Page 28 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean, I guess it’s not a coincidence that you’re living here if you’re hooking up with Conor Flynn.”

My cheeks blazed for a second. “I’m not hooking up with Conor Flynn. I work for him...for his summer tour.”

“My bad.” He shook the mouse. “My bad, Janey Waney.”

“What gave you that idea? How’d you even know I was working this tour?”

“It might surprise you...” he patted his pumped-up chest “...but I do follow celebrity gossip. Mostly just to keep an eye on Ian’s PR image. He’s had some...problems in the past with social media, and Ivy asked me to watch out for anything shady—and deal with it.”

The way Matt’s hazel eyes hardened to green chips with those final words clamped the back of my neck with cold fingers. The easy-going stoner had morphed into someone with a dangerous edge for a second. At least Janey Waney would be safe with him.

“That’s good...I guess, but I’m pretty sure I’m not involved in any celebrity gossip.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that, Noelle.” He fished his phone from the back pocket of his jorts. “A couple of fans took some pictures of you and Conor looking cozy at the In-N-Out by LAX.”

“What?” I twisted my hair over my shoulder. “That’s nonsense. We were working.”

“Okay, I believe you. Poking around social media makes me feel dirty—and that’s saying a lot. I don’t believe ninety percent of the bullshit I see on there.”

Jane grabbed the mouse in her mouth and ran circles around Matt as he swiped through his phone.

He thrust it toward me, and I leaned in to look at the video. Had we really been lying that closely together? It almost looked like we were holding hands.

I flicked the edge of the phone with my fingernail. “Looks cozier than it was. We’re just watching the planes come in. It’s loud, and we were talking, so we had to keep our heads close to hear what we were saying to each other.”

“I guess.” He shrugged and tapped his phone. “If you need me to...handle anything for you, I can do that.”

“Handle?” I laughed. “You mean like track down the poster and make her delete the video?”

Matt’s eyes turned to slits. “Yeah.”

The smile dropped from my face, and I gnawed on my thumbnail. What kind of family did Ian get involved with? “I don’t think that’s necessary, Matt. Just take good care of Jane while I’m gone. I’ll leave you instructions about her food before I leave.”

“Yeah, sure. Happy to do it.” He crouched and scratched Jane behind the ear. “We’ll have a good time, won’t we, Jane?”

My phone blared the ringtone for Dina. “I better get that. It’s my boss.”

“I’m out.” Matt tore himself away from Jane and closed the door behind him while I grabbed my phone.

Dina’s name and picture flashed on the display. “Hi, Dina. I checked out the tour bus today. It’s legit.”

“Yeah, that’s not all you were checking out today.”

“Huh? Excuse me?” I could read Dina’s mood better than Netflix anticipating my next binge. And that edge to her voice meant trouble.

“I saw a post of you and Conor snuggling on some grass. Several different fan accounts shared it across socials. What the fuck, Noelle? I heard you had a little crush on him back in the day, but I didn’t think you’d let that affect your job.”

Wait. Cozying had become cuddling? And I wasn’t going to be the one to break it to Dina, but Conor and I had more than a little crush. She didn’t need to know that at this precise moment, though.

I blew a puff of air from my lips. “That’s ridiculous, Dina. We were on the grass watching the planes land—like a bunch of other people out there. Hardly an intimate moment. It was loud, and we were talking about the tour, so we got a little close.”

Dina mumbled something under her breath that sounded a lot like cuss words. “Just watch it, Noelle. Conor and Ashley are supposed to be an item. We don’t want people questioning that.”

“Got it. On it. Of course. Won’t happen again.”

“I just hope Ashley Bennett and Orlando don’t see it. We do not need that man interfering in our management of this tour.”