Just Dance

The reality dawned on Wes. He had to tell her, or this would never end. "You already know what I do."

"What? How?"

He sighed. "You didn't catch me watching porn last week when you walked in on me. That was me working."

"What does that mean?" This was far from where Jenna expected this conversation to go.

"It's not a big deal. I do a lot of video marketing for nude models."

Oh my god... Jenna was bewildered. This wasn't much better than selling drugs. "Wh- How- How are you involved in that? How are you making so much money off of that?"

"It's not anything crazy. I just do market research, data analytics, and branding for some models. And I make money running a video platform for them."

Jenna would have never guessed Wes would get into this. He was less recognizable. "How did this happen?"

He still looked away from his mom, and he tried to sound professional. "This girl from school was a camgirl. She knew I was really good at digital marketing on social platforms and whatnot. So she asked me if I could help her reach a much larger paying audience. I saw a new way to make money in the industry by leveraging marketing data and feedback, and it took off. I made a lot of money. And then I realized that there were probably other women in her situation. So, I started a video website that featured a new model every week. Then I use the feedback to help launch and market data-driven channels for them after their week is up."

The mother stood there. Her mouth moved, but no words came out.

"I know it's a weird industry. But it's perfectly legal, and it was a smart business path. Nobody knows I do this."

"Okay, okay, okay," Jenna huffed. She ran her hands over her smooth face. "You need to send me the link to the site. I need to know what you're doing."

"Why? You're just going to get upset," a defeated Wes looked up.

For some reason, Jenna felt her son's eyes land on her body in an objectifying way. She was sure it was just her paranoia after finding out that he managed porn actresses. "Believe me, I'm already upset. I need to know how much I need to freak out about this."

Wes lowly nodded and texted her the link.

Jenna, with her shoulders tense, left her son's room.

***** Ch. 6

Jenna spent the next hour working off her anxiety on her exercise bike in her unfinished basement. In spite of its industrial atmosphere, this was the room in the house where Jenna always found peace.

Why the hell would he think it's okay to get into this? The money was clearly amazing. And that $93,000 didn't include his persona withdrawals. But regardless, he was involved in porn.

The answer to what exactly he was up to, though, was right in front of her. Jenna unlocked her phone and tapped the link in her son's text.

"Ugh." She winced as soon as she landed on the homepage. Her eyes were greeted by a GIF of a busty, dirty-blonde in her mid-twenties walking down a sidewalk in a bikini top and a knitted cover-up. The GIF then transitioned to her mouthing words to the camera, then to her removing her clothes, and then her inserting a dildo.

It looked like porn made from an iPhone. Still, there was a button underneath the video to buy a premium subscription to the site. And obviously enough people had to be buying it.

As Jenna scrolled down the site, she saw many other video offerings from women of various ages and aesthetics. Each woman had a bio page that linked to her own channel - which was set up by Wes. He's in really deep...

She pedaled faster.

***** Ch.7

Thankfully, it was wine night.

Jenna was joined by her two friends, Bri and Layla, as they sat on her back screened-in porch. Each woman held a glass of red wine and relaxed in her "going out" attire. They always gathered before another journey to a nightclub downtown. Clubbing was not Jenna's cup of tea, but she had promised Bri and Layla that she would get out of the house with them more.

The three friends had grown up together and were close in high school. Things changed when Layla got pregnant and Bri and Jenna went off to college together. Then, with Jenna raising Wes and being married, Bri and Layla had become the closer pair.

Layla had been married and divorced twice, likely due to her being cute enough to get into relationships, but too neurotic at times to find stability. There was lingering resentment that she was the one from their clique that got pregnant in high school even though it could have been any of them. She had a shorter body, a round face, a big smile, and neck-length dark hair that she kept in a ponytail.

Bri was a lawyer who perpetually 'kind of had a boyfriend-ish' while also being 'kind of single'. She was as independent as Jenna was, yet ironically both more free-spirited and corporate. She had sharper features and straight long blonde hair.

And with her brunette hair, round hips, firm body, large breasts, mature demeanor, and assuring smile, Jenna came across as a self-reliant trophy wife. She always appeared to be the most put-together and responsible person in the room, even though she often wasn't while growing up.

In a testament to their friendship, despite their different paths in life, the three had grown closer again over the last twelve months since Jenna's separation.

As the longtime friends finished their first glass of wine, Bri finally mentioned to Jenna that she seemed distant.

"It's nothing," Jenna brushed it off.

"No, tell us."

She had to get some of it off her chest. "Well, I don't wanna give a lot away... But I discovered Wes is doing something for a living that I do not approve of at all. And there's nothing I can think to do to stop him because it's legal, and he's making money hand-over-fist."

"What's he doing?" Bri was intrigued.

"And how much is he making?" Layla humored.

Jenna sipped her wine. "Again, I'm not going to get into it because it's private. But he's doing something with making videos, and he's probably making well over $100,000 a year."

"What, is he doing porn?!" Layla's mind lived in the gutter more than the others. She was also the bluntest.

"What?" Jenna recoiled. "How did you get to that?"

Layla raised her palms. "How else would he make his mom that upset from making videos?"

The truth was out of the bag, and Jenna actually wanted to talk about it. "Well, he's not doing it. He's marketing it. He runs this site where a different 'actress' takes it over every week. Then he does all this marketing research to help them make their own channel after they're done. Obviously, I don't want him doing it. I mean, just imagine if someone found out. And I also keep thinking how bad it is that he's talking to those types of women all day."

"I mean, it might be a skeezy business, but he's doing really well," Layla offered.

Bri joked, "Yeah, he's a guy making over 100k a year and he's good with women. Do you know if he's seeing anyone?"

"Probably all of the girls," Layla snorted.

Jenna shuddered. Her best friends could see they were not being much help because Jenna was growing more worried. "Do you guys think it's possible he's seeing them, like 'casting-couching' them or something?"

"You watch casting couch porn?" Bri grinned curiously.

"No, but obviously I scroll past it when finding stuff I watch. I'm not that out of the loop."

Layla adjusted her short black ponytail. "Well, if it makes you feel better, those women are probably from all over the place. So, he's probably not making them fuck him for a job."

Bri shook her blonde head at her friend's bluntness.

Jenna asked Layla, "Then how is he even finding these women? How is he convincing them to do it?"

"Well," Layla shrugged, "he's definitely paying them. These many girls don't get naked on camera for a week for free. And he's probably recruiting off Instagram or Reddit. Those are kind of big places for amateurs to post pics and videos. Like, it's mainly wannabe Instagram models that realize they can't make as much money as they wanted to. So they do porn instead."

Bri was impressed with Layla's knowledge. Jenna, though, was shaking her head in bewilderment. "What the hell is wrong with girls these days? How in the world are there so many willing to do this type of shit for a living?"

"Oh, come on now," Bri now rolled her eyes. "Jen, you of all people should not be saying that."

Layla perked up. "Why, Bri?! Why shouldn't Jen be saying that?!"

"Well, Layla," a grinning Bri pretended to lecture as if she were in court, "our mutual friend here, Jenna, was once quite eager to get her naked body on camera." Jenna tried to pipe in, but Bri spoke louder. "In college, she, and admittedly I did too, flashed her tits to some cheap forebearer of Girls Gone Wild that came to our campus. She and her naked tits were on camera in all their glory."

"No, no," the mother defended, seeing Layla's shocked and impressed face. "I once got drunk at a party and did something stupid. I wasn't using sex toys in scripted videos for money."

"Once?" Bri questioned. The tall lawyer noticed Layla's engaged face, her craving new information. "Jen, you also flashed your tits for a bunch of random guys when they begged you to during beach week."

"Ok. Well, that- "

"And, you were not drunk at all when that happened," Bri pointed. "And, what about the time you had sex with Kevin Holdfeld against the side of that house at that party junior year when all of those frat guys were watching you and catcalling you, and you just winked at them and kept going?"

"OH, DAMN!" Layla laughed.

"And how about those tattoos we got after- "

"You did those same types of things!" Jenna charged.

"Yeah, I know I did," Bri laughed. "That's why I didn't criticize those women for doing softcore porn."

"Ok. We were slutty. The three of us, we all used to be slutty."

"Used to be?" Layla laughed at herself.

Jenna continued with her thought. "My point is, there's a big difference between having fun when you're a stupid kid and selling your body for a living."

"I don't know," Layla swirled her finger on the rim of her wine glass, "based on what Bri just said, it seems like if camgirling were a thing back then, you would've been doing it."

Jenna rolled her eyes, not appreciating the joke. "I'm not the type of woman who would ever sell my body. All of those things I did were spontaneous and fun, that's why I liked doing them. Getting paid would've taken the fun out of it," she spoke honestly.

"I know you. I know that's true. That's true for me, too," Bri recognized. She then ribbed, "I know you wouldn't take money, but what about the time you benevolently choked on that wide receiver's cock so he'd give Tara a ride home from beach week because she couldn't afford the train."

"Damn, Jenna! I underestimated you," Layla gawked. "I can't even imagine the type of shit you would've been doing if I went to college with you guys."

"Ok, regardless," Jenna tried to move on, "maybe it's because my kid is paying desperate young women a thousand dollars to help a bunch of strange men jerk off over the Internet? Have you considered that that's what's pissing me off?"

There was a long silence. Bri leaned back into her seat, understanding her friend needed space.

Layla, though, was not as good at reading signals. "Those women probably enjoy it."

Jenna huffed, "Let's just head out."

"Hold on. Hold on," Bri halted. "We have to see the videos he's making."

"No. Why?"

"Oh, come on. If one of us had been talking about a porn website, you'd wanna see what it was like too." They were right. "We're your best friends. By law, you have to show us."

The mother sighed and sent her friends the link. "It's just a bunch of GIFs. Look at it, and then let's call our ride."

Bri and Layla could not help but to tap on the top video. Moments later, Bri announced, "I'm now a premium member."

"What? Why?" Jenna sat up.

"I wanted to see how much it costs, and my browser asked me if it could autofill my credit card info. It was $2 for a one-day trial. It happened quickly," Bri innocently smirked.

Layla craned her neck. Suddenly, a woman's voice was sounding from Bri's phone.

"Damn, she's hot. I get why Wes does this," Layla laughed.

Jenna didn't like being excluded while her friends learned more about her son. And, naturally, she was curious.

For ten minutes, the three friends watched as the dirty blonde in the bikini acted in front of the camera. She explained to her imaginary lawn-care provider and his coworker that she didn't have the money to pay them. And then she stripped out of her bikini and asked the men what they wanted her to do next. Shock appeared on the actress's face, followed by reluctance.

Then, Jenna, Bri, and Layla watched the woman moan and beg for more as a beige dildo was worked into her pussy and another beige one slid in and out of her mouth. She eventually came in her shower. The video ended with her naked body resting against the glass in the shower and her asking the men to stay over her house a little longer to help her with more chores.

"Goddam. She knows what's up," Layla cheered.

"Yeah. Now, I am ready to fucking go to out" Bri laughed. She called for the Lyft.

Jenna just stood there with her mouth open.

***** Ch. 8

Layla, in a glittering silver dress, Bri, in a plunging blue dress, and Jenna, in jeans and a red v-neck tank top, arrived in front of their favorite nightclub. It was a 25-and-over club so it attracted an older crowd. It was also less obnoxious than ones with rowdy college students.

As they sipped on a new drink, Bri asked Jenna how she now felt about Wes running the camgirl site.

She sighed. "Well, obviously the women want to be doing it. You know, I'm glad he's not forcing them in any way. But- I just- I can't believe he's doing it. It's going to be hard for me to look at him knowing he's talking to sex workers."

Loud sounds pulsated through the dark club, and lights flashed around them. Bri thought of how she could help her friend relax. "Just think of it this way- "

"Hey, can we get you ladies some drinks?"

"We already have them. You should try hitting on other women." Bri turned away a group of sweaty guys, who seemed a little desperate. Not to be elitist, but the three women knew how attractive they were. Layla tended to give off a wild vibe. Bri was looking as though she could have worked on a runway if she cared enough to be unhealthily skinny. And Jenna remained invitingly attractive and head-turning despite her subtle attire.

"As I was saying," Bri continued, "Just think of it this way: Would you be okay with Wes growing up to marry a woman of your caliber?"

"No. I hope he finds a woman that wouldn't let her partner talk her out of getting her Master's degree," Jenna voiced over the music.

"You know what I mean. You're an intelligent woman. And you're an amazing mom. And you were a great wife. Would you be fine with Wes marrying someone of your quality?"

"Yeah, I'd say so," Jenna decided. "Of course I want him to have someone who'll be quality."

"Right. You've already admitted that we were just as fun and slutty as the girl we watched in that video tonight. Now, we never did anything like that for money - we were sluts, not whores," Bri laughed. "But honestly, Wes has a good head on his shoulders and you raised him well. He's confused now and will make his mistakes, but he'll figure things out like we all did. He's gonna be fine."

Bri's words made Jenna feel considerably better. She knew she should trust her son's judgment more. He got into a great school and was doing well for himself. "You're right. I still don't like it though. I'm still worried. Girls like that are bad news," Jenna chuckled.

Wanting to redirect the conversation to help her friend loosen up, Bri smirked mischievously. "Maybe you're just mad that those girls are cooler than you are now."

Jenna knew it was a joke made with love, but she still felt the burn. "Oh really?! And if being that way is so 'cool' then why aren't you still acting like you did in college? You didn't get pregnant in college. You didn't have to stop."

The tall blonde shrugged. "Maybe I just lost my partner-in-crime. And, hey, I still have a lot of fun. More fun than you."

Standing on the sidelines, Layla was loving the show. "It's true, Jen. Bri slowed down a bit, but she still does some pretty badass shit."

Jenna was actually getting defensive. "Well, I'm sorry that one of us had to grow up and be the mature one."

Bri did not like being called immature. She went into lecture mode. "Do you know what I think? I think you are misconstruing being prude with being mature because you had to give up on being promiscuous and fun when some douche named Brad knocked you up. And it was easier to tell yourself that you were being mature rather than admit to yourself that you could no longer live your life the way you wanted to live it. And now, you are choosing to be prude because if you suddenly started allowing yourself to be sexually liberated again, that would still be you basically admitting that you spent the last 20 years not living life in the best way you could." It had come out too harsh.

The single mother was a deer in headlights. Her eyes were wide and still. Her mouth was agape. She didn't know what to think, but she was starting to simmer.

Bri quickly added, "But, you know what, Jen? That doesn't fucking matter. Because of all of that happening, you got to raise a great son, who is gonna be a fucking millionaire. And now you're a hot, single MILF, which is now even sexier to guys than being hot in your late twenties. Trust me. Jen, you have a chance to be the only one of us that gets to have it all - being a fun slut in college, an awesome mom, and then an elegant fun slut for the rest of her life. I'm actually jealous of you."

Nobody spoke for a moment. Jenna's fingers slowly unclenched. Bri had resurrected her friend's mood - and not just for tonight. Bri had provided Jenna with a new outlook on her single life.

"You might be right."

"I am so sorry for bringing all of that up, Jen. I had no right to do that."

Jenna felt invigorated. "No, you're right, Bri. I dedicated all my time to sleeping with that fucking asshole and telling myself that it was what I was supposed to do. I don't know if I can still be the 'fun slut' you think I am, but I've been separated for over a year now. And I haven't even been dating! I think it's time I have a night where I'm not being the prude bitch. I owe it to myself, and to you."

Layla and Bri cheered and applauded their friend. They had been going out together for some time. Usually, Jenna treated it as a chore. It was a nice change to see her excited about life and exploration again.

Bri raised her glass. "Cheers to having my partner-in-crime back. It might be only for one night, and the crimes might not be as bad, but she's back nonetheless."

With their glasses in the air, Layla, who often still felt left out because she didn't go to college, asked, "Do you guys mind adding a third partner-in-crime?"

"Of course. We're all best friends," Jenna announced, aware of Layla's insecurity.

"Yes!! Is there an initiation ritual or anything," Layla beamed.

Jenna shook her head no. But then Bri offered, "Yeah, there is, Layla. What about we have a competition?"

"Like what? Whoever can pick up the hottest guy?" Jenna asked.

"NO!" Bri wagged her finger. "Obviously, we're all gonna pick up fucking hot guys. Tonight is about fun." Layla and Jen cheered and laughed, so Bri continued to rally, "We're gonna make guys chase us. We're gonna make them feel like it's a privilege to get hard from us. We're gonna grind into guys and then do shit so we can get that rush of doing something fucking hot and inappropriate. We're going to be fun sluts again. We are going to be everything Jenna has been pretending to be better than!"