Page 35 of Blue Moon

It took a moment for his words to sink in. And then I didn’t know how to feel. Sick? Horrified? Weirdly, neither of those things, although I would have expected it. Instead, my thighs clenched and my cheeks heated.

“Are you hitting on me?”

Another twitch. “Mildly.”

Well, heck.

Straight men were trouble, and Ryder Metcalfe might just be my downfall.

11

RYDER

“Were the photos just for show, or are you planning to blow up social media?” Ryder asked as he drove Luna home. She was in the back seat again, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Flirting with her was like walking over hot coals. Dangerous, but a real fucking buzz when he made it to the other side unscathed.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. Everyone expects me to take pictures, but the thought of brainstorming viral posts makes me feel so depressed. Is that crazy? I mean, I used to obsess over the numbers on my socials, but now I literally don’t care anymore. No, more than that—I’m tempted to delete all of my accounts. Should I?”

“I can’t make that decision for you, moon.”

If he did, he’d be no better than the many other people who’d taken away her agency over the years. He’d support Luna and act as a sounding board, but she needed to make her own choices.

“I suck at decisions.”

“Then let’s talk through the pros and cons.” An asshole in a truck cut into the line of traffic, and Ryder braked more sharply than he would have liked. “What were the good things about posting a lot on social media?”

“It kept Mom happy.”

“Is that relevant anymore?”

“Not really. It made me money too, but then I lost that, so what did it matter anyway?”

“You didn’t lose it, moon. Someone stole it.”

“Same difference.”

“No, to lose something implies a degree of carelessness. You did nothing wrong.”

In the latest update, Ana and Khatia still hadn’t found Irina, and Ana would have to leave Georgia soon because she had a young daughter to look after. Khatia, by all accounts, was keeping Hill on a short leash. She’d fitted him with a tracking device, and he was doing the housework in return for her not dropping him off the nearest bridge. The cyber team had done slightly better. They’d found pictures of Irina cached on various high-end dating sites, and it seemed Hill hadn’t been her first target.

“I still feel sick about it,” Luna said.

“Any more pros?”

“Honestly, I can’t think of any. Chasing those little hearts is like scaling a mountain and never getting to the top. The journey can be addictive, but now that I look back, I realise it achieved nothing in the real world. It was totally unfulfilling. And now everyone knows what my boobs look like.”

It had achieved nothing because, deep down, all Luna had wanted was for someone to love her, and Amethyst was incapable of that. She’d been trying to use social media as a substitute for affection.

And Ryder hated that the whole world had seen her boobs.

“You didn’t post that video, moon.”

“No, but if I hadn’t been Instafamous, it would have sunk without a trace.”

“I’m not sure about that—you’re still a well-known singer. Would you be where you are without the power of social media?”

“I got my record deal when I had, like, five thousand followers. And lost it because I had forty million.”

“Okay, let’s consider the pros and cons of not posting at all.”

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