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My hands went numb. It was only my server friend’s quick fingers and my automatic reaction that could save my dignity and Tia’s customer service reputation for taking a tumble.
With barely a nod of thanks to my co-worker, I dashed away.
Bo somehow intercepted my path and got me to a bathroom. She locked the door and, for an extra level of protection, she spell-locked it from prying ears.
“What were they talking about?” she said. “Out with it, I could tell you were upset from across the room, and knowing those bitches, I have a fair guess it was them. What did they say to you?”
I gave Bo a watery half-smile at the way she was ready to rip apart the orcs merrily laughing over my quietly crumbling heart and ego. “At first, it all seemed fun enough. Girls’ night out. Trash talk guys. Same old, same old.” I took a steadying breath. “But then, they mentioned something about a thing that was posted to the orc net.”
Bo’s eyes widened. “The orc net? That can’t be good.”
“What’s ‘the orc-net’? Is it like the Internet? Are you able to get in on that?” Bo pulled out a mobile device that I hadn’t seen before. “What’s that?”
“This is what I have to use when I’m home. You know, since magic and technology don’t work well together most of the time.”
That was an understatement. It was why I spent most of my time on campus so I could work on my assignments there without having to worry about huge glitches eating my work.
She looked at me blandly. “Of course I can. It’s like one of your virtual private network type deals. You know the types that corporations have to keep their company stuff private, but you can still log in remotely. In fact…hold on a sec.” A few finger taps later, and she was in. “Boom! Got it!”
Her look of triumph melted away and a gray pallor went over her face. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
My stomach clenched. “What is it?”
She looked at me, frozen, as if she realized I was still standing there. I reached for her device, which she held away from me at arm’s length.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” I jumped up to grab it, but I was no match for her goddess-like height.
“Capri, this is not what you want to see. You…it would be devastating.”
Bo, being serious and showing this level of empathy, ratcheted up my anxiety by a factor of ten. “It’s already killing me now, not knowing what it is, so you might as well just show me.”
After a long moment of silently glaring at me, Bo closed her eyes in defeat. “Okay, you win. You’re an adult, and you deserve to know.”
She handed me her mobile, and tapped ‘play’ on the screen before moving away and leaning against the door.
It was definitely worse than I thought.
“It’s been over a millennium since the river tribe hunted Orcs, but we still have a few heirlooms made from orc skin. I’m sure no one would notice if I added to that collection bit by bit.”
I knew she joked, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around what I was seeing. It looked like your average homemade porn video. Except instead of random strangers, I knew the stars. And one of them was me.
“I don’t even know why I’m crying,” I said. “It was just a one-night stand. I should have known better.”
Bo tore the unit from my hand, her eyes flashing with rage. “One-night stand does not equate to a secret recording that was publicly broadcast without your permission!” She paced, clenching and unclenching her fists. “And what gets me is the whole host of aftercare and food. Like the entire ‘boyfriend’ experience…and then he does this. That’s a level of emotional manipulation that I did not think Declan would be capable of.”
The funny thing was, I was more upset about the fact that he already had a sworn mate. He had turned me into that girl. The other woman. The mistress.
My face twisted in disgust. The secret recording was despicable, but at least there were no identifying markings of me. And since I didn’t make it a habit to walk around naked, no one else would recognize me from that dimly-lit body shot.
Hell, I doubted even my previous sexual partners would have even recognized me. The few encoutners I had only cared about their dick and barely touched me otherwise.
No, the truly offensive thing was being party to unfaithfulness. Cheating, low-level, douche canoe behavior. “I would never have thought Declan would be the type. Or any of them. They seemed so…honorable.”
Bo snorted. “Oh, that’s just the thing, sweetie. We never think that men could get any lower. Like, how is it possible for them to conceive of such things and yet here we are with another level of fuckery?”
The thought of their betrayal stung my eyes. Not that my body was out there on display or the fact that I even gave myself over to them. It was the fact that I allowed myself to trust them with something that was so powerful and emotional.
I had actually thought the night meant something, and they made me feel safe and cherished and turned out that I was just a prop for them.
