Reno sat on the corner of the bed, both feet planted on the floor, with his phone in one hand and his other clamped tightly over his mouth.
“What’s going on?” Luka rubbed his eyes to clear them, then scooted to the edge of the bed next to Reno. When Reno didn’t move, only took in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut, Luka started to wonder if someone had died.
It felt like an eternity before Reno handed him the phone.
It was hot in his hand, but it wasn’t the heat that made Luka’s palm immediately start sweating. No one had died, but it felt like the next worst thing.
Article after article.
Photos on photos, threads with hundreds of commenters, posts piled on top of more posts containing Reno’s personal information.
His full name, his family’s location and names, his closeted sexuality with photographic proof, and somehow even medical records with his mental health diagnosis and therapy notes. Documents and recordings from the court cases were posted,allowing anyone to read or listen to Reno defending himself as Joy accused him of the worst.
Luka didn’t even care when he saw himself pop up over and over. They couldn’t actuallydoanything to him. So what if everyone knew his birth name and gender and where he’d grown up, or that he’d been separated from his parents? None of that mattered when they were being bombarded with articles tearing into Reno for his apparent sexual deviancy and social media threads speculating if he’d groomed Luka over all these years.
There wereso manyposts about Reno being gay and some about how hewasn’tactually gay because Luka wasn’t born a man.
Luka staggered out of the room and locked himself in the bathroom to heave into the toilet.
He’d ruined Reno’s career.
This was his fault.
He’d ruined Reno’s life.
Luka knew these kinds of things had so deeply scarred Reno in the past, and that his life balanced carefully, precariously, on the protections placed in his favor. With those broken, he wasn’t sure how Reno would recover again.
He pressed his forehead against the toilet seat and listened to his phone ringing in the other room.
He’d been so selfish.
If he stayed, things would just get worse for Reno. He’d been right since the beginning, that even if Reno knew the risks he was taking, Luka agreeing to those risks would tear Reno’s life apart. Now, even Reno’s name was public information, after all these years of hiding it to protect his family, his sisters, from having to bear the weight of his fame and the threat of overly devoted fans. That peace of mind was gone because Luka had said yes to Reno, over and over, even knowing it was a bad idea.And, if he stayed—if they were caught together after all of this—it would only cement the things they were saying online.
All because he’d been naive enough to trust someone new, to let someone close enough to Reno to hurt him again.
Reno didn’t deserve this. Luka pulled himself up off the ground and brushed his teeth, ready to tell Reno that this wasn’t his fault. But when he left the bathroom, Reno wasn’t on the bed anymore.
Luka slowly walked into the living room and spotted Reno in the kitchen, his elbows on the counter and his hands wrapped around a yellow mug full of steaming coffee. His phone was in front of him, dialing on speaker.
When he looked up at Luka, he thought that maybe this was the first time Reno and he had locked eyes and Reno had not smiled.
The phone stopped ringing. “Well, hello, my love.”
“Joy,” Reno replied, sounding cold in a way that Luka had never heard from him before.
Joy giggled over the line, “I’m so happy you’ve unblocked my number. They’re saying some pretty crazy things online and in the news today. I wonder what happened.” She hummed, and Reno’s expression went blank.
Luka felt like such a fool. This person was enough trouble that Reno needed her number blocked, needed a restraining order against her, and Luka had saddled right up next to her, letting her buy him drinks and telling him he was fun to be around.
“Your number is only unblocked to tell you I am taking legal action.”
“Now, why would you do that?” Joy replied, sounding amused. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I stayed away, just like you asked. I won’t even press charges against Arnaud even though he ruined my dress with that drink.”
Luka curled into himself, sinking onto the ground. Reno watched, his eyes narrowing, looking torn before he said, “I’m coming after you. This is the last time you mess with my life.”
And he hung up.
He pressed a few more things on his phone before it rang again.
