Page 86 of The Brave and the Reckless

“Again.”

Noah smiled and kissed the inside of my palm, and every bit of pain dissipated from my body. All I felt was my heart fluttering like a hummingbird.

Oh.

Oh no.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

When Renee cited me in for a talk, I’d expected her to introduce me to my replacement, but nobody but her waited in her office for me. I wasn’t entirely sure how all the online things were going. Lucas was very good at only keeping me in the loop on the positive feedback we got. That included people now actually submitting their fanfic snippets and even writing little scenes for us to act out. It was fun to engage with people like that. We were all playing make-believe in the same little universe. But there might be just as many negative comments, and I’d have no idea.

“I want to talk to you about two things today,” Renee said, gesturing for me to sit, “but I know it’s scary when the boss calls you in, so let me reassure you that your job is safe.”

“Okay…” I drew the word out. That wasn’t reassuring at all. That meant there were two issues other than finding a new Annie Lou.

I glanced down at my bare wrist. I’d only worn my brace around the house the last two days, and the sprain hadn’t impacted the shows, so I doubted this was one of her reasons.

“Let’s start with the harder one.” She cleared her throat and tilted her head, watching me intently. “I thought it might be easier to talk to me than to a stranger in HR, but I’ve never had to deal with something like this, so please excuse my directness. Are you being pressured into a relationship that you may not feel comfortable with?”

“What?” My mouth fell open. Surely, she couldn’t mean…

“There are security cameras in all our rides. Most people don’t realize that they run even when the park is technically closed. I did my monthly spot-check, and, well…”

Oh shit. I felt the color drain from my face. All the blood rushed to my heart, making it beat a thousand miles a minute.

“I am so sorry, Renee. I… I have…”

She held up a hand to silence me. “If this is a consensual relationship, we can discuss next steps. There’s no problem with employees dating, but we’d have to figure out some consequences for the… indiscretion. I mean, beyond your responsibility to represent Bravetown as a family-friendly environment at all times when you’re in the park, there’s also the very improper use of park machinery that I didn’t think we’d ever actually have to include in the employee guidebook. Even if so, my money would have been on the spouting fountain, I mean…” She cut herself off and took a deep breath. “Look, I am aware that there are some difficulties between you and Noah. He’s older and he’s more experienced at the park. I’d be a fool to disregard a certain power imbalance there. I haven’t reviewed the full footage, of course, but what I saw did make me want to talk to you.”

“Right,” I breathed. The footage where he practically tackled me into a cage, tied me to it with his belt and made me come until I couldn’t get out a single word. That footage. The very same night he told me he wanted all my ghost children to be happy and I could practically feel my ovaries fist-fighting my birth control. “Could you delete that video?”

“Are you sure? If you want, I can delete it from our servers but give you a copy if you change your mind.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” I nodded. “Noah and I… we haven’t told anyone, but we have been seeing each other.”

It was the first time I’d admitted anything like this outloud. And while it was the most non-committal phrasing I could come up with, my silly heart still bounced around in my chest.

“All right then.” Renee nodded, a smile playing across her lips and relief sagging through her shoulders. She liked Noah, I realized, and she had still given me a chance to speak up. “I’ll schedule a meeting for next week, with Noah and HR this time, so we can figure out how to handle this.”

“Could you hold off for a day? I want to talk to Noah in person first. We were obviously sneaking around because we aren’t ready for people to know about us. I’m seeing him tonight at Sinan’s birthday party, so I’ll talk to him then.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

“The other thing …”

The other thing boiled down to our online videos doing well. Not just ours, but the ones guests had captured over the last week, when Noah kept crashing my meet and greets. I knew he did it because I’d been facing some rude visitors. It worked. Once he was beside me, people weren’t so bold as to ask insulting questions. And Ace Ryder was such a shameless flirt, people were eating it up.

Somehow the small fact that Ace was now flirting with Annie before the show had drowned out many hate comments. It wasn’t about my stunt skills anymore or whether or not Annie was an archaic damsel in distress. It was about his hands around my waist and the way his face was right next to mine when he growled threats at me.

Renee wanted to know if I was comfortable expanding on that and making it a permanent staple in thepark. Thanks to the aforementionedindiscretion, she hadn’t wanted to suggest anything before she was sure that Noah and I were on good terms.

I told her I needed to think about it.

Noah and Iwereon good terms. At least I thought so. But I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with anything permanent right now… though I was even less sure if I could stomach leaving Bravetown at the end of summer season only to see Ace flirt with another Annie via a shaky phone video.

Only my brother would think that turning twenty-nine in the height of summer combined with a guest list consisting mostly of people who wore costumes every single day at work meant that his birthday party should be a costume party. I scratched my head on the way up to his and Zuri’s apartment. Hairspray and a dozen bobby pins kept the tight bun in place.

---