Page 15 of Lucy and Her Wicked Three

"Hey man, quit with the judgy shit. We like what we like. No shame. As long as she knows what she's getting into."

"She doesn't, though. That's the problem. She has no idea who she fell for. I feel like I'm about to rip the rug from under herfeet. And all this shit with her friend, faking those pictures. I'm worried it's all gonna blow up in my face. In hers."

"Wait. Is she famous?"

Matty shrugs. "Kinda. Like, internet-famous. She has a million followers, but I don't—"

"Amillion?"

"Yeah."

Damn. "Is she hot?"

Matty glares, making me laugh. He finishes his second glass of bourbon and pulls away from the counter. "I need sleep. I gotta call my lawyer in the morning. I'll see you assholes tomorrow."

His easy dismissal might be offensive if I didn't know he was internally freaking out.

"We'll talk more tomorrow," Noah calls out as we watch Matty disappear back down the hall, slow and lost in thought, his bedroom door slamming shut behind him.

Noah runs his hands through his long hair, chewing his bottom lip.

"Not you too?" I ask.

"What?"

"You're worried."

"I am." Noah shrugs. Heading back into the living room, he picks up his laptop. "Anyway, where were we?"

Picking up the controller, I restart the game. "We got glitches on level four, scene one."

Matty is a finance bro, but Noah and I have been designing video games since we dropped out of college. I'm the artist, Noah's the coder. Well, we both code, but he's the one who has to deal with the glitches. I watch for color repeats and clarity in the characters. We've been testing this newest game for a few weeks, and it's almost ready for auction.

We have our own company, work freelance, and sell to major video game companies once we've got something tangible. Itlets us be creative and change what we're in the mood to work on, from first-person shooters to puzzles, selling to whichever company the game is best suited for. Sometimes it's our own project, sometimes we're hired to help with larger game production. The money's good, I hang with my best friend all day, and write my own schedule.

It's pretty perfect. Sure, there are some things missing. Matty, for instance. A woman to love and take care of.

But my life is pretty good.

Before bed, I end up trolling social media, searching every form of the name Lucy + Influencer, trying to find out what the little vixen looks like, but I give up after the fiftieth profile. It's okay.

Now that we know she exists, Matty's attempts to hide her from us are futile.

Chapter 6

Lucy

BlueBarbarella02 comments: I dunno, I think @WaywardDelaney is hotter than @ZenInTheCity - Mateo's never even in her pics, I bet she lied about dating him

NapCityReject comments: Zen needs a reality check, Mateo's better off BTW is it just me or does she look like if a porn star and a teletubbie had a baby

GhostGurrl99 comments: her voice is so annoying, no wonder he cheated, i'd fuckin kill myself if I had to hear that perky screech day in and out

BeastlyBestie comments: there's no way she hasn't had plastic surgery, fillers at least- she's obviously a liar. I believe Delaney, she seems way more down to earth

Thanks to the social media machine and Delaney's nonsense, my life's work is now cannon fodder. They're insatiable, greedily devouring every bit of my public persona, scouring old content, meticulously picking apart every reference I've ever made to Mateo. That he's never on camera only fuels their conspiracies, and the comments and DM's keep flooding in.

Everyone thinks my boyfriend is a cheater, and my typically sunny reputation is in the tank. But the idea of setting the record straight by opening my accounts to accuse Delaney publicly oflying spikes my anxiety so high and sharp I can't bring myself to pick up my phone, let alone open apps and do damage control.

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