“Here’s your matcha and latte.” A young girl placed our cups on the tables.
She glanced at us, blushing, before walking away. Valencia chuckled, “I swear you could make anyone swoon.”
“Apparently not everyone,” I said, raising my brow.
“Oh, whatever.” She rolled her eyes.
Little did Valencia know when I first met her, I thought she was devastatingly gorgeous and when we did our first scene together, I was two seconds away from becoming a two-pump chump the moment I slid into her. She wasn’t the first collab I had done, but she was definitely the first that I had wanted to pursue anything with.
My dreams were slowly squashed when she told me about two hockey players she was seeing and not only just seeing, but was in a BDSM contract with. To say it shocked me was an understatement, but after they got their shit together, they were happy and I had to quietly swallow my feelings. I mean, if they invited me into their bed, I wouldn’t say no. Romeo and Hunter were fucking gorgeous.
Valencia and I spent the next hour catching up on whatever was going on with us until she dropped a bomb on me.
“So, I've been thinking about quitting camming,” she said, looking down at her cup avoiding my eyes.
My first instinct was to shout “what?”, but that wasn’t what she needed.
“Why now?” I reached over to grab her hand.
She shrugged. “I’m getting older and my job is doing well. I really don’t need the cash anymore. I have two men at home who love and respect me.”
“Are they pressuring you to stop?”
“Oh god, no,” she said quickly. “I think if they did, I would keep doing it out of spite but no, they encourage it, they like to watch when they are in town and out of town as well, lol.”
“So, you just think it's time to quit,” I said, hating that she was walking away from camming.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I like it, but sometimes I’m over it. I will miss the money though.”
“Not the taxes, though,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, that’s something I won’t miss,” she said, squeezing my hand. “If I leave, I feel like I would have to do some big hoorah, maybe a cam marathon.”
“Oh god, that sounds exhausting,” I said. “But might as well make that last bit of money before you leave.”
I frowned, wondering if it was time for me to do the same. I had been doing it for longer than Valencia had, but this was my way of life. My entire income surrounded my cam life and the collabs I did. I had even won an award, but I was getting older, and did I want to be doing this for the rest of my life?
“Oh, don’t make that face. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you have to as well,” she said. “You’ve built this empire, and you’ve done so well for yourself.”
“I know that,” I said, smiling. “I’m gonna miss you. All of our planning and brainstorming and you know, the sex.”
“Oh, shut up. We haven’t had sex in over a year,” she said, slapping my hand.
“Hey, I’ll still miss it,” I chuckled, leaning back to take a sip of my coffee.
“You’re incorrigible,” she said, finishing the last macaron.
“I can’t help it,” I shrugged.
“Are you doing, ok?” she asked, and I had hoped she wouldn’t ask this time.
“I’m great.” I gave her my best smile.
“Don’t bullshit me. You've been off since before New Year’s.” She leaned forward. “What’s going on, babe? I know I’ve said this before, but you know you can tell me anything.”
I wanted to tell her everything. I needed to tell someone something because the longer I kept this secret, the heavier it felt, but I didn’t want her to worry.
“I’m fine, just been feeling a little stuck lately, but I think that’s just cause I’m getting closer to thirty,” I said, trying to give her a believable answer.
