Streamers and a Stud: Ch. 15 (In-Progress Preview)

This is an in-progress update to chapter fifteen of Streamers and a Stud.

Author's note: So.. the aftermath of last chapter's cliffhanger required a lot more nuance than I initially anticipated. I couldn't just jump into the next section without a proper segue. That's the bulk of what is shown here, and I will probably still go back and add more. I'm entering a phase of the story where the increasing number of complex characters and events will inevitably lead to plot holes, and I'm doing my best to mitigate those. The slow-paced plot transition is mostly done, as far as this chapter is concerned, and I'm looking forward to getting to the real meat of this chapter.

What's shown here is about five thousand words, and I plan to double or triple that by the time the final version is published. When that will be, I'm honestly not sure. Could be this weekend or it could be another two weeks. Now that I'm through the muck, progress should flow like piss onto a streamer's face.

If you have any questions, shoot me a DM.

***

<Chapter Title Undecided>

Absolute disbelief filled the room, thickening the air and making it hard to breathe. The surreal moment demanded pause from each witness. No one moved. No one even blinked.

Emotions had been running high– sure, but the intensity of the situation hadn’t yet crossed the threshold of requiring violence. It could have been settled peacefully. That was the most prevalent opinion in the room, at least.

Evidently, Lily saw it differently, and since she held the knife, her opinion was the only one that mattered.

There Michael stood.. with a giant kitchen knife piercing his back, placed there, impaled there, by his loving and seemingly psychotic girlfriend, Lily.

Lily of all people. Michael’s longtime partner. The sweetest fucking couple around. The nerdiest love birds in the whole streaming industry. Josh had come in and corrupted their relationship, but the immediate aftermath surpassed all exaggerated expectations. It was real life hyperbole. It was absurdity in its purest form. It just didn’t make sense.

Imane’s hand shot up to cover her open mouth. Kyedae had two hands on hers and her eyes were as wide as saucers.

But somehow, Lily appeared to be the most stunned person in the room. She looked at her right hand as if it wasn’t her own; as if it didn’t just turn a kitchen utensil into a potential murder weapon.

These reactions all happened within seconds. Shock paralyzed the women in the room, but someone had to act. Luckily for them, Josh had too much on the line not to.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward to grab Michael’s body, which had just begun to collapse onto the floor. Josh gently placed him on his stomach as blood began to flood from the wound.

He quickly analyzed the gash and the knife, doing his best to keep Michael’s body steady. The incision was deep. Too deep to pull the knife out. It was likely stemming some of the bleeding, and that would work in their favor.

They would need as many advantages and as much luck as possible.. because Michael’s bleeding was worsening by the second.

As Josh decided to keep the knife in place, he put pressure on both sides of the wound and looked up.

With urgency, he ordered Imane to fetch two belts. “Fucking now, okay? I need them yesterday. First two you can find.”

Poki jumped at first. Josh’s voice was as blunt as always, but in a much different way this time. The adrenaline in his words was clear. Perhaps there was fear in there, too. It wasn’t something she could analyze for long though, so she nodded meekly and ran off.

Josh then turned to Kyedae and said, “I need you to open the front door, keep it propped open, and uh, start whatever car is parked out front. Needs.. needs to be an SUV. And open that fucking gate, got it?”

Kyedae shook out of her frozen state. The alarm in Josh’s tone was sobering. She nodded before heading to the front door, barefooted and still wearing her skimpy bikini. If someone’s life hadn’t been on the line, Josh would’ve taken a moment to appreciate her ass as it bounced away.

It was an unaffordable luxury though. Josh remained focused as he turned to Lily and gave her the most important task yet.

“I need you to call 911,” he demanded in a straightforward manner.

Lily’s face was clearly still horrified from her own actions. “911? Me? No.. no. I can’t.. how could I? Michael! I’m so sorry..”

“Lily, there’s no time, okay? I need you to call 911. Now.”

“No,” she whispered as she watched the blood pool on the floor. “It’s too late. They’ll.. they’ll arrest me.. they’ll arrest all of us! I killed him! Everything.. everything is ruined! I didn’t mean to do it.. please! Michael, please be okay!”

Lily’s heart swelled with deep regret as she stared at her dying boyfriend.

“Lily, look at me,” Josh managed to say without yelling. She was clearly frazzled. Her whole body was shaking, and yelling wouldn’t help her see reason. “No one is going to get arrested, okay? Everything.. is going to be fine. I’m going to fix this. Michael is going to be okay, and everything will go back to normal, but you have to listen to me. You have to.”

His assurance that things would work out was all Lily needed. She looked Josh in the eyes as her uncertainty visibly dissipated and nodded slowly.

Realizing that she might need exact instructions, Josh explained her responsibilities step by step. “Go grab your phone and dial 911. I think you left it out in the backyard.. by the hot tub, okay? Tell them exactly what happened. Michael, your boyfriend, has been stabbed. He needs an ambulance right away. Give them our address.”

Lily continued nodding and mumbled the directions back. “Ambulance right away.. give address..”

“They’re going to ask you how he was stabbed,” Josh continued, swallowing hard before he spoke his next words. “You’re going to be honest. He was out of control. He was mad, tensions were high, and I stabbed him.”

Lily’s eyes shot open. “You.. you stabbed him?”

“Yes, damn it, Lily,” Josh replied as blood gushed around his hands. “I stabbed him. I.. I didn’t know what he was going to do. He was yelling at you guys, and.. fuck, that sounds so pathetic. Oh man, this is screwed. Whatever– there’s no way around it now. Just.. I stabbed him, and you watched, okay? That’s all you did.”

“But.. you didn’t! It was me. I fucked up! You can’t–”

“There’s no more time,” Josh interrupted her as blood continued flowing onto the floor. He thought for a moment and added, “After you ask for an ambulance, tell them that we’re driving to the hospital instead. They.. they won’t get here in time to help him. No more questions.. just do it, okay? You got this.”

With those final words, he quickly stood up and scanned the living room. He could see Lily run outside to grab her phone with his peripheral vision, but she wasn’t his current focus. Thinking on his feet, he inspected the coffee table and removed the large glass top from its frame. It was rectangular and perfectly long enough for Michael’s body. He placed it next to Michael and carefully transferred his unconscious body until he was squarely on top of the makeshift stretcher.

The knife stared back at him, as daunting as ever. One stupid fucking knife was about to ruin all of his plans.

Imane showed up a moment later with an armful of belts, more than Josh asked for, and they hastily fastened them around Michael’s lower abdomen to maintain pressure on the wound. Josh used two longer belts to secure him onto the glass, and that was when Valkyrae walked downstairs.

Wearing nothing but a towel to cover her body, she stumbled onto a horrifying scene. “Hey, what’s with all the shouting? I’m trying to take a bath up here. A peaceful bath! And– and.. oh my god.. what the.. oh my god!”

Her face immediately shot from Michael’s bloody body to Josh. “What did you do? What the fuck did you do? What happened?” she shouted as she ran down the rest of the stairs and into the living room.

The hasty insinuation was telling. It revealed the distrust that was hidden within their complex relationship, all of which flew over Josh’s head. Of all the people in the home, Rae was really the only one to recognize what harm could come from their degenerate decline in morality.

But even she couldn’t have predicted something like this, and Josh couldn’t give Rae the explanations she was looking for. His focus was on Michael. After he tugged on the belts to ensure they would hold, Josh lifted the glass panel to waist level, raising Michael’s body along with it, and briefly paused to look at Rae.

“No time to explain. Throw some clothes on and get clothes for all the girls,” he said as he looked to Imane and realized everyone was still in their bikinis. “If you’re not in the car in thirty seconds, meet us at the nearest hospital.”

His voice was urgent and intentional. He said what he needed to and immediately rushed out the propped open front door. Imane rushed behind him to help with anything she could, and Lily followed shortly after hanging up with emergency services.

Rae stuttered as if she had more to say, but there was no one there to say it to. She had no idea what was going on, and she was terrified for her friend’s well-being. Despite all that, she did exactly as Josh asked. She ran back up the stairs, stumbling along the way, and tore four hoodies off of their hangers, breaking a few in the process. Reaching further up in her walk-in closet, she snatched a stack of neatly folded sweatpants and bolted back down the stairs.

Her mind was racing, and her heart was beating even faster. She didn’t want to be left behind. Skipping steps as she ran down the stairs, she jumped off at the bottom and used that momentum to boost herself out the front door and towards the stalled vehicle, not wasting a moment to turn off any lights or close any doors. Her towel was just barely hanging onto her body.

The SUV was chaotic with Josh instructing Lily to keep pressure on the wound, Kyedae shouting out directions for the closest emergency room, and Imane doing her best to secure the seatbelts on the glass panel. Rae didn’t bother to ask the questions that were plaguing her head. She just opened up the back, threw in the pile of clothes, and rolled in like it was an action movie.

The car began moving just as she managed to close the door, which forced her body to press against the window pane until she steadied herself. If she was a second slower with shutting the rear door, she likely would’ve fallen out, and she wondered if anyone would have even noticed.

Poki looked back a moment later, peering over the backseat and reached out to hold her hand. A small gesture, but an affectionate one.

Imane would have noticed for sure.

They shared somber glances that eased the tension a little bit. Regardless of the circumstances, they were all in it together.

Josh maneuvered through traffic like a madman. It was dark out, making the impromptu ambulance ride even more dangerous. He had his hazard lights on and was honking at anyone who wouldn’t move out of the way. He passed cars on the shoulder, flew through red lights as cautiously as one could with oncoming traffic, and at one point, drove over the curb and onto a sidewalk to avoid a mess of traffic that was slowing them down at an intersection. Pedestrians scattered out of the way, unaware of the medical emergency in the vehicle they were barrel rolling to avoid.

Kyedae was riding shotgun, feeding Josh exact instructions to make sure he knew what turns he needed to make well in advance. His driving was disorderly, necessarily so, but giving him a heads up on the navigation would make the drive safer for everyone.

Rae and Imane were both extremely grateful to be in the back seats. They knew Josh was just trying to get to the hospital as quickly as he could, but they weren’t sure they could have pulled off a few of his driving maneuvers if they were in the same position, and Kyedae’s task seemed equally as stressful.

Their job was to take care of Michael. Lily was, of course, keeping pressure on his wound, and they were helping to keep his body as steady as possible, a task which absolutely required multiple people.

A few minutes into the car ride, after tensions leveled off slightly, Rae captured a moment of peace and decided to gather information on their situation.

“What the hell happened?” Rae whispered towards Lily as tears streaked down her face. Her voice was purposely low so only Lily and Imane could hear. She didn’t want to distract Josh in any way, but she also wanted the truth, and Lily might not be as forthcoming if Josh was a part of the conversation.

Her emotional friend simply looked up and shook her head, clearly on the verge of bawling her eyes out. Imane noticed this immediately and leaned over to hold her friend close. Guilt drowned Rae’s curiosity as she realized her questions were poorly timed and a bit selfish.

“It’s going to be okay,” Imane murmured. “He’s going to be fine, and we’re all going to laugh about this in a few days. It.. it’ll be a funny inside joke we can tell each other. We just have to get through this hard part first, okay?”

Lily rested her head on Imane’s shoulder and closed her eyes, clearly comforted by her friend’s kind words.

They arrived at the hospital shortly after. By some miracle, they didn’t cross paths with any police along their route. Kyedae sprinted towards the emergency room entrance to alert the medical staff while Josh hopped out and got Michael out of the vehicle. Imane, Rae, and Lily all helped out with the seatbelts as three nurses rushed out with a stretcher in tow.

Lily wanted to help and come with them, but the medical professionals took over as soon as Michael was secured onto the gurney. The issue with their patient was obvious and needed no further explanation.

The group just stood there, watching as their friend was wheeled away.

That was the first time they all felt like they could breathe. They were barefooted, dressed in nothing but their swimsuits, some of which were still damp. Rae retreated to the car before anyone else, given that she was only dressed in a towel, and put on her pair of sweats and her sweater before crawling back out and handing out the rest of the clothes.

The girls dressed themselves as Josh rinsed off his bloody hands with a water bottle.

“Well, fuck me,” he blurted out, breaking the odd silence. “That was like a goddamn Grand Theft Auto mission. I’ve never done anything like that.”

The girls turned towards him and mostly replied with weak smiles. “You did really well,” Imane remarked in reference to his driving. “The ambulances here take forever to respond, and LA traffic would’ve slowed us down by another ten minutes if you didn’t do some of the stuff you did.”

Lily nodded in agreement.

“You did great,” Kyedae added with a bleak smirk. “But you had a good helper, too.”

Josh chuckled. “You were impressive, Kyedae. As soon as we saw that huge build up of cars on Lincoln Ave, you rerouted me like that,” Josh remarked with a snap of his fingers.

Kyedae’s smile grew warmer as the adrenaline of the whole situation began to die down. She didn’t respond verbally, but the appreciation was there.

After a few more moments of silence, Josh added, “I just hope he’s okay.”

“Oh, really?” Rae asked spitefully, surprising everyone. She was doing her best to keep her composure, pacing slightly until everyone was relaxed enough for her questions, but for all she knew, Josh was the one who stabbed their dear friend. “I mean, with Michael gone, you’d have Lily all to yourself. Isn’t that exactly what you want?”

The group went quiet for a few seconds. Imane and Kyedae kept glancing at Josh, but it was clear that he had no intention of revealing what actually happened.

He was protecting Lily. At his own expense. And this didn’t go unnoticed by the girls.

Lily finally stepped in to disrupt Valky’s staredown. “Rae, it.. it wasn’t him. He didn’t do anything. All he’s done is try to clean up my mess. It was me, okay? I.. I stabbed him.”

Rae’s face contorted from angry to simply confused.

“Why?” she asked. “Why on earth would you do that? You don’t have to protect him, Lily.”

“I’m not protecting anyone. That’s what happened! Michael was yelling. He was angry at everyone.. I don’t know. He.. he figured it out.”

Rae quickly put two and two together. “He caught you guys?” she asked, referring to the incredibly loud sex that Josh and Lily were having earlier that night. She heard it all the way in her own room, which fueled an intense masturbation session.

Lily shook her head. “No, no. He didn’t catch us. That.. fuck, that would’ve been a disaster. No, he was outside during.. while I was cheating on him. No, he said something about having it all on tape. Something about Tyson, I think. I don’t know. He must’ve talked to him and connected the dots somehow.”

Kyedae shifted in her standing position and became visibly worried.

“So he got mad, and.. you,” Rae continued, looking around to make sure no one else could hear. “You stabbed him?”

“He was yelling at Kyedae, asking her if Tyson knew what she was doing, and at Imane for being a bad friend, and at Josh.. he said he was going to show everyone. I don’t know. My protective instincts just kicked in.. I was seeing red, and.. and.. the knife was right there on the counter.”

Everyone was listening intently. Rae didn’t see what happened, so her curiosity was more than understandable, but the rest of them were just as confused by Lily’s bizarre behavior, even after having witnessed it themselves, so they wanted to hear Lily’s reasoning just as much as Rae did.

“I didn’t want to lose all of this. I felt like I just got invited into a weird sex cult, and oh my god, I was light-headed from how good it felt. Not just the sex, as amazing as that was, heh. Just.. being included, I guess. Being included in something so.. dirty, and with all my friends! It felt good.. before.. before,” she said, unable to find the words to finish her sentence. Instead, she raised her hand and moved it back and forth in a stabbing motion.

Her words took a few seconds for everyone to digest.

“So basically, you’re just as much of a freak as the rest of us,” Imane replied in an attempt to lighten the mood. Lust, jealousy, fear.. all of these emotions were understandable, given the complexity of their new dynamic, and each one could solely be responsible for erratic behavior.

Lily chuckled and looked up to see Kyedae and Rae smiling as well.

“We’ve all done some.. pretty fucked up stuff,” Kyedae added reassuringly as highlights from the past several days spun around in her head.

Rae felt the need to chime in. “Within reason, of course. We haven’t stabbed anyone before. That’s a line that–”

“Don’t even,” Kyedae interjected. “You and Poki literally sat down and helped Josh plan how he could get into my pants. And.. oh, I don’t think I even need to mention the tarp, do I? With Tyson?”

Rae understood her reference and showed off a guilty frown, shaking her head to dissuade any further descriptions.

“That’s what I thought. No moral high horse for you,” Kyedae gloated. “We’re all in this together.”

“Agreeeeeed,” Rae nodded with Lily and Imane joining in.

Another few moments of hushed glances arrived before further conversation.

“I can’t believe you really thought that I stabbed him,” Josh asked, finally inserting himself into the conversation. The girls seemed to be working it out themselves, but Rae’s wavering loyalty had been bugging him.

“Oh my god! I don’t know. It made the most sense.. more sense than this!” she remarked, waving her hand towards Lily.

“Sure, but I would’ve just knocked him out. What would I need a knife for?”

“Ehh, yeah.. okay, that’s true,” Rae admitted with a quick glance at his muscular arms. If Michael ever presented an actual threat, Josh surely would have neutralized it with one swift swing of his fist. “Everything was so intense. I didn’t know what to think! I.. I’m sorry, okay?”

Josh smirked and nodded, dismissing her need to apologize.

Lily walked over to Josh, who was sitting sideways in the passenger seat with the door open. She held her hands out, prompting Josh to pour the rest of the water so she could clean off the blood. They were the only two with blood on their hands, so to speak.

“I’m not going to catch anything, am I?” Josh mustered out as Lily rubbed her small hands together. “No STDs or other diseases I should know about?”

“Really?” Lily said with a slight giggle. “I’m assuming you’ve had sex with every girl here, but you’re worried about STDs from Michael?”

A chorus of laughs emitted from the group, and the mood seemed to shift in a positive manner. Their friend was in a bad way, but he was getting the best care possible, and nothing they did from outside would help his situation.

“So he really has had sex with all of us?” Lily asked again, wanting to confirm her suspicions.

Poki, Kyedae, and Rae all nodded, glancing at each other with knowing glares.

“Fuck, I have so many questions,” Lily confessed, antsy to find out how far Josh’s control over her friends went. “But I think we’re out of time.”

The group looked at her curiously. “Uhm.. the police. I called them. Josh asked me to.”

Josh suddenly remembered that detail and cursed himself. He was hoping to get a blowjob in the car while they waited for news about Michael, but there were consequences that he’d have to face before that happened.

“Yeah,” he began to say as each of his whores listened carefully. “Not calling for an ambulance would’ve looked suspicious. They’re probably going to question all of us, and we all need to give the same story.. so I guess I might not be seeing you for a while.”

Kyedae, Poki, and Rae all looked confused.

“What?” Kyedae asked. “Why not?”

“He told me to tell them that he’s the one who stabbed Michael,” Lily hesitantly interjected. That detail wasn’t known to the rest of the group in the midst of all the chaos, and they reacted just as she thought they would.

With stunned faces and gasps.

“Why would you do that?” Kyedae asked aggressively as she stepped towards Josh and punched his arm twice.

The reason was obvious though. Josh’s need to protect Lily didn’t need to be explained. The silence that followed did that for him.

Imane shook her head a few moments later. “Don’t be silly. We.. we can post your bail. It’s not like any of us are hurting for cash! We’ll see you very soon.”

Rae agreed. “You don’t have a record or anything, right? No reason they might deem you a flight risk?”

Josh shook his head and then laughed. “I just realized how little we actually know each other. I could have murder on my rap sheet and you guys wouldn’t know.”

Guilty looks spread across girls’ faces. Sexual attraction had accelerated their relationships with Josh, so that time where couples got to know each other wasn’t exactly a big priority for them, not that they were official couples in the first place.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kyedae blurted out. “He’ll still be arrested and charged. He’ll have a mugshot and it’ll be public and.. and.. people will know. It’ll be news. They’ll know Josh stabbed Michael, and we’ll never be able to go out in public with him or show him on stream.. not without being questioned. Why would we be hanging out with someone who hurt our friend?”

Kyedae was right. There weren’t enough lies in the world to explain that away. Not to drama hungry OfflineTV fans and cynics.

“Uhm, we.. we won’t have to worry about that,” Lily mumbled out.

“Huh?” Imane asked, searching for clarity.

“The police.. I didn’t tell them what Josh wanted me to.”

Wide eyes shot in her direction. Four pairs of them. She was certainly getting her fair share of attention tonight.

“Lily, why the fuck are you being so stringent with this information? What did you tell them?” Josh asked, stepping out of the car in an aggressive manner.

He had been in control of the situation. Everyone had been following his instructions, and things seemed to go as smoothly as they could have. He could control the outcome if he micromanaged the girls’ responsibilities. Even the follow up seemed like it would play out okay, as long as Lily had done her part, but that was seemingly not the case.

Lily looked at him in hesitation. “I didn’t tell them that you stabbed Michael. I know you wanted me to, but I didn’t! I.. I didn’t want you to take the blame, so.. I.. I kinda made something up.”

She had everyone’s attention. “I didn’t say he was stabbed at all. I told them that it was an accident. We were drinking, and.. ehm, we grabbed the knife to play that.. uhm, that knife roulette game. The one where you stab the spaces between your fingers? Well, we were deciding who would go first, and uh.. I was holding the knife. Michael was in the bathroom, didn’t know what was going on, and then.. when he came into the living room, he just barrel rolled over the back of the sofa and onto my lap. He does stuff like that! It’s.. believable, I think.”

Imane stuffed her face in her hands and turned around. “Fuck,” she exclaimed.

Rae visibly cringed, and Kyedae grimaced at the story.

It was a stretch. Far-fetched, to be sure.

But it was the tale they would have to stick to. It was already recorded on the 911 call.

Someone had to remain positive, and so, Josh came to Lily’s defense. “No, guys.. this could work. It’s.. it’s not horrible. Crazier things have happened with alcohol involved.”

Josh went on to explain what everyone needed to do. First and foremost, he had to make sure everyone had their stories straight, so Josh had Lily recite exactly what she said on the emergency call.

“You didn’t mention me at all?” Josh asked in surprise.

“Nope,” she replied before looking him in the eyes. “Which is why.. actually, uh.. I think you have to leave.”

Before the girls gathered their pitchforks, Lily went on to explain. “If they start asking us questions.. about Josh, who he is, what he was doing there.. I just know they’re going to figure it out. I’m not a good liar! I know you aren’t either, Rae, and Poki, you suck at lying too. I think I can handle the knife bullshit, if I repeat it enough in my head, but if they ask about Josh..”

“Damn,” Imane added. “She’s right. We can only handle so many lies. If they catch even a whiff of something not making sense, this could blow up way more than it needs to.”

Kyedae wanted to clarify. “So what? He hides in one of our rooms until this all blows over? He can use mine! Until.. until Tyson finishes his tourney and comes home..”

Rae shook her head. “What if the police want to come to the house and investigate? Oh my god. This is a clusterfuck.”

Josh shook his head. “No, no. It won’t come to that. They could pull up any minute now, so.. let’s just make it easy. Stick to Lily’s story. Exactly as she told it. You need to look more sad,” Josh said in Lily’s direction. He then looked around and added, “You all need to look more sad. I’ll just leave until the dust settles. Then you won’t have to worry about hiding me around the house or lying more than you need to. Maybe I could go to.. uh, fuck. I got nothing.”

Imane wracked her brain for a solution and smiled as one came to mind. “Well, we have a ton of friends here in LA that wouldn’t mind doing us a favor and taking you in. Though, I suppose most of them are girls and it might be a little awkward if you go alone..”

Lily thought it over and agreed. “Yeah, might be weird if we tried to push Josh onto Sydney and Jodi. Or onto Aria.”

“Jaime, too,” Imane added with a frown. “Leslie, Miyoung.. ugh. We need a place with dudes.”

Josh laughed. “Hey, I don’t mind staying with chicks. I’ve watched all of those girls! Jaime, Sydney, Jodi.. fuck. Aria and those tits!”

“Josh!” Kyedae laughed. “This is just to weather the storm. On short notice! Can’t be too blunt about it or else people will catch on and start talking.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t have sooooome fun,” Josh argued.

Lily, Rae, and Imane all smirked and rolled their eyes. Despite the circumstances, Josh was still thinking with his dick.

“But I agree,” he added. “It does have to come naturally. One chick at a time, nothing too aggressive. Any other suggestions?”

Poki tilted her head, as if the solution would untangle itself inside of her head and present itself.

Which, consequently, is exactly what happened. Her face beamed suddenly, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Have you ever visited Texas?” she asked Josh as a precursor. He smiled in response.

And that’s how Josh found himself knocking on the front door of a massive home in Austin, Texas. With a dumb flutter in his stomach, he took two steps back and waited for someone to answer.