All or Nothing

"Oh, yeah. That is my old lover Maddie. It was her that I taped and then put online. I've never really gotten over her, I guess. It's my thing, my fatal flaw, I suppose. I just love her, I can't help it."

"Does she know?"

"Probably. She is pretty bright."

They lapsed into silence for a time, both thinking about Maddie and the nature of love. Then to move past the awkward moment Riley went to find her phone and saw a dozen messages from her friends.

The messages plunged her back into the reality of her life and she excused herself from Josh to answer her friends and tell them she was fine.

That began the long process of relating her night to her various worried friends and beginning to acclimatize herself to being very, very rich, by her standards.

Riley didn't tell any of them about the porno, she wasn't sure how she could do that just yet, but she told them she met a guy and won a lot of money. Josh came by at one point to tell her where a guest room was if she wanted to sleep, and that he was going to bed.

She used to room to talk to the girls on the phone and try to answer their questions one at a time, one phone call at a time. It took a while because they were drunk, but eventually Riley was able to hang up and go to sleep.

In the morning she braced herself to be a new person and stepped out of the millionaire's spare bedroom in his borrowed robe and prepared to face all the changed that had happened.

Josh was there waiting, with Maddie and a lawyer and she spent hours beginning her climb to the top of the pornography heap. Everyone was enthusiastic, and helpful, and they offered her a chance to hire her own lawyer, asking her to sign nothing yet, just explaining things.

It was all so kind hearted, professional and friendly that Riley started to get excited about this turn her life had taken.

They made an appointment with the therapist that would help her deal with the negativity she might face with her friends and family, and the media storm that was already beginning.

Television, newspapers and internet chat rooms were buzzing with the story of the big winner and the nude woman. Footage was already out there showing Riley getting her cheque from Josh, naming who he was and wondering who she was.

If it weren't for Maddie and Josh Riley knew she would have been nauseous with fear over the intrusive probing the media was doing trying to find out who she was. The tone of the writing was rabid and salacious, turning a wonderful night into a sordid tale of debauchery and drug fueled lust.

Josh had people who could turn this around, and in fact he was looking forward to making this a battle over the sex trade and how America viewed human sexuality. Riley was scared, but saw that Josh wanted to make this a crusade, and she found nothing distasteful in what he was saying about how wrong America was about sexuality, so didn't try and stop him from making her the poster girl for change.

But before that could all get rolling she wanted to go and see her best friends and talk about things.

After the meeting Riley was driven back to her hotel by Maaka and when she was finally with her friends, safe and balanced by their long history together she was finally able to begin the long process of altering her whole life according to how she wanted to do it.

Riley bet it all, the life she knew before, All or Nothing, on change.