10. Kylie
10
KYLIE
My jaw dropped so low that it was in danger of rolling under the sofa as I stared at Mason. That’s what he’d been getting at?
“It’s a guy thing,” he said, a little defensively. “It helps us sleep.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They’d called me in here to talk about masturbating ? I could barely focus on that bizarre fact, however, because I was so glad that they weren’t telling me to go. My relief wasn’t just because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. No, it went deeper than that. We’d only known each other a few days, but I thought… I thought we were becoming friends. When it sounded like they wanted me gone, it hurt.
“Say something,” Jude said, looking a bit apprehensive.
“I thought you wanted me to move out.”
“No way,” Jude said, and warmth flooded me as he reached over and squeezed my hand. “You belong here.” To my shock, Mason nodded in agreement.
“Thanks.” I needed to regroup, because right now, my brain was stuck on the wonderful fact that I didn’t have to leave. “So… what are you saying, do you want me to stay out of the bedroom for a while at night or something?”
“Not necessarily,” Jude said. “We’re just asking if you’d mind if we discretely… took care of things before bed. I mean, we can do it in the shower, but since we’re sharing one, that’s not always possible.”
“And it’s not the same,” Mason said. “It’s just so much easier to rub one out, grab a tissue, and then roll over and fall asleep.” He grinned. “When you’re with a woman, you get yelled at if you fall asleep right away, but that’s not an issue when you’re alone.”
I tried to wrap my head around that. “But you’re not alone. You guys said you all shared a room last year, right?”
They nodded.
“So did you all just do it at the same time?”
Mason snorted. “It’s not like we all laid down and said one, two, three, go. A lot of times we didn’t even head for bed at the same time. But if two guys are in there at the same time and they both need some stress relief, you’re just supposed to politely pretend you don’t know what the other guy is doing.”
“So you want me to just pretend not to notice?”
Mason nodded, but Jude shook his head. “We wanted to find out if it’s going to bother you.”
I thought about that for a moment. Would it? I honestly didn’t think so. It might be a bit awkward, though.
“Did you have roommates when you were an undergrad? Do women do the same thing?” Mason asked.
My roommate freshman year had had a boyfriend, and she often stayed at his place. Sophomore year, my roommate Terry and I had been night owls and had often gone to sleep at the same time in the wee hours of the morning. I couldn’t remember touching myself while she was sleeping in the next bed over—nor her doing the same. But maybe she did and I just hadn’t realized?
Mason took my silence for a no. “It’s pretty common with men. We’re guys in our twenties—this is what we’re known for.”
That made me laugh until a new thought stopped me in my tracks. “Wait, is that why you all have been so cranky? And not able to fall asleep at night?”
“Yep,” Mason said. “See what we’ve gone through on your behalf?”
Jude rolled his eyes. “Ignore him. We won’t do it if it’s going to make you uncomfortable,” Jude said. Mason scowled but didn’t contradict him.
Suddenly, I had my answer. What someone did in their own bed was their business. “It won’t bother me.”
Mason pumped his fist in the air and I bit back a laugh. Men were very strange creatures.
“We appreciate that, but if it gets too weird for you, just let us know,” Jude said.
That felt like a natural spot to end this bizarre conversation, but questions bubbled in my brain, and who knew if I’d ever have a chance to ask them again. “Uh… so when you do that, what do you think about?” Now that I wasn’t on the spot anymore, I couldn’t help thinking about Jude under the covers, his hand slipping inside the gray boxer briefs he wore to bed last night. Or Mason’s hand stroking slowly up and down his hard cock. I wasn’t sure about Parker. He barely used his bed for sleeping, let alone jerking off. Hmm, maybe he should though. Mason said it helped them sleep, and Parker could sure use some more of that.
“Depends on my mood,” Jude said, not sounding uncomfortable with the question. “Sometimes it’s something I’ve done with an ex. Or something I’d like to do with a pretty woman I’ve seen recently.”
“Or an actress or pop star,” Mason added. “Or porn.”
“You watch porn when you do it?”
“Not when we share a room,” Jude said. “That would be a step too far.”
“I don’t have to watch it… I have a pornographic memory.” Mason grinned as he said it.
“That’s not a thing,” I protested.
“Sure it is. And it makes boring classes a lot more interesting.”
Wow. I couldn’t even understand my classes when I was concentrating as hard as I could. Mason apparently had time to spare—and fantasize—during his.
“So, at night… if I hear you, what do I do? Just pretend I don’t?”
“Yes,” Jude said, but Mason spoke up at the same time.
“Or you could do it, too,” he said. “I heard you get up in the middle of the night the other day. It might help you sleep, too.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said dryly. I was pretty sure that he wasn’t thinking about my well-being when he suggested I do it too.
Jude grinned, obviously coming to the same conclusion. “It’ll all work out—you’ll see. We’ll be very discreet.”
That seemed unlikely to me. Mason didn’t exactly seem like a poster child for discretion. But I’d withhold judgment until I saw how things actually played out. One thing was for sure. It would be really interesting when we all went to bed tonight.
We watched a movie after that, a superhero one, and when it was nearing midnight, I was exhausted. The first few days of classes had taken a toll, and it hadn’t even been a full week. I didn’t know how I was going to get through next week. Unless I somehow got a whole lot smarter over the weekend.
Parker fell asleep before the end of the movie, and Jude turned the volume down. God knew the poor guy needed sleep. After the movie was over, Mason and Jude moved onto the balcony to have another beer without disturbing Parker. They asked me to join them, but I was tired.
As I got ready for bed, I had second thoughts. Maybe I should wait them out? Let Jude and Mason go in there and do their thing before I went to bed? But that defeated the whole purpose. The whole idea of me staying here was that I let them be them—and they let me be me. Hiding out until I was sure the coast was clear wasn’t a long-term solution.
So I climbed into bed and arranged my comforter the way I liked it. I was so tired it felt like my body was melting into the mattress below me. Like I was becoming one with the bed.
I was almost asleep when the door opened. Mason came in wearing his black boxers and swung himself up to his bunk. Jude followed, only he climbed the ladder. He was probably being considerate since the ladder jostled the bed less than when he hopped right up there.
Should I say goodnight? Or was it better to let them think I was asleep already? It was stupid to overthink it though. It was something most people did, so it wasn’t like it was a big deal. Besides, maybe they wouldn't even do it tonight.
Then I heard a sound coming from Mason’s bed. The slight squeak from the joints of the massive bunk bed. A soft thumping sound. I opened my eyes a fraction of an inch. Usually, Mason slept on his side, facing me. Now, he was on his back. His knees were bent, creating a tent under the covers. A tent where I was pretty sure his hand was.
Shit, I was supposed to be giving him his space and maintaining the polite fiction that nothing was going on. Some roommate I was turning out to be. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fall asleep, but I could still hear him. His breathing sounded a bit louder now. Involuntarily, I pictured him fisting his cock. In my imagination, it was long and thick and more than a handful. And in my fantasy, he was stroking it hard, rougher than I would’ve attempted.
I was so curious about what Mason was doing that it took me a minute to realize that my bunk had begun shaking, too. Just a quick back and forth, the way it did when Jude shifted positions. But I suspected that wasn’t what he was doing now.
God, was he really stroking his cock just feet away from me? I stared up as if I could see through the slats that supported his mattress. He was right up there, stroking himself. I pictured his cock as being longer than Mason’s but a little thinner… the same way Jude was taller than Mason but his muscles were leaner.
The urge to touch myself hit me hard, and that wasn’t something I normally did. Sure, maybe a time or two a month when I couldn't sleep. Or at night after a hot guy had hit on me at the bar. But it wasn’t something I did regularly. And it wasn’t something I’d ever done with people around. Not even a boyfriend.
There was no way I was going to push my hand inside my panties while two men were in the room, but the temptation was still there. I rearranged my comforter, shoving the edge of it between my knees. That way, I had something to squeeze my thighs around as I lay on my side.
I had one hand under my head, but with the other, I lightly brushed my fingers across my chest. My nipples were rock hard. Was it just because of the sounds I could hear, Jude and Mason breathing louder, obviously stroking themselves faster? Or was it because I was picturing them doing it?
Or was it because I was attracted to them?
That last thought was troubling. They were my friends and roommates. That made them very off-limits. But it was hard to remember that when I could hear them touching themselves.
The bed shook faster, and heat coursed between my legs. It sounded like Jude was close to coming. Then the shaking stopped abruptly, and my breath hitched as I listened for his release. There was a quiet strangled sound, as if he’d swallowed back a cry. Then I could feel the bunk bed shift as he relaxed back onto the mattress.
One down… one to go.
Mason’s labored breathing filled the room and my inner muscles tightened while I listened to him. I wished I could see him stroke his cock. Hell, I wished I could feel him stroke me.
He caught his breath and there was an expectant pause. Then he groaned loudly and let out a huge exhalation.
For a moment all was quiet except for the sound of Mason’s breathing as he came down from the climax. Then Jude said, “Really discreet, man.”
I couldn’t help chuckling, even though that meant they’d know I was still awake. “Good night, you perverts.”
“Good night,” they echoed, apparently having no problem with my label for them. As promised, they seemed to fall asleep almost instantly after that.
I envied that because I was awake, unsatisfied, and horny as hell.