CHAPTERSIXTEEN
LILAC
“Meet in person for mutually—”No thanks.
“Masturbate to orgasm with a dildo.”Um. No. It was hard enough to do something similar in front of Zach. I’m not volunteering in front of the entire world.
“I’d like to tie you to the bed and—”Yeah. Not happening.
The moment I got home from school, I opened the app and forced myself to read through the requests. Now, I scan down the long list and rub the back of my neck.
Is this really something people do to earn money? The whole transfer of funds seems dubious at best, downright unacceptable at worst. I know incels love their cryptocurrency, but how do normal people turn that into actual, hard cash? Or zeros in their bog-standard bank account?
Not that I’m in this to make money, but still. Someone must be, otherwise the app wouldn’t have so many accounts.
“I like to watch.”Okay, this one sounds like Trent. I scan down the list of requirements, ticking them off against some internal shame board and finding none of them cross the line.
Sucking off a silicone phallus can’t be all that hard, can it? Excuse the pun.
Wear lingerie. I frown at the request, trying to remember where all the beautiful underwear ended up. Finley helped herself to half the outfits and I think Rosa took one, but there must be something left over. The teal pinup one, maybe? That was my favourite. It’s probably buried at the bottom of a laundry basket waiting for the first one of us to crack and actually put on a wash.
I set off on a hunt, hoping that the requirements to get them clean aren’t too rigorous or today will be a non-starter. After traipsing through the entire flat, I find them tucked underneath my bed, presumably exactly where I threw them.
The box of toys leaves me blank, however. No applicable dildo lurks inside and when I sit back on my haunches to think, I can’t remember one from the photo session. Great. Now I have to invest money in my enterprise, something that doesn’t seem fair.
Or maybe…
I scoot out of my room and locate my flatmate before I can change my mind. “Rosa? Do you use any toys in your work?”
She rests against the sink in the kitchen, eyeing me warily. Probably with good cause. “Do I get to know why?”
“There’s a… request I need to fulfil, and it involves a large silicone dildo that I don’t currently possess.”
“A request.” Her expression doesn’t change as she stares at me. “Where did this request originate?”
I don’t want to show her the app, but I also don’t want the request to hang over me the entire week while I try to work out how to finance the shoot.
God. Listen to me.The shoot. Like it’s not an amateur doing something she doesn’t want in front of the world’s tiniest camera.
“Here,” I say, digging for the last reserves of my courage. At this rate, it’ll all be gone when it comes time to perform. The app opens on the home page, and I quickly swipe for the requests while Rosa gives me the side eye. “I want to do this one, but I don’t have the right equipment.”
“Youwantto do this one?”
Her arched eyebrow stays up as I give a tight nod. Then she turns her focus to the screen, reading through the request a few times before handing the device back to me. “You’ll need to practice. Have you given head before?”
I shake my head. The scrutinising gaze makes me wish I’d asked Finley instead.
“Why are—?” Rosa breaks off and rubs her left eyebrow. “Never mind. You know that if your sister’s case workers see this, they’ll probably haul you back into court.”
“They’re not going to see. The settings are—”
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve restricted the viewing. The videos are still hosted on a foreign platform, and you don’t know what sort of security they have behind the scenes. Do you know how many security breaches happen daily?”
“She’s right,” Finley says from behind me, inviting herself to the conversation. “You should never put anything online, ever. Otherwise, someone unscrupulous will hack into it and steal it.”
I stare at her in disbelief. “You’re on social media almost twenty-four seven.”
“Yeah, but everyone knows I make stupid decisions. What’s your excuse?”
