Fuck. It's been ringing for so long if I don't answer now, I'll miss the call, and there's not enough time to run back to my room.Maybe he won't notice.
Cringing, I swipe up to answer his video call as I scoot down into the bed to only show me and the pillow.
"Miss me already?" asks Helix, also laying back on a pillow. But he's showing more of the room he's in, mostly a twin bed headboard and the bottom of some posters.
"Where are you?" I ask. "Is that—are you in your childhood bedroom?" They'd never told me where they were going. And I don't want him to know I'm missing them. They hired me to do a job. Emotions aren't supposed to be involved.
Helix flips the camera to pan around the room. It's not all that different from the room I'm lying in. More action figures and posters on the walls, though, covering up the bright, cheery blue paint.
"I'm visiting my parents, which means I'm trapped in this bedroom again," says Helix, flipping the camera back to him.
"You were really into posters it looks like." I glance past my phone at the posters dotting his walls.
Helix gives a choking laugh. "My mom wouldn't let me paint the room black, so I was determined to cover as much of this blue as possible."
"I've never heard you talk about your parents or family before," I say, pulling up the blanket to just under my chin to get extra cozy.
"It's never come up," says Helix, tilting his head in confusion.
"You could offer information, you know," I tell him. "I hardly know anything about any of you."
"You know a lot about us," says Helix, his eyes focused on the screen, but not on me.
"Your dick size and favorite sex position doesn't count," I counter. Now that we're on the topic, I want to know more about the gamers I'm dating. I mean, sleeping with. Or whatever.
"Where are you?" asks Helix.
"At home." I blush and glance around the room, anywhere but at the camera.
"Your comforter is pink. Where are you?"
"Tell me one fact about your family first," I bargain, pulling the black comforter up over my face to hide my embarrassment. This is so awkward and he's going to make fun of me or use this to get something.
"I have two brothers and one sister," says Helix. "Where are you?"
"That's barely an answer, and not even really personal," I complain, peeking my head out from under the blanket. My hair looks wild in the little box where I can see myself in our video call.
"You said one fact and I gave you three, now answer my question." Helix's voice is gruff as he slides down more into his childhood bed.
"I'm in your bed," I whisper.
Helix's responding grin says it all, and I hide my own smile in his pillow. Of all the beds I could have been in when he called, it had to be his. If he'd have texted, I could have had a heads up and moved anywhere else. Yet the way it makes him clearly happy for me to be in here sends a flutter into my heart. I fist my empty hand in his comforter and hold it close.
"What are you doing in my bed?" Helix sets down the phone so I only see the ceiling for a moment.
"Taking a nap." I am not about to tell him I was snooping in all of their rooms. Or that I'd climbed into his bed to feel closer to them and less alone in this big house.
Helix picks his phone back up, and now he's shirtless.
"Nothing else?" He raises an eyebrow and holds the phone at arm's length so I can see as his free hand slips beneath his covers.
Of course Helix's mind dives straight to the gutter. I'm notnottempted, but it's different when they're not here. They can't walk in to join me or turn me on. This distance feels too far.
"I'll tell you exactly what else if you tell me another fact," I tease. Our past deals have worked out fairly well so far. Maybe I can convince Helix to open up with the promise of dirty things.
I have no desire to analyze why I want to learn more about him. Perhaps my book boyfriends need to have more depth, and not just be great in bed.
"What do you want to know?" Helix groans, pulling his hand out from under the covers.