Page 48 of Wild Fixation
I head down the hall outside the practice room toward the bathrooms at the far end. When I find the facilities empty, I sink against the cool tile of the wall, letting it take my weight as I close my eyes and breathe for a few seconds.
All that quiet time with my own thoughts does me no good. In seconds, I’m pulling out my phone in search of distraction. I go right to social media, the ultimate distraction device, and scroll through while leaning against the wall. The bathroom remains empty, likely because no one can get into this damn place with that mob waiting for them outside, so I take my time watching cat videos and meme dances and whatever else the algorithm wants to feed me.
Then a live feed interrupts the flow of engagement bait.
My finger freezes over my phone screen as my heart pounds a warning against my ribs. The video shows a house with all the blinds shut, even in the middle of the day, and a mob of people waiting outside it. I know the house instantly, even though I’ve only been inside it once.
It’s Seth’s.
Any relief scrolling brought me vanishes as whoever’s filming fights to get closer to the house. The comments scrolling by on the side of the screen confirm my worst fears.
omg is that the bodyguard’s house???
wait which one? the creepy one or the hot one?
ask him about Jaceth!
Before I can wonder what the hell “Jaceth” is, someone goes and spells it out for me. I instantly wish they didn’t.
Hot! I ship it! Jacob x Seth!!!
Jacawn is so much better
What the fuck? They “ship” it? We’re people. Actual, real people. What the hell do they mean they “ship” it? How do they know about me and Seth in the first place? Or is this speculation, overenthusiastic fans constructing a reality that excites them?
I’m tempted to fling my phone across the room, but before I can the bathroom door opens, and Shawn creeps inside. He walks softly, like he’s afraid he might startle me.
“Hey, man,” he says.
“Did they send you to come babysit me?”
“No,” he says. “I offered.”
“That’s not actually better, you know.”
He shrugs and takes a spot on the wall beside me. His dark hair flops across his face, but apparently it doesn’t obscure his view of my phone.
“That Seth’s house?”
I sigh and tuck my phone away. “Yeah. Apparently they found out where he lives.” The moment I say it out loud, I bury my face in my hands. “Fuck, I feel awful. He lost his job. Now this. He doesn’t deserve any of this. All he tried to do was help me.”
Again, Shawn’s hand lands unexpectedly on my shoulder. That’s been happening more and more lately, and while it hasn’t become less strange, I’m starting to learn that Shawn can be surprisingly soft under all the tattoos and leather.
“It’s not your fault,” he says.
“I know, but that doesn’t make it better. They’re going to hunt him for sport until they get what they want from one of us.”
“What do they want?”
The question stops me in my tracks. It suggests a lot more than friendly curiosity. The way Shawn asks is kind of the way those fans in the video’s chat log were asking about us. Shit, does everyone know? I can’t imagine how, when Seth has been so aggressive about keeping it a secret.
With nothing left to lose, I lift my head and look right at Shawn. “How do you know?”
He shrugs again, which seems to be his default response when he’s uncomfortable with a question.
“Come on,” I push. “There must be something. In the comments they were calling us … Jaceth.”
“Jaceth?”
