Page 8
8
DEX
Pulling open my fridge door, I checked my shelves to see what I could make for dinner.
Living with Asa wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and we’d fallen into a good routine over the past few weeks.
Unlike when we lived with our parents, he seemed to be on his best behavior. He was quiet, cleaned up after himself, and spent most of his time in the den.
Our schedules weren’t completely in sync, with him working set hours and mine being a bit more erratic, and that made sharing a kitchen and bathroom easier.
Hell, most of the time I had no clue if he was home or not and only knew for sure when I caught glimpses of him in the hall or heard music coming from the den. It was like living with a goth ghost.
He’d also had no issues giving me the apartment when I cammed and hadn’t made any disparaging or snide comments about it.
I didn’t know what to do with this version of Asa, but I preferred it over the passive-aggressive teenager I’d been forced to live with.
After a few moments of deliberation, I pulled the ingredients for a stir fry out of the fridge. I wasn’t in the mood to cook anything fancy, and I was running low on options.
Making a mental note to stop at the grocery store after work tomorrow, I brought my food to the counter to start prepping.
“Is it okay if I use the microwave?” Asa asked.
The only reason I didn’t jump at his voice was because I was used to his stealthiness by now. I had no clue if it was deliberate or if he just stepped lightly out of habit, but the guy had a gift for moving silently when he wanted to.
“That’s fine.”
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Asa went to the cupboard I’d cleaned out for him and pulled a can of beans and a single potato out of it.
The cupboard, like his side of the fridge, was practically bare. He never seemed to keep much food in the house, but with his financial issues, I couldn’t see him eating out or ordering in all the time.
Asa might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t irresponsible, especially not when it came to money. I’d watched him spend almost three weeks researching laptops before he’d finally settled on which one he wanted to buy back when we were in high school. And I was pretty sure he’d had most of his wardrobe since then too.
Was he eating properly?
Asa had always been naturally skinny, and the guy could eat. I’d seen him finish an entire medium pizza by himself and still have room for dessert, but I hadn’t seen him eat even a full meal since he moved in.
Was he that strapped for cash? My grocery bills had skyrocketed over the past few years. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he wasn’t eating because he couldn’t afford to.
The only other explanation was that he was on some sort of diet, and that was even more worrisome than him trying to stretch his grocery dollars. He didn’t have much body fat to burn, and restricting calories at his weight was dangerous.
Being as covert as possible, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Asa washed the potato, then stabbed some cuts into it and put it on a plate so he could microwave it.
While it cooked, he opened the can of beans, then dug a nearly empty bag of shredded cheese out of the fridge.
“Did you forget how to use a knife?” he asked, not looking at me as he brought the bag of cheese to the counter.
“Huh?”
“The knife.” He met my gaze, then nodded at the knife I was clutching. “I was just wondering if you forgot what to do with it since you don’t seem to be using it to cut your broccoli.”
“I remember how to use it,” I muttered, more annoyed at being caught creeping on him than I was at his comment.
“I can leave if you’d rather be alone.”
“It’s not that.” I focused on the broccoli in front of me and started chopping it. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. It’s not like I can stop you.”
“Do you eat out a lot?”
He snort-laughed. “Yeah. Me and my overdrafted bank account are all about ordering out. Why?”
“You don’t keep a lot of food in the apartment. I was wondering if you got lunch at work or whatever.”
“Nope.” He toyed with the chunky chain and lock necklace he liked to wear. “I make good use of the snack bin, but I don’t get meals at work.”
“Is there a reason you don’t keep a lot of food here?” I asked, my voice far more hesitant than I wanted it to be.
“Because I’m poor, and food is fucking expensive.” His tone was casual, but I could hear the tension under his words.
The microwave beeped, and he busied himself by pulling out his potato and bringing it back to the counter.
“Have you thought of maybe getting some meal replacement shakes?” I dumped the cut-up broccoli in my colander.
“Meal replacement shakes?” he asked, gingerly splitting his potato open with a knife.
“Yeah. They’re not expensive, and they’re good for getting enough nutrients and protein when you’re not eating regularly.”
“That’s actually a good idea.” He dumped the beans onto his potato. “Thanks,” he said a bit grudgingly.
“No problem.”
“Can I ask you something?” he said after he’d put his food back into the microwave.
“Sure. It’s not like I can stop you.”
He cracked a small smile. “How much do you make camming?”
I started to ask why he wanted to know but stopped myself. Was he thinking of camming?
“It depends on the day,” I said instead. “But I usually clear a few hundred a show. Sometimes more if it’s a good night.”
He kept his eyes on the microwave and leaned his hip against the counter. “How long did it take for you to get to that amount? I’m assuming you didn’t make that much when you first started.”
“I didn’t. The first month or so, I was lucky if I hit fifty a show. Some days I barely cracked twenty. I didn’t start getting consistent numbers until about six weeks ago.”
He nodded, his stare still fixed on the microwave. “I bet you’d make even more if you cammed with someone.”
I almost dropped the chicken breast I’d taken out of the package.
Was that a random observation, or did Asa want to cam with me?
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. Two weeks had passed since he’d accidentally learned my secret, and my viewers were still feral about the idea of us camming together.
“Yeah, couples definitely make more than solo cammers,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
“And I bet people would be into the whole forbidden aspect of stepbrothers.”
I shot him a quick look to gauge if he was serious or if this was some sort of fucked up joke.
He looked up from where he was examining his nail polish, and his expression told me this wasn’t a joke.
“They definitely would,” I said.
We stared at each other for a few beats.
“Are you saying you want to cam with me?” I asked, needing him to say it outright.
“It’s not like we haven’t fucked before.” He shrugged. “I need money to move out, and you want me to move out. Seems like a win-win for both of us.”
“Have you thought about this? Like, really thought about it?” I put down my knife and turned the tap on so I could wash my hands.
This wasn’t the type of conversation you had while holding a sharp implement.
“I’ve thought about it.”
“Are you okay with your face being on screen? We could work things out to keep your identity hidden, but that would bring down revenue. People tip more when they can see all of you.”
“I’m fine with that. It’s not like I’m anyone important. If someone has issues with their mechanic getting fucked on cam, that’s a them problem.”
“You’re really serious about this.”
He nodded. “And based on how you’ve answered, you’ve thought about it too.”
“I might have given it some thought.”
He cracked another small smile. “Some thought?”
“Maybe a lot of thought,” I confessed.
“So, is that a yes?”
“I think so?”
His smile turned into a smirk. “You think so?”
“I wasn’t really prepared to have this conversation right now,” I admitted. “But I’m game if you are.”
“I’m game.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
We stared at each other for a few beats. My treacherous mind immediately conjured up a mental image of Asa naked and bent over my desk chair.
“There’s some legal stuff we have to do before we can actually cam,” I said quickly, hoping to derail the boner I could feel starting.
“Legal stuff?”
“I need to submit your ID to the site to verify that you’re of age, then add you to my room as a guest cammer.”
“Really?” He tilted his head quizzically. “I’ve read so many books where they just hop in front of the camera after deciding they want to do it.”
“That’s why books are fantasy and not reality. There’s a ton of stuff you need to do before you can even start as a solo cammer. My account would be banned in a heartbeat if they found out I had an unverified person on cam with me.”
“I always wondered about that,” he mused. “It seemed shady that no one was asking for ID or anything to prove they were over eighteen.”
“All sites ask for it, and if they don’t, then they’re not legal.”
“How long does getting verified take?”
“Not long. Like two, three days at the most.”
He nodded again. “So, are we going to do that?”
“If you’re sure you want to do this.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I know I’m not exactly what people want to look at, but having you next to me should help level me up to acceptable standards.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said, my tone way more forceful than I meant it to be.
For some weird reason, I didn’t like hearing Asa put himself down. There was nothing wrong with how he looked, and there never had been. He might not be a traditional heartthrob or whatever, but he was a handsome guy. My dick definitely thought so, and had for years.
I also wasn’t used to seeing his “I don’t give a fuck what people think of me” attitude crack, revealing his vulnerable side. It bothered me more than I’d ever admit.
“You don’t need anyone to level you up. I was just making sure this was really what you wanted and you’d thought things through.”
“It is, and I have.”
“Then yeah, we’re doing this.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
“How about we finish getting dinner and submit everything when we’re done?” I asked. “It’s pretty easy. They just need photo ID, a picture of you against a white background and holding a written word that they give you to confirm it’s you and not someone else’s ID.”
“Then what?”
“Then we wait for them to verify you. When everything is settled, I’ll add you to my account as a guest, and we’re good to go.”
“Sounds easy enough.” He chewed on his lip. “When do you think we should do it? Like what day?”
“Definitely on a Friday. Those are the best nights for couples, and male couples do really well.”
“So this Friday should work?”
I nodded. It was Monday evening, which would give us more than enough time to get everything submitted and approved. And it would give me a chance to tell my audience during my show on Wednesday and drum up some excitement.
“I guess we should finish up.” He waved toward the microwave.
“Yeah. We’ll do the submissions tonight. And we can talk about what we want the show to look like and set boundaries then too. I need a bit of time to process everything before we get into the logistics.”
“That’s fine. I have no idea what I’m doing, so I’m happy to defer to you.”
“Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear you say, not without the threat of death or dismemberment.” I couldn’t stop my smile.
He shot me a smirky grin. “Don’t let it get to your head.”
“Too late.” I turned back to the counter to finish cutting up my chicken.
I’d just agreed to cam with my stepbrother. The same stepbrother I fucked four years ago and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since.
This was either a brilliant plan or the stupidest thing I’d ever agreed to.
I shot a quick glance at Asa and raked my gaze down his body elevator-style, lingering on his ass as he dumped the rest of the shredded cheese on his bean-covered potato.
My body tightened, and I looked away before my dick got any ideas about getting hard while I was wearing sweats and couldn’t hide it.
Yup, this was definitely the stupidest thing I’d ever agreed to, but whatever. I could worry about the fallout later.