Some warnings and notices.
Those familiar with my writing know my multi-chapter stories tend to be longer. I also write what I like to think are nuanced, character driven stories. They aren't three paragraphs of dialog for every two pages of sex. It takes a while for the "good stuff" to show up, particularly at the beginning. If you want a quick stroke story, this is not it.
Next, this is a BDSM story, but because of the setup the dominant is not a cool, collected, totally in control figure 100% of the time. The reasons will be explained in the story, but if you're going to get irked or annoyed at the fact that the dominant isn't constantly in control, flawless, and unwavering in their technique and execution, this is not the story for you.
Finally, I do my own proofreading and editing; despite much searching, no editors I've found are willing to review novel-length stories for free. Apparently my most consistent issue is mixing up character's names. If someone finds an instance of this and wants to point out specifically where it is, I'll try to get it corrected. But I've gotten enough 'haha you mixed up the names you're a hack writer go get an editor' comments on my other stories that I'm going to be unapologetically deleting them going forward.
Finally, I try to be as accurate as possible with the tags in my stories, but there's a limit to what I can put in and I'm only allowed 10 max, so I can't cover everything. The story in its entirety involves M/F, F/F, and some FFM threesomes. Taken together, the characters work their way through almost every combination of mouths and genitals that can be arranged. Also (hopefully this goes without saying, but just to be thorough), there are multiple examples of bondage, toys, pain, and a few questionable consent incidents. If any of that bothers you, I'd encourage you to read something else.
If you're still here after all that, please enjoy the story.
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Chapter 1: Auditions
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Dakota
Dakota stepped into her agent's office, remembering not to smirk.
She'd only been his client for three months, and he was grateful to have her. She was the boost he needed. He'd almost admitted that to her face. Eli Chambers was still riding a rough wave. One of his clients had just gone through a very public meltdown on the set of a big franchise movie. They were safely tucked away in "rehab" but a whole swath of Hollywood wasn't taking his calls anymore.
On top of that, he'd just come out on the other side of almost being cancelled. Another one of his clients had been an actress who hit it big in a few blockbusters, and then decided she was "too good an actress" for mainstream Hollywood and put her talent and money behind some risky indie projects. After two complete bombs and lukewarm reviews about her acting chops, she went all in with an untried indie director. She'd spent two months talking up how the film would be "edgy, experimental, and real" while teasing that the "real-ness" included the sex scenes. When it debuted to critics at film festivals calling it "Shakesperean porn with worse dialogue," she'd cried coercion, claiming both Eli and the movie's director forced her to do the scenes.
There was no evidence of that, and plenty of evidence that she was willing to and even pushed for more than the director asked, but a cadre of online social justice warriors stuck firm to their belief that any woman making such accusations was right. It took six months of court discovery and a defamation lawsuit for the actress to back down.
Dakota was taking a bit of a risk trusting Eli, but she needed to make a statement, and her mother could go fuck herself. Dakota had dealt with her own legal battle for autonomy and control of her finances.
For years, Dakota had been "Princess Jewel." Ten years ago, actor/producer Jeremy Coulter had done an end run around the Sony execs who'd been making all of their bad decisions for years and got his show greenlit. Taking advantage of the "epic fantasy" craze, he conceived of a young adult show featuring the continuing adventures of a princess who became a squire in her own kingdom. Coulter had produced and written the pilot for the series, as well as directing it. He also starred as the knight Dakota's character squired for. They marketed it as "Game of Thrones meets Hanna Montana." But, you know, with a lot less incest and blood.
It had been a raging hit for 7 years, spawned two movies with theatrical releases, and got Dakota enough recognition during its run that she was pulled in for roles in other movies. They were all teen romantic comedies or dramas, but it was work.
And yes, she'd ended up going out with Coulter. She grimaced now at how cliché it had been; the impressionable teenage actress with no real father latching on to the father-figure. But she still believed she went into it with eyes wide open. At first she'd done the "responsible" thing and dated one half of her on-screen love triangle, who played a court jester in training. The funny thing was that people believed it, despite his performances in the jester outfits causing every queer viewer to call him out as gay years before he publicly announced it. That was another arrangement she'd gone into without deluding herself; she was his beard, and their relationship kept her mother from trying to hook her up with anyone else in Hollywood.
Then her mother's true colors came out after their final movie wrapped and instead of jumping into a new series her mother had been pushing for, she wanted to spend six months with Coulter to explore their relationship.
Her mother sabotaged that out of the gate, first claiming Coulter had been grooming her, then claiming he was stealing her money. She tried to get control of Dakota through conservatorship, but Dakota's own fans practically led a lynch mob to stop that.
Dakota set herself up successfully as the victim in that and got all the sympathy. Unfortunately the strain and the stress killed her relationship with Coulter; it was too much for him, and the accusations of grooming hit him hard. While people held Dakota blameless, some people still raised eyebrows at their relationship starting shortly after she turned 18, and insisted if people dug they would find something to back up the grooming claims, assuming they didn't find actual statutory evidence.
For better or worse, they were wrong; Dakota had been a virgin up until after her 18th birthday (her gay co-star certainly wasn't going to take care of that for her). She didn't admit it out loud to anyone, but the cock Coulter sported was at least half of the reason she was bitter about the relationship falling apart. Taking eight inches up your pussy might not be the best way to lose your virginity, but it certainly made every time after that a wonderful ride.
But all that was behind her now, and she was on a mission. It wasn't one Eli would probably agree with, but she had leverage for that, and she had him exactly where she wanted him for it.
"Dakota!" he greeted her.
His smile was genuine, but he didn't go for a hug, just held out his hand like a professional. She felt a little bad, because he seemed like the kind of man who would be a good hugger. He was older, in his mid fifties, gone a little to fat but not obese, and was a genuine sort of man. He worked within the Hollywood machine, and there was an unavoidable amount of sleaze to that, but he had a reputation for being up front with his clients when they were wading into messes, and he fought for them; he wasn't the type to sell out an actor on a bad deal just to make some money.
Dakota wore a tunic dress and leggings with Crocs. She'd unfortunately come to love them because they were the easiest shoes to have around on sets. Also, they fit under the plastic armor of the fake plate mail she'd had to wear a lot in the later seasons of "Princess Jewel". After seven years on that show, she was never wearing ballet flats or leather boots ever again.
"Hello Mister Chambers," she said.
"Now Dakota, everyone calls me Eli, so should you. It saves time, if nothing else. So did you look over that script for '4K'? You said you wanted to break out of your child image; I think that would be a step in the right direction."
Dakota paused. The script in question was a drama about a college photography student who takes on a project doing urban photography. It was a coming-of-age story, as the protagonist's interactions with the homeless, gangs, and addicted wakes them up to the "real world". It was aiming for an "artful R" rating; it would have language and nudity, but only because the underbelly of a city had them. The language would just make sense for the context, and any actor who was nude would look like a real person, not a model or a porn star. They'd probably be men, on top of that. It did have a love scene for her character, but it was one of those "show the dress coming off the shoulders, then pooling at her ankles while the guy looks awestruck." She'd done at least one of those before.
"I'm still the naïve kid in that," Dakota said.
"Yeah, but you're the naïve kid being made aware of the wider world. It's exactly what you want to show; your old, kiddie persona being stripped away to a more adult reality," Eli pointed out.
"Plus," he added when Dakota didn't say anything immediately, "It's Jane Campion's next vehicle. That's going to catch a lot of people's attention. Some are even talking Oscar nods."
Dakota took a breath and looked at Eli. "But I'm not guaranteed the part," she said.
"No," Eli admitted, "but word on the street is you're on the short list already. When I called the casting director they guaranteed you a slot in the second round, no cattle-call."
