Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
*more indistinct muttering*
*more soft cursing*
Please, Chris, call me.
And if you already know what’s happened…don’t do anything crazy.
Yes, the situation sucks, it sucks hard, but you’re not the first person to have something like this happen and sadly, you won’t be the last. Lashing out at those responsible or any other act of violence or revenge isn’t the answer. We should let the authorities handle this.
Not saying the jerk doesn’t deserve to have his liver yanked out through his nostrils or whatever, but I have zero interest in visiting you in prison. The food sucks and even you won’t look good under that much fluorescent lighting.
*heavy sigh*
Okay. Call me when you get this.
Please. I want to be there for you, brother. I’m so sorry.
Ten minutes later…
CHRISTIAN: Jesus Christ, Matty, what’s wrong? I just finished listening to your voicemail! Did someone die? Did I die, and I just haven’t realized it yet?
MATTY: Can you talk? This will go faster on the phone.
CHRISTIAN: I can’t. I’m at a friend’s house and I don’t want to wake them up. They were really upset about something, so I slept over to offer moral support. I wouldn’t have realized you called except Bella managed to push through the bedroom door, crawl in bed with me, and start licking my face. When I was putting her in the bathroom, I noticed the messages.
MATTY: You can drop the “they” stuff, Chris. I know who you’re with. You might as well wake Starling up, too. She’s a smart cookie and an expert in schmoozing and public relations stuff. She’ll be able to come up with a better plan than we’ll be able to whip up alone.
And this involves her, too.
CHRISTIAN: What are you talking about? I tried to read between the lines in the voicemail, but I was still half asleep. Did someone find out Starling and I were seeing each other and get upset about it or something? Did they tell Barrett?
MATTY: Chris, someone leaked your tape.
CHRISTIAN: What tape?
Oh…shit.
You mean…
MATTY: From the bike shop. Starling’s in a fancy dress and you’re wearing a very unfortunate ruffled shirt until you’re not wearing anything. It’s all over the internet.
CHRISTIAN: FUCK!
MATTY: Yep. Exactly.
CHRISTIAN: It’s not funny Matty! Fuck! That was never supposed to be seen by anyone. Ever!
MATTY: I figured. That’s what I told my friend in the Cyber Division at the FBI. He’s sending takedown notices for us, but getting it taken down in the U.S. will take time and with the overseas sites, it’s a kind of a crapshoot, honestly. It all depends on whether or not the person running the site is having a compassionate moment and usually they aren’t. With those hosts, we might never get it taken down. It will likely be available for viewing in some capacity in perpetuity.
CHRISTIAN: I don’t know which part of that to address first—the part where my bad boy brother has a friend in the FBI or the fact that my private life is going to be online forever or the fact that you know the word perpetuity—but you don’t get it, Matty.
I’VE never even seen the tape. Neither has Starling.
I recorded it by accident. I put a nanny cam in the shop to catch whoever’s up to no good in there after hours and forgot it was in there when Starling and I decided to go there after the Ren Faire.
MATTY: Shit. I’m even more sorry, Chris. If it’s any comfort, what I saw of it—what LITTLE I saw, because I respect your privacy—wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. You’re two beautiful people doing a perfectly natural thing. The role-playing was a little weird, but fun, and you can tell how much you care about each other.
CHRISTIAN: FUCK YOU.
MATTY: Hey! Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m trying to help. We just need to calm down and move into problem solving mode.
CHRISTIAN: I can’t talk about this with you. Not yet. I have to tell Starling.
FUCK!
I can’t tell Starling. It might break her.
MATTY: I think she’s stronger than you give her credit for, man. Remember that social media thing from earlier in the summer? You gave her hell about taking down those memes, the ones where it looked like you were checking out that bulldog’s ass, but she didn’t. She didn’t waiver for a second, even when you started posting anonymous comments saying the pictures where in “poor taste.”
CHRISTIAN: That wasn’t me.
MATTY: Sure, it wasn’t.
CHRISTIAN: It was a few of my friends from the bachelorette party stuff. I asked them to do me a favor since I did them a solid when they were in need of pre-wedding-day entertainment.
But I’m not kidding about Starling. She’s not okay right now.
Kyle ran off earlier tonight. That’s why I’m sleeping over. She’s crazy upset. She loves that stupid turkey. And this is going to be a much bigger deal for her, man. Don’t tell anyone, but that was her first time.