Page 6 of I’d Be Honored

Letting muscle memory take over, Maddie’s five-foot-five-inch athletic frame smoothly lifted Kim by her bare ass, hiking up her legs until they latched around Maddie’s body. She kicked the door shut behind her, and with her eyes closed and Kim’s lips on hers, guided herself down the familiar hallway toward the bedroom.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Kim mumbled against Maddie’s lips.

Maddie tossed Kim onto the mattress and stripped the loose T-shirt from her body in one clean motion. She then stepped back and removed her own clothes, not wanting to draw this out.

Moving to the bed, Maddie crawled on top of Kim, sucking on her neck until she elicited a moan from her ex beneath her, leaving a bruise the size of her mouth.

Maddie sat up straight and angled her body against Kim’s, sliding into place until their two aching centers met.

Biting her bottom lip, Kim watched as Maddie ground against her. “Don’t stop,” she groaned, now gripping Maddie’s hips and guiding her movement.

Maddie rocked harder and faster. She could feel Kim’s body coiling tighter in time with her own until, in unison, they let loose a final, shaking cry. She collapsed next to Kim as their breathing steadied.

As Maddie stared up at the ceiling, still panting, she felt Kim shift beside her. She turned, opening her mouth to speak, but then stopped. Kim was already on her phone, with her back to Maddie, swiping through Her.

She had to check her fucking dating app? Unbelievable.

Too tired to care that night, Maddie rolled away and closed her eyes, putting the width of the mattress between them.

THE SUN HAD ALREADY RISEN OUTSIDE the window when Maddie peeled her eyes open. She had no idea what time it was, and for a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was. Something tickled her face. Maddie grumbled, annoyed, as the night before came back to her in a rush. She swept Kim’s brunette locks from her own eyes and climbed out of bed.

Kim squinted, waking slightly from the motion. “Where are you going?”

“We’ve got to stop doing this,” Maddie insisted quietly, putting on her clothes hastily. She realized too late that her shirt was on backward. In the time it took for her to fix it, Kim seemed to wake fully.

“Why do you always say that?” Kim asked as she sat up, holding the sheets against her chest. “There’s clearly something here, or we wouldn’t keep coming back to each other like this.”

“We don’t work, Kim. We’ve tried, and it ends the same way every time.” It was exhausting, if she was being honest.

“Exactly. It always ends with you screaming my name over and over and over,” Kim drawled, her grin slow and cocky.

Maddie suddenly hated it.

“Yes, I know the sex is great, but can you honestly tell me you want this?” Maddie jammed her foot into one of her sneakers. “With me. Exclusively. No more flirting with other women?”

“Stay for a little longer, baby,” Kim crooned as she let the sheets fall around her bare waist, avoiding Maddie’s question. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

“I’ve got a plane to catch.” Maddie’s tone was a dead end. She couldn’t get out of LA fast enough.

“I’d tell you not to forget about me, but…” Kim smirked, flashing that one dimple in a final attempt to change Maddie’s mind.

Maddie stalked out of the room before she could give in.

Thankfully, it was still early that afternoon when Maddie got into her car and drove to her Studio City home—a modest mansion, thanks to Hollywood’s money. She’d grown up in Woodland Hills with two parents who spent their entire careers in the entertainment industry, and Maddie had always known she’d follow in their footsteps. While her mom produced and her dad managed sets, Maddie preferred to be in front of the camera.

She had only been twelve when she watched Megan Fox hold up the hood of a yellow Camaro in Transformers for the first time, and she’d discovered two things in that moment. Number one—she wanted to be Megan Fox. She wanted her fame, her body, her everything. And number two—she also wanted to be with Megan Fox.

When she had shared this with her parents, they accepted her lesbian label with grace, but they balked at the word actress. Under the condition that she finished high school with straight As, they finally reached an agreement to support her desire to begin auditions after graduation.

Now, as Maddie walked into her home and headed toward the living area, her eye caught a small beam of light reflecting off the glass frame in her office. She used the room as both an unofficial shrine to her career and a home for the mess of scripts she had received throughout the years.

She pushed her office door open, the hinges squeaking softly in the stillness, and looked closer at the first picture hanging in the top row. It was a photo of her at eighteen, holding up the first movie contract she had ever signed and standing next to her longtime agent, Sandy. Her eyes scanned over to the next photo—her first big role.

Ticket to Tokyo.

It marked the first life-changing success that Maddie and Caitlin had achieved together after becoming best friends and roommates. In the picture, they were both smiling from ear to ear, their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, fully covered in mud from the scene they filmed in the Tijuca National Park. Maddie had covertly taken the brown leather vest she wore during most of the movie, unable to part with it afterward.

Her office had become a gallery of every movie set she’d ever worked on, and the photos all shared a single constant—Caitlin.