Page 2

Chapter Two

Five guys, all of a similar age and style of dress, stare back at me from an array of computer chairs.

The room is completely dark—if there are windows, they're covered in blackout curtains.

The only light is from the monitors of their computers.

Multiple ones in front of each chair. The only thing on the screens are screensavers of different animated characters who I also don't recognize.

I can't say anything. I'm completely stunned, more nervous than ever, and absolutely confused. I don't even know where to start with all the questions I have now.

"Hi, I'm Helix," says one of them, a lanky guy with a man-bun and shaved sides, getting up and reaching his hand out to shake. I take it automatically. "I'm the one who put up the flyer. This is Miles"—he points at the one who answered the door—"Quintin, Lionel, and Ethan."

"Oh. Okay. I'm … " I glance around the room again.

There's a weird vibe in here and I don't want them to have any identifying information about me, like that my name is Clarissa.

Everyone is staring at me. Maybe my lipstick is a little smeared?

I don't normally wear makeup since I sit at a computer all day and don’t see anyone else, but I figured for an interview, especially one for a live-in girlfriend, I should make the effort.

"So you're the one looking for a live-in girlfriend? "

"No, well, yes." Helix looks briefly over his shoulder at the other guys. "We're all looking for one."

"You're going to hire five girlfriends to live here with all of you?

" It's a good-sized house from the front, but ten people living anywhere together is going to be crowded, especially because I work from home.

Maybe it's a lot bigger on the inside though, or the others don't actually live here and are just hanging out here for the day.

"No," Helix draws out the word. Slowly, as if judging my facial expression, he says, "We're hiring just one girlfriend, to share, among all five of us."

"All five of you?" I sound stupid repeating Helix's word back to him, but it's taking my brain longer than it should to compute the implication of his words.

"Yeah, doesn't it say that on the flyer?" Helix takes the paper out of my hand and looks it over. "Oh, it doesn't. Looks like I forgot to include that part on there. Oops. Oh well."

Oops? That's a pretty big detail to have left out. Dealing with one boyfriend who is paying you to be their girlfriend is awkward enough because what if you actually can't stand each other or you don't like him? But five ? Five is just too many.

"She looks like she's about to pass out, Hel, get her a chair," says Quintin, the rich deep tones of his skin highlighting the tendons in his arm as he gestures.

Helix grabs the empty computer chair and swings it around so the seat hits the back of my knees, forcing me to collapse onto the seat.

"Are you okay?" Helix leans down so we're face to face, but he doesn't touch me. "Do you need water?"

"I'm fine." I should leave. I should go back to my apartment and look for normal jobs.

"Why don't we go over some of the aspects of the job then?" says Miles, leaning forward in his chair, watching me.

I must have heard Helix wrong. Or misconstrued his words. He couldn't possibly mean being the live-in girlfriend of five guys at once.

"Good idea," says Helix. "So like the flyer says, room and board is included."

See, he's talking about practical things that are on the flyer, and there was nothing about all five of them being the boyfriend on the flyer. My imagination must be overreacting again.

Helix is cut off by Quintin, who says, "Does it really say that, or did you forget to put that on there too?"

"Zero out of ten," says Lionel. He has dark, wavy hair down to his shoulders which should not work on anyone, but pulls it off. He's good-looking, thin and kind of lanky like the rest of them as if they're not used to doing physical labor. They're probably stronger than they appear though.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, they're all pretty attractive.

"Powerspike," calls Quintin, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

Is this what they're always like? Bickering and mocking each other? That would be a lot to put up with in roommates. It's too weird in my mind to think of them as potential boyfriends. Eyeing them up as roommates is much easier, and keeps me breathing.

"Fuck you both. Of course I did," says Helix, but he covertly glances at the flyer. "Anyway, you'd have your own room, and we'd do all the grocery shopping. Well, we order them online and they're delivered. We don't really cook, kind of just eat whatever, whenever."

"Although if you cook, we wouldn't stop you," says Lionel.

"Sure, yeah, that'd be nice, but not a requirement," says Helix. "We don't want to make expectations too high or no one is going to say yes to us."

"Just saying," says Lionel, "it'd be nice to get a home-cooked meal sometimes is all."

"I do know how to cook, a little at least. Nothing really impressive, but I can get by." What am I doing? They're interviewing me to be their live-in girlfriend, and I'm over here offering to work extra. I can't believe I'm this hard up for money that I've come to this.

These guys haven't even asked me any questions about myself and I'm not sure how much they want to learn, yet they're already asking how much extra I'd be willing to do around the house. Although from the little bits of the house I've seen so far, this place is in more than a little need of TLC.

This whole idea is crazy. I should just get up and walk out while I still can.

"Oh, sweet!" says Lionel, bumping knuckles with Quinton in the chair next to him.

"Moving on." Helix gives Lionel a second look before turning back to me. "If you have dietary needs, we'd accommodate that as well. The one limitation would be that this room would be off-limits because the equipment is quite expensive."

"And we don't want our chairs adjusted," adds Quintin.

"Oh, yeah," agrees Miles. "That would be the worst."

"She'd fucking drain tank us," mumbles Quintin. "I don't champion if the positioning is off."

"What do you do in here?" Before we get any further in this ridiculous farce of an interview, I need to ensure these guys aren't doing something illegal.

This neighborhood isn't the greatest, but it's still a big house and close to public transport, so it must be pricey.

How can they afford to support themselves and cover my living expenses too?

I mean, whoever takes the position as their live-in girlfriend, not necessarily me. I haven't made any decisions yet.

The guys all share a look before Miles offers, "We're e-athletes."

"I don't understand." They answered very simply, but it definitely wasn't clear.

"Look, that isn't important. We don't expect whoever accepts the position to understand what we do or show an interest in it," says Helix dismissively.

"At least for any of the right reasons," mumbles Lionel.

"Okay," I say uncertainly. They sound super jaded, but if I'm not allowed to know everything about their job, or not expected to, then they can easily be left in the dark about my own job.

It's always awkward when people learn that I write romances. They either look at me like I'm pathetic or become a bit lecherous. Very few people have shown they're actually cool with what I write, which is why I spend most of my time writing alone or with others, particularly my critique group.

Although my critique group has never been too impressed with my writing. It's yet another sign that I'm not succeeding in my chosen career field.

"We work a lot and sometimes at odd hours of the day due to the worldwide aspect of our jobs. So you'll have to be able to entertain yourself when we're busy. Basically, if we're in here, we're not to be disturbed," says Helix.

Which means lots of time to do my own writing undisturbed by them.

"What, um." I have to ask the big question, but I'm scared. "What is required of the, uh, the girlfriend aspect of the … flyer?"

If I say job , it makes it sound a little too salacious for my ears. Which is why I've always shied away from writing the spicy stuff that sells, sticking more to fade-to-black romances.

Helix tugs on his ear, glancing around the room at the other guys. "We would require all the, uh, conveniences of a girlfriend."

"But one who respects our space, and is more there when we have some free time for that sort of thing," adds Lionel, crossing his arms.

I can feel my eyes bugging out as my brain struggles to process what they're saying without actually coming out and saying it. I could pretend I'd imagined it a moment ago, but now they're talking about it again.

"So you, all five of you, want the physical benefits of a girlfriend without the emotional labor? And the compensation is just room and board?" The very idea of this is egotistical and disgusting.

Besides, while I don't know much about this type of job, I'd imagine putting up with five different guys all the time would deserve more than just room and board as compensation. And then being … used by all of them? I swallow hard at the thought.

"Yes," says Helix, biting his lip.

I can't believe these guys thought someone would actually agree to this. I can't believe I actually came here and have been considering taking them up on this offer. I never would have started this stupid interview process if I'd fully known what they expected.

I'd assumed it was one guy. Maybe pretend to be his girlfriend for friends and family, maybe to impress his boss.

I'd read about that sort of thing in books, but this is taking it too far.

They'd expect me to let them have sex with me whenever and however they like? I feel faint at the very thought.

"Okay, I've heard enough." I stand up quickly, and the chair rolls back a little with the momentum.

"So you'll take it?" asks Helix, standing as well. I can hear the hope in his voice.

"No, I need to go." I can't contemplate the idea of going from no boyfriend to suddenly having five, and basically being paid to service all of them sexually at their own whims. This whole situation is too ridiculous. I need to get out of here before they decide I can't leave.

"But we haven't even shown you your room yet," says Quintin.

All five of them follow me out into the hall as I hurry to the front door. Luckily, they don't try to grab me or restrain me. They let me go, which is surprising since they outnumber me and could easily overpower me.

"That's okay, I don't need to see it." They hadn't even locked the front door. "Good luck finding someone."

I don't really mean it, but saying the nice thing is too ingrained in me and it just slips out. I check over my shoulder every few steps as I hurry toward The El, but there's no one there. And they don't have any of my personal information to track me down, so I should be safe.

They hadn't even asked my name or anything about me. They don't care about who their live-in girlfriend is so long as she leaves them alone most of the time and spreads her legs whenever they ask.