“It’s a guy thing,” he said, a little defensively. “It helps us sleep.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They’d called me in here to talk about masturbating? I could barely focus on that bizarre fact, however, because I was so glad that they weren’t telling me to go. My relief wasn’t just because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. No, it went deeper than that. We’d only known each other a few days, but I thought… I thought we were becoming friends. When it sounded like they wanted me gone, it hurt.
“Say something,” Jude said, looking a bit apprehensive.
“I thought you wanted me to move out.”
“No way,” Jude said, and warmth flooded me as he reached over and squeezed my hand. “You belong here.” To my shock, Mason nodded in agreement.
“Thanks.” I needed to regroup, because right now, my brain was stuck on the wonderful fact that I didn’t have to leave. “So… what are you saying, do you want me to stay out of the bedroom for a while at night or something?”
“Not necessarily,” Jude said. “We’re just asking if you’d mind if we discretely… took care of things before bed. I mean, we can do it in the shower, but since we’re sharing one, that’s not always possible.”
“And it’s not the same,” Mason said. “It’s just so much easier to rub one out, grab a tissue, and then roll over and fall asleep.” He grinned. “When you’re with a woman, you get yelled at if you fall asleep right away, but that’s not an issue when you’re alone.”
I tried to wrap my head around that. “But you’re not alone. You guys said you all shared a room last year, right?”
They nodded.
“So did you all just do it at the same time?”
Mason snorted. “It’s not like we all laid down and said one, two, three, go. A lot of times we didn’t even head for bed at the same time. But if two guys are in there at the same time and they both need some stress relief, you’re just supposed to politely pretend you don’t know what the other guy is doing.”
“So you want me to just pretend not to notice?”
Mason nodded, but Jude shook his head. “We wanted to find out if it’s going to bother you.”
I thought about that for a moment. Would it? I honestly didn’t think so. It might be a bit awkward, though.
“Did you have roommates when you were an undergrad? Do women do the same thing?” Mason asked.
My roommate freshman year had had a boyfriend, and she often stayed at his place. Sophomore year, my roommate Terry and I had been night owls and had often gone to sleep at the same time in the wee hours of the morning. I couldn’t remember touching myself while she was sleeping in the next bed over—nor her doing the same. But maybe she did and I just hadn’t realized?
Mason took my silence for a no. “It’s pretty common with men. We’re guys in our twenties—this is what we’re known for.”
That made me laugh until a new thought stopped me in my tracks. “Wait, is that why you all have been so cranky? And not able to fall asleep at night?”
“Yep,” Mason said. “See what we’ve gone through on your behalf?”
Jude rolled his eyes. “Ignore him. We won’t do it if it’s going to make you uncomfortable,” Jude said. Mason scowled but didn’t contradict him.
Suddenly, I had my answer. What someone did in their own bed was their business. “It won’t bother me.”
Mason pumped his fist in the air and I bit back a laugh. Men were very strange creatures.
“We appreciate that, but if it gets too weird for you, just let us know,” Jude said.
That felt like a natural spot to end this bizarre conversation, but questions bubbled in my brain, and who knew if I’d ever have a chance to ask them again. “Uh… so when you do that, what do you think about?” Now that I wasn’t on the spot anymore, I couldn’t help thinking about Jude under the covers, his hand slipping inside the gray boxer briefs he wore to bed last night. Or Mason’s hand stroking slowly up and down his hard cock. I wasn’t sure about Parker. He barely used his bed for sleeping, let alone jerking off. Hmm, maybe he should though. Mason said it helped them sleep, and Parker could sure use some more of that.
“Depends on my mood,” Jude said, not sounding uncomfortable with the question. “Sometimes it’s something I’ve done with an ex. Or something I’d like to do with a pretty woman I’ve seen recently.”
“Or an actress or pop star,” Mason added. “Or porn.”
“You watch porn when you do it?”
“Not when we share a room,” Jude said. “That would be a step too far.”