“I can tell you from experience, it’s not something that interferes. Our kids know I work with other guys and that we make adult videos. Obviously, we don’t share details, andobviously,they’ve never seen them. But Dess and Jazz are at the age where they’re spending more time on electronics. Yes, we have those things locked tighter than Alcatraz, but it’s only a matter of time before they stumble across me online with my hole smiling at the camera.”
I laugh. “Oh god. Cringey.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. That’s just the risk we take. We’re ready to deal with it when we need to, so I guess, for us, we have a plan in place. Maybe that’s the first step for you. Lay out all the scenarios with plans to make each successful for you and your family. See which one fits your life best.”
“Which brings me to my next, maybe bigger question. I’ve built my brand on consent. I feel like I’m getting somewhere when I see more people building that into their videos. If I stop filming, how do I keep that dialogue going in more than just me saying,hey, consent is important every single time?Words are different from actions. Moreso, I think I need to begindiversifying but stay true to my brand, which keeps the questions and challenges the same. How do I do that?”
“Okay, nowthatrequires brainstorming. First, come here and let me lick your face. Are you always this messy when you eat sweets?”
“Only for you, Foxy.”
He grins as our asses leave our chairs so we can lean across the large desk to meet in the middle. He makes a show of sexily licking off all the sugar on my face, and we kiss for a minute before sitting back to continue talking.
CHAPTER 26
ROUX
I’m muttering the formula for the difference quotient while I leave the math building. Maybe if I put it on repeat, I’ll commit that shit to memory. Then again, I still need to know what a, h, and f stand for. I think I’ve already forgotten. Remember when math just had an X you needed to solve for? I miss those days.
For some reason, I remember that b is the y-intercept, which is redundant since there’s no b in the difference quotient. Wait… Where was I in chanting it?
“M equals f, parenthesis a plus h, close parenthesis minus f, parenthesis a, close parenthesis,overparenthesis a plus h, close parenthesis, minus a. Equals…” Fuck. I forgot what’s after the second equals. It’s pretty much the mumbo jumbo I just said, but there’s something simplified about it, right?
I strongly dislike math. When am I ever going to need to know this shit off the top of my head? There are now computer programs that can solve this crap for you.Whydo I need to know?
I push open the door to my dorm building and jog up the stairs to the second floor. We have actual keys to our dorms, but our IDs give us access to certain buildings and rooms too. Likethe labs, for example. You need special permission to access some labs because of the chemicals and the expensive equipment. It’s pretty cool that they’ve made access easy for everyone involved.
In a lot of ways, RDU is very innovative with technology. Between the app and the access, there’s no worry about keys getting lost and having to change locks. There’s no worry about people who shouldn’t be here having access to you via the app.
I feel safer here. I’m not sure that the changes are huge enough to prevent someone like Trevor from preying on students here, but itfeelsmore secure. I suppose that’s half the point.
Booker is on the couch when I step into our dorm. The dorms I’ve been in before are your typical college dorms—a single room with two-to-three people sharing this small space with bunk beds, practically on top of each other the entire time. I’ve been lucky and have only had to share with a single person at Marley and Longwood.
This feels like I’m in an apartment. Without laundry. It’s still a pain in the ass to wash my laundry in the laundry room. It’s time consuming, too. You can’t forget that shit, or it’s going to end up on top of the dryers or the folding tables. Then you start over.
Your best bet is to wait there to make sure no one fucks with your laundry.
Also, there’s no kitchen. Which isn’t a bad thing. I imagine that there might be a lot of property damage if you installed full-on kitchens in the dorms. That’s not to say there isn’t a full kitchen at all. On the first floor, there’s a really nice one with a five-burner stove and a really big island. There’s even a double oven built into the wall.
There’s also a couple common areas on the first floor. Plus, the building has a handful of study nooks on all three floors. It’s a nice building, and it looks relatively new. Either that, or it’s kept up with well.
“Hey,” I say as I step in. Booker glances up from his phone and offers me a smile. “What’re you watching?”
“Did you know one of the school sponsors is a porn star?”
Did I know that? I shrug. Maybe Alka’s said something about it. I wonder if Oscar knows this porn star.
I drop beside him on the couch, and he hands me his phone. My breath is nearly punched from my lungs when I see my boyfriend on the screen. There’s a part of me that wants to give his phone back. Idon’twant to see this.
But as I’m watching, I realize that he looks very different. No, that’s not right. He looks the same, but there’s something about him that’s different. There’s no doubt in my mind that that’s Oscar, but he’s… different.
Yes, repetitive, but I can’t think of another word.
Booker points at Oscar. “That one. Honey Sin. He’s the donor. He’s your coach’s husband too.”
I glance at him. “You’re just figuring this out?”
He laughs. “When someone tells you that a porn star is one of the school’s large sponsors, you don’t believe them right away. Sex is stillshameful. No one does it… says the middle child of nine kids.”
