Page 25 of While You Were Trending

Requests.

Don’t do it, my brain tells my heart.Don’t fall for her again. This isn’t a second chance. This is a job.

My heart flips my brain off and leaps anyway.

“Like what?” I ask.

“I willnotappear on video. And don’t try any technicalities with me. No video on your phone. No video using a camera. No video with webcams, integrated into a computer or not. Novideoonanykind of device. No audio either. You can’t use anything with my voice or my picture or any video with me on it in any way.”

“Understood.”

“You willnotinvite my mother to join us.”

Ginny’s wrong that I’ve always hated her, but she’s right that I’ve always hated her mother.

And I don’t hate people. “I’d rather gnaw on a hockey puck without my teeth.”

“And you can’t tell—” She grimaces. “You can’t tell Alex I’m here.”

“No reason to.”

“Because of the contract, I acknowledge that you’ll be in the main house on occasion. Stay out of the office. Stay out of the den. Don’t go up any stairs. And only be there when you absolutely have to be, or when I’ve expressly invited you.”

“Noted.”

“Don’t talk to any children you see.”

“There are children here?”

“Do nottalk to any children you might see, and don’t ask questions about anything beyond wine production stuff.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up again.

Something’s off.

Not right.

My suspicions from earlier come flooding back. What thefuckare they doing here?

“Are you in trouble?” I ask her quietly.

“Am I—what?”

“Are you in trouble?”

“No, I’m not in trouble.”

“If you are, I can?—”

“I’m not in trouble, Declan.”

“Something fucking weird’s going on here. All of the privacy, the NDAs, all of thedon’t talk to kidsandstick to the wine—are you stuck here? Is someone holding you hostage? Is this a cult? What the actual fuck’s going on here?”

She stares at me for a long moment, then she pulls her sunglasses off, and she heaves a sigh. “It’s not a cult.”

“Then…?”

“You realizeyou’re the outsider here? Askingusfor something? I don’t have to tell you a thing.”