With one final glance at the camera, I focus on my laptop and get to work.
Chapter 32
Derek
I lied. There are no emails.
Chapter 33
Emery
“Oh my god,” I mutter as I toss off all the blankets from around my legs.
Discomfort swamps my entire body, restless energy firing through all four limbs, like it thinks this is an appropriate time to go out for a run. I reach for my phone and light up the screento get the time, knowing it’s going to say some sort of ridiculous time because my alarm hasn’t gone off yet.
Yep. Three-twenty.
Why the hell am I even awake right now?
Oh yeah, it might have something to do with the vault payment I received while I was eating dinner. I’d all but choked on my spaghetti Bolognese that Xavier had cooked for everyone to eat.
Do they know the payments are still coming? If no, I should reach out to them and tell them to stop them, right? But if yes, that means they are deliberately ignoring my request to end this…whatever we had. Which is frustrating, because, once again, they aren’t taking me seriously.
I flop back onto the bed and stare at the dark ceiling, some of the furniture in my room developing into shades of gray as my eyes adjust to the darkness. The urge to scoop up my phone and scroll on socials or even pick up my Kindle and continue reading the book I’ve started is strong. But I know from past experience that will only extend my wakefulness, and I really need to get my sleep pattern back under control.
The live today was… a lot. But also, nothing at all. I can’t explain it. All I know is that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. At one point, I glanced up at the camera and saw that there were over eighty people watching me study. Eighty.
Why?
I was completely zoned into my assignment; there wasn’t even any music playing.
My attention was on the screen for exactly ten seconds as I watched the comments and gifts—holy shit, the gifts—rolling in when EyesOnYou sent a message.
EyesOnYou:Don’t get distracted, give me fifteen more minutes, baby. You’ve been doing such a good job. Just fifteen more minutes, and you can close out the live.
How I saw his comment among the rest of the activity, I have no idea. It’s like my entire being was waiting to hear from him. But I did as he’d asked and gave him the additional fifteen, then waved awkwardly at the camera before pressing the icon to end the live.
Not even a minute later, I received two notifications from EyesOnYou. One with a gift for two-hundred-and-fifty dollars and another one for a private chat. I accepted the chat, heart pounding a mile a minute as I read his words.
EyesOnYou:I’ll gift you $100 for every hour you allow me to watch you study. I’m available every night this week from 7pm.
I left him onread, but holy shit. One hundred dollars per hour to do something I already have to do? Hell to the yes. The plan is to reply after breakfast so that I don’t seem too eager.
But also, it won’t just be the one hundred from him. I’m still in shock about how much I made in gifts from the live. And I now have ninety-two followers and have a Live Cam icon next to my username.
And there’d been a pop up on my profile requesting that I select the things I was willing to do on cam. I’d scrolled through the checklist of options and selected the ones that were okay with me, not that I’d do most of them.
Studying.
Online shopping.
Chat.
Get ready with me.
Painting my nails.
I’d also had several messages asking me to update my wish list, but that seems greedy, right? I definitely have enough money to buy the things I want and or need in my life. I don’t need otherpeople doing it. But EyesOnYou said I needed to create one. Maybe I could just put like, gift cards or whatever for charities? A shelter for teens, maybe?
