Chapter 21
Farrow
The unexpected success of my channel had dragged a pile of guilt into the light.
It didn’t sit right with me that I was making so much from his performances.
To assuage my unease, I sent Timothy a box of toys and clothes.
Selfishly, I wanted to see him dressed up and using the toys.
The gift would also contribute to the success of my—our? —channel.
We should be sharing, or at least that was how I felt.
I guessed that most monsters didn’t give a shit, but I couldn’t be sure as I’d only spoken to Crispin about it, and he was on the other side of the site.
My brother kept banging on about his new friends, our parents expected me to go out with him and keep an eye on him—which was rude of them to say, as they had three eyes and I didn’t—even though I didn’t want to go out and rack up bills on looking the part of a successful streamer.
No, that was a secret thing that I had no desire to share with anyone. I didn’t want to be a celebrity; I just wanted my own life. This whole thing had started by accident. And I didn’t know how to stop because, as much as I loved the money, I also looked forward to seeing Timothy.
I wanted to spend longer with him instead of using up all of my break.
There were nights when I watched him sleep, and all I wanted to do was step out of the wardrobe and slide into bed next to him to do nothing but hold him in his sleep.
Which I acknowledged was more than a bit wrong.
But it didn’t stop me from half-hoping that he’d already be in bed when I arrived.
What would it be like to climb into his bed and wake him up?
He wasn’t asleep or even in bed.
Timothy lay on the bed reading, wearing the blue top and matching jock, and looking entirely too innocent for what I had in mind. He glanced up before I even stepped out of the wardrobe as if sensing me.
I paused in the doorway, needing to say something. “That looks good on you.”
“Thank you.” He closed the book and placed it on top of the notepad.
“Did I interrupt you?”
“Not really. I was studying as it gave me something productive to do and kept me from getting too excited.” He sat up. “How did you know I wanted some…stuff?”
“I didn’t. I thought it would be fun for both of us.” I’d imagined him using each of the dildos I’d chosen until he was begging for my cock…but something in his voice made me frown. “Why?”
He bit his lower lip and fiddled with the blanket. “So did I.”
There was more to it, but I couldn’t demand answers when I was keeping secrets.
He glanced up. “But I didn’t have the money, so I kind of um…hoped…for some, and then the box turned up, and I freaked out a little that I’d made it happen.”
Had he? I didn’t know the details of how sorcerers worked. I should be grateful he hadn’t turned me into an enchanted dildo—turning a monster into an enchanted object wasn’t easy, or painless.
Was Timothy discovering sorcery on his own?
“Did you do any rituals or involve your sister?”
“She’s not my sister, and no. Ew.” Timothy grimaced. “Since you’ve been visiting, a glow has appeared under my bed.”
I blinked. A bridge had formed under his bed?
“You can see bridges?” Of course he could; he’d told me it was there.
He nodded. “And when it’s there, if I wish on it, things appear. I found money in my coat pocket, and my old money box from when I was a kid.”
I stare at my innocent-appearing human, dressed in the clothes I’d bought him to hide the dragon when filming, and there he was using magic like a fucking sorcerer. And I still wanted to fuck him.
That had been my plan for tonight. Now? Messing around with a sorcerer was more dangerous than taunting a cat.
My stomach sank and spun. I needed to report this, but that would be the end of everything.
Was he a sorcerer, or had he stumbled on magic because he’d once been used by one, and I had unwittingly reopened his connection?
“You’re using magic.” When had I decided to buy the gifts? Had I decided, or had he somehow sucked me into his scheme?
“I didn’t know.”
“But you suspected. You need to stop.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, afraid that if I ran the app, magic would be detected, and an automatic report would be generated. There was a list of notifications from my channel. I closed my eyes, torn between what I wanted and what I needed to do.
“I will. I don’t want to lose my mind.”
That wasn’t the worst thing that might happen to him. “If magic is detected, a team will be sent out. They will first seek out the child, then the sorcerer.”
His eyes widened. “Do they kill them?”
“Not always.” We couldn’t repair the damage done to our world. “Sometimes a sorcerer is brought to my world. They are used to repair the damage caused by incursions.”
“Used how?”
I shrugged. “That’s not my area.”
“Did my mother repair damage?”
“She was already dying. She was allowed to pass peacefully, according to the file.”
“That might be a lie.”
“It might be, but I doubt it.” What did we have to gain by hurting a dying woman?
Perhaps she was able to repair some damage while we eased her suffering.
Or was that propaganda? Timothy was accessing and using magic, which made him dangerous…
but he wasn’t threatening anyone or hurting anyone.
He acted as though he didn’t want magic.
Timothy lifted his eyebrows. “Of course you doubt it.”
“This is about you, and your magic use,” I snapped.
He lifted his chin and glared at me. “Then you’ll need to find a new human to record.”
I should be doing that, anyway, diversifying my offerings and all that—I’d been researching and working, not just jerking off to the videos I recorded—but I liked Timothy.
I enjoyed talking to him and the way he played along with my demands.
He seemed to enjoy being told what to do because the more I growled and ordered, the more his skin smelled of lust. With someone else, the fun and banter would be missing.
I’m sure it came through in my videos, even though I made sure my comments were never included.
If I recorded anyone else, it would be cold, and my subscribers responded to the energy between us, even if they weren’t aware of it.
“I like recording you, and these moments with you, but if you keep going, I can’t protect you, and you will endanger me.” I slapped my chest with my tail.
“How is my need for money and to move out endangering you?”
I tilted my head. “Why do you need to move out? You have a nice house with your family.”
“My father is forcing me to live here because I failed one class at university.” He held up one finger.
“He always thinks I’m doing the wrong thing, and I don’t earn enough to move out, so I’m stuck.
” He slid off the bed and stood in front of me, looking far too cute even though he was furious.
I want to see my tail wrapped around his throat, and my hands wrapped around his wrists.
“I never asked for a stepmother and sister. I never asked for any of this.” His voice was low and rough, and his nose scrunched up as if he were trying to snarl.
I wanted to kiss the tip of his nose, push him onto the bed, and fuck him until he forgot about everything that was troubling him.
We were two sides of the same coin.
His need for freedom is no different from my own, and I have the means and the money because of him.
If I share the proceeds with him, it will take me longer to move out, and moving the money to his world will attract attention—too many gifts will also draw attention.
The ground I am on is little more than a delicate spider web stretching between both worlds and sending ripples in all directions with every movement.
If he was only wishing for small amounts of money, did it matter?
Doubts and fears tumbled and twisted inside of me until I was unable to breathe. “Neither did I. I saw you playing.” I point to the spot in front of the wardrobe door. “And recorded you and…and…I took a chance.”
Timothy blinked. “Took a chance?”
I had both feet in now, so I had to keep crossing the river or be swept downstream. If I knew what waited for me on the other side, this would be so much easier. Instead, I was drowning. “I created a Scream and Steam account and posted the video.”
“A what now?” He stared at me and then to the spot on the floor. “You posted a video of me jerking off? I can’t have people seeing that. You have to delete it. Is it like revenge porn?”
“What? No, no one in the human world will see it. Scream and Steam is a site where Bridge Agents can post human content and be paid.”
“You’re getting paid, while I’m the one…” He waved his hand around. His mouth hung open as if he’d forgotten how to form words.
“I shouldn’t even be speaking to you,” I hissed.
It took a few more seconds before he rediscovered words.
“Now it all makes sense. The need to act all pervy, filming from odd angles, and the requests. Did you buy me this outfit because someone wanted to see me in it? Are monsters jerking off to me jerking off?” His cheeks turned pink, but his dick twitched, and he smelled of lust. “I can’t even with you. What the actual fuck, Farrow?”
“I live with my shit-for-brains brother and want to move out. I never planned on doing this, but you looked hot, and then you wanted to make a deal.”
“So you jumped on it. When were you going to tell me about the money?”
My tail lashed. Never. Soon. I was running out of break time. “I wanted to. I bought you this stuff because there is no other way to send money to you. It’s not as though I can put it in your account.”
“How much money are we talking about?” He pointed at the box. “Was that half, a quarter…what percentage?”
My toe claws dug into the carpet even though I wanted to retreat back into the wardrobe and bounce to the next house. Keep crossing the river. If I stopped, I drowned. “Less than one percent.”
He mouthed the words and nodded. “Fuck. If I were getting a fifty percent cut, I’d do anything you asked me.
But for less than one percent, I’m not doing shit.
” Timothy crossed his arms and lifted his chin as if trying to appear threatening.
He may have been more successful without the hard-on and the pouty lips.
I stood a little taller. “You cannot use Scream and Steam.”
“Neither can you without content. And I’m your content.” He arched one eyebrow.
He had me there.
“Unless you’re filming a bunch of humans?” His cool facade cracked.
“You are the only one.” That was poor business planning on my part, but I didn’t want another. I wanted Timothy. I wasn’t a content creator.
I was infatuated.
With a human.
A human with a sorcery bloodline.
I was fucked.
“Please. We both need this. I will find a way to make sure you are paid.” I had no idea how I was going to make that happen, and I was out of time.
“Great. When you tell me your solution, I’ll ride a toy for you.” He turned and walked away, ass cheeks bare and begging for teeth marks.
My teeth marks.
“Timothy,” I growled.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “I was enjoying this. The way you told me what to do, and…and I wanted you to fuck me. But how can I trust you?”
I hadn’t lied, but I had left out a rather large chunk of the truth. “You wanted this deal to protect your sister. It was never about money.”
He turned and jabbed his finger at me. “That was before I realized you were selling it online and turning me into a…a porn star.”
“What is that?” It sounded like a bad thing.
“It’s someone who makes sex movies.”
“Oh.” So not a bad thing, but he was still angry at me.
He rushed on before I could say anything else. “And you lot seem to get off on watching humans.”
Did he think watching sex movies was bad? “Some do. Others are curious or horrified.”
He stares at me. “You’re not making this any better.”
I take a step toward him. “How do I make it better? I have been enjoying this with you.”
He raked his fingers through his hair but didn’t look at me. “For today, leave. Maybe in five days’ time the hurt will have dissipated enough that I’ll be able to perform.”
I couldn’t argue with that, but I didn’t have to like it. I thought we had a good thing going. Good for me…but I understood why he was pissed. A few presents weren’t going to help him move out, but I couldn’t have told him the truth at the start.
Santa, I never imagined my channel taking off.
Timothy walked into the bathroom and shut the door, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with me. Fine. I was out of time anyway, even though I didn’t have any new content.
If he wasn’t obeying the deal, neither was I.
I snarled and stepped back into the wardrobe. I’d remind him why he wanted the deal in the first place and, with luck, sever his connection to magic.