CHAPTER TWO

Naomi

Lighting — check.

Logged into the Wet & Wyld stream — check.

Wardrobe — ridiculous, but check.

I’d gone through my mental checklist a million times. Make that a million and one. Glancing in the mirror, I barely recognize the painted face that stared back at me. It itched and suffocated my skin, but it provided an extra layer of confidence that I was going to need for tonight. I’d never done a live stream with someone watching in the same room. How incredible that a thin layer of glass and plastic provides a cloak of anonymity while I’m practically naked in front of millions of viewers. Grady has always made me feel naked and vulnerable, but tonight I needed to be at my best.

He stood in the doorway with a look of disgust on his face. Or was it torture? I couldn’t allow myself to get caught up in his thoughts of me. I didn’t need him to see me as the innocent tagalong younger sister of his dead best friend; I needed him to see me as a professional. A woman. Someone who provides a safe and fun service to people that, for whatever their reason, are online looking for a good time.

“Stand behind the computer.” I nodded with my head across the room to where I’d set my laptop on the coffee table in front of the couch. Behind me, a blank wall was painted red and in each corner, out of the view of the camera, were two large lights. This six-by-six space in my spare bedroom was my stage. I performed five nights a week. To call it anything less than a performance was an insult to the hours of prep that went into each night. And if anyone thought parading around in skimpy lingerie each night and fondling yourself for an audience was easy, well — that person had obviously never videotaped him or herself masturbating.

Grady hadn’t moved.

“I’m serious. You were late, and I need to go live now. Get behind the camera or you could take your clothes off and join me,” I teased and tilted my chin down so I could look up at him with big, puppy-dog eyes.

His eyes widened at the implication, and I bit back a smile that I’d been able to shock him. He said nothing as he moved across the room and sat down. He looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen him. Had I ever seen him look uncomfortable? Grady wasn’t short on confidence. Probably because he wasn’t short on looks. And if the rumors were true, he wasn’t short anywhere. He folded his six-four frame on the sofa as if he was ready to bounce at a moment’s notice.

“What are you trying to pull, Naomi?” He kept his eyes off me.

“Oh, relax. You’ve seen me in swimsuits — this is basically the same.” I didn’t mention he’d seen me in last night’s dominatrix getup, which had been far more revealing than the schoolgirl outfit I wore tonight.

“I don’t want any part of this. I made a promise.”

Stilling as I leaned over to press the button which would broadcast me worldwide, I paused. “I told you I’d make a deal. You sit there for the next few nights and watch me work, and if at the end of the week you still don’t approve then I’ll quit. I’ll find some bullshit waitressing job making shit money to line someone else’s pockets. That is what you want, right?”

“I told him I’d take care of you. Hell, there is enough money in the trust your parents and Nathan left to keep you−”

I cut him off. “No. I don’t want that money. I’ve told you a hundred times, I won’t touch it as long as I can earn my own way.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair.

I stood straight and spoke softer. “Look, I need you to understand that what I’m doing is more than taking my clothes off for money. It’s more than a job to me. I can provide for myself. Take care of myself,” I said the last phrase slowly, enunciating each syllable.

He looked like he was going to interrupt, but I held up my hands, palms facing him. “There’s no one left. It’s just me now, and I need to know that I can do this on my own. Nathan was the best brother I could have asked for, but when our parents died, he took over as my protector and provider. I never wanted for anything, but I never had to work for anything either. I need this,” I whispered

His face softened, but I didn’t give him time to answer. I clicked the Go Live button and smiled into the camera.

“Hi everyone, Princess Peach is finally here. Sorry I’m a little late, but I have a fun night planned,” I said, pulling the length of each pigtail and twirling the ends around my fingers. “We have all the usual players.” I held my hands up to the top of a rolling shelf that held all my toys in my best Vanna White. “And just in case anyone gets out of line, I’ve brought this,” I said in a playful voice as I lifted the yardstick up with one hand and swatted it down into the palm of the other.

I could hear Grady mutter something and see out of my peripheral vision that he’d placed his head in his hands and stared down at the floor. I didn’t let it throw me off.

“As always, I’m available for one on one playtime — prices are listed on your screen. Until then — oh! Looks like I’ve got my first invite. To everyone else, you can click to request a later slot to ensure you get time with me tonight. If I’m not booked up, I’ll be back to hang out in the Princess Peach Party Room. Also, check out one of the many other live streams here at Wet & Wyld.” The spiel flowed out naturally — the same one every night. I hadn’t had a night that hadn’t been completely booked with paying customers since my first week as a cam girl, but I liked to leave the possibility open so the others would check back into my channel every time they visited the site.

Want_2_BMLonURtits had shelled out one hundred dollars for thirty minutes with me. He was a regular, and despite his screen name ‘want to blow my load on your tits’ he was usually far more interested in my ass than my tits.

I knew Grady couldn’t see the man on the screen in front of me, but as the image of this customer popped up on the bottom of my laptop, I felt the rush of emotions that always came when I went one-on-one. Pride, excitement, anticipation. It wouldn’t be fair to say I was turned on. I wasn’t. But it did give me a certain pleasure knowing I was turning someone else on.

Want_2_BMLonURtits, or Andrew as I had learned in our third session, looked around forty. He wasn’t an ogre, which was the most common misconception people had about the men who paid to watch me. Granted not all the men turned their own camera on, the ones who did had never been anything out of the ordinary. Slightly overweight, bad acne, weird teeth, receding hairlines — normal, average men stuff. Andrew smiled from my computer, and I smiled back, looking over the top of the camera to where Grady sat. He’d relaxed if his posture was any indication. One leg crossed over the other, hands resting comfortably in his lap, he looked like he could have been sitting around drinking beers with the guys instead of getting a front row seat to a live porn feed.

“Hi Andrew, how are you tonight?”

“Hi, Peach,” Andrew’s nervous voice quivered back. “I’m doing good. I love the schoolgirl outfit.”

“You like?” I asked and twirled letting the short skirt lift up higher revealing the navy G-string underneath.

“Very much.” He nodded enthusiastically.

“What are you up for tonight?” I asked, pulling the rolling cart closer to the computer and opening a drawer filled with more toys than one could imagine. “I have new nipple clamps,” I said, pulling out a long chain with clamps at each end.

Andrew shook his head.

Called that.

“I’ve got the vibrating beads you like so much.” I pulled out his toy of choice knowing without looking that it’s what he’d choose no matter what other toys I showed him. He hadn’t wavered in his choice yet.

I settled down on the blankets pulled into a makeshift bed at the front of the room, setting the toy down in front of me. “How about a game of Truth or Dare, Andrew?”

“Sounds fun. I’ll go first. Dare,” he said, automatically, like he hadn’t even considered Truth as an option. Another thing, I was sure he wouldn’t waiver on.