Page 19

Chapter Thirteen

My face is beat red and I'm glad none of my boyfriends are in the room. I looked up the term I didn't know and now I almost wished I hadn't. Even more, I wish my body hadn't done it, let alone squirted in front of my boyfriends. I don't know how I'm going to look them in the eye again.

The only solution is to throw myself into my work and my research. The research that doesn't involve my boyfriends fucking me. At least right now.

I comb through my latest chapter that I wrote at the cafe with Sasha before uploading it onto our shared file folder.

I'd thought I was on top of things, but Maddie and Angela have already uploaded their next chapters.

Are they writing that far ahead? Now I feel like I'm behind.

Maddie and Angela are both so confident and calm with the way they approach their businesses and writing.

That's why I'm critiquing with them, to learn their ways and improve my own process.

I print off both of their chapters, and I really should dive in to the first read-through.

Usually, I read through it once to see where things are going, and then go through the chapters again for actual edits and notes.

Not that Angela and Maddie really need my input.

They're both so talented, and their careers are proof of this.

It feels pointless to read their chapters. They probably throw my edits in the recycle bin as soon as they get home, never once looking at them.

My door is still closed. I wonder if any of my supposed boyfriends came in while I was in the shower, but didn't stick around. Although honestly, I'd be surprised if they showed up and didn't come to join me in the shower.

Helix had said they have a ranked game today, so maybe they've already started and I won't see them for hours. If that's the case, maybe now is the best time to research them. Still, I turn down the brightness on my screen in case one of them shows up for a last-minute fuck before their game.

Then I put the names of my roommates in the search bar and sit back, stunned, as millions of hits populate on the screen all the link descriptions them to each other and to other names I don't recognize.

Most of the links looks like they're videos, but if my roommates come upstairs they might be able to hear what I'm doing through the walls. I click on the ones that aren't videos. They're mostly press releases announcing either wins or that the guys are competing in different competitions.

The closer I read, though, I start noticing that the random names I occasionally hear my roommates call each other are also listed, and I realize that those are their gamer names.

Their having gamer names isn't so different than authors having pen names, and a flutter runs through me at the thought.

Could we have actual things in common other than our sexual needs?

I need to watch the videos. I grab my headphones and click on the first video that pops up.

It's some guy talking about my roommates, complimenting them on the way they strategize and work together.

There is some game-playing in the background, and the commentator seems to break down exactly what the team is doing, using phrases I don't understand, like "wombo combo" and "dunking".

If he thinks they work together well in the computer world, he would be doubly impressed with how well they work together in real life.

Although I've only really seen partnerships so far, not the entire group involved at once.

Yet.

I'm sure they will want it to happen at some point. And if I'm honest with myself, as great as they've been so far I'll probably want that too.

I click through a couple of other similar videos until I come to one with some familiar voices.

A game is playing in the background, and the characters and imagery look similar to the game in the other videos.

But there are five little boxes along the top of the screen, each one containing one of my roommates.

They're strategizing what they're going to do next and telling each other where to go on the map, talking each other through the game and into a win.

I can see similarities between this version of the group and the men I know. They like to be in control in the game so they always come out on top, and they're just as bossy in the bedroom, ensuring they always get their way.

Not that I don't enjoy it.

Jumping ahead through the video, I watch them go through different scenarios, none of which make much sense to me.

All I really understand is that they're trying to win, and they're working together to do it.

And so far, they haven't really said anything about themselves. Everything is about their game.

I scroll down the page and my eye immediately catches on the comments. Most of them are complimentary, commenting on my roommates' strategies and saying how much they like the game. Some are about the commentator's own struggles with the game.

When I jump back up toward the video, I spot that the description box right under the video has a "read more" dropdown arrow. I'd been so interested to see what everyone else thought of my guys that I'd completely skipped over it before.

The description is pretty basic, and none of the words besides "win" mean much to me. But at the bottom are links to watch live.

I glance over at the door again. It would be so embarrassing if they caught me researching them. I mean, I've been using them for research ever since I moved in, but they don't know that, and there's a difference between using them to help me research and actually researching them.

Clicking on the link, I see that my roommates are running a live stream.

That answers the question of whether or not they're about to barge in on me researching them. Though it's more like borderline stalking them at this point, since I'm literally watching them through a camera right now. But to be fair, they're the ones streaming the video for the whole world to see.

Listening to my boyfriends confidently order each other into different battle strategies, I try to read the chats and comments from other people watching them play, but it's all going so fast. How many people are even here watching them play this game in the middle of the day?

The view counter is on the left side bar, and if I were drinking anything, I'd probably choke. Over thirty thousand people are watching this live stream right now? How is that even possible? Don't they have to go to work?

No wonder there is so much happening in the chat that I can't follow along.

Giving up on that, I scroll down a little farther, and right below the list of the team members' names is the most shocking thing of all: the guys have over two million subscribers to their feed.

How is that even possible? I don't think any of the romance authors I've checked out while debating whether or not to make the move to writing higher heat levels even have close to that many followers.

My mind can't even wrap around the fact that these five gamers, who had to put up a flyer around town to hire a girlfriend , are actually that well-known and have that many followers.

It can't be real. My head is reeling as their voices chatter in my headphones without me paying attention to what they're saying.

On their site, I can see their whole streaming schedule.

That could be helpful, so I can know when I might be interrupted in my work and when I'll have ensured solitude.

But they also seem to have a private, paid-subscription chat where followers can have even more access to my roommates and actually talk to them.

Should I do it? I'm so curious what my roommates talk about in the private chats that no one else can see. Are they talking about me? Telling their followers all about the live-in girlfriend they hired, whom they can share whenever and wherever in their house?

I have to know. I don't know what I'll do if I don't like what I see, but if it's really upsetting I want to know so I can leave this situation and go … I don't know where. That's a bridge I'll cross if and when I get there.

It's pretty cheap to subscribe, and although I'm not making much right now off the few sweet romance books I have published, I'm also not spending money on rent or food, so I can swing the cost. Besides, I don't have to subscribe forever.

I can subscribe for a month just to look around and see what my boyfriends are like when I'm not around, and then bail.

This could help me get to know—and my current situation—better.

Obviously, I don't want them to know it's me, so I need a fake name to join under.

I'm not sure any of the guys even knows my last name though, to be honest. I've never told them and they've never asked.

Still, it's better to be safe than sorry, and luckily, I already have a fake name I'm planning on using for my upcoming spicy romance books.

As I'm putting in my credit card details though, I start doing the math.

If this is how much they charge to be their follower, and they have over two million followers, then they're making intense amounts of money each month.

I can't wrap my mind around such a figure.

The platform probably takes a portion, and then taxes, but still.

So much money! No wonder they can afford such a big house here in Chicago.

And they should also be able to afford a cleaner to come in regularly so this place isn't so dirty.

Although I'm not sure how I'll approach that conversation. It's not like I can go up to them and say that I've stalked them online and now I know they're loaded so they need to hire a housekeeper so the house isn't so gross all the time.

Once I hit the button to submit my payment and I'm officially a follower, I check out their private chatting platform.

It's both overwhelming and quiet. There are tons of chats I could go back through and read, but the latest update is just a post from Helix that they're starting a live stream and everyone should jump in to watch.

No sense in reading the whole backlog right now, though, with my roommates playing an actual game I can watch.

I pull out the chapters I need to critique for this week and turn down the volume a little on my headset so I can focus while still listening to the commanding voices of my boyfriends.

I'm not really following along with their game, but it doesn't matter since I couldn't really follow along when I was paying attention, either.

Besides, while yes, it is soothing to listen to their voices, listening to the stream will also let me know when they're finishing up with their work so I won't be caught by surprise if they come straight upstairs to find me.

I'm definitely not listening mostly because their voices are comforting. Nope. Not at all.