Mattress Testers Wanted Chapter 1 & Storm Chibi!

Recently I've been working on expanding Mattress Testers Wanted into a novella, and it's been so much fun to write these two again. (Even if they are currently threatening me with this thing becoming a full novel, lol. 😅)

How many of you have read the short story version that was in the Too Many Beds anthology earlier this year? I feel like some of you might have missed it. So I thought I'd share the first two chapters here, as well as the chibis for the characters! This week we have Storm and his fabulously long, greased pole (it makes sense in the story, I promise 😂), and next week I'll share chapter two and the Ryder chibi. I hope you like them!

(Chibi art by the very awesome Lipeka https://www.instagram.com/lipeka_art/ as always!)

CHAPTER ONE - STORM

“Mattress tester?” Storm asked, staring at his agent in disbelief. “They want me to pretend to be some idiot who shows up to a new job, thinking all he’ll have to do is sleep, only to discover that wasn’t remotely what he was hired for?”

Daniel snorted. “What do you expect? This is MateHub, not fine cinema.”

He had a point. It wasn’t even close to the most ridiculous thing Storm had done. After the countless times he’d been pizza delivery drivers, plumbers, pool boys, landlords, and stepbrothers, he shouldn’t have been surprised by this latest level of… inspiration? Sure, he’d go with that.

When one worked for the internet’s most popular paranormal adult entertainment site, they couldn’t be too shocked by the roles they were hired to play. Thankfully he’d never had to trip, fall, and land on someone’s knot.

“Who’d it be with?”

“Ryder Tempest.” Daniel’s dark eyes glittered, already anticipating Storm’s response.

Storm groaned. Ryder was in his late twenties—a few years older than Storm—and had been working for MateHub for about twice as long. He seemed professional and his scenes were hot, but that didn’t mean Storm was eager to film with him. “A mage? Are you serious? Come on.”

“Apparently the fans decided your weather-related names mean you simply must do a scene together. I believe the initial thread on the forums that spawned the whole campaign was titled, ‘MateHub’s Most Egregious Crime: No Storm/Tempest Scenes. Yes/Yes?’ They’re also amused by the idea of ‘Ryder’s on the Storm.’ They’ve even changed the lyrics to the song.”

That did sound like something MateHub fans would do.

“But I’ll end up reeking of magic for days.” Storm couldn’t keep the whiny note out of his voice. While he hadn’t worked with Ryder specifically, he’d done scenes with other mages. The abrasive odor of their magic had lingered on his skin after they’d finished filming. It had made him want to scrub himself clean, though that never helped. The scent of magic ruined everything.

“Do you want it or not? I’m sure I can find another wolf shifter who’d be willing, even if the fans haven’t come up with a theme song for the pairing yet. They’re resourceful, and there’s a bunch of songs with rider in the title. It won’t take them long to create new lyrics.”

“I’ll do it,” Storm grumbled. “But I’m not going to enjoy it.”

“That’s the spirit.” Daniel grinned at him. “Always love to see my stars enthusiastic about their scenes. I’ll get the paperwork ready for you to sign.”

Storm shook his head. Whatever. At least he’d be getting paid a decent amount. For some reason, the fans loved a good wolf shifter-mage pairing. It was easy for them. They couldn’t smell magic through their screens.

“So what’s he do?” Storm asked.

“He usually bottoms.”

“No. Not that. His magic talent.”

“From the videos I’ve seen, he’s quite flexible.”

Storm sent Daniel a flat look.

“His lack of gag reflex?”

Storm’s expression got even flatter. Daniel was too clever to make that shit believable, but the fox shifter didn’t appear repentant.

“I’ve heard he has foresight,” he said. “Beyond that, I don’t know.”

Storm perked up. “Really? Can he predict my future?”

“You’d have to ask him. The only talents I care about are the ones that get high view counts, and as far as MateHub goes, no one’s getting off to some mage reading tea leaves.” Daniel paused, cocking his head. “Unless he can do it while bouncing on a dick, I suppose.”

“Maybe don’t give the MateHub writers that idea?”

“What, you don’t want to get offered a scene where you have to fuck a mage to have your fortune told?”

“If that’s it, fine. But they’d probably have it set up like one of those fortune-telling machines, except instead of inserting a coin, I’d need to insert my dick.”

The corner of Daniel’s lips twitched, but he didn’t comment. He leaned back in his plush leather office chair, his sharp gaze sweeping over Storm. “Speaking of the crazier things MateHub has asked its stars to do. Given any more thought to doing a bonding contract? The money would make this look like pocket change.”

MateHub had started encouraging its canine shifter stars to enter temporary mating bonds so they could knot their co-stars. Fans were insatiable when it came to the scenes.

“I’ll stick to pretending for now.”

As ludicrous as it was to moan about someone clenching so hot and tight on his knot when nothing of the sort was happening, bonding a person he had no feelings for didn’t sit right with him. Fucking people on camera was one thing; bonding was meant to be special. While those contracts all but guaranteed stardom—with a sizable… swell in viewership—they weren’t for Storm.

“Up to you. But if you change your mind, MateHub would make it more than worth your while.”

“I’m good. Besides, they’d likely want me to bond a mage. Can you imagine that? Smelling like magic constantly for three months, doing a dozen or more scenes with that scent invading your senses?” He grimaced. “No thanks.”

Daniel scoffed. “You’d survive.”

Storm didn’t bother arguing. One-off scenes with mages were more than enough for him.

* * *