Page 3 of Jealous Mountain Man
“It’s an invasion of privacy,” I said.
That was the plan I’d come up with to get her to take it down. I couldn’t tell the truth, so privacy was the route I was taking.
“I understand,” she said. “But it’s too late. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube after you’ve already squeezed it out.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s like continuing to squeeze toothpaste out even though you realize you’re making a mess.”
She tilted her head. A frown took over those delicate features. I definitely needed to explain a little better.
“The longer it stays out there, the more people are going to see it,” I pointed out. “I’ve already had one person I know come across it. That’s enough for me.”
“You were in a public place,” she said, finally dropping her arms to her sides. “You had no reasonable expectation of privacy.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she seriously bringing out the legalities of this?
“Look, I don’t care if you keep the video up,” I said. “Just blur my face. I’m not looking at the camera, anyway, and I don’t think anyone’s paying that much attention to my face.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“People canseemy face. All it takes is someone recognizing me and sharing it with other people I know. I just don’t want that kind of stuff spread around. I’m a private person.”
I couldn’t stress that enough. I’d always been that way, even before I had a reason to hide. I couldn’t imagine any version of me being comfortable with my likeness spreading across the internet.
“Okay,” she said.
My eyes widened. “Okay?”
Really? She was going to agree to this? Not until then did I realize I’d fully expected her to say no. I hadn’t prepared for what I’d do about it, but it was a total surprise that she was game.
“I’ll take down your video on one condition,” she said.
Here it was—the catch. But I couldn’t imagine anything she’d ask me to do that would be worse than being tracked down here in Seduction Summit by the wrong people.
There was only one way to find out. I took a deep breath and asked, “What’s that?”
“Shoot a new video. In fact, multiple videos. I’ll keep your face out of the picture. Deal?”
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared down at the screen as she swiped and tapped around on it. She turned the screen toward me. My image filled it. My face was clearly visible. It was my profile, but anyone who knew me would spot my signature square jaw. Not to mention my slightly imperfect nose that still had a bump from where I broke it in fifth grade playing softball.
What choice did I have? Just the sight of that video made me want to relocate to another country and change my name. So I gave a nod and stared at the screen.
“Delete that right now, and you have a deal.”
3
LARSEN
Enzo could have backed out on his end of the deal. I fully realized that as I was watching him step into the water.
He wore only underwear this time, and I’d promised not to start shooting until he was in the water. Apparently, even when his face wasn’t onscreen, he was weird about being plastered across the internet wearing only his underwear.
Okay, yeah, I couldn’t blame him for that.
“Ready?” he asked.
We’d already captured a few clips of him chopping wood while wearing only his jeans and tennis shoes. We needed a change of scenery, and that was what had brought us to the pond behind his house.
He squatted down in the water and slowly stood, just as instructed. Once standing, he lifted his arms toward his head. The camera perfectly captured the hard contours of his body as the water cascaded off it. The whole thing was like something straight out of a movie or music video.
