Page 25

Chapter Sixteen

As soon as my bedroom door opens, I slam my laptop closed. I respected their privacy earlier by not snooping in their bedrooms, and there is absolutely no way I'm letting any of my roommates look over my shoulder at what I'm working on. Not if I can help it.

"Writing?" Lionel flops onto my bed.

"Books don't write themselves." I turn in my desk chair, wishing I'd had more notice that he was coming in. My head is still wrapped up in my characters and needs to be eased back into the real world, not flung into it without warning.

"Why did you let us believe you just worked from home?"

"I do work from home most of the time." It's not my fault they never asked any follow-up questions. "Except when I write in cafés with other authors."

"And you write romance?" I nod, and Lionel looks around my room as if he's looking for clues about my profession that he may have missed when he was in here before. A big sign above my desk that says, "I Write About Getting Railed", maybe.

Although to be fair, I think the only time he's been in here was to put me to bed the night they used the butt plug on me, so maybe he's just taking in the space.

"What kind of romance?"

"Um … sports romance." Shit. Why did I say that?

I don't write sports romances. Although I guess they are inspired by athletes in a way.

Esports are, after all, sports, according to Helix.

And come to think of it, even though my boyfriends don't really fit the mold for the book boyfriends usually seen in sports romances, but they're certainly athletic enough in bed to qualify.

"Can we read it?"

A bolt of panic shoots through me at the idea. "It's not done. I don't like to share rough drafts outside of my critique group."

He tilts his head, confused. "Didn't your parents say you had other books published?"

I don't want the guys I'm fucking to know anything about my writing. Even my already-published stuff.

"Those are sweet romances," I explain. "Very different from what I'm writing about now."

He grins. "You're writing dirty sex."

I can feel the blush creeping up my face, so I change the subject. "Was there a reason you came up here?"

"Yeah." Lionel stands and walks toward the door. "We're ready to watch something." He pauses halfway and looks back. "If you're done with work for today."

I'm shocked. Lionel cares about my work schedule?

None of them have ever seemed to pay attention before.

With their weird schedule, I'm not sure they ever considered that most people work a normal nine-to-five even if they work from home.

I can't help but mentally give him brownie points for being considerate.

"Yeah, I'm done. Let's go." I push in my computer chair and follow Lionel down to the basement.

The other guys are already splayed out on the sofa, but the projector screen is dark and they're just sitting here, waiting. I'm mildly annoyed. Our agreement was to watch something, but they don't have it ready. I could have snuck in at least another paragraph while they're setting this up.

"What are we watching?" I move to sit between Ethan and Helix.

"Actually, you're going to sit right here." Lionel points to the coffee table, and I notice that for some reason it's covered with a blanket.

"On the table?" At his nod, I perch on the edge and l look around at all of them. They're completely focused on me. "What's going on? I thought we were going to watch a movie."

It feels more like we're going to have an intense talk. Like the world's most bizarre family meeting. Oh, no. Maybe they're disappointed in me as a live-in girlfriend. Are they kicking me out?

My chest rises and falls quicker as panic and uncertainty set in. I don't like this situation at all.

"No, the deal was that we'd get to watch something , and we didn't pick a movie," explains Helix.

"I don't understand." I fidget on the table, the blanket shifting slightly beneath me.

"What we want to watch," says Miles, leaning forward and balancing his elbows on his knees as he focuses on me, "is you touch yourself."

"Excuse me?" I'm shocked. This is outrageous. I should walk right back up to my room. "You didn't say that in our deal, so it shouldn't count. You need to be clearer."

"We asked you if you worked from home and you said yes," says Quintin. "You didn't tell us that you write romance."

"Smutty romance," says Ethan.

"Exactly," agrees Lionel. " You should have been clearer."

"So you're going to sit there on the table and masturbate for us," explains Quintin.

"You want me to masturbate in front of all of you, right now." My mouth is dry, and my hands are shaking. With nerves, anger, or a touch of excitement, I can't say.

"Yes." Lionel scooches lower on the sofa, spreading his knees to display his growing cock inside his sweatpants.

The other gamers do the same, watching me with hungry eyes. All except Miles, who's still leaning forward, intent.

I'm not sure I can do this. I've had sex of some sort with all of them, but they've always been the instigators, and have more or less just fucked me without me having to do much.

Now they're asking me to be an exhibitionist. I've taken the initiative with them a few times—that first night with Ethan, calling Lionel's bluff in the kitchen when he asked for a blow job—but showing them how I enjoy touching myself is something else entirely.

"Go on," commands Lionel.

I spread my legs a little and run my sweating hands down my thighs from my hip to my knees, gearing myself up for this.

It only feels invasive and personal because I'm making it this way.

This is business, part of the job they hired me for.

I can catalogue each emotion for my notes so I can use these feelings for my heroine.

She could masturbate for her book boyfriend.

She'd have no problem with it. Probably she'd have fun doing it.

I can do this.

My fingers move closer to the seam of my leggings, but then I glance up and make eye contact with Ethan and I drop my hands, the panic creeping back in.

I can't do this.

"Nope, I can't." I stand up and shake my hands out, trying to release the unsettled tension inside me.

"It was the deal," says Lionel, annoyed.

"Maybe you need a little help getting warmed up," offers Ethan, spreading his hands.

Is he offering to help me warm up himself?

He's fucked me in front of all of them before, so it wouldn't be anything I haven't already tried.

And I enjoyed being watched much more than I thought I would.

Plus, this way he'd make the decisions for me for a while.

It's nice to be taken care of once in a while instead of always being responsible all the time.

"We can do that," says Helix with a grin, getting off the sofa and messing with the projector.

I let out a breath, some of the tension leaving my body. Good, we can watch a movie and relax and then if something happens, it happens. No pressure.

Helix flips through a few options and as soon as the movie begins, he sits back on the sofa.

"Clarissa, why don't you sit here with us for a bit. Then you can sit on the table when you're ready." Miles pats a small space on the sofa between him and Quintin.

He doesn't need to ask me twice. I tuck my legs up under me and wrap my hands deeper into my sweater for maximum coziness.

The movie isn't anything I've ever seen before. Or even anything I recognize. The acting is terrible.

And they're half naked.

Nope, now they're completely naked. And fucking each other.

I've never seen pornography despite all of Angela's suggestions that I try it. I was expecting a normal movie, and I'm not sure how to feel about this. I peek at my roommates to gauge their reactions.

They slouch more on the sofa to get comfortable.

Quintin's cock is twitching in his sweatpants.

Fuck, this is really happening. I'm watching porn with my roommates and they're getting aroused .

I have so many questions I want to ask, like do they do this often?

Sit around watching porn together? But now is not the time.

Mostly because I don't want to draw more attention to myself and remind them that they put this on to "warm me up" so I can eventually masturbate in front of them.

We sit in silence, watching a female pirate get fucked from behind while she's blowing another pirate.

I hate to admit it, but it is kind of hot.

Especially the way she's pushed onto each of the cocks by the other.

It's almost like the guys are pleasuring each other, in a way. My panties are definitely dampening.

Quintin is already rubbing his cock through his sweatpants, his eyes intent on the fucking pirates.

Watching him touch himself, even if he is still wearing pants, is hotter than the display on the screen.

Maybe that's how they'd feel about watching me touch myself.

Like they enjoy watching porn, but it's not nearly as good as watching the real thing happening right before their eyes.

Knowing they could reach out at any moment and be a part of it too.

"If you take off your leggings, you'd enjoy this movie even more," says Quintin.

There's a glint in his eye as he waits for me to take him up on his challenge.

"It'd probably help you uphold your end of the deal we made too," adds Miles.

I did promise them, and it's my fault for not clarifying. And I did come here for new experiences that I wouldn't normally do in real life. This is my research life, where choices don't count.

So I tug down my leggings to drop them in a heap on the floor by my feet.

It's not quite the teasing strip my boyfriends probably hoped they'd get, but it did the job.

And it's exciting, but it's also a bit chilly down here.

They probably didn't think about the fact that we're in a basement, and didn't turn the heat up a little bit more.