I Googled you.”
He wanted to tease her about reading his press coverage, but the quip died as he paused on the third line. “Wait a minute . . .”
“What is it?” Clara leaned to read over his shoulder. Her tits brushed against his shoulder and he almost yelped. He definitely needed to lift his embargo on masturbating to the thought of her. He couldn’t risk even platonic touching until he got his rocks off again. Josh would have called one of his regular hookups—hell, he’d even considered driving by Naomi’s place—but he knew his strike would last longer if he avoided people in the business who would tell him to suck it up and get back to work. A little intercourse hiatus wouldn’t cause any permanent damage. Probably.
Josh could feel her breath against his neck. He turned his head only to find their faces closer together than he’d anticipated. Clara had something shiny on her lips, making them pinker than normal. He found himself staring at them, imagining them wrapped around his . . .
“Do I have a booger?” She rubbed her nose. “If I do, you have to tell me.”
“Relax. Your nose is as clean as a whistle.” Josh directed his eyes back to the page in front of him.
“Did you find something in there? From what I read at the office, Toni’s a good lawyer with a solid case record, but so far nothing has jumped out as headline fodder.”
“I need my glasses.” Josh returned from his room a moment later, bespectacled. “Okay. Yeah. Look at this.” He ran his finger below where he wanted her to follow. “Toni Granger didn’t just mention Black Hat, she wrote a whole paper about them.”
As Clara reached to take the doc from his hands, the sweatshirt she wore fell off her shoulder. “Where did you get that sweatshirt?” He knew she hadn’t gone to Berkeley.
“Oh, um.” Clara tugged at her fallen collar. “It’s Everett’s. All of mine are in the wash.”
Josh ground his teeth together. Everett. Again. He kept letting himself conveniently forget her lifelong crush. “It looks like she wrote this when she was applying for the assistant district attorney’s office.” She flipped a couple of pages. “Hey, what’s Big Porn?”
“It’s like Big Tobacco. Black Hat is the largest distributor of pornography in the world. They own three of the five major streaming sites, more than a handful of big studios, probably a bunch of other stuff I don’t even know about. Their reach is long.”
Clara’s eyes widened as she took in more of the position paper. “It looks like they completely decimated the structure of the porn industry in a handful of years. Toni argues that their end-to-end distribution model creates a dangerous power imbalance, with their workers paying the cost. You know these people?”
“Sure. I mean, everyone knows Black Hat. They’re hard to avoid. I don’t deal with corporate directly, they usually go through Bennie, but their holding company controls the studio that holds my exclusive contract. They’ve invited me in for meetings a few times over the last couple of months, but I’d rather gnaw off my own arm than listen to businessmen talk about synergy.”
“This is serious.” Clara skimmed her finger underneath a new paragraph. “She’s implying wrongful termination, unsafe working conditions, sexual harassment. This place sounds like a disaster. She could have demanded they improve their policies during her first term. Why isn’t Granger’s office prosecuting on any of these violations?”
“My guess? Not enough witnesses to testify.” Josh needed a beer. “My contract might be a raw deal, but when it comes to porn, the performers are the lucky ones. I’ve got an agent, arguably some market value to trade on. But the directors, the crew, the people emptying the trash cans? They can’t afford to risk their jobs to take down a corporation with this much power and influence.”
“Well, someone should do something. I can’t believe the press isn’t talking about this.”
“Really? You’re shocked that Hollywood isn’t in an uproar because someone might be getting mistreated in the porn industry? Nobody outside our bubble gives a shit.”
