Page 62 of Best Served Hot
‘Not before I downloaded that email to a USB stick from my laptop,’ he said proudly. ‘But still! To go into my phone and go through my shit. I’m going to report the pair of you. This is too fucking far!’
Nicole’s soul left her body. ‘You have it on a stick?’
‘OfcourseI do. I’m not stupid. Despite what you might think. Really, Nicole. I would think you’d know me well enough to know I wouldn’t play fast and loose with something like this.’ He seemed deeply offended. ‘I’ve hidden it somewhere you two will never find it. So don’t bother looking.’
‘So you’re just this upset we nicked your phone?’ Alex asked him.
He looked at her with loathing. ‘I don’t like people touching my stuff.’
Though they hadn’t made anything better, Nicole couldn’t let it turn into legal trouble. She had to think on her feet. ‘OK, Ethan. You got us. But if you report this, they’re going to ask questions about why exactly we were deleting things on your phone. And then I’m just going to explain about the video.’
‘Yes, and then you’ll be further in the shit,’ Ethan said happily. ‘You admitted to shady shit on that video.’
‘I guess that’s a possibility. But you’ll go down with us. You had that video for blackmail, if you recall. Which is also acrime,’ Nicole told him.
Ethan was further inflamed. ‘You can’t just… You don’t…’
‘Ethan, can we just call this one a draw?’ Alex asked tiredly.
Ethan opened his mouth to argue. And then closed it, thinking better of it. ‘Fine.’
As he was leaving the storage room, Alex stepped aside and went to stand with Nicole, side by side. Ethan turned on his way out and looked at them standing together. They looked back at him.
‘What?’ Alex asked, slipping a hand into Nicole’s. She didn’t know if it was for her support or her own, but Nicole was glad to take it.
Ethan looked at their hands for a little bit too long. And then walked out.
Nicole heard Lena out on the set, saying to Ethan, ‘She just got up! I don’t think she was really hurt.’ The door swung shut on the conversation.
Nicole turned to Alex. ‘Shit,’ she said simply.
‘Shit,’ Alex agreed.
They stood in silence for a moment, soaking in their defeat. ‘So, what now?’ Alex asked eventually.
Nicole shrugged. ‘I think that’s it. The plan failed.’
‘But there’s got to be something,’ Alex said. ‘It can’t just—’
‘Honey, it’s over,’ Nicole sighed. ‘We’ll never find that USB.’
Alex’s angry expression slipped away, turning into a small smile.
‘I can’t think why you’re smiling,’ Nicole said, joining in despite herself.
‘You just called me honey. You’ve never done that before.’
Nicole was wide-eyed with horror. ‘It just slipped out—’
‘Please don’t take it back. I liked it.A lot,’ Alex said quickly.
Nicole calmed quickly. ‘Maybe this is OK. Maybe it doesn’t have to matter. That he has that video of us.’
‘You think?’ Alex asked, seemingly open to persuasion.
Nicole wanted her to feel OK. Even if it meant she had to pretend she was less worried than she was. ‘I don’t think he’ll do anything with it. He just wants to have something over us. It doesn’t matter if we don’t let it matter.’
Alex nodded. ‘Yeah. Maybe.’ She gave Nicole a nervous smile. ‘And whatever else, he can’t take this, right? You and me?’
