Einstein's Peep Show Read online

  Especially not one like that maddening neighbour of his.

  Still, there was one thing in this whole sorry situation Nathan could console himself with: he’d won the argument. No woman would ever type that filth.

  Well, none of the ones Nathan had ever met, anyway.

  Which admittedly wasn’t all that many, as his course was over ninety percent male, and he didn’t really socialise outside of uni, unless you counted the other gamers he was friendly with online.

  And they were all male too.

  Weren’t they?

  He got back online to check.

  Oh. Things weren’t as simple as he’d thought. Quite a few of them didn’t have a gender listed on their profiles. Nathan had just assumed they were male, seeing as how they were playing male characters.

  And come to think of it, even the ones who said they were male could quite easily be lying.

  Nathan took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  He heard the door across the hall slam.

  The rent was due.

  Rory was only the other side of the hall.

  Nathan groaned and gave in to the inevitable.

  Okay, no time like the present to go and see if Rory wanted his arse.

  ***

  Rory was just digging his groceries out of the great big jute shopping bags when a knock sounded at the door. That could only be one person. Well, okay, it could be one of the other neighbours in the building, but he’d bet his last dollar that impatient sounding knock was his neighbour from across the landing. To think he’d ever had Nathan down as quiet and shy! He sat back on his heels and tossed the slab of cheddar from hand to hand.

  Did he want to go and see what Nathan wanted?

  Rory’s knob stirred in interest. Yeah, go on mate, it told him. I’m gonna fall off through lack of use at this rate.

  Oh, sod it. What was the worst that could happen? He’d get another porn star blowjob and then be thrown out? No strings sex. It was an ideal set up. He’d be a fool not to.

  And while Nathan might be a bit of an arrogant know-it-all, at least he wasn’t boring.

  Which is why Rory found himself at the front door with the block of cheese still in his hand. Nathan stared at it like he’d never seen cheddar before.

  “I’ve just been shopping,” Rory said, by way of greeting. Nathan didn’t deserve a warm welcome after the unceremonious way he’d kicked him out last time they’d seen each other.

  Nathan frowned. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about what we did, and it went well.”

  “You think?”

  “Of course it did. BigMan was happy. You were happy. I got paid.”

  “Wow, you’re such a romantic.”

  Nathan tipped his head to one side. “Why would romance have anything to do with a business transaction?”

  “My mistake. It’s just I generally like it to feel like more than a transaction when I have sex. You know, so I don’t feel like I’m shagging a robot.”

  “Says the man who hooks up with strangers using an app on his phone.”

  “Yeah, well, I turn down all the ones who are obviously androids. And you know, if one slips through the net and turns up all jerky movements and silicone skin, I give them the boot.”

  There was a flicker of a smile at that, which was annoyingly cute. Rory really didn’t need to get obsessed with trying to make Nathan smile.

  But then Nathan’s expression morphed into his usual serious one. “Romance is a fairy tale made up to sell books and films to gullible consumers. And I don’t really see how the android analogy works. What we did was pure animal.”

  “I suppose. But I think mammals like to hug afterwards.”

  “I’ve not heard of any other species that do. It’s just a socially conditioned behaviour. Nothing instinctive.”

  “If you say so.” Rory found it pretty instinctive. “I just think you’re missing some of the best bits if you leave out the hugging and the kissing.”

  Nathan pushed his glasses up his nose and peered at him. “Do you want to do it again?”

  “What, getting a blowjob on camera? I dunno. Been there, done that.” It was hard to sound convincing when his knob was already perking up at the prospect and screaming YES PLEASE!, but Rory did his best not to broadcast his arousal.

  “This would be different.”

  “Different how?”

  Nathan seemed to be having some kind of internal struggle, which only made Rory want to draw out his discomfort further.

  “Are we still talking about performing for your online sugar daddy, who may or may not be a sugar mummy?”

  “Yes, yes, I know you want to sow doubt in my mind, but I assure you he’s all man.”

  “No, you’re all man and I’m all man.” And fuck keeping a distance. Rory emphasized his words by pulling Nathan to him and grinding their groins together. “This BigMan fella’s an unknown quantity.”

  “Fine. Whatever. I agree, I’ve no proof. But just… you have to come and see what he wants us to do.”

  “Ah-huh.” Rory nuzzled at the skin behind Nathan’s ear. It was so unbelievably soft, and his hair smelled minty. “What about what you want to do?”

  “I want to get paid.”

  “And that’s it?” Rory pulled back to look in Nathan’s eyes, but he wouldn’t meet his gaze.

  “That’s enough. I need the money, and he pays well. Even better for the two of us.”

  “What do you need the money for? Don’t you do some kind of software thing?”

  Nathan snorted. “You could call it that. Look, I’m a student. And I’m studying hard because once I’ve finished my degree I want to go on to a PhD, and I don’t want to live in halls of residence or some awful shared student pit, and I certainly don’t want to get into debt or ask the parental units for any help.” Nathan’s voice dripped with scorn. “So to fund this lavish lifestyle of mine I need cash.”

  Rory mentally filed away the info on Nathan’s possibly estranged parents. They could discuss that later, when other stuff was out of the way. More enjoyable stuff. That Nathan would be getting paid for.

  “Couldn’t you get some work or something?”

  “I do work. I perform on camera for money.”

  “I meant a real job.”

  “It is a real job. And it suits me. The hours, and the fact I can work from home. It’s the best return I could find for the time and effort expended. Believe me, I did the calculations. You can see my spreadsheet if you like.”

  Either Nathan had the best deadpan face ever, or he really did have that spreadsheet.

  “It doesn’t bother you, then? Being near enough a prostitute.”

  “I’m not a prostitute because I’m not having any direct physical contact with my clients. I’m a sex worker.”

  “You had direct physical contact with me,” Rory pointed out. “And you got paid for it.”

  Nathan threw his hands up in the air. “Okay, fine, by your definition I’m a prostitute! Does it really matter? I don’t have a problem with it. There shouldn’t be any shame attached to working in the sex industry. This is the twenty-first century, for crying out loud.”

  He had a point. And besides, Rory found it kind of hot to think of Nathan as a sex worker.

  So long as he was shagging Rory rather than the paying clients.

  But there was one last sticking point before he agreed to going along with Nathan’s plan. “Am I going to get chucked out straight after?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes. Yes it does, actually.”

  “Fine.” Nathan huffed and looked up at the ceiling. “You can stay for a bit. Maybe we can watch something together. Not porn, though. I get enough of that with the day job.”

  Rory could have sworn he caught a hint of a smile there.

  “You got Netflix?”

  “Yes. Well, I’ve got access to my father’s account, so until he realises and changes his password again, we should be fine.”
/>   “Fine. I’ll bring beer and popcorn. Hold on a minute. Just got to put the rest of the shopping away.”

  Rory chucked the rest of the chilled stuff in the fridge, minus a couple of beers, and pulled out the microwave popcorn. “Shit.” Nathan didn’t have a microwave, did he? Rory bunged it in his and turned it on. “Just be a few minutes,” he called out. “Why don’t you come on in and chill for a minute?”

  He might as well put the rest of his groceries away while the popcorn was going.

  He was just reaching for the big bag of penne when Nathan stepped into the doorway. “What’s that…? Oh, you really were serious when you mentioned the popcorn.”

  “Of course. I love the stuff. And you can’t sit down for a good zombie film without it.”

  “We’re watching a zombie film?” Nathan grimaced. Okay, so maybe zombies weren’t his thing.

  “It’s either that or carry on with Breaking Bad, but it’s not such a great place to start watching. I’m on the last episode of series four.”

  Nathan’s brow furrowed. “Is that the one where Gus gets blown up at the end? That’s my favourite episode. I mean, there’s no way he’d have still been able to walk out the door in that state, but it makes good television.”

  “Hey, spoiler alert!” Not that it mattered, of course, but Nathan didn’t know that. “Anyway, I didn’t think you’d seen it. You never reacted to the Heisenberg reference. Bugger, I thought I’d pulled off sounding smarter than I am. You know, actually knowing the name of a scientist other than Einstein.”

  Nathan really did smile then. “Don’t worry. I’m not judging you on your scientific knowledge.”

  “But you’re a science geek, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a maths geek actually. That’s what I’m studying, anyway.”

  “So why Einstein and not some maths fella? You know, like the one Russell Crowe played in that film. I can’t remember his name, but he went proper bonkers.”

  “John Nash? I’m not sure Nash has quite the same ring as a cam model name. And besides, Einstein was a mathematician as well as a physicist.” Nathan’s brow furrowed. “It wasn’t my first choice of name, but the petty-minded individual who runs the site said no one had heard of Fermat or Turing. Does he think the general public are idiots?”

  Rory chose to keep his mouth shut, lest he reveal the full extent of his idiocy. Television, there he was on firmer ground.

  “Okay then, Breaking Bad it is. But you do realise you just gave away a major plot spoiler, telling me all about Gus’s death? What if I was watching it for the first time?”

  “You’re not, though, are you?”

  “No,” Rory admitted. “But you didn’t know that.”

  “Actually, I do. I can hear your telly through the wall sometimes.”

  Well, shit. There went his chances of winning a considerate neighbour award. “I’ve never heard yours.”

  “I keep the volume below seventy decibels.”

  “Really?”

  “I don’t want to damage my hearing. Did you know that repeated exposure to noise levels over eighty-five decibels can cause permanent damage to the hair cells inside your inner ear?”

  “And did you know you sound like my dad?”

  “How could I possibly know that? I’ve never met the man.”

  “God, you don’t have to take everything so literally all the time. You don’t really sound like him, anyway. Your voice is much sexier.”

  Nathan smiled then. One of his rare, fleeting smiles that showed the smallest amount of teeth, but that melted Rory’s heart.

  Luckily the microwave dinged before Rory could say anything stupid. Nathan didn’t seem to like stupid.

  Yeah, he probably wouldn’t want to hang with Rory once he’d realised what a fuck-up he’d made of certain things. His A-levels, for starters. Then his first job. The one in the cheese factory where he’d fallen asleep in charge of the slicing and wrapping machine. Longest single portion of cheese ever, the floor manager had told him, before he gave him his marching orders.

  All the more reason for keeping things to just sex.

  Well, just sex, a couple of beers, and some good telly.

  And popcorn. Mustn’t forget the popcorn.

  Rory grabbed it out of the microwave. “Come on, then. Better not keep BigMan waiting, had we?”

  God, he hoped the bloke didn’t want them to do anything too outrageously kinky. He was getting hard just thinking about it.

  Chapter Five

  Nathan watched nervously as Rory peered at the message on the screen.

  “Is that it?” Rory asked, in that infuriatingly casual way of his. “All he wants is some straightforward, vanilla sex?”

  “Is that going to be a problem? You said you were versatile.” That was one of the first terms Nathan had had to look up when he started investigating the world of online gay sex. Now he had a whole plethora of shorthand terms to describe his sexual preferences. Not that versatile was actually one of his, but the wider your profile, the more viewers you tended to attract. Or so the site moderator had told him, anyway. “You are versatile, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, of course. I like to top just as much as the next man. It’s just, the way you were acting…” Rory stared at Nathan in a way that made him want to go and hide under the bed, so he crossed his arms and stared back instead. “You don’t want to do this, do you?”

  He was no good at telling outright lies. Not even with his face, it appeared, as Rory’s expression just got grimmer the longer he observed Nathan’s discomfort. “Not exactly,” he eventually admitted.

  Rory sighed then. “It’s all right. I get it. I’m not your type.”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “It’s cool, mate. Really. I get that you wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for the money. I’m fine with it. No strings, right? I mean, yeah, given the choice I suppose I’d rather be with someone who was into me. You know, someone who wanted to cuddle up after and all that. But what the hey? You’re bloody good at what you do. That was one of the best blowjobs I’ve ever had. Correction, the best blowjob.”

  This was going to be painful, Nathan could tell, but he couldn’t leave Rory thinking Nathan wasn’t into him. “It’s not that. I don’t know that I even have a type, but if I did, it might be like you. I just don’t do cuddles. Never have done, anyway. But it wasn’t all bad. The cuddling, I mean,” he added, in case Rory thought he was talking about the blowjob.

  Rory raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying it was okay, are you? Funny, because I could have sworn you kicked me out after a couple of minutes.”

  “That’s because you called me stupid.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “You did.” He had, hadn’t he? But Rory looked genuinely perplexed.

  “Why would I call you stupid? You’re one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met. Correction. The most intelligent, I’m pretty sure. You could give Stephen Fry a run for his money.”

  Nathan snorted. “Now you’re just being obsequious.”

  “See? You’ve just proved it by using a word I don’t understand.” Rory’s smile was that same friendly one that seemed to invite Nathan in on the joke, and now he thought about it, he could see that perhaps Rory hadn’t been making fun of him after all.

  “Maybe I took what you said the wrong way,” he conceded, trying to remember Rory’s actual words. Something about him being dumb. No wait. Had he said “that was dumb?” Because semantically, that was completely different, and Nathan was normally extremely good at taking things literally. “I might have been flustered by you suggesting BigMan is a woman.”

  “You were definitely flustered.”

  “But you can see he isn’t now, can’t you?” Nathan pleaded. “Just look at what he’s typed.”

  Rory pulled a face and read the message again. “Honestly, I couldn’t tell one way or the other. I was just trying to yank your chain last time. But I still don’t get what you’re so work
ed up about now. If you think I’m all right, then what’s the big deal about shagging on camera?”

  Curses, he wasn’t going to let it lie, was he? Rory was without a doubt the most annoyingly persistent person Nathan had ever met.

  Maybe he could shut him up, though.

  “There’s no big deal. We’re sorted. I’m just… I get twitchy sometimes before a show. Remember last time? I was a bit nervous?” Never mind that it had been about the whole letting Rory know he was a cam model issue, rather than anything else.

  Rory was still looking at him suspiciously, but Nathan turned to the computer. “Looks like he’s ready and waiting. Shall we start the show? I’ve got everything we need.” He pointed at the lube and condoms, just in case Rory had somehow missed them sitting there, right in the middle of the bed.

  “Okay then,” Rory said. “But come here first.”

  Nathan stepped over, thinking Rory had something to show him, but instead found himself walking into a hug. And a kiss. Not a long one, but thorough, nonetheless. And with tongue.

  Nathan was so surprised he forgot to object, and let Rory do his thing. And it wasn’t bad.

  Not bad at all.

  How peculiar.

  Perhaps if he… Yes, he moved his own tongue a bit and angled his head to help Rory get deeper. Clearly, it was the right thing to do, as Rory’s chest vibrated with a deep groan. That was actually quite a pleasant sensation to be pressed up against. Nathan pulled himself tighter in, plastering his body to Rory’s as if they could actually exchange electrons and morph into a new substance. The closeness was turning him on in a way he’d not have thought possible, making him hard despite the prospect of having to bottom in a few minutes. Maybe giving up control to Rory wouldn’t be as bad as he feared. After all, Rory was a very different man from Brett. His kiss proved that, for a start. There was passion there. And feeling.

  And maybe that’s what made things scary. Brett he could predict. Rory he couldn’t.

  It made him dizzy just thinking about it. Dizzy and scared and turned on all at once.

  He clung on to Rory’s strong body, trying to ground himself in their kiss.