Page 47 of A Smile Full of Lies
Jesus Christ. I nearly got hard again just from that.
But clarity hit sharp in the aftermath. If my phone went off every damn time she liked a post, she’d figure it out. Ros wasn’t stupid. She’d put two and two together, and then this little secret, this tether between us, would blow wide open before I was ready.
I wiped my hand clean, grabbed one of my old burner phones from the drawer, and started signing in. Nox Obscura would live there now — permanently on silent, tucked away. I’d keep the mask airtight. She’d never see how close the monster really was.
But fuck, knowing every time she touched herself to my videos, she’d drop another heart? That was its own kind of high. That my words as StrayDog777 had pushed her there? God, I loved it. And the way she breathed in my scent on that hoodie while she fucked herself with her fingers? I’d never forget that moment as long as I lived.
I sat there in the afterglow, chest heaving, and all I could think about was the two masks she wore.
@MidnightRose: The glossy version she let the world see. Pretty, playful, curated — her face hidden just enough to stay mysterious, but not so much that she wasn’t stillherself. Rambling in her videos about her favorite horror movies after our Wednesday night movie nights, things like that.
Then there was GraveyardGirl93. The throwaway account on a forum. The one she thought was safe because it was anonymous. That’s the account she used to spill her secrets. The one where she felt safe enough to confess all her darkest cravings. The one she dropped straight into my lap without knowing.
And me? I was everywhere.
I was StrayDog777, coaxing her out of her guilt with every carefully placed word. I was Nox Obscura, the masked monster making her wet enough to soak the sheets in my guest room. I was Knox, the overprotective neighbor who dragged her across the yard and forced her under my roof when her life fell apart.
Her roommate. Her safety net. Her lifeline. Her guilty pleasure. I was everything to her, and she didn’t even know it yet. Everywhere she turned, she crashed right into another version of me, and I wasn’t fucking sorry.
I pulled myself together, zipped my pants back up, and killed the monitors. I took my bone conduction headphones off, silence ringing in their place. On my way down the hall, I let her hear the slow creak of my bedroom door as I opened it. I let my bare feet slap against the hardwood floor in steady, confident strides, not bothering to be quiet. I was being loud enough to fuck with her. Part of me hoped it would be enough to make her lie there underher my guest room sheets and wonder if I’d heard her moaning… wonder if that’s why I was up.
But I wasn’t going to bed. Not yet. I headed to the kitchen for a beer. The cold bottle clinked against the counter as I twisted the cap off, the hiss of carbonation rising into the dark kitchen. One long pull cooled my throat, but it didn’t cool the fire that had been boiling in my blood ever since Ros told me how her interview went today.
Sam Myers. That smug son of a bitch thought he could proposition Ros like she was some desperate girl he could leverage with a paycheck. He thought he could reduce her to a hole for him to use, while dangling her future like bait.
Not on my watch.
I stalked back down the hall, stopping at my office door just long enough to scoop my laptop off the desk. When I got back to my room, I wasn’t quiet about shutting my door, either. I wanted to make sure Ros knew I wasn’t asleep. Far from it, in fact.
I sank down onto the edge of my bed, set my beer down on the nightstand, and opened my laptop. My fingers flew over the keys, pulling up Stonewood Living’s scheduling system.
I created a calendar event that would push to everyone’s devices the second I set it.
Mandatory video call. 9:00 AM. All board members, executives, and editors are required to attend.
I’d burn that sorry motherfucker Myers down publicly and professionally. He’d choke on his own arrogance while the rest of them watched.
Ros had been humiliated today. Belittled. Put in a position she never should’ve been forced into. I couldn’t take that moment back for her, but I could make damn sure the man who caused it regretted the day he opened his mouth.
I hitconfirm, drained the last of my beer, and leaned back with a savage smile.
By morning, Sam Myers wouldn’t know what hit him.
Chapter
Thirteen
OCTOBER 15, 9:00 AM
ROS
I didn’t sleep.
Not really. I drifted, tossed, turned, tangled the sheets around my legs until they felt like a trap. Every time my body sagged toward rest, I jerked awake again, heart still wired from what I’d done last night, shame and need curling hot in my chest.
By the time sunlight blazed through the blinds, I’d given up on the idea of rest altogether. October in Alabama didn’t believe in soft mornings. The air was already warming, the cicadas screamed like chainsaws outside, and somebody a few streets over had a mower going. Normal. Too normal.
That is, until I heard the voices.
