Chapter 7
It was one thing to get dick pics, it was another thing to get masturbating footage, and Hal Garland had not been shy about sending me live footage of how he took care of business. The only problem with the impressive footage was that I still didn’t know if it was him. It was all action downstairs, and the videos were clear like the pictures.
While it was clear where this was headed, Hal was still only hinting at returning the favors, but it was only a matter of time before he outright asked. There was no way that he wasn’t hoping for the same thing in return, and sometimes that worked for me. I wasn’t getting laid regularly, and sometimes it felt good to hear the appreciation in a man’s voice or whatever for what I had to offer.
“C’mon, Jace,” I begged. “Just look at it really quickly. I just want to know if you think it’s real.”
Jace’s hazel eyes were looking at me like I was insane. “No, Kimmy,” he repeated. “Christ, the last thing that I want to see is a video of a guy jacking off.”
“It’s no different than watching porn,” I argued.
He didn’t look convinced. “For you, maybe,” he retorted. “But let me remind you that I’m a straight guy, Kimberly. I don’t watch porn of guys jacking off.”
I tucked my fist under my chin, resting my elbow on the monitoring station, really interested in where this conversation was going. “Well, what kind of porn do you watch, Mr. Russell?”
“None of your business,” he replied, a touch of pink tinging his cheeks.
“You’re the one who brought it up,” I reminded him.
“Not to discuss,” he drawled out. “I brought it up to make a point.”
Loving the way that he was blushing, I pushed on instantly. “Is it standard straight guy porn, or do you like threesomes in your mix? One guy with two girls, or two guys with one girl? How about full orgies? Do you like sharing?”
“Stop it,” he chided, his lip twitching, trying not to laugh. “Leave me and my porn alone.”
“So, no sharing?”
I watched Jace close his eyes and let out a deep breath. “You’re killing me, woman.”
“The guys in porn jack off, Jace,” I said. “That’s all I’m trying to point out.”
“No,” he countered. “They might stroke it for effect or to get hard, but that’s different than jacking off.”
“But-”
“And, no, Kimmy,” he continued. “I don’t share.”
That got a little smile out of me. “So, no threesome porn, then.”
“Oh, I’ve watched threesome porn before,” he corrected. “And while it might be sexually stimulating to see a woman get pleasured by multiple cocks, the reality of it isn’t anything that I would engage in.” Those hazel eyes shot my way again. “There’s no way in hell that I’d ever let another man touch my woman. If she wants to experiment, then we can make that happen with dildos, vibrators, or my five fingers, but another man will never happen.”
“What if she wants another woman?”
“I don’t give a fuck who it is,” he replied. “Her pleasure belongs to me, and me alone.”
“That’s a very alpha thing to say,” I teased.
“Yeah, well, I never said that I was a forward thinker,” he grumbled.
I laughed. “C’mon, Jace,” I begged again. “Just do me this favor and take a look. Just long enough to see if the video is real.”
Jace’s eyes narrowed. “What’s in it for me?” he asked, and the question had my thighs quivering a bit.
“What…what do you mean?”
“This goes beyond the scope of friendship, Kimmy,” he said. “If I’m going to look at a video of a guy stroking his cock, then that is worth way more than a thousand dollars. Hell, I’m going to need that thousand dollars to pay for therapy afterwards.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” I conceded. “So, what do you want?”
He cocked his head, his hazel gaze regarding me intently. “Nu uh,” he finally said. “I get to hold onto my request for when I’m ready.”
“Only a crazy person would agree to that,” I pointed out, and he just lifted a brow.
I guess I really must be crazy.
*****
The fucking things men did for the women that they cared about, I swear. I mean, I’d done a lot of things in the name of love and friendship, don’t get me wrong. However, watching a video of some strange man jacking off was really stretching the limits of my boundaries.
Steeling myself for what had to be the craziest thing that I had ever done, I grabbed Kimmy’s phone from her hand and-swear to God-looked at a video of some douchebag jacking off.
After five seconds of studying everything but the jacking off, I handed her phone back to her. “It’s fake.”
Kimmy grabbed her phone and started studying the video like she was cramming for finals. “How can you tell?”
“You know, I’ve never been a fan of drinking at eight in the morning, but you are starting to make me rethink my opinion on that.”
Her brown eyes flew up from her phone, a small smile playing on her lips. “I’m glad that I’m broadening your horizons.”
I shot her a look. “That’s alcoholism, Kimmy. It’s not personal growth.”
She looked back down at her phone. “Speaking of personal stuff growing, how do you know this is fake?”
“It’s exactly like the pictures,” I told her. “The footage is too clean, clear, and cinematic.”
“Maybe he just has a really good camera on his phone,” she suggested.
I shook my head at her. “Christ, woman, you have been doing this far too long to still be this naïve.”
“I’m not naïve,” she naïvely said. “I’m hopeful.”
That hurt my heart, and I knew that I needed to rein in my judgmental ways. Kimmy was coming to me as a friend, and I needed to be that friend for her. I needed to forget how beautiful she was. I needed to forget how funny and warm she was. I needed to forget that she was pretty perfect as far as I was concerned. I needed to remember that we worked together, and that I couldn’t afford to fuck this up.
“Look, I’m sorry,” I told her. “I’m not trying to rain on your online parade, Kimmy. Honest, I’m not. I just think…you’re too good for these assholes. You really are.”
“Then why am I still single?” she asked, and I had no answer for that. “If I’m such a great catch, then why am I still single?”
Doing my best not to offend her or hurt her feelings, I said, “Because life gets in the way sometimes. Sometimes, our priorities shift, and then we find ourselves in our forties and still single. It doesn’t mean that you’re not a great catch or that you’re doing something wrong.” I reached out and squeezed her thigh, very aware that this was the first time that I’d ever touched her personally. “I just think you need to look at these matches for what they are and not for what you hope they could be.”
“Why are you still single?” she blurted, and I had never wanted to kiss a woman so badly in my life, and that was saying something since I’d been married before.
However, instead of attacking the poor thing, I took my hand off her leg and said, “Because I’m a dick.”
Kimmy laughed. “I’m serious, Jace.” She really was pretty. “I mean, unless you dismember lemurs at night by the light of the full moon, you seem like a great guy.”
“Why lemurs?” I asked, thrown by why lemurs of all things.
Kimmy shrugged. “Why not?”
I had no response for that. “I just haven’t met the right woman yet. I thought I had with my ex-wife, but I hadn’t,” I finally said. “It really is that simple.”
“But look at you,” she said with a touch of heat in her voice. “I mean, look at you. Seriously.”
Because my pants were starting to feel uncomfortably tight, I decided to change the subject back to our original topic. “The video is fake, Kimmy.”
I watched her shoulders sag. “I still don’t understand why.”
“Because men are assholes,” I said a little unkindly. “That’s another thing that’s pretty simple.”
“So…you’re saying that I should try my luck with women, then?”
I dropped my head on the counter.
This woman was going to be the death of me.