Page 9
9
ASA
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Dex asked. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“I’m sure,” I said with more bravery than I felt.
He nodded and blew out a breath. At least I wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
Getting verified by the cam site had been as easy as he’d said, and I’d gotten an in-depth look into the world of camming.
I hadn’t done much research on it before approaching Dex, which was unusual for me. I didn’t like surprises or not knowing things, but for some reason my usual anxiety around the unknown hadn’t kicked in.
Maybe it was because Dex knew what he was doing, and it was easier to just defer to him than it was to try and piece together the truth from the internet.
Either way, I now understood that camming wasn’t just getting naked and raking in the cash. There were rules that needed to be followed and a whole strategy for getting your room visible and boosting numbers.
Then there was the legal stuff surrounding getting paid, and, of course, claiming your cam income on your taxes.
I hadn’t paid too much attention to that part of the process because I was only listed as a guest in Dex’s room, so it was on him to do all the nitty gritty stuff.
The part that I hadn’t expected was how complicated the actual shows could be. I’d assumed he’d just set tip goals like he had on that one show I’d watched after finding out his secret, but that was only one way to get people to pay you.
He’d explained the different features on the site and methods he’d seen other cammers use, but the details blurred together after a while, and I just told him to come up with a script or formula or whatever, and we’d do that.
Now we were ten minutes from his usual start time, and I was nervous.
The idea of being naked on cam didn’t really bother me. I was used to people having strong opinions on how I looked, so some mean comments from randoms on the internet weren’t going to ruin my day.
Nope, I was nervous about being with Dex again.
Four years was a long time, and I didn’t have much more experience now than I did back then. I’d hooked up, but never let things go beyond using hands or mouths to get off.
Dex might not have a lot of experience with men if what he said during his show was true, but I knew for a fact that he had a ton with women.
I might not care what his viewers thought of me, but it would absolutely destroy my self-esteem if Dex had trouble getting hard or he didn’t enjoy it. I had no fucking clue why I cared, but I did, and having my shame be broadcast for the world to see would make it so much worse.
The only reason I wasn’t freaking out was because of Dex. I figured he wouldn’t be an asshole about things, but he made a point to constantly check in with me and reassure me that things would be okay.
He’d even come up with a code I could use like a safe word if I needed to stop for whatever reason, and he was meticulous when we went over our boundaries and discussed what we were willing to do and what was off the table.
I wasn’t sure how to react to this thoughtful version of Dex, but I was grateful for it. And it helped that he was into this. I knew him well enough to know when he was just going through the motions and when he was genuinely interested in something, and he was into this.
“You remember what we’re going to do?” he asked, getting his laptop off his desk and bringing it over to his bed.
I nodded, my eyes on his rumpled sheets.
Was it weird that I kinda liked that he hadn’t changed his sheets or even bothered to make his bed? It felt more intimate this way, which probably wasn’t a good thing. But I still liked it.
The format for the actual show was pretty simple. We’d chat with his viewers for a bit and give the algorithm a chance to work its magic. Once we had enough people in the room, Dex would set up what he called a tip menu.
That was essentially just a list of things people could ask for us to do and the amount of tokens they cost. There were small things like touching each other over the clothes or kissing necks and that sort of thing. Then there were the bigger things that cost a lot more, like taking off clothes and touching skin.
Once we were ready for the actual fucking part, he would switch to something called a ticket show and make the room private so only people who bought tickets would be able to see the good stuff.
I had no idea if anyone would tune in or tip, but Dex said his viewers had gone apeshit when he announced that we’d be camming together during his Wednesday show, so that had to be a good sign.
“I already told everyone that you’re not a big talker.” Dex handed me the laptop. “So they won’t expect you to keep up with the chat or anything. It takes a while to get used to it, so you don’t have to worry about trying to read every comment. I’ll let you know if there’s a question or something,” he rambled as he went to the corner of his room and pulled a tray table out from his closet. “Do you remember our code in case you need to stop or if you don’t want to do a request?”
I’d never seen Dex ramble like this. It helped calm some of my nerves to know he felt them too.
“I remember.”
He set the table up so it was in front of his bed and held out his hands for his laptop.
“Do you need to get some water or anything? I have a couple bottles in case we need some during the show, but we have a few minutes if you want to grab some now.”
“Bottles? Not glasses?” I asked, a little smirk curling the side of my mouth.
He laughed and put his computer on the tray table. “Yeah, I learned my lesson when it comes to water around electronics. Bottles or nothing from now on.”
“I’m okay. Should I change?” I glanced down at the black tee and gray sweats I had on. I’d assumed it was fine, considering Dex was in a white tee and those damn gray sweatpants that looked way too good on him, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“No, you look good.” He glanced up from where he was fiddling with the laptop. “Are you wearing your good undies?”
“Undies?” I arched my eyebrow at him.
“You know what I mean.” He shot me a flat look.
“Yes, I’m wearing my company undies.”
He snickered. “Are those like your Sunday best?”
“Yup. Did you put on your good undies?”
“Of course. I am, after all, a professional.” He stopped tinkering with the laptop screen angle and sat on the bed like he was making sure it was in the right place.
“All good?”
He pursed his lips. “I should have checked this sooner. The table is too tall, and the camera is angled down.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
“It is when you’re showing off your dick.” He stood and looked around his room. “An upward angle is best because it makes things look bigger, but straight on is fine too. Downward throws off perspective and makes your dick seem smaller, and it’ll make us look shorter.”
“I’m not sure I want to pop my cam cherry looking short and like I have a small dick.”
“Me either.” He went to his closet and rummaged around inside.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for something to put the laptop on,” he said, his voice a little muffled.
“We could move the desk, or is that too tall?”
“Too tall.” He closed the door to the closet. “It only works with my chair.”
“What about the end table in the living room? Would that work?”
He nodded. “I think so. I’ll go grab it.”
He disappeared through the door and came back with the table in his hands.
I stayed out of his way as he put it in front of his bed and set the laptop up. “I think it’s good.” He shot me a smile.
“Good.” I glanced around the room. “What about lighting?”
“I’ve got that covered.” He pulled the ring light off his desk and moved it so it was on the end table with the laptop, then plugged it in.
“This is so weird,” I muttered when he flicked on the light. It was bright enough that it illuminated the entire space but somehow wasn’t blinding.
“It takes some getting used to.” He crossed and then uncrossed his arms. “Are you ready? We’ve got about two minutes until it’s time to log in.”
“I’m ready.” I glanced at the bed again. “Should we…”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his hands on his sweats.
“Nervous?” I asked as I perched on the edge of the bed.
“Hell yeah.” He laughed and sat next to me. “Are you?”
“Definitely.”
“You don’t look nervous. But then again, you’re a master at hiding your emotions, so that’s not a surprise.”
“Usually you are too,” I pointed out.
“Usually. But not this time.” He scooted back on the bed a bit and crossed his legs.
I mirrored his pose.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded.
I waited as he logged into the site and got his room set up.
“We’re not live yet,” he said as he adjusted the camera angle again. “I usually use a detached webcam, but it fell victim to the spilled water debacle, and I haven’t had a chance to replace it yet. It’s so much easier than using the built-in one.”
Seeing us on the screen was weird, but what really stood out was how different we looked.
I wasn’t used to seeing the two of us together. The last time we were even in the same photo was years ago, at either Christmas or one of our siblings’ birthdays.
Dex looked huge and handsome with his classic good looks and perfect body. Add in his backward ball cap that affected me more than I’d ever admit, and he looked the part of the hot cam model.
Then there was me, the skinny goth nerd who not only looked tiny next to him when we were almost the same height, but the bright lights and the white wall behind us emphasized my blond hair and pale complexion.
Thank fuck I’d put eyeliner on so I just looked like I was allergic to the sun and not like a washed-out mess.
“Once I set the room to go live, I’ll send out the email notification to my followers. I have no idea how long it’ll take for people to log on since I usually don’t cam on Fridays, but hopefully we won’t be waiting forever.” He shot me a quick look. “Ready?”
I nodded, and he pressed a few buttons.
The counter at the top of the room went from zero to ten in about three seconds. A moment later, a bunch of text flew through the chat as the counter kept climbing.
“Hey, Biglife.” Dex said with a smile. “I’m glad you could make it. Hi, Stripes.”
He kept greeting people I assumed were his regulars and gave up trying to read the chat. He’d told me that not just comments showed up on his side of things and that the different colored texts helped him filter out the important information. Comments were black, tip requests were red, and tips were green. Everything else was just admin stuff and wasn’t important for me to try to decipher.
“Yup, this is him.” Dex bumped me with his shoulder after he’d finished greeting people. “My stepbrother.”
I waved like a moron, not sure what else to do.
“Alex is a year younger than me,” he said, obviously answering a question.
I’d told him to pick whatever pseudonym he wanted for me, and he’d gone with Alex because he said it was close enough to my real name he’d remember it and not have to worry about slipping. He cammed under the name Jake, and I’d spent the past few days calling him that in my head so I wouldn’t fuck up and give away his real name by accident.
“We’ve been stepbrothers for eight years,” he continued. “We were fourteen and fifteen when our parents got married.”
The computer chimed as tips came flowing in.
“Biglife wants to know what you’re into,” Dex said. “Like hobbies,” he corrected quickly. “We’ll get to the other stuff you’re into in a bit.”
I couldn’t stop my smirk at Dex’s flustered expression. “I’m not much of a sports guy.” I waved at myself. “As you can probably tell. But I like to read.”
“Tetrisking wants to know what your favorite genre is.”
“I really like fantasy books. I used to read a lot of sci-fi, but I’ve been on a nonfiction kick lately.”
Tips came in, and more text flew through the chat. I flicked my gaze to the room counter and barely managed to stop myself from visibly reacting. When I’d tuned into Dex’s show last week, he had almost three hundred people in his room, and that was before he’d taken off any clothes. The room was already at over six hundred people, and we’d only been online for a few minutes.
Dex helped lead more small talk-type questions where people asked about me or about us being stepbrothers. He did most of the talking but made sure to loop me in enough that I didn’t just sit there like a statue.
“Yes, we’re really stepbrothers,” he said to the camera, his voice taking on the overly even tone he used when he was getting angry. This was the fourth time someone had basically called us liars in the last few minutes. “Of course we don’t look alike. We’re step brothers. Not actual brothers.”
I snickered. “Do you have any idea how many times your old teachers at school would say shit like that? ‘Wow, you and Jake don’t look anything alike.’ And I’d just stand there like, ‘Of course we don’t. We have different parents. And they’d just keep going on about how crazy it was that we were so different.”
Dex shot me an amused look. “Knowing the types of teachers we had at our school, I believe that.”
“Your old junior varsity assistant coach was the worst. I had him for PE the year after you moved up to varsity. I thought he was going to stroke out yelling at me to hustle and run faster because my ‘brother’ was a superstar sprinter, and he didn’t understand how I could hate running so much.”
Dex laughed. “That tracks. I swear he’s had one too many head injuries and it scrambled his brain. He used to say the same thing to a buddy of mine’s younger brother, like his actual brother. The man couldn’t seem to grasp that siblings aren’t carbon copies of each other.”
He paused and returned his attention to the screen as more tips came in. “I think we’re good to get things started.” He shot the camera a lazy grin. “So this is how the show is going to work. I’m going to set up a tip menu, and we’ll do most of the show like that. When it’s time for the main event, we’re going to switch to a ticket show. If you tip over a certain threshold during the first part of the show, you’ll automatically be added to the ticket show, so if you get a purple notification when I set up the sale, you don’t have to buy a ticket.” He shot me a quick look, silently asking if I was ready.
I nodded and sucked in a small breath.
Dex tapped on a few keys, and a graphic appeared in the chat with the menu he’d created.
He hadn’t even sat back when the first tip came in.
“Thank you, Lola.” He glanced at me and whispered, “Neck kiss.”
I hesitated. Should I kiss his neck, or was he going to kiss mine?
Dex took care of answering that and leaned closer. The soft brush of his lips against my skin sent a shiver of awareness up my spine, and the slight rasp of his stubble woke up nerve endings deep in my body.
This wasn’t good. All he’d done was kiss my neck, and I could already feel the start of a boner. How the hell was I going to last a whole show if I was getting excited just from a neck kiss?
Several tips came in, and he pulled away. I glanced at his crotch and bit back my sigh of relief when I saw the small bulge. At least I wasn’t the only one enjoying things.
Dex thanked a bunch of people, then turned back to me. “We’ve got another neck kiss, skin touching, and cupping,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Do you want to…”
Nodding, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his throat.
He smelled amazing, like sunshine mixed in with his usual cinnamon and bergamot, and I gently sucked on his skin for a few beats.
Dex let out a soft groan and leaned closer, pressing his neck against my mouth.
I pulled back before I marked him, but it was more of a struggle than I wanted to admit. Was I into marking? It had never been on my radar before. Or was I just into marking Dex?
His expression was so full of heat that my breath caught, and I barely managed to stop my own groan as Dex slipped his hand under my shirt and gently rubbed it over my stomach, his touch waking up more of those long-dormant nerves deep in my body.
“You want to cup me?” he asked in that same quiet tone that only I could hear.
I nodded and pressed my palm against his bulge, giving it a little squeeze just because I could.
He let out another of those too-sexy groans and grew against my hand until he was fully hard.
The sensation made my own dick thicken until we were both rocking boners.
The next few minutes were a blur of Dex talking to the camera, tips coming in, and him telling me what to do.
Most of the tips were for the smaller things, like more cupping and over-the-clothes touching, but there were a few more neck kisses sprinkled in there too.
I’d assumed this part would be more clinical, like we’d fumble a bit and it wouldn’t really do much to get me hot because I’d still be getting used to the camera. Plus, things were still pretty innocent. But my body hadn’t gotten the memo because I was hard as a rock, and it felt like my skin was charged with electricity every time he touched me, even when it was over my clothes.
When I finally had the wherewithal to focus on the chat, I almost choked when I saw the viewer count. More than thirteen hundred people were watching us, and we’d already made over two hundred bucks.
“Thank you, Biglife.” Dex smiled at the camera. He’d already mentioned that name a few times. They had to be one of his regulars.
“Time to lose the shirts,” he said to me. “He wants us to take them off each other.”
I nodded and sat still as Dex gripped the bottom of my shirt and tugged it up. I lifted my arms so he could slip it off me.
Dex’s eyes almost bugged out of his head when his gaze fell on my nipple rings. He’d never seen them, and I hadn’t thought to tell him about them.
“Jesus,” he croaked, his eyes glued to my chest. “When did you get those?”
“Last year. You like them?” I asked, arching my brow playfully at him.
“Hell yeah.” He licked his lips. “Big fan.”
More tips came pouring in, and Dex tore his eyes from my piercings and returned his attention to the chat. He thanked the tippers, then turned back to me.
“Should I?” I motioned to his shirt.
He nodded and held still so I could pull it off him. I watched greedily as his incredible body was exposed inch by tantalizing inch until it was off.
“We’ve got more skin tours, nipple kisses, neck kisses, and cupping,” he said quietly. “I can do those to you.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
Dex bent his head and closed his mouth around my nipple, choosing to do that request first. I jerked like I’d been zapped with electricity as he flicked the metal barbell with his tongue.
Without thinking, I cupped the back of his neck and gently scratched my nails over his skin.
He groaned and sucked harder, then shifted to the other side to give it the same treatment.
I was nearly dizzy with need when he finally sat back, his eyes and expression as hungry as I felt. My piercings were incredibly sensitive, and Dex sure as fuck knew what to do with them.
Still half in a daze from the nipple teasing, I closed my eyes as Dex pressed several wet kisses against my neck and ran his hands over my chest and stomach, rubbing and squeezing as he nibbled on my neck.
“Jesus,” I muttered when he finally pulled away.
We locked eyes for a moment, and my stomach swooped as a weird sensation hit me in the chest. It was kind of like being startled, only it felt good.
Dex’s eyes were dark with lust, the usual mix of subdued brown and green of his hazel eyes replaced with bright green and a goldish brown that I’d only ever seen once. They were the same color as they’d been the night we hooked up four years ago.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment, but thankfully Dex tore his attention from me and looked at the screen again.
His voice was husky and a bit rough as he thanked some of the tippers, and I took a second to compose myself.
I’d expected that some of that night would come back to me, but I hadn’t been prepared for it to feel like I was right back in our old room and reliving it.
Dex turned from the camera and glanced at me. “Same thing. Nipples, skin teasing, and neck kisses. Do you want to…”
I nodded, probably way too eagerly, but I was dying to get my mouth on him again.
Instead of starting with his nipples, I pressed my lips against his neck and gently sucked on his skin. He let out a soft gasp and tilted his head to give me better access.
Greedily, I ran my hands over his sculpted chest and down his tight stomach. His skin was warm and soft, like satin over the hard steel of his muscles, and I had to force myself to stop before I got carried away.
Dex was practically panting when I closed my mouth over his nipple and sucked hard, gently biting the tiny bud as it pebbled in my mouth. When he was squirming, I switched to the other one to give it the same attention.
He threaded his hands in my hair, not pulling or trying to move me. His touch was gentle, almost sweet, and it felt way too good.
Reluctantly, I released his nipple and sat back, my head spinning and my body so tight with need I could feel myself leaking.
Dex wasn’t faring much better, and we were both wide-eyed and breathing hard as he turned his attention back to the screen.
I was too out of it to do much more than sit there as he talked to the camera, but I did notice when an unfamiliar chime cut through the usual ones.
Dex had told me there was a different sound when someone tipped over a certain amount, which was way above anything on the tip menu. Was that what he meant? I looked at the screen and almost choked when I saw a line of red text that had an insane tip amount in it and a tip request.
biglife: can I see you kiss each other?
“Thank you, Biglife.” Dex glanced at me.
We hadn’t talked about putting kissing on the tip menu, but neither of us had made it a hard no.
But whoever Biglife was had tipped a fuck ton of money to see it happen, and in that moment, I was having trouble remembering why it was a bad idea.
I nodded.
Dex swallowed and dropped his gaze to my lips.
I sat there, frozen, as Dex lifted one hand and gently cupped my cheek. My breath caught at the feather-light touch, and I nearly stopped breathing as he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine in a soft and fleeting kiss.
He pulled back and studied me for a few beats, something I couldn’t read flashing in his eyes, then leaned in again. His kiss was soft and sweet, and my entire body lit up like a damn Christmas tree as those nerves I hadn’t even realized were there sparked to life again.
An embarrassingly loud whimper escaped my lips, but Dex swallowed it down and slid his hand into my hair, gently gripping the strands and holding me in place as he covered my mouth in a deep, hot kiss.
Blindly, I reached out, needing something to ground me. One of my hands landed on his thigh, and the other on his hip. I fisted his sweats and gripped his side as I kissed him back, my body practically vibrating with need.
Dex’s tongue slipped between my parted lips, and I let out another of those embarrassing whimpers as he stroked it against mine, then twirled them together in an erotic dance that stole the last of my higher brain function.
When he finally pulled away, we were both breathing hard. My lips tingled, and the skin around my mouth burned from the scrape of his stubble. My cheeks were hot, and the world around me swayed a bit as I blinked at him like an idiot.
Dex stared at me for a few beats, his eyes practically glowing as the green fully took over the brown of his incredible hazel eyes. His lips were pink and a bit swollen, and a flush covered his cheeks. He looked as wrecked as I felt.
Jesus fuck.
Dex and I might have slept together four years ago, but we hadn’t kissed. That night hadn’t been about passion or lust, and I assumed he was using me to get over whatever was bothering him, the same as I used him to quell my turmoil over my sexuality.
Tonight was supposed to be about making money and getting off, but I’d just had not only my first kiss with my stepbrother but also my first kiss ever. And I had no idea what to do with the mess of emotions rolling around inside me.