Love Online(6)

Sincerely,

ScreenGod90



I let out a breath, figuring the chances of her writing back were slim to none. But emailing her eased my conscience a bit, and my fatigue from the day eventually won out as I drifted off to sleep.

***

The next morning, bright sunshine streamed through my kitchen windows as I sat down at the table with my coffee and checked my phone.

It shocked me to find an email response from Montana Lane.



Hi ScreenGod,



I really appreciate you reaching out to me. Yeah, that was unfortunate. I didn’t realize I was still on. It was a moment. And it passed. I’d just been feeling really crappy all day, and so, I broke down. It had nothing to do with the chat. I don’t want you to think that. Anyway, I obviously didn’t mean for people to see me cry. I’m sorry for worrying you. I feel much better today.



P.S. I really love your musical requests. Thank you for wanting to hear me sing.



xoxo

Montana



I sat there debating what to write back, if anything, for the longest time. I finally settled on:



Dear Montana,



Really happy to hear you’re feeling better.

And as long as you keep singing, I’ll keep requesting. Your voice is as beautiful as you are.



Regards,



ScreenGod



I immediately second-guessed my words. Really? Your voice is as beautiful as you are? With all of the men who hit on her on a daily basis, did I really think that was original? Even though that was how I felt, maybe I should’ve kept that to myself.

Just be a good, quiet stalker, Ryder.

I laughed to myself. This was some crazy shit—the lengths I would go to lately for a distraction.

It suddenly smelled like laundry detergent. Lorena, my housekeeper, walked into the kitchen with a bunch of clothes in a basket. She must have noticed my expression. “What’s so funny?”

I shook my head. “You don’t even want to know.”

She kept squinting her eyes and looking at me as she folded. I decided to tell her the truth about my cam-girl obsession. Lorena could pretty much handle anything, even though she was fairly conservative. I loved shocking her.

After I spent about five minutes telling her the whole story, she said, “So she’s, like, a nudie model?”

I chuckled. “Yes. A nudie model. She takes her clothes off from time to time. Even though you might not believe me, that’s not why I watch her.”

“Why are you bothering with that?”

I rubbed my eyes and chuckled. “I have no idea. Boredom, I guess?”

Lorena pointed at me. “That’s the problem. You have all these putas throwing themselves at you all of the time. Nothing interests you anymore. Now you’ll move to porn and hookers.”

I lifted my index finger. “Hey, I’ll have you know, I’ve never once gone to a hooker. Don’t plan to, either. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I don’t have to pay for it, if you know what I mean.”

“You’re paying with this cam girl, aren’t you?”

Good point.

“Yeah, but this is different…I guess. It’s just innocent fun. And I only pay her to sing to me.” I laughed, realizing how crazy that sounded—paying some chick to sing for me.

“She sings?”

“Among other special talents, yes. The first night I met her, she was singing “Blue Skies.” Mom used to sing that song. So it freaked me out. That’s how she initially got my attention.”

“That and her big tetas.”

I nearly spit out my coffee. “Yeah. Those are nice, too. Really nice.” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, it was like I was meant to hear that song or something. And in the process of that…I discovered I like watching her.”

She stopped folding for a moment. “Mijo, you need to go in the opposite direction of what you’re doing. Stop going with the sluts and this porn and find someone who’s a good person, who you can settle down with. Someone who is gonna take care of you—like one of my nieces.”

Oh boy. Here we go.

I cringed. “No offense, but I’m pretty sure the last niece you wanted to set me up with had more facial hair than I do. Nice girl, but she legit had stubble.”

Lorena was laughing, because she knew about that shit when she set me up with her.

“Okay, maybe not Adriana,” she said. “But I have lots more. Twenty nieces. Lots to choose from. I know you like the pretty ones.”

“Well, it helps if I don’t have the urge to pull over on our date and buy a BiC razor to shave her face, yeah.”

She laughed, even at the expense of her niece, because she knew it was true. The chick had whiskers.

“What about my other niece, Larisa? She’s always asking for you ever since I brought you to church that one time. Such a pretty face on that one.”

Larisa had tried to go down on me in a church hall coat closet within thirty minutes of meeting me. I hated to ruin Lorena’s perfect image of her niece, so I’d never divulged that piece of information. I enjoyed aggressive women—but not that aggressive.

“She definitely gives good face,” I joked, unsure if she’d get it.