Page 4 of Bro Amazing

"So you, all five of you, want the physical benefits of a girlfriend without the emotional labor? And the compensation is just room and board?" The very idea of this is egotistical and disgusting.

Besides, while I don't know much about this type of job, I'd imagine putting up with five different guys all the time would deserve more than just room and board as compensation. And then being …usedby all of them? I swallow hard at the thought.

"Yes," says Helix, biting his lip.

I can't believe these guys thought someone would actually agree to this. I can't believe I actually came here and have been considering taking them up on this offer. I never would have started this stupid interview process if I'd fully known what they expected.

I'd assumed it was one guy. Maybe pretend to be his girlfriend for friends and family, maybe to impress his boss. I'd read about that sort of thing in books, but this is taking it too far. They'd expect me to let them have sex with me whenever and however they like? I feel faint at the very thought.

"Okay, I've heard enough." I stand up quickly, and the chair rolls back a little with the momentum.

"So you'll take it?" asks Helix, standing as well. I can hear the hope in his voice.

"No, I need to go." I can't contemplate the idea of going from no boyfriend to suddenly having five, and basically being paid to service all of them sexually at their own whims. This whole situation is too ridiculous. I need to get out of here before they decide I can't leave.

"But we haven't even shown you your room yet," says Quintin.

All five of them follow me out into the hall as I hurry to the front door. Luckily, they don't try to grab me or restrain me. They let me go, which is surprising since they outnumber me and could easily overpower me.

"That's okay, I don't need to see it." They hadn't even locked the front door. "Good luck finding someone."

I don't really mean it, but saying the nice thing is too ingrained in me and it just slips out. I check over my shoulder every few steps as I hurry toward The El, but there's no one there. And they don't have any of my personal information to track me down, so I should be safe.

They hadn't even asked my name or anything about me. They don't care about who their live-in girlfriend is so long as she leaves them alone most of the time and spreads her legs whenever they ask.

Chapter Three

"Yes, I understand that rent is supposed to be paid monthly." I roll my eyes to the ceiling since my landlord can't see me over the phone. "What I'm asking is if I can get a small extension for this month."

"And I'm telling you, you need to either pay or I'm going to find a new tenant who can pay," he says, enunciating each word as if I'm an idiot. "This is a business, not a charity."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I ask, "When do I need to pay by?"

"Like every month, you need to pay by the seventh. If you can't do that, you need to move out by the eighth. Now get the money together, and stop calling me begging for an extension." He hangs up without a kind word.

At this point even if I could apply for and get a regular, full-time day job, I wouldn't get paid soon enough to cover the rent. Who knows if whatever I'd get paid would even cover it. My landlord keeps jumping the rent higher and higher every month, it seems, to keep it in line what he calls “market inflation.” Really, it's just increasing it until no one afford it.

I could ask Sasha if I could stay with her for a little while, and she'd say yes, but having to see every day how much better she'sdoing in life than me may push me over the edge. And she'd also see how much of a failure I am right now.

What I need is a miracle.

Dumping my uneaten bagel in the trash, I shuffle the bills that have accumulated on the counter into a pile to make room for the dirty plate. Things have kind of gotten away from me around this place as I've tried to write more in order to make more money. Basically, at this point I need not only a miracle in the short term, but maybe to switch to writing something different, something sexy, for the longer haul. But I have so little experience with that, I'd need to do a ton of research.

Uncovering the flyer from those guys looking for a live-in girlfriend, I stare at it. I don't know why I kept it. I should have thrown it out the minute I left their house last week.

It's a terrible idea to let any guy pay me to be his live-in girlfriend, let alone five guys I don't know. To basically let them use my body however they want for as long as I live with them and let them pay for everything.

It would solve my financial situation for right now though, and they didn't say there was a minimum time that I had to live there. Maybe I could stay with them while I save up a little bit of money again to live on my own. It's not like I'd be spending anything on bills, I'd only be making money.

Maybe finding the flyer tucked into this stack of unpaid bills is supposed to be some sort of sign? The universe telling me not to give up on my dream because there's a way to make it work?

Great.

Although, I do need more experience if I want to write something spicier and more to market. I could gain that experience from the five of them, if I really committed to this role. And an artist needs to give everything for their art. I think I read that somewhere. So it wouldn't be them using me so much as all of us using each other.

This viewpoint makes the whole idea a little more palatable, though it's not like I can see any other choices at the moment. Moving back home or in with Sasha would both be admitting defeat, that I can't survive on my own, that I'm not good enough.

I can't do that. Not yet.

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