Page 190 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

EVE

“Good, you’re here too,” I said, approaching the counter, and Bridget.

It would make this conversation a lot easier since she and June were together.

The shop was quiet, and I’d been able to duck out and go to Van’s, the local grocery store, to pick up a ten-pound bag of sugar.

June was behind the counter and Bridget was putting milk in her to-go cup.

She wore a knit hat with a big pom-pom on top.

Combined that with her glasses and she looked sixteen.

“I wanted to tell you about the camming.”

“We were just talking about that,” June said, wiping down the counter. “She wants to know specifically how it’s going. Tell her how you have so many followers. We want an update.”

I shook my head. “I stopped. Last night.”

June’s eyes widened. “Stopped? Why? You were raking in the cash.”

“Because I got one guy in a private room, and he was talking about giving me whatever I need and coming all over me and…” I shivered. “How come stuff like that is super-hot to read and hot to do with a guy in real life, but in a cam room, I’m all squidged out?”

June’s eyes widened. “Because you don’t know anything about him,” she reminded. “Where he lives. I don’t think they can do cam stuff in prison, but he could be an ax murderer.”

I laughed but her words didn’t help me feel any less creeped out. Could he really be in prison?

“I did a private room once,” she said. “I know what you mean. I’d rather be in front of a few hundred horny guys sharing dick pics in the comments over one.”

“Has he told you anything about himself?” Bridget asked, taking a sip of her drink.

“Some things,” I replied. There was a stray straw wrapper on the floor, and I grabbed it. “He has a big dick–”

“You’ve seen it?” Bridget’s eyes widened behind her glasses.

I shook my head. “Well, no, but he told me about it, how I make him hard.”

She frowned, like the sip she took of her coffee had bad milk.

“Gross.”

“I’m glad you stopped,” June told me. “At least the private room. I don’t think there’s enough red flags in existence to cover a guy getting too into you in there.

We grew up knowing not to connect with strangers on the Internet.

Fall for them or whatever they might be saying.

Ever heard of sex trafficking? Or worse, he could be grooming you for a Satanic sex ritual! ”

“That’s a little over the top,” I admitted, but agreed she could be right.

“I talked to him the first time. Then he got on again last night and I cut it short after only a few minutes. He wasn’t gross or anything, but a black screen and all made it weird.

Then again, seeing the guy jerking off or whatever might be a hell of a lot weirder.

Plus, your talk about cults and sex trafficking are only freaking me out even more.

” I looked to June. “Why didn’t you start with those possibilities when you had me start camming? ”

“Wait, he went on a second time?” Bridget asked, steering back to Billy and the private chat.

I nodded, then waved goodbye to two older men who stopped by almost every morning. “Yes. He bought my time for the month. Can you believe that? Do you think he’s a stalker?”

“God, maybe. Skip private chats,” June suggested. “Do the group thing like you started out and don’t accept any privates.”

I shook my head. “No. Groups or not, I don’t think camming is for me. I just… can’t. I’m waiting to hear from the bank in Missoula about the loan. I have enough money to float for a little while. I can hold on a little bit longer.”

“What about Silas?” Bridget asked.

“Yeah, what about Silas?” June asked. “He’s real and isn’t in a cult. He fucks you on tables and desks. He makes you come. He’s got a big dick. Please say he has a huge dick.”

I thought about it, seeing it across our backyards, then up close in the conference room. Then feeling how impressive it was deep inside me. “He does. The last time he texted, he was in California. He might be real, but he’s definitely not here.”

“He’s coming back though,” June added. “You told me you made plans for having in-bed sex when he returned.”

“What does Silas have to do with anything? I mean, I turned down the James Corp loan and when he comes back to town, we’ll hopefully have more sex and we can see if it goes somewhere.”

“I’m going to kill him.” Bridget swore, setting her cup down then resting her hands on her hips. She looked fierce all of a sudden.

June and I eyed her.

“Who? Silas? Why?” I wondered. “Because we had sex on your conference table? I’d say I was sorry about that, but I’m kinda not.”

“No. Because he’s your stalker. He’s CEOBill.”

I stared at her. Processed. Then processed a little more. “Wait. How did you know that name?”

“Because he told me.”

“Who?”

“Silas.”

I blinked because what? “What… are you saying–Silas is Billy, the guy in the private cam room?”

She nodded. “CEOBill is–”

“CEO billionaire,” June said, catching on.

Bridget kept right on bobbing her head. “I was the one who told him you took up camming.”

I was sure my cheeks were a bright red because they were hot. It was supposed to be a secret. Anonymous. “Oh my God. Why?”

“Because you’re doing it because of him. Because it was an alternative to taking the James Corp loan. Because you guys had sex.”

“So?”

“You wouldn’t have turned down the loan if you hadn’t slept with him.”

“So?”

“So, why do you have to go on camera and do slutty stuff–no offense, June–because you two slept together? It’s his fault you couldn’t take the loan. I told him about your streaming because it was a way for him to make things right. You need the money.”

“Not that badly, I don’t,” I replied. “Bridget, this is worse than taking the loan. Before, it was one-time, anonymous sex. Now it’s me doing sexy stuff while he watches and pays. This is far worse.”

“I know. I thought about it after we talked. It’s not fair he gets orgasms with zero consequences. Meanwhile, you have sex and you could lose your business.”

June held up her hand. “Wait. Silas booked the private room so he could give her money that way? Instead of the loan?”

Bridget nodded.

“Holy shit,” I whispered. So Billy wasn’t a creeper, but he was Silas. “That little sneak. It’s the exact same thing. It’s still about sex and money.”

Bridget shook her head. “I didn’t tell him to go and buy out your time in a private chat room. I told him to tell you he knows about the camming, that he’s CEOBill and to… help you find another solution. I gave him a day and he obviously didn’t do it.”

I went around the counter, started to make a fresh pot of coffee to keep busy while I worked through this new info.

“Eve?” June asked, her voice soft. She gave me room, let me putter.

“I’m thinking.”

Silas wanted to give me money to wear too small cardigans and read about lumberjacks fucking virgins.

I spun around, leaned against the counter as I held the huge coffee ground holder. “He’s actually, in a ridiculous way, being a nice guy. He’s giving me the money and hijacking the cam time so it’s only the two of us.”

“Yeah, if he wasn’t an idiot, it’d be sweet,” Bridget added.

“He’s being possessive, doing a private room and then booking you all month,” June added. “That’s really hot.”

I smiled. Silas, the idiot. Thinking back to the stuff we talked about without the creepy factor, it was now a turn on.

Knowing the stuff that CEOBill wrote and it being Silas, it made sense.

It was clearly Silas’s kind of sexy. I’d been aroused and not knowing who it was had me shutting it down.

But with Silas? Totally hot. Totally different perspective.

“He doesn’t know that I know?” I asked Bridget.

She shook her head. Grabbing her drink, she took a tentative sip.

“Good. Don’t tell him,” I said, looking her in the eye and smiling.

June held up her hand and took the coffee maker part from me. “I know that look. What are you thinking?”

“Let Silas keep up his secret identity.” He wanted me to undo buttons on my cardigan? Show him my panties? Oh, I’d show him. I’d show him everything.

“But it’s not a secret.”

“He doesn’t know that,” I said, cocking my hip against the counter.

June’s eyes widened, then she slowly grinned. “Payback’s a bitch.”

Bridget blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“I know he knows about me camming. But he doesn’t know I know. Right?”

“Right,” she said slowly, clearly unsure where I was going with this.

“It’s time to have a little fun. He wants to watch a virgin librarian undo buttons on her cardigan while she reads about a woman being railed by triplets, then I’ll give it to him. As for actual payback… the money he’s giving me? I’m giving it to the animal shelter.”