The trip was locked in by the end of that week.
Flights booked for mid-April—right when the cherry blossoms would be at peak around Fuji. Ryokan reserved: private onsen, tatami rooms, low tables, sliding shoji doors. Leo even found one with a secluded outdoor bath big enough for all five of them. Raven handled the itinerary—quiet hikes, kaiseki dinners, maybe a day trip to Hakone. Lana researched beginner Japanese phrases and sent them in the group chat with little heart emojis. Leo paid for half the flights out of the savings he’d been hoarding since dropping out. Everyone chipped in. It felt... real. Like sothing adults do. Like a family planning sothing good.
They spent the next couple of weeks in this strange, soft rhythm.
Mornings were slow—coffee in bed, soone’s head in soone else’s lap, lazy kisses that sotis turned into lazy morning sex but usually just stayed kisses. Afternoons were errands, packing lists, Lana quietly moving more of her things over from next door (Marcus hadn’t co back after the hospital discharged him; the restraining order helped). Evenings were dinner together—soone cooked, soone else did dishes, and afterward they usually ended up in a pile on the big sectional watching dumb movies until hands started wandering and clothes ca off.
It wasn’t all fucking.
Sotis it was just Raven braiding Lana’s hair while they talked about nothing. Sotis Sasha and Blair taught Leo how to deep-throat a dildo "for fun" and ended up laughing so hard they cried when he gagged. Sotis Leo caught Raven staring at him across the room with this quiet, stunned look—like she still couldn’t believe he was real.
But the sex was still there—always simring.
A quick blowjob from Blair under the kitchen table while everyone else ate breakfast. Lana riding Leo reverse on the couch while Raven and Sasha made out beside them. Raven waking Leo up at 3 a.m. by sinking down on his cock, slow and silent so they wouldn’t wake the others, whispering "just let feel you" until they both ca shaking.
It was good.
It was almost perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
Leo noticed the shift around ten days before the flight.
Sasha started snapping at little things—dropped a mug one morning and cursed loud enough to rattle the windows. Blair got quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that ant she was thinking hard about sothing ugly.
They both started taking more calls in their rooms. Doors closed. Voices low. Sotis raised.
Leo tried not to pry.
He failed.
It was late—past midnight—when he heard it.
He’d gotten up for water, barefoot, moving quiet through the dark house. Sasha’s door was cracked. Light spilled into the hallway. He heard her before he saw her.
She was crying.
"—you can’t do this. You can’t. I said no. No ans no, you piece of shit—"
A pause. Muffled shouting on the other end.
"I don’t care what the contract says. You’re not—listen to . If you release that, you ruin everything. Everything. You think I want that? You think any of us want that?"
More shouting.
Sasha’s voice cracked.
"Please. Just... don’t. I’m begging you. Don’t make do this shoot. I can’t. Not now. Not after—"
She choked on a sob.
Leo stood frozen outside the door, heart hamring.
He didn’t hear the rest. He didn’t need to.
He backed away—quiet—went back to bed. Didn’t sleep.
The next afternoon he found Blair alone in the laundry room folding towels.
She looked up when he leaned in the doorway.
"Hey," she said. Voice light. Too light.
Leo didn’t smile back.
"I heard Sasha last night."
Blair’s hands stilled on the towel.
She didn’t look at him.
"Heard what?"
"She was crying. On the phone. Said sothing about a contract. About not doing a shoot. About soone ruining everything if she didn’t."
Blair folded the towel. Once. Twice. Slow.
"It’s nothing," she said. "Work stuff. You know how the industry is."
"Blair."
She finally t his eyes.
Her usual smirk was gone. She looked... tired.
"It’s handled," she said. "We’re dealing with it."
"You’re not going to Japan, are you?"
Blair’s jaw tightened.
"We’re... figuring it out."
Leo stepped closer.
"Tell ."
She shook her head—small, stubborn.
"Leo—"
"Tell ."
Blair exhaled hard through her nose.
"The company we’re signed with... they’re being dicks. They have so old footage. Stuff we shot when we were eighteen, nineteen. They’re threatening to leak it if we don’t do this one last big shoot. Gangbang. Live-stread. No condoms. The whole thing."
Leo felt sothing cold settle in his stomach.
"And if you refuse?"
"They release it. Unedited. With our real nas. Our address. Everything."
He stared at her.
Blair looked away.
"We were going to tell you. After we figured out how to get out of it. We didn’t want to ruin the trip vibe."
Leo’s hands clenched at his sides.
"How long have they been doing this?"
"Few weeks. Since we told them we wanted to scale back. They don’t like losing their top girls."
Silence stretched.
Then Leo spoke.
"They don’t get to do this to you."
Blair gave a small, bitter laugh.
"Welco to porn, baby brother. They own us until the contract’s up."
Leo stepped right into her space—close enough she had to tilt her head back.
"Not anymore they don’t."
Blair searched his face.
"What are you gonna do? Beat up a porn exec?"
"Much worse, If I have to."
She laughed again—shaky this ti.
"You’re sweet. But this isn’t a movie. You can’t just punch your way out."
Leo cupped her face—gentle, but firm.
"I’m not punching anyone yet. But I’m not letting them hurt you. Or Sasha. Or any of us."
Blair’s eyes shimred
"We were supposed to go to Japan," she whispered. "All of us. Together. Just... us."
Leo kissed her forehead.
"We still will."
She closed her eyes.
"Leo..."
He pulled her into his arms.
Held her tight.
"We’ll figure it out," he said against her hair. "I promise."
Blair didn’t answer.
She just held on.
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