I opened my eyes. My costumed cutie stared at me, his mouth hanging open, then pulled the mask back from his face with one smooth motion.
It was him. It was Izzy. I was staring at his beautiful, perfect face, and I don’t know how I could have ever doubted that this was true.
I felt like my entire world was being rearranged, like all my hopes and fantasies that usually floated through the air were falling down and landing in place.
I saw the truth.
“Hi, Izzy.”
Chapter Fifteen
Izzy
I sat on the bed,my jaw hanging open as I stared at the screen.
It was Kai. How in the hell was Kai staring back at me?
OkayOkai. It suddenly seemed so clear, like it should have been obvious the whole time, although the idea had never even crossed my mind.
“Hi, Kai,” I answered him, my voice trembling.
When he ran away from the date, I thought I’d screwed something up. I’d avoided video chat since the wedding, thinking I maybe had something real to focus on for once. I battled aside the urges to log on and find my quick release, even though they were like instincts at this point, deeply set.
But disappointed and rejected after the abrupt ending to the date, I’d caved.
Thank god I’d caved.
Kai rubbed his hands over his face. “I can’t believe this is happening. How is this even possible?”
I gasped. “Eighth grade,” I said, the memory flashing back. “River and I found the camming website in the search history on your family computer. We didn’t want to embarrass you so we never said anything about it, but I guess I remembered the website, because that’s the exact one where I started my first account in college.”
His eyes got wider. “I thought I covered my tracks. I was always so careful.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
He let out a slow breath. He was sitting on a black leather couch, and he’d stripped down to a plain white T-shirt. It was the same Kai I knew from the wedding, the same Kai I knew from growing up, and now, I realized, it was also the same guy I’d been sharing my life with for years.
“I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing his face again. “I’m just kind of overwhelmed.”
“Is that why you ran away tonight?”
“It clicked,” he said. “I started to suspect it at the wedding, but I doubted myself, and…” He trailed off, his hand waving in the air. “Your whimper,” he finally said. “I recognized your whimper, and then I freaked.”
“You knew at the wedding?” I asked, my voice jumping. “When? How?”
Then I remembered that awkward moment when we were hooking up. We’d undressed, and Kai had gotten weird and squirmy for just a minute.
“Oh my god!” I yelped. “Did you recognize my cock?”
“And your chest?” he answered, like it was a question.
“Oh wow. Oh wow.” I bounced on the bed, my energy zinging. I was happy and anxious and shy and flirty all at the same time. It felt like all of my emotions got thrown in a blender and mixed up at the highest setting, and now I was pouring them over my head, soaking in the mess of it.
I unzipped the top of the costume to get a little air. “Do you want to come over?” I asked.
Kai stared at me like he was staring at a ghost. “Yes,” he said quickly, then shook his head. “I mean, yes, but… Izzy, this is a lot. I’ve never even talked to another person about what we do. It’s like I built this careful compartment, but now the walls are all falling down.”
“I’ve never talked to anyone about it, either,” I admitted.
