Bad Connections

"Let me get another?" he offered.

She shook her head. "I'll bring you off outside me," she offered instead, wiggling her fingers and licking her lips. "You can come all over me."

He did not question her request. "Rub it into your skin," he suggested. "I love watching women do that."

"Do you?" Alice raised an eyebrow, then giggled. She crooked a finger at him.

They moved together again slowly, bringing their fingers to each other's bodies. He was starved for attention, and she was an eager giver. He moved his body to a good place beside her and she then began rubbing his cock. She massaged the balls, jacked the shaft, tickled his thighs. When he was erect, she started kissing his head and taking him within her throat. His hands wandered over her body as he shook, responding to her caresses.

"Come for me," she commanded between sucks, using her eyes and her voice. "Come."

He responded in due course. She squeezed, he tensed. She withdrew, he relaxed. That soft touch, those patient eyes. Her loud cries and direct urgings. He wanted to respond to them. He wasn't fully in control of the moment, but she was willing to take as long as necessary to bring him off.

His earlier orgasm was small. This one was not. A gusher burst forth from his cock and erupted all over her. Alice smiled in satisfaction, then moved away.

"Rub it in," he reminded her, smiling,

She frowned, then nodded. Lying on the bed, she then moved her hands over her torso. She found each bit of come on her breasts, stomach, and other areas. Alice rubbed the splatters of fluid until her skin absorbed them. She kept her eyes on his throughout.

"I'm surprised you didn't want me to swallow it," she said after she had finished.

"Maybe next time," Doug shrugged. "I'm ready again, by the way."

"Really?" Alice blinked, then looked at his length and saw he was correct. She grinned, her eyes flicking to the ceiling and then back at him. "Okay, get another condom and then come here, lover."

He nodded and did as she directed. They joined once more, and kept shagging each other for as long as they both could.

***

"We fell asleep in each other's arms at the climax of that exchange," Doug recalled for Lisa. "Rolled apart during the night. I woke up first. She was still asleep. I got up and used the restroom, made sure I knew where all my stuff was, then lay down again beside her. I checked my phone too, let Boris know I was okay. He texted back, said he was fine too."

Lisa nodded. "So what was bad about that relationship?"

"Nothing at first," Doug answered. "Everything was great. I had no reason to think otherwise."

Lisa's gray tabby cat was curled up on his lap now, so he stroked the feline between words. His name was Laze, and Doug liked his soft warm fuzziness. Lisa called him her most demanding patient. "You a crazy cat lady?" he'd asked when he first met her pet.

"Yes," she said. "But I'm content with just one cat."

"That's good," he replied, relaxed. Two of his aunts in Beaumont had more than three pets each, he later explained. He'd been challenged to keep up the attention to all of them.

Lisa had nodded in understanding. "My older sister Sam is the same way."

"What went wrong with Alice?" she asked again in the present.

He sighed, then answered. "For about three months, nothing. She had to go back to Corpus Christi when the semester ended. I had to go back to Beaumont too. We stayed in touch, and when we both came back to UT, we resumed our affair. It was hard finding time to spend together around our classes and jobs, but I told myself to get used to it. I'd dealt with similar stuff already from Tanya and Jodie Lee back in Taipei. The moments I spent with her- dancing, dining out, watching movies, and of course in the bedroom- were worth the time we had to be apart."

"But what went wrong?" He was still hesitating, so she added, "I promised you a reward for telling me."

"Our schedules were increasingly hard to arrange," he admitted at once. "I didn't push the issue, and she didn't either. We even had hall passes. I scored with a few other one night stands. I concentrated on the sure thing, of course, when I could."

"I've had lots of one night stands too, Doug. How did your time with Alice end?"

"When she came back in the fall, it got really hard to find time for us to meet. She wouldn't always tell me why. Then, in early September, I asked her if there was someone else. Zeck, the former GM of our Hackmaster group, had told me about a girl he dated once who two-timed him and I got paranoid. Alice denied everything. I decided to believe her "

"But she was lying?" Lisa asked.

Doug nodded. "I didn't know it at first. I was distracted too. Had to get the new semester's classes set up, move into a new dorm with a new roommate."

***

"You guys will like Creekside," Boris told Doug and the Chinese-American walking beside them. They all carried bags. "I'd live here if I still wanted to be in the dorms. It's guys only, very laid back. Cafeteria and gym are a distance away, but the walk will do you good."

"I agree," Keith Wing-Matthews replied. He was a lanky youth with a short black ponytail and rose-tinted glasses. He'd agreed to be Doug's roommate in the fall. Keith was a Computer Science major and very adept with all things related. He'd helped the computer lab teacher back at Doug's high school keep her machines running and organized. He intended to do the same for some large tech company once he graduated UT. "Always a need for it in today's world."

"I want a friend this time," Doug had said to Keith when they first discussed rooming together. "One roommate who wasn't a friend and one who is never around both bother me."

"I got no problem with friendship," Keith told him. "My last roommate was a friend. Just ignore or forgive me if I do something stupid, okay?"

"I will," Doug assured him, hoping he could keep the promise. "I need to ask you a few personal questions, though."

"Go for it."

Doug got his class schedule, also confirming that Keith would GM their Hackmaster group in the fall now that Zeck was gone and sometimes join him and Boris in their workouts and nightlife. "You gonna be looking for a girlfriend here?" he then asked Keith. He'd never seen Keith with anyone or heard him mention a girl.

"Probably not. I got a girl I met online. And yes, before you ask, I have met her IRL too and confirmed she's actually a girl. Steph graduated high school last year around the same time we did. We first connected in chat rooms. Didn't live too far apart, same interests online... we met in a way so lucky you might not believe it. She has the same level computer skills as me, and she plays softball on top of that. Don't find many other jock-nerd combos out there. I don't want to let her go."

"Huh. And is this Steph at UT?"

"Not for another year. She wants to get some universal requirements for her Comp Sci degree knocked out back in Houston before she comes up here and transfers credits. We aren't on the same exact academic path. We're spending the breaks and weekends together here and there, staying in touch online too. We have a road trip planned for the two weeks between semesters."

"I plan to do one of those myself when I find time and the right partner. So you won't be picking up girls in Austin then?"

"I might. Steph did give me a hall pass, since we're living apart and all. She has one too. She's bi, but not into any other guys besides me far as I know. Only two regular girls she's with. The older one's at UT. I haven't met her. I've met the one our age- she lives near Stephanie in Houston and is pretty nice."

Doug was surprised that Keith so casually mentioned he was dating a bisexual woman. He was also glad- it made his next question easy to ask. "I dated bisexual women in Taipei too. You ever have a threesome with the one you date?"

"With another girl or another guy?"

"Either."

"Nah, I haven't gotten that lucky yet."

"Would you be open to it?"

"Maybe. I'd want to connect with all parties involved first, though. Steph and I are good together, but I'm not close to her girlfriends. I've only met Lily, and we haven't interacted enough for sexual connection yet. She's on Steph's softball team and was her best friend all through grade school. They started getting together her senior year of high school. Steph wasn't allowed by her parents to seriously date before then. Steph dated Lily's brother for a bit, then they broke up and Lily stepped in. The older girl I have yet to meet was Steph's first, or so she claims. She insisted we practice ethical non-monogamy." Keith asked if Doug was familiar with that.

"Yeah," Doug answered. "My girlfriends in Taipei were the same way and I've read about it online."

Keith nodded. "Glad you have no issue with it. Steph hasn't asked me about threesomes with her girlfriends yet. I'm not pushing her towards one. I'm a patient guy."

"Far as a threesome with guys..." Doug prompted.

Keith adjusted his glasses and looked Doug over. "What exactly you asking me here?"

Doug took a breath, then explained. "My first roommate here was a jerk who tried to get me into a threesome with him and a girl who... repulsed me is the nicest way to put it. I was tired that night. They tried to push it on me without much discussion of boundaries."

"Ouch!"

"I obviously don't want it to happen again."

"Yeah, man. Wow. Uh, Steph and I haven't discussed that kind of threesome either. I haven't thought about it much myself. I know some gay guys who are okay, but Steph is the only person I've gotten close enough with so we can have sex. I have no aversion against gay guys, I just have yet to think seriously about whether I want to be with a man or not. You?"

"Not into it. My brother's gay, but men have never attracted me." Doug took a breath. "I have thought about it- I regret what happened with Josh and that girl. I suppose if some nicer girl I was with wanted to touch another cock while she was also touching mine, or have more than one cock in her body at the same time, it'd be okay. But I would want her to bring it up with me respectfully first, let us all establish and respect boundaries. If the guy and I could touch her but not each other, it'd probably be okay with me."

"That sounds about right for me too. Maybe if Steph wanted me to touch the guy, I'd do it, but it'd have to be okay with him too. And I'd have to be comfortable touching the specific guy. I mostly don't want to know about the other guys she might be dating besides me. I told her not to tell me about them unless it gets serious. It hasn't yet."

"She broke up with her girlfriend's brother?"

"Yeah, and we got together afterwards. She knew he was moving away- he got into Vanderbilt- and wanted someone closer but not too close. We were already chatting online- we're both into sci-fi- so when she asked me to have dinner with her IRL, I said sure. I lost my cherry to her in early June, stopped over on my first drive up to UT."

"She sounds cool, so I hope for your sake she never gets serious with any other guys. Hope I can meet her someday too."

"You'd like her, man. You single right now?"

"Well, there is Alice, but I don't know if we're serious. She's been noncommittal about us moving in together or even staying together next semester. I'm waiting for her decision but making other plans just in case. She lives by herself, so we have a regular hookup spot. If I do leave her, and find anyone else, we'll probably hook up elsewhere. I don't want to have to exclude you if you need to study or something."

"I appreciate that, pal."

***

"Alice kept saying no to us living together," Doug further recounted, "and I didn't push her. I was too glad to be her lover."

"Were you surprised to find out Keith was dating my sister?" Lisa asked Doug.

"Yeah. More so that I didn't make the connection till a week after you and I first spent the night together. Your sister and his girlfriend sounded similar, but... it just didn't connect till you actually met Keith and he saw the resemblance. I still have yet to meet Stephanie, LIly, or this older girl here who's hooked up with Stephanie."

Lisa smiled. "In due time."

Doug shrugged. "I'm in no hurry about it." He then sighed. "As for what went wrong with Alice, I kept trying to get back with her in the new semester. Until in mid-September I introduced her to Keith, my new roommate. It was after our Sunday Hackmaster game, Alice came by to meet me afterwards and Keith was lingering around to keep me company. When she showed up, he was very polite to her, but as soon as she had left us alone..."

***

Keith sat with Doug at Roppolo's Pizzeria, watching Alice walk off to the restroom. "You know what that girl does to pay for college?" Keith asked his roommate when Alice was out of earshot.

"Never asked her. She's never asked me either."

"Let me show you something. Don't take this the wrong way."

He took his laptop computer out of his backpack, opened it on the table. Doug saw him opening his porn folder- they'd exchanged a few videos and stories before- and glanced nervously around the restaurant.

"It's okay," Keith assured him. "Sound's off, nobody's looking at us. Just trust me." He called up a video and started playing it. Doug froze.

It was one of the videos of his couplings with Alice the month previous, when she was teaching him about anal sex. Doug recalled that he'd had to make a lot of preparation to pleasure Alice in this way with lube and getting over his initial disgust at doing it. She had pushed him towards it, and he'd given in, but didn't feel the pleasure was different enough to be worth the extra effort. Alice hadn't seemed fully into it either. The video was easily recognizable to Doug's photographic memory despite the fact that his face were obscured by static. Alice's hair made her easily stand out.

"How did you get this?" Doug asked, clenching his fists. "I thought you and Steph were..."

"We are still together," Keith interrupted, closing the laptop. "But we live apart, and as you know, I collect online porn to fill the gaps since I don't want to get serious with anyone else. I came across that video and several like it on a website called 'Iris Rainbow'. As soon as I met your girlfriend, I recognized her. You need to know, pal. There's videos of her and a lot of other guys. Black guys, white guys, Asians. All vanilla, nothing hardcore, but the trolls keep urging her towards the hardcore stuff. That particular video has lots of comments from asshats deriding the male performer as a 'desperate beta' and worse. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

***

"I didn't at first," Doug told Lisa. "I'd been in a few chat rooms, but hadn't engaged much with online shame trolls. Alice took a while to come back. Keith laid it all out, also told me about cam-girls and how they make their money. It was a new thing in the late 1990s. Alice was raking in cash from thousands of subscribers. Keith urged me to confront her about it."

"Did you?"

"Not right then. I didn't want to create a scene. Keith, Boris, and I had all done security for Mr. Roppolo at times and we played D&D in his place. It wouldn't be good if Alice got angry at me. She wouldn't let me get with her for a while either- and now I knew it wasn't just a busy study slash work schedule. Or more properly, I knew what her work was."

"But eventually, you were alone and you did ask her."

"Yes. I ignored it for a while, tried to rationalize it. I enjoyed being with her most of the time. She'd taught me a lot of techniques and was usually eager to receive my attentions. She told me I was a great guy, one of the best she had. But when Keith showed me her videos and I started reading the comments, I started to doubt I was really that great and whether she preferred the other guys to me. It took me a few weeks before I finally got up the nerve to ask."

***

"Yes, I am a cam-girl." Alice sighed. "I use the rainbow dyes in my hair to stand out for the audience. It allows me to become someone else for a while. When I saw how much money Jennifer Ringley and other girls are making being cam-girls... I had to cash in. Teachers don't get paid much and college is expensive." She released a heavy breath. "How much do you want, Doug?"

He grimaced. "That's why you never told me. You were afraid I'd demand a cut of the profits to keep helping you out."

"Yeah," Alice confirmed. "I use a service that edits the videos. They put on the static bars at my request. I don't tell most of my guys I tape them. But you were nice to me and you admitted you didn't have much experience, so I thought maybe... you'd be turned on by the idea of performing for me."

"I was," Doug confessed, "and I liked your idea of appreciating good times with me if we had to separate for some reason." He paused, then spoke again to fill the silence. "But now that I know- is any of it real, Alice?"

"Yes," she assured him. "And yes, I read my videos' comments, but I don't respond to them with more than occasional amusement. I'm not going to push you to something you don't want to do. We've never had anal since that one time, remember?"

"And we've never done bondage or any of the other stuff they mention."

"Right. I'm not into that stuff, no matter what they say."

"Do you fake for anyone? The other guys? Me?"

"I..." Alice hesitated, then answered too quickly. "No, of course not.."

Doug did not believe her. He could not, because she had been dishonest with him from the beginning and now he knew. Dishonesty was his biggest deal breaker- too many empty compliments from various people in his past. More relatives than dates or friends, but he knew how to tell the difference.

"Alice," he asked. "If you had to pick a guy, who would it be? If I were off the table?"

"Uh, I don't know," she said too quickly. "There's a lot of guys. How much do you want, Doug?"

The sudden cheapening of their relationship was upsetting. And he still had more questions. "I... do you plan to stop doing this at some point?"

"I don't know. I like it and it will help me keep my career despite the low pay. Would I have to give it up to keep seeing you?"

Doug thought for a moment, then replied. "Answer me this honestly, Alice. Do you prefer the other guys to me?"

"I... Well, some of their videos do get more traffic, so I guess, yeah."

"That's what I thought."

"But you treat me good too. How much do you want to stay with me?"

"Nothing," he said without hesitation. "I went into this for no financial gain and I'm not changing that now. I don't want you to have to adjust your budget for me either. It obviously bothers you. I just... I don't know if I can compete with other guys and keep from telling them about this if they don't know."

"I... I see." Alice grimaced. "I guess I should dump you then."

"I don't want you to do that, but..."

"No, I'm dumping you. We're over. You're still young, it will be fine. Nice knowing you, Doug."

***

"Her dumping me pissed me off at first, but I guess it made things easy. I literally did not know what to do about her putting our sex tapes online."

"If she had been honest with you from the beginning," Lisa prompted, "would you have stayed with her?"

"I'll never know." Doug sighed, stroking the cat Laze's head. "You ever done that kind of thing?"

"No. I've thought about it- Nicole said I would be a great striptease dancer- but I just got old enough for that last summer and haven't yet found time to actually do it. Don't really need the money either. I had that accident when I was a teen, so I have no problem selling my eggs when funds get short."

"I see." Doug let out another sigh. "I donate blood, but the sperm bank wasn't interested."

"Their stupidity. So you broke up with Alice, and then you were in the period of disgust and frustration post breakup when you met me."