Page 6 of Jax

Mia hesitated, her guard still up. But something about this conversation made her feel a spark of excitement deep inside, a sense of connection she hadn't experienced in ages. She cautiously replied.

"Probably the first story," she admitted, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "Mowgli’s brothers. I like the idea of being raised by wolves.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” replied Mia sincerely. “Being taught the rules of the jungle by a kind of family.”

Fred paused again. “Family is important.”

She blinked at his message. Who was this guy? Telling her that family was important? Why wasn’t he asking her to get naked yet? Come to think of it, why wasn’t he paying her anything?

“Anyway,” she wrote, “even thoughThe Jungle Bookis my favorite book, I think my favorite story of all is inThe Second Jungle Book.”

“Oh yeah?” replied Fred. “Which one? Wait. Let me guess.”

Mia frowned. Who the hell would know about the stories in that old book? Was this guy looking all this up on the internet while they were chatting?

“I think your favorite story is ‘How Fear Came,’” he wrote.

Her eyes widened. “Why?” she typed back.

“Your tiger tattoo.”

She swallowed. “My tiger tattoo?”

She braced herself for the punchline.Bet you’re a tiger between the sheets. Easy, tiger. Miaow. Look at those claws.But the punchline didn’t come. Fred didn’t say a single one of the things the guys at the club always said to her. Instead, he typed: “You have a tattoo of Shere Khan on the back of your neck. ‘How Fear Came’ tells the story of how tigers are sometimes justified in killing humans for sport—but only if the humans break the Law of the Jungle first.”

“Shit,” typed Mia. “Are you a walking encyclopedia or something?”

“Ha,” replied Fred. “Far from it. But I do like books.”

Mia smiled. She couldn’t help herself. “Me too.”

“I think Shere Khan is misunderstood,” typed Fred. “He had his reasons for hating mankind."

Mia nodded vigorously. “Totally. He was injured by humans, so he turned against them. That’s what I believe, anyway.” She bit her lip. “I love all the characters Kipling writes about though. They all have their own strengths, flaws, and motivations.”

“I agree,” wrote Fred. “And the way he describes the jungle, its creatures, and the complex ecosystem creates a living, breathing world. It feels real. You know?”

“Yeah,” she typed, her defenses slowly beginning to lower. "So, are you a fan too? Of Kipling? Or just an expert on all books?"

“Pretty much all books,” replied Fred. “But especially old ones. Ancient ones, in fact.”

“Which ones in particular?” asked Mia.

Fred named a few books she’d never heard of, but he explained each one so well it was like she was there.

As they continued to discuss literature, Mia couldn't help but feel a growing connection with Fred. It was as if he saw her as more than just a cam girl, as someone with intelligence and depth. It was a feeling she had long forgotten, and part of her yearned to hold onto it.

"Never thought I'd be having a conversation like this with a client," she typed, her heart pounding with a mix of fear and exhilaration. "It's . . . kinda nice."

"It’s nice for me too," Fred agreed. "You're something special, Mia."

Mia's fingers hovered over the keys, her heart racing. No one had ever called her special before. Could Fred be different from the other clients? Or was this just another trick, a way to get under her skin?

"Thanks," she typed back, her wariness still present but slowly fading. "You're not so bad yourself, Fred."

There was a silence between them, but it was a pleasant one. Instead of waiting for a nasty comment to appear, Mia reveled in a feeling she hadn’t experienced for a long time. One of connection. Empathy. Hope.

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