Tethered (16 page)

“Yes…yes,” I said.

“Fuck yes, here it is!”

I stopped jiggling up and down, feeling his shaft push his delicious nectar into the condom. I swore I could feel the tip filling up, but it might have been my imagination. I moved up and down just slightly, letting every ounce of his sweet liquid drip out, maximizing his pleasure and making sure he didn’t forget this.

I looked over my right shoulder, seeing him wipe the sweat from his forehead before I slowly
climbed off, feeling the sensation of him leaving me. I got him a towel and he pulled the condom off, tossing it into my trash can, and then both of us used our towels to wipe the sweat and fluids from our body.

“How was that?” I asked with a smile, my body panting.

“Where did you get that stuff from?” he asked.

“I read,” I said before slipping my panties back on and bending over to toss him his boxers, which were tangled up in his pants.

He slipped them on and I climbed in bed with him, the only glow in my room came from the lamp, which was on the other side of the room. Luckily it wasn’t too bright, and I snuggled up to Tom, waiting to fall asleep as this had taken all of the energy from our bodies.

Tom ran his fingers through my hair,
my head on his chest, and we both slowly fell asleep, peacefully, like I had always wanted.

•••

“Wake up, babe,” Tom said as he nudged me.

“What?” I asked in a groggy voice.

“I have to get going in a few minutes. Chop has been home all night without me. I know he likely peed all over the place, so I better go take care of it.”

I opened my eyes and stretched my arms, looking at the clock and seeing it was only seven in the morning.

“Okay, I’ll let you out,” I said as I got up, my bare breasts still exposed as Tom had begun to get dressed in the same clothes from last night.

I slipped some shorts on from my dresser and a
n oversized shirt, and we left my room. I could hear Morgan snoring in her room, as I walked him to the front door, my balance not that great as I was stumbling around. I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, for I had class in an hour and a half, but I usually tried to sleep another half hour before getting up. Maybe it would’ve been easier to go to his place instead.

“I had a great time,” he said as we stood in front of my door.

“Me, too,” I said before grabbing him and hugging him, burying my tired eyes into his shoulder.

“See you soon?” he asked.

“Mmhm,” I said before nodding.

He kissed me on the lips, and I opened the door for him
, watched him walk away before closing it, and locking it again. I peered out the window, watching him walk down the sidewalk and out of sight, each step getting him closer to Chop. I yawned and stretched every muscle in my body, before shuffling along the floor and back into my bedroom, and sat down on the edge of my bed. As I was looking around, trying to wake myself up, something caught my attention, and made me perk right up, and not in a good way. My laptop was still open. I couldn’t see too much on the screen, so I got up and walked over to it, turning up the brightness, and immediately wanted to throw up. My cam was still on. MingleCam was still on, and there were five viewers in the room, although none of them talking.
Was my cam on this whole time?
I asked Morgan to shut down my computer, and she didn’t. That meant…that meant that the entire world saw Tom and I having sex. This couldn’t be happening to me, not right now. I just regained his trust, and now if this got out there was no way in hell he’d ever forgive me.

I looked at my tips, seeing them higher than they’ve ever been.

Three thousand six hundred twenty-two.

I made three hundred and sixty
-two dollars last night…having sex. Now even more problems came into my head. Could I really accept these coins and this money? I got them by having sex with someone…someone who didn’t consent to being on cam and having his penis…and his face…broadcasted to the world. Maybe I could split the coins with him. Who was I kidding? He’d never go for that. He was too straightlaced to want this kind of money. It might as well be blood money.

Maybe I got lucky and nobody saw his face
. He was pretty far back, and I could barely see the pillows on my bed as I looked into the cam, so maybe nobody would ever know it was him. My face was the only one they saw, and even if thousands of people did watch us have sex, they wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a lineup. Maybe a penis lineup, but not a face one. Yeah, that was what happened, nobody saw his face. He was safe, I didn’t have to tell him about this, and we could move on with our lives. I could continue getting close to him, and nobody had to find out about all of this.

I logged out of MingleCam and closed my computer, the battery only now at about ten percent
. The all-night session had drained it considerably, so I plugged it in to make sure it could refresh itself. I sat back down on the edge of my bed, put my hands against my forehead, and almost felt like crying.

“Are you going to get in the shower?” Morgan asked, scaring me.

“Oh, what? Yeah, just a minute,” I replied.

“Are you okay
? Did your date go okay?” she asked, obviously concerned with how I was sitting here sulking.

“Yeah, it went great
. We went to dinner and bowling, and he even spent the night,” I said.

“Spill,” she said.

“I’m a little tired right now, and I’ll be late for class if I don’t go and get ready. How about I tell you about it later?” I asked.

“That sounds good
. Just hurry up in the shower so I can get in,” she said before walking back into her room and shutting the door.

I stood up, grabbed a few random clothes
from my closet, and walked out of my bedroom and into the bathroom. Maybe this would be okay. After all, how could anyone figure out it was us?

Chapter Sixteen

A week had passed since my beautiful date with Tom
. I hadn’t told him about the whole webcam thing, for fear of what he’d do, and nothing had come up that threatened it or made him aware, so I felt safe. I figured that if something was going to happen, or if somebody we knew saw us, they would’ve said something by now. Surprisingly, things had been looking up ever since that night. I wasn’t sure what happened or why that night would turn things around, but it had. Kurt still hadn’t contacted me, which was probably for the better, and Tom and I even went on two more dates. Well, one of them was only meeting in between classes for a quick lunch, so I wasn’t sure that it counted as a date, but it was still great nonetheless. Our other time together was at a party, a small and boring one, which allowed us just to talk and hang out in the corner, like at the first party we saw each other.

He ha
d been such a gentleman so far, which was something I hadn’t been too used to. Kurt, even though he had his good moments, was usually a jerk and more interested in himself or making himself look good than to do anything for me. Napa was a good trip, but since then it was like we were just distant acquaintances and not two people who shared a few intimate, and every hot encounters with each other. I wouldn’t mind him still in my life as a friend, but I know Tom wouldn’t have been too keen on that.

Another strange thing happened when Tom and I
were reconnected. My grades started to improve. Well, they hadn’t been going up too much, since it had only been about a week, but things were much easier, and the assignments I had gotten back had been good. It was amazing how something so small, so trivial as going out with someone again, could have such an impactful meaning on your life.

I went to class as usual, sitting there just like my typical Mondays
. The lectures seemed to drone on, the professor not having a clue that nobody in the class, the class of only forty students, was even listening or paying attention. Students were texting, drawing in their notebooks, and daydreaming. I had a few spurts of attention, hastily scribbling down the jumbled notes into my notebook, but was mostly interested in texting Tom. He wasn’t in class, teasing me because I was, and we were talking about how his parents were in town visiting. I was wondering if he wanted me to meet them, considering parents visiting, at least with the people I knew, wasn’t a frequent thing. He hadn’t brought up anything, not even hinting for me to be somewhere, or what I was doing after class. I guess it made sense, though. Tom and I weren’t technically dating, for he hadn’t even asked, but I felt like he must’ve told them about me. He seemed like such a close-knit guy, always telling his close friends and family members about all aspects of his life. Thinking about it, I hope he hadn’t said much about me. The last thing I needed was them knowing I knocked him off to go get wild with Kurt Simmons. I doubt they wanted their son dating a little she-devil like me.

“Well, it looks like we’re out of time for today
. I want you all to read pages two hundred through two twenty-seven before the next class. It’s very important!” Mrs. Hurst said enthusiastically, as everyone stood and stretched, ready to get out of Dodge.

I put my phone back in
to my pocket, it barely sliding into my jeans pocket as the lining inside was bunched up, grabbed my things, and walked down the stairs and out the door. Students were beginning to be let out of their classrooms, dodging and weaving each other in the hall like ninjas, and I walked to get to my geography class, which was surprisingly one of my favorites. Luckily for me, this class was in the same building as my last. It was one of the largest buildings on campus, being built two years ago, and totally state of the art. The building was like nothing else here, and every student, and especially faculty, loved being in it.

This class was about one hundred people strong, and I walked in to
the sight of my teacher, a plump bearded man up front with a straw hat on, standing around and looking at his lesson plan for the day. The class was just a basic geography class, mostly for general education credits, but the teacher didn’t take it badly. I thought that most teachers would hate to teach these kinds of classes, since they weren’t for a major and you couldn’t connect that well with a hundred or more students, but he seemed to be really into it. He gave out candy and little knick-knacks after tests, and was very understanding if you forgot an assignment, provided you could come up with a good enough reason.

I sat at the top of class, in the right corner, by a giant map of the United States
. I always looked at it, studying it, and I was certain that if I were ever on a game show and asked anything about the geography of the United States, I would be able to get that answer correct. Hopefully, it would be the million-dollar question.

The class, even though there were about a hundred odd people, wasn’t even close to full
. I think we were only about seventy-five percent full, which was a little nice because I didn’t have someone right next to me, which made things more comfortable. The desks were the little ones with the tiny little desk space hanging off the side of the chair, which barely was big enough to hold a piece of paper.

•••

When class was over, I was set free. My Monday classes were over, and now I wasn’t required to sit in some boring class with a monotonic professor who droned on about some old war and the importance it had today.

I walked out of the building and walked about twenty feet before running into, literally, someone I had waited to see
. It was Tom. I had walked around the corner, not quite looking where I was going, and ran right into him, as he was walking in the direction I was coming from. Not only that, but his parents were standing right behind him, as he gave what looked like some guided tour, only this one not with an accompanying audio tape.

“Oh…hey,” I said with a smile.

“Funny running into you here,” he said as he put his hands in his jean pockets and smiled.

“Is this one of your friends?” his mother asked.

“Yeah, this is Chloe,” he said.

“Oh
, Chloe, we’ve heard about you,” his father said.

Shit, they’ve heard about me
? What have they heard? That I was some horrible witch that hurt their son and made him get into a fistfight with a movie star? Maybe he told them how he’d plowed me twice now, and that I put the rev in his engine.

“I hope good things,” I said with a smile, really hoping they were good things.

“Oh yes, Tom here would never say anything bad about anyone,” his father said with a hearty chuckle as he patted Tom on the back.

“My name is Chandra, and this is my husband Tom Sr.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were a junior,” I said to Tom.

“Yeah, he gets a little embarrassed about it for some reason
. Maybe because we always called him Junior,” his mother said with a smile.

“Mom, please.”

“Oh relax,” Chandra said.

“Did you just come from class?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, it’s been a rough day,” I said.

“
So tell us about you. Do you work? Family live nearby?” his father asked.

“My family lives down in San Diego actually
. I don’t get to see them that much. As for working, I’m in between jobs,” I said nervously.

“Nothing wrong with that,” his father said as he readjusted his pants.

“Now, Junior, what was the name of that girl you dated? You know, the one who got naked for a living,” his mother said.

Junior, I
mean Tom, dated a girl who got naked for a living? Was she a cam model like me, or something like a stripper? Maybe they didn’t care much about it. I’d love to be honest with Tom and his parents, but something about not knowing how they’d react made me hesitate. I didn’t want to come off like a slut, but I also couldn’t hide this forever. Sooner or later, someone was going to recognize me, and it would likely be when I was out with Tom. There was no getting out of that situation easily.

“She did nude modeling for art students,
Mom.”

“Oh yes, that,” she said as she closed her buttoned up shirt, as if she were disgusted.

“He never told me about that,” I said as I looked at him.

“Oh yes, he usually picks weird ones,” his father said.

“But not you, you seem like a nice girl. God only knows Tom could use a nice, wholesome girl,” his mother said.

“Okay, that’s enough of
that. I’m sure Chloe wants to get back to her apartment and study. We still have a lot of ground to cover,” Tom said, trying to run interference.

“Look at him, being all grown
-up and bossy,” his mother said with a surprised look on her face.

“Well, it was nice meeting you both,” I said with a friendly smile.

“Nice meeting you too, dear,” his mother said before Tom corralled them away.

I watched them walk away, and Tom, behind his parents now, turned around
, opened his eyes wide, and shrugged, as if telling me he had no idea what just happened. I flung my hand down, shooing him away, before turning around, and heading back to my apartment. That first meeting went a lot better than I thought it would.

•••

“Chloe, we’re going to have a great night!” Morgan said as I walked through the front door.

“Why do I have a feeling that I won’t like what you’re going to say next?” I asked hesitantly.

“There’s a party at Kappa Theta Omega, and you’re going with me.”

“Morgan, you know I don’t want to go to those things,” I said with a whiney voice.

“You loved the last party you went to!” she said.

“Yea
h, only because Tom was there.”

“Then invite him or something
. You can’t let me go alone,” she said.

“His parents are in town, so that’s a no
-go. Why can’t you find someone else? I know you have friends who really would love to go,” I said.

“Yeah, but you’re my roommate
. Come on; just do this for me once. I’ll wash all the dishes for a week if you do,” Morgan said, trying to make a deal with me.

Hm, dishes for an entire week
? I really did despise having to do dishes. Morgan and I had split up chores when we moved in together by picking them randomly from a hat. I got stuck with dishes, and they’ve been my job ever since. It would be nice to get away from them for a week, even if wasn’t that much time. I guess a couple hours at some lame party was worth it if it meant I could have a whole week without those damned dirty dishes.

“Fine
, Morgan, but only because I hate doing dishes. I’m not staying all night though,” I said.

“That’s fine
. I don’t want to stay all night either. I’ve just heard they throw great parties, and I really need to find a guy. I haven’t gotten it for a long time,” she said.

“Too much information,” I said before walking past her and into my room.

•••

As time began to get closer to my little excursion with Morgan, I didn’t do anything to doll myself up or really try too hard
. I showered, but only put on fairly minimal makeup, a black dress, and didn’t give my hair too much attention. Morgan, on the other hand, looked and dressed as if she were using up her final chance to meet a man. As if every eligible man in the world would be there, and if she didn’t score someone tonight, she’d be a lonely old woman forever. Hairspray, makeup, ass almost hanging out of her dress, and high heels that made her calves bulge out. This was her last hoorah, and I’d be damned to not say that she looked like a million bucks.

“That’s what you’re wearing?” she asked as I slipped on my shoes and she realized my finished outfit.

“Yeah, why not?” I asked as I looked down at it.

“Well, last time we went out you were super
-hot, and now you’re just…mediocre,” she said.

“Well, I don’t really care
. Things with Tom are going well, and I don’t want to go meet guys. I’m only doing this so I don’t have to do dishes, you know,” I said, defending my choice.

“Whatever, let’s just go
. Maybe this means more guys will want me anyway. Less competition,” she said as she grabbed her clutch.

“That’s a good way to think of it,” I said.

The house party was about fifteen minutes from us. We walked the entire way, getting drowned out in a sea of other students likely going to the same party, with most of them already hammered and stumbling about their words. A few campus police officers had what almost seemed like checkpoints, with them arresting a few of the students; other officers toting them away in their cars.

Luckily Morgan and I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, so we got by with no problem
. We continued walking, the line of people considerably smaller as they all either got to their destination or were pulled aside, and we walked up to the large white building, huge pillars outside, as people were pouring outside like an overflowing sink.

“This looks insane,” I said.

“I know, right?” Morgan replied, not getting that I didn’t mean it in a good way.