Page 5

Chapter Five

Arlo

Designing video games is my dream job. Working for Ridgeland Global Enterprises has always been my ultimate goal, though landing a job there is not so easy. I have been trying for an entire year, with no luck scoring a callback. I even applied for other positions within the company just to get my foot in the door, but still no luck.

Pulling up the View4U app, I scroll to one of my favorite creators. He doesn’t do anything except tell me how to get myself off—and not even just me, but his followers in general. I’m blazed as fuck. I hate the night, and I rarely sleep, spending my time watching the darkness turn into the early morning light .

Instead, I’ve been beta testing a new game. The pay is half decent for a newer company, and I even convinced them to allow me to bring a friend. I use the term friend loosely since I only know her as UrNewStep_Mom, but damn, I enjoy her company. She is refreshing and can fit in with the guys, giving as good as she gets without having her feelings hurt.

I wish I could meet a woman like her in real life. Not that she would want a twenty-three-year-old man who still lives with his mother, has no real job prospects, and nothing going for him. Besides, I’m not six feet tall with abs for days. I’m five foot ten on a good day, though my body is decent for a guy who doesn’t go to the gym, eats terribly, and smokes too much weed when I get bored. I know the mom part scares people away, but even if I had a job, I would most likely still live here. It’s always been us against the world, and as far as moms go, mine is pretty cool.

Wrapping my fingers around my cock, I lean back in my bean bag, my blunt hanging from my lips as I listen to the creator’s raspy voice telling me to stroke it slow. I take my time as my mind wanders to UrNewStep_Mom, picturing what she might look like in real life. Is she a brunette, or maybe a blonde? Is she tall—no, with that fiery personality, I think she’s a short little thing. Playing against her is like foreplay, and my cock gets hard the second she wipes out an entire team of men.

My headset sparks to life and I grip my cock tighter. “Fucking stupid piece of shit,” comes through the speakers .

“Hey!” I chuckle, surprised she is even awake at this time of the morning. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh shit, not you, DarkSoul! My boss fucking fired me. Can you believe that? I really needed that job, and sure, I should have kept my hands to myself, but my temper is my downfall. I can overlook a sneaky ass squeeze, even if I shouldn’t, but the motherfucker touched my pussy.”

Releasing my cock, I tuck it away, now too invested in wanting to murder someone to continue. “What did you do?”

“I grabbed his dick and twisted it as hard as I could. It served the fucker right. But I feel like I have a sign on my forehead that reads: touch me. You’d think my resting bitch face would scare them away, yet they don’t see it when they’re drunk.”

I snort. “I guess it’s a good thing you have to look for a new job. What about those fancy-pants rich guys you live with? Maybe they could give you a job?”

She scoffs. “Oh, I’m sure one would, but my job title would be live-in whore.”

I stub out the blunt in the ashtray beside me. “Is your living situation even safe?”

She chuckles, and the way she sounds is weird, almost as if AI is being used to cover her real voice. I don’t bring it up—if she wants to protect her identity from strangers on the internet it’s a smart thing to do.

“Yes, I’m safe, but thank you for asking. They are very respectful, hot as fuck, and every time I see them semi-naked, my pussy wants to ride them. ”

“Why don’t you? I mean, it saves finding a hookup.”

She sighs. “Nothing good ever comes from sleeping with a roommate.”

“Didn’t you say it was temporary? Maybe your last roommates were just immature. Set ground rules and see where it goes.”

“You’re wise, DarkSoul.”

“My name is Arlo,” I say. I’ve never shared my name with anyone online before, but something about her calls to me.

“Nice to meet you Arlo, I’m?—”

A muted voice in the background cuts her off. “Are you seriously about to tell a stranger on the internet your name? They could be some pervert in their mom’s basement, seeking beautiful women to kidnap.”

She laughs hysterically. “You called me beautiful!”

“That is all you got from that? I don’t know what he sees in you or why he keeps you around.”

“It’s my sparkly personality.”

“Thankfully, with our technology, he won’t even know the sound of your voice. We use the best Ridgeland has on offer. Just be careful.”

“Yes, daddy!” she yells.

I knew the voice sounded a little off. “Everything okay?” I ask as the game loads.

“Yeah,” she says with a sigh. “I think he has it out for me because I threw up in his car. I panic when I’m stressed, and I vomit. It’s not my fault. I think he secretly likes me, though, because apparently he is normally not at home, and since I’ve been here, so has he. Maybe he’s jealous—I know they fuck.”

“Your male roommates fuck?” I ask, not caring that the intro to the game is now on the screen.

“Yup, but they are not boyfriends. Commitment issues or something. Why? Do you not like men fucking?”

That makes me laugh. “No, I prefer men over women. I’m not opposed to a girlfriend one day, but I honestly don’t know if I could ever be happy with only her. I know it makes me sound like a prick to want my cake and eat it too.”

“No judgment here. So you want a poly relationship.”

“I don’t know. I think having a girlfriend and a boyfriend might work for me, but I think I’d want them to have a relationship as well.”

I talk a big game, but I’m not sure I’m ready to tell her how much of a loser I am. Talking to people in real life is a huge issue for me. I say the wrong thing, my cheeks go bright red, and I run. My experience amounts to one blow job from Millie Baker in my senior year of high school, where I came in her mouth after like thirty seconds. She then said, “Is that it?” and I went red as bile rose in my throat. I was so embarrassed I couldn’t look at her again and have actively avoided women since. Being a virgin at twenty-three is embarrassing, and I think I might die that way. It’s fine, my hand gets a good workout.

“You should do whatever you want, as long as everyone consents. ”

“You make it sound so easy.”

That makes her laugh. “If it’s what you want, it could be. Tell me what you look like.”

“I don’t think it’s so much what I look like. I’m average height, about five ten-ish, dark curly hair that could do with a cut, but I won’t get it until my mom forces me. Oh, and red flag, I still live with my mom at twenty-three.”

“Hey,” she states. “Personally, I think it’s a good quality if you treat her right. My grandmother always used to say you can tell a lot about a man from how well he treats his mom.”

“I treat her well; she is my best friend.”

“Tell me more about what you look like,” she encourages.

“Not much else to tell. Dark eyes, tanned skin, lots of tattoos. My cousin Joey owns a shop and uses me as his guinea pig. Lucky he’s pretty good.”

She chuckles. “I’m not hearing a downside, unless you’re really an old man in his mother’s basement luring in unsuspecting victims.”

That makes me bellow out a laugh. “Definitely not an old man. And to lure in a woman, I would have to be able to talk to one.”

She gasps in mock horror. “Am I not a woman?”

“ You could also be an old man in a basement for all I know. I mean, your roommate confirmed the voice I hear is not yours.”

“It’s not, but they are super privacy freaks, and since I live here, I respect that they want to keep everything private.”

My phone dings before I can respond, and I see my favorite creator on the View4U app has signed off. “So what’s with your username? Do you have a stepmom kink or something?”

“Nah,” she says as the game starts, and her avatar follows me into it. “I just like to piss off men in the game. Most can’t handle when I’m better than them and I barely have to try half the time. I don’t know if I have any kinks, to be honest. Sex complicates things. I don’t want to let a one-night stand choke me and slap my ass so I can find out, if you know what I mean.” UrNewStep_Mom fires off some shots at the characters behind me, and we keep walking our avatars deeper into the abandoned mall. “Do you have any kinks?”

I hesitate, then shake my head at myself. I can tell her, it’s not like we’ll ever meet. “I like to watch the View4U app. There is one guy who talks you to orgasm step-by-step.”

“Now that sounds like an app I should download.”

I chuckle. “I’m also obsessed with masked men, or women, not that I have come across a masked woman on there before. The thought of being chased and fucked is thrilling.”

“And that’s something you would want in real life? No judgment—I’m just not sure how I would feel about being chased. Like even knowing it’s all make believe, my anxiety would still make me throw up.”

This conversation had taken a turn, and I don’t hate it. “It would be a dream come true for me. I’m so shy in real life, I can’t talk to anyone I’m sexually interested in because I turn bright red and stutter or just run away. The thought of being chased and someone pulling my hair while forcing me to my knees?—”

“Damn, hearing you talk like that, I’m going to need to rub one out right now.”

“Y-you could if you wanted to,” I stutter out, then want to slap myself on the forehead for being a creepy idiot, feeling my cheeks heat instantly.

She chuckles. “Do you want to hear me come, DarkSoul?”

I take a deep breath as I spray bullets at an unsuspecting zombie. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

“If you want to fuck yourself, do it in your own room,” a voice booms.

UrNewStep_Mom’s laughter filters through my headset. “Where’s the fun in that?” she says, taunting one of her roommates. “Maybe you shouldn’t spy on me, then you wouldn’t have to see it.”

“It’s not spying when you are in my house.”

“Oh, it’s one hundred percent spying, especially when you should be working. Don’t you have a business to run, yet you’re listening to me talk about fucking myself?”

“You’re impossible.”

UrNewStep_Mom laughs again and takes out a zombie clawing its way out of a dead carcass, which makes my stomach coil. “Maybe I have a kink after all.”

“I can see the appeal of being watched.” Even though I think it’s super weird that her roommates watch her through their home security cameras.

“I think it would be hot if I never had to look them in the eye again.”

“You have a point. I wouldn’t be able to face a person again who has watched me get fucked. That’s what I like about the View4U app—so many never even get naked. If I wasn’t so shy, I would sign up.”

A knock has me turning to see my mom standing in the doorway of my room. “Hey, baby. I made you some food.”

“Thanks, Ma. I’ll be up in a second.”

Ma works night shifts sometimes, but she always makes me breakfast before she crashes.

She smiles warmly. “Okay, but open a window. It smells like weed and dirty socks down here.”

UrNewStep_Mom chuckles. “Tell your mom I said hi. I’ll talk to you tomorrow—we have a zombie plague to sort out.”

“I will.”

“Talk later,” she says, before signing off.

I walk upstairs with a smile on my face. My mom is pulling boxes out of a shopping bag when she looks over at me.

“What’s made you so happy?” I shrug, causing her to huff. “Arlo Atlas Kross, don’t you shrug your shoulders at me.”

I push my glasses up with a smirk. “It’s nothing. I met a girl online and I finally feel like I’m learning to not be a spluttering idiot around someone I’m attracted to. ”

“Any girl would be lucky to have you. You’re such a catch, baby.”

That makes me snort, but I don’t correct her. She is my mom and nothing I say will change her mind. She loves me, maybe a little too much, but she is good people, and I don’t care what anyone has to say about me being a momma’s boy.