Page 22

“I don’t want the extra paperwork if you go missing,” Owen calls after her.

Daphne laughs, and I decide I like her a lot. Whatever flirty game she has going on with the sheriff, I hope she doesn’t get into danger.

Axel spins me around as a couple joins the group. “Ruby, this is Joel, who set up the retreat, and Brooke, his wife.”

Brooke slides a salad onto the table and offers me her hand. “Your hair is gorgeous. What a vibrant color.”

Her smile is warm and genuine.

“Do you drink wine?” She pulls a bottle out of her oversized purse and holds it up.

“Is the pope Catholic?”

She throws her head back and laughs. “You’re funny. Come over here and meet the girls. I think they’re going to like you.”

She takes my elbow, and I throw a look at Axel before she leads me off to the group of women by the bonfire. A few minutes later, I’ve got a glass of wine in my hand, the warmth of the fire on my face, and Axel at my back as I chat with the local women. This is so much better than hiding in a hotel room.

13

AXEL

On the screen in front of me, Cameron flops his hair to the side and smooths it down before posing for the camera. The screen freezes, and blocky text comes up calling him a particularly horrible name.

This isn’t one of my videos. I haven’t created anything new; all I’ve done is dig up old videos from his old feed and remind people they’re there. He’s taken down the originals, but they’ve already been copied by keyboard warriors.

I take a sip from my tumbler, and the whiskey burns my throat on the way down. It wasn’t supposed to get ugly like this. All I wanted was for those who hurt Ruby to feel what it’s like to be humiliated.

I never dreamed it would get this big. Ruby’s right; the internet is mean. And I’ve been fueling it, reposting the videos of Cameron every few days. This thing has taken on a life of its own, and people are editing the videos and sharing them and speaking about Cameron in the most derogatory terms.

It’s not what Ruby would want, I’m sure of that. When I started reposting the videos, my only thought was to avenge her. I never anticipated it would get so nasty.

I have to tell her what I’ve done. My stomach coils, and the whiskey tastes sour in my mouth. She’s going to hate that I did this behind her back. But she has to see it was all for her. To make those who hurt her pay for what they did.

My mouse hovers over a file on my PC. This one contains incriminating evidence on Bastion, the asshole who recorded the video and leaked it. The files contain recordings of things he said about his co-workers, his producers, and TV execs. Recordings that were never supposed to be heard. The kind of thing that ends a career and makes nobody a martyr. I was going to leak this next, along with similar stuff I dug up on the popular podcaster who enabled him.

It will destroy his career, and my plan was to leak them slowly as the Cameron videos began to die down.

But now I ask myself if this is what Ruby would want.

In my gut, I know the answer. Ruby has too much class for revenge, and I didn’t realize that until it was too late. Now I have to come clean and hope she understands my reasons.

I’ll tell her tomorrow night. I want to give her one more good day. She’s been so happy in the past week, moving about the resort with confidence. I don’t want to ruin that. We’ll have one more day together, and then I’ll tell her.

I shut down my PC and swig back the last of the whisky.

Ruby stirs as I climb into bed. Her eyes flutter open, and she smiles up at me.

“What’s the time?” Her voice is heavy with sleep.

“Shhh, go back to sleep.”

She closes her eyes, and I slip in next to her. She rolls into me, and her arm slides around my waist. Her breathing is heavy as she slips back into slumber.

I lie awake for a long time wrapped in her arms and staring at the ceiling.

14

RUBY