Page 25 of Wrapped in Red

“I can hear you thinking all the way in here, Ezra,” Seth called out to me.

I grabbed my stool, climbed up to get the coffee from the cabinet, only to hear a soft chuckle from behind me.

“I could have helped you with that,” Seth told me. “I don’t know why you insist on keeping it up so high.”

I shook my head as I added a few scoops to the coffeemaker once I had climbed back down. “It’s fine. Some of us are height challenged.”

“How is he?” Seth leaned his lean frame against the doorway.

At nearly six feet with his chin-length reddish blond hair and blue eyes, he was one of the more popular accounts on OnlyFans. He had dropped into my messages one night after finding me, and we had instantly connected. At first, I think he might have been trying to hook up with me, but when our messages went from flirty to fun and friendly, he changed his tune. He would never replace CC, because I had only one best friend, but he was a close second. I trusted him completely.

I slid into one of the kitchen chairs. “We hooked up again.” When Seth only stared at me, I dropped my head. “Please say something.”

“I think I might need you to start at the beginning, Ezra. Or at least where the two of you made up? I mean, you went to his place on Wednesday after you left the hospital?”

I nodded, which caused my forehead to smack against the table. “Right, so we didn’t hook up right away. Not until Friday.”

“Babe, look at me. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that.”

I raised my eyes.

“Start at the beginning.”

So, I did. I told Seth what happened when I showed up at CC’s parents’ house. How he forgave me for leaving him that night, about CC saying he wanted to take me to the parade, Noel walking in on us cuddling on the couch, how I made him chase his boyfriend down, how CC freaked out when he found out I was still a camboy, how Noel broke up with him, how I left, and then how CC showed up at my place Friday morning while I was in the shower.

“You showed him one of your videos, and he liked it?” Seth sipped his coffee. “That sounds promising to me.”

I chewed on my lip. “Yeah, he got super turned on. Said he liked how dirty my mouth was.”

“So that did it. Makes sense. You do have a filthy mouth, babe.”

“He came on my face.”

Seth nearly spit coffee all over the table. “Okay, wow.” He reached for a napkin to wipe his mouth. “Something I didn’t think you were going to say.”

“Something I didn’t think was going to happen.” I shrugged. “It was so hot. He got me off after he came on my face. I thought it was going to be a onetime thing, and by the time I washed up”—I jutted my chin to the living room— “He had dragged my decorations out.”

He raised a brow. “But? There’s going to be a big one here.”

I told him the rest of the story. How CC started dancing with me, how he wanted more and the dirty talk. So much dirty talk. “Until he freaked out when I asked if he wanted to see more of my videos.”

“How so?” Seth went to refill his coffee.

“He thought I meant ones of me with other men. I would never make him watch that.” I dragged a hand through my curls.

Seth grimaced. “He got mad.”

“He got really mad. We yelled about not talking. I made him give me the spare key back, and then...” I closed my eyes, and tears slipped down my cheeks. “He told me to give it to the next camboy I worked with.”

Seth gasped. “He didn’t mean it, Ez.” His hand patted mine. “Babe, that boy is jealous.”

“He’s not.” I shook my head as I squeezed his fingers. “But thank you for saying that.”

He smiled at me. “He’s totally fucking jealous; you just can’t see it. Carson has been your best friend since you were, what, six? Trust me when I tell you that he’s jealous. He’s in love with you and doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings, or he doesn’t realize it yet, so he’s lashing out at you. You should try to get him back. Maybe date someone.” Seth took his phone out. “You know, people always ask if we’re going to film anything together.” He slid his phone across the table toward me.

I stared down at Seth’s Insta. The cute and flirty pictures he had taken of us. Both of us shirtless, arms around one another.

“Uh, no.” I shook my head. “I’m not letting you fuck me.” I pushed the phone back at him as Seth grinned at me. “What? Why do you look like that?”