Games We Play by Dana Isaly

Chapter Two

“A lot of people have certain kinks they like me to play into. Have you ever heard of having a degradation or a praise kink, Quinlan?”

That blush crawled from her neck up over her cheeks as she tried to laugh it off.

“I’ve heard of it, yes. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced it. I would never kink shame anyone, but I don’t really understand the whole degradation thing. I’m not sure why anyone would want to be humiliated like that.”

“There’s a lot of reasons. For some people, it’s a release. They get to let go in the bedroom and let someone else be in charge. The taboo aspect of it is a big turn-on for a lot of people, too.” If she didn’t stop chewing on that bottom lip… I took a deep breath. “Anyway, they will ask me to say little phrases, and they send me tokens and shit for it, which is just a fancy way of paying me.”

“So you get money to sit there and stream and win competitions, but you also play into people’s fantasies about you?”

“I don’t know if I would say that they are fantasies about me specifically, but yes.”

“Oh, I’m sure they are. People have this fascination with internet personalities. Especially people like you who have this whole sexy mystery about them. With your deep voice and mask you’re constantly wearing—brings out the mask kink in all of us.”

“All of us?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and giving her a smirk from under my mask. “Does that include yourself, Quinlan? Do you have a thing for masks?” I tilted my head to the side and let my gaze slide along her body before returning to her face. She met my gaze and didn’t waver, even though I saw her chest rise and fall a bit quicker. To know that I incited that reaction from her made the blood rush right to my dick.

I had to fight back a groan. I wanted to cross the space between us and show her my dark side, show her everything I could make her feel. I wanted to show her that if she could trust me for a night, I would make her feel everything she was afraid to feel. She moved her legs and rubbed her thighs together subtly. Was she turned on? Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling the stupid amount of electrical charge between us. She cleared her throat.

“I thought I was the one that was supposed to be asking the questions?” She was trying to change the subject. I stood up and walked over to her, scooting a few of her things out of the way and sitting opposite her.

“Yes, Quinlan. Go ahead. Ask the questions.” I purposefully lowered my voice an octave just to throw her a bit more off-balance.

This interview had quickly turned into something far more dangerous, but I wasn’t about to fight it. There was something about her that drew me in. I wanted to see her crawl across the floor for me. I wanted to strip her bare, tie her up in pretty knots, and tease her within an inch of her life. I leaned back against the couch and turned my gaze on her.

“What about your childhood, Joker? Is that off-limits?” She smirked at me, and I found myself smiling back. I was disappointed she hadn’t taken that bait, but it was still early.

“Not all of it,” I answered.

“Okay, then. Let’s start from the very beginning. Were you always a nerd?” She looked over at me, and her smile was all flirt.

“A nerd? You interview people like me for a living. Do you insult all of the people you interview, Curly Q? Or just the ones you find attractive?”

She threw her head back and laughed, hitting my arm lightly and exposing the creamy column of her throat. She looked back at me.

“Bold of you to assume I find you attractive. How would I? I’ve only managed to see your eyes.”

“They’re nice eyes though, no?”

She paused and looked at me. “They are.” We stared at each other for a moment, just looking at each other. I wondered if she could feel the gravitational pull that seemed to be holding us together, begging us to touch. “Get on with it, then. When did this obsession with gaming and computer stuff begin?”

“When I was really young, I think I would’ve had an interest in it, but we were just too poor to afford anything I would need to get into it. Once I was in high school, I was able to get a job after classes and on weekends. I saved a lot and then started spending a lot. I managed to get quite the setup. Once I started to get everything I needed, I was able to really focus on playing.”

“So instead of spending your high school years out with girls, you decided to stay up all night playing games. And you wouldn’t call yourself a nerd?” she teased.

“Trust me, if girls were interested back then, I would’ve been out with them instead.”

“I find that hard to believe. Girls not interested in you?” Her eyebrows knitted together as she typed a few notes into her laptop.

“A tall noodle boy that didn’t know how to dress or speak in coherent sentences around girls? I wasn’t that much of a catch, darling. It wasn’t until I was in college that I started to fill out and care about taking care of myself. Not that I’m a bodybuilder, but I put some muscle on, started caring what I looked like…” I trailed off.

She chewed on her bottom lip while she typed away on her keyboard. “And you went to college for?” she asked, looking up at me from under her long lashes.

“Computer Science.”

“Shocker.”

“My life kind of took a turn in college. The confidence I had found outside of the bedroom started translating into confidence inside the bedroom. I started to get a reputation for a certain type of…experience when it came to sex.”

She tried to hide a smile, but I saw the small twitch of her mouth before she recovered. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was interested in what exactly I had meant.

“And that led to the whole…” She paused, and I could see her trying to find the right words for what she was trying to get at. “That led to the whole saying sexy things for people online gig?”

“Eventually,” I answered. “I started to notice girls I was talking to reacting a certain way to my voice and to the things I would say. So when I got out of college, I started streaming full-time and thought I would test the waters for that kind of shit. And it worked. So I figured I might as well get paid for it.”

“Yeah, but now you have to hide away all the time. Doesn’t that get lonely?” Her question caught me off guard, and I had to think a moment before answering. Had I been lonely?

“There are so many people that aren’t part of this world I’m in,” I told her while thinking out loud. “I can normally go out, and no one will know me. No one knows what I look like, and it would take someone that was really well acquainted with my streams to recognize my voice. A lot of guys have deep voices. And I have to get groceries somehow.”

She laughed at my little joke and then tilted her head as she looked me up and down. “Tell me some of the things people have asked for,” she blurted. I blinked. That seemed to have come out of nowhere. She looked up at me with a little spark in her eyes that threw down a challenge.

Would I actually show her this side of me?

The answer was yes. Fuck yes.

My little pet did want to play, after all.

“This has to be off the record, Quinlan. I don’t want people thinking I took advantage of you, and I don’t want you to take this and twist my words to make it seem like I said these things to you inappropriately.”

She took a deep breath, seemingly steadying herself, and closed her laptop with a satisfying click. She made sure everything else was turned off and sat it all on the floor at our feet.

She turned back to me, crossing her legs like a pretzel underneath her. I put my arm on the back of the couch and reached out, running my fingers through her hair. Fuck, it was soft.

“Better?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

I nodded.

“Do you want to play a game with me, Quinlan?”

She looked unsure of herself but took a deep breath.

“Yes.”

I smiled.

“Are you going to be a good girl for me tonight, Quinlan?”

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t answer. She didn’t realize that this was where the night was going to take a turn. It was my turn to take over this little interview and turn it into something far more fun for the both of us.

“I asked you a question,” I stated. “It would be in your best interest to answer. I don’t like repeating myself.” I took a firmer hold on her hair, just tight enough that she would feel it start to pull at her scalp. “I’ll ask one…more…time.” My voice dropped even lower, and I saw her throat move as she swallowed. “Are you going to be a good girl for me tonight?”

She nodded, eyes wide and trained on me.

“Yes, sir is the appropriate answer.”

She took a small breath through her parted lips, and then on a sigh, the sweetest sound came from her mouth.

“Yes, sir.”