Page 25 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

“Good lord, girl. You look like you just saw the boogeyman.” She leaned back, her hands on Eliza’s upper arms, her eyes scanning her face. “What’s wrong?”

“All the things,” she said, a catch in her voice. “All of them.”

“Oh no,” Hollyn said in that naturally empathetic way she had, the way that saidI understand on the deepest level and am here for you. It made Eliza want to cry.

“Shit.” Andi frowned and stepped around her to shut the door. “Okay. Sit. Tell us the things.”

Eliza settled into the chair closest to Andi’s desk. Hollyn immediately grabbed the box of pastries and opened it, offering Eliza a cinnamon roll.

Eliza took one, the sweet cinnamon scent the first thing that hadn’t turned her stomach all morning. She shoved a big bite in her mouth. When she’d swallowed it down, she forced the words out. “I had a date last night. From that Aligned app…”

Andi’s expression darkened as she sat on the edge of her desk. Eliza had no doubt her horror-writer friend was imagining every single terrifying possibility. She’d never been a fan of the dating apps. She called them serial-killer shopping apps.

Angry tears burned in Eliza’s throat, making it hard to talk. “This guy. That…bastard…did a…made a…”

“He did what?” Hollyn asked, leaning forward and putting a hand on her knee. “You’re scaring us, Eliza.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just…” The story poured out, Eliza barely taking a breath. When she was done, she pulled out her phone and handed it to Hollyn with the video pulled up.

Andi stepped behind Hollyn, and Hollyn hit Play. They watched the whole thing with grim looks on their faces. Hollyn had Tourette’s syndrome and her nose and cheek twitched, her growing agitation evident. Andi’s face got red.

When they were done, Hollyn handed the phone back to Eliza. “I can’t even… I don’t even know what to say.”

Eliza took another harsh bite of cinnamon roll.

“I do,” Andi said. “I’m thinking of at least a hundred painful ways I could kill this guy. I’m leaning toward removing his balls and shoving them down his throat. Or maybe just a good ice pick to the asshole.”

Eliza snorted, some sound between a laugh and a cry, and almost choked on her pastry. Andi could always be counted on to bring levity to a dark situation, and she was the best at colorful death threats.

“I just don’t get it,” Hollyn said. “Why would he do this? What’s the point?”

Eliza shook her head. “The therapist part of my brain keeps trying to answer that, searching for the motivation. Is it just to get a laugh? Or to make himself feel superior? Maybe he didn’t even think about how it could tank my business, because God knows he didn’t seem to care about anyone but himself, but this could be really damaging. I’ve already had a cancellation.” She groaned and put the half-eaten cinnamon roll back in the box. “God, I feel sick to my stomach again.”

“I’m so sorry, honey,” Andi said, sliding her hand along her forehead and pushing her bangs back like this was making her brain hurt. “This is just straight-up sadistic.”

Eliza sighed, sagging in the chair, thinking back to what she could remember from the night before, her brain searching for a diagnosis, something that would help her make sense of this. “I think this is just an ego thing.”

Andi sat on the edge of her desk again and handed Eliza one of the coffees that had been next to the pastry box.

Eliza took a small sip. “I didn’t fall all over him last night—even after he got me drunk—so he’s going to make me pay for wounding his precious pride. He can mess with my career, my image. He can shame me.”

“Ugh,” Hollyn said, her nose wrinkling. “I bet he’s really, really bad in bed.”

“Oh, no doubt,” Eliza said. “Probably only does it in front of a mirror so he can watch himself.Oh baby, tell me how good I am.”

Andi snorted. “Probably calls out his own name when he jerks off.”

Eliza laughed, almost spilling her coffee, and Hollyn pressed her hand over her mouth, trying not to spit out a bite of cinnamon roll.

“Thanks,” Eliza said, looking back and forth between her friends. “Laughing feels better than crying.”

“What have you done so far?” Hollyn asked. “Did you try to report the video?”

“I’ve made my social media private, deleted the post that people were leaving rude comments on, and closed my YouTube to any new comments. But…I’m not really sure where to go from here. I have no access to Ryan’s video.”

Andi frowned, her fingernails tapping against the desk. “There’s got to be a way to get it taken down. Isn’t it like defamation or something? If it could damage your career?”

“I don’t know.” Eliza rubbed the spot between her eyes where her hangover headache was still throbbing. “My guess is pursuing something like that isn’t a quick process. I’m going to dig deeper into that site to see if there’s a place to report the video, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. Once something is out there, it’s like playing Whac-A-Mole. And Ryan could conceivably post it again as soon as I get it taken down. I don’t know if playing defense is going to work.”

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