Page 76 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“It’s no longer a rumor.”

Noelle glanced over at Ashley, a little smile playing on her lips, accepting accolades from her dancers—total ass-kissing session, and in Tomo’s case, it could be literal ass-kissing. Ash seemed completely unbothered.

“What do you mean, no longer a rumor?” I reached into my pocket and turned my phone back on. It immediately buzzed with notifications.

Grabbing my arm, Noelle dragged me into the back recesses of the stage. She held out her phone for me to see some TikTok post. I took the phone from her to study the grainy video on the post—me and Noelle walking away from the bus, my arm around her, our clinch and kiss.

“Well, I’ll be arsed. What did the stalker use to record the video, a potato?”

Noelle said through clenched teeth, “That’s not the point, Con. Someone caught us in flagrante.”

“If I remember my French correctly, that means in the act of doing it. It’s just a kiss, Noelle.” I handed the phone back to her and grabbed my own, which hadn’t stopped vibrating since I left the stage.

“Did you see the comments?”

“Didn’t bother reading them. If I read every comment someone posted about me, I’d have to retire to a padded room.”

“Not that I want you in a padded room but listen to these. Conor done her dirty. He’s like all the rest. Justice for Ashley. Those Five2Go guys are all horny players.”

“Wait, wait.” I held up my hands at that last one. “That’s just not true and why is that poster dragging the other lads into this, although she’s not wrong.”

“You’re not taking this seriously enough, Conor.”

“Hey, you two.”

We both jerked our heads up at the sound of Ashley’s raspy voice.

She smiled and waved. “It’s what you wanted, Noelle. C’mon, the people love me.”

“But they’re not supposed to turn on Conor.”

“Conor can afford a little bad press.” Ashley snapped her fingers. “It’ll all go away once Five2Go announces their reunion tour. You know it will, Con. You guys can do no wrong in your fans’ eyes. You could kick a dog on video, and they’d find some way to excuse your behavior. Conor will be just fine.”

I narrowed my eyes at the emphasis she put on my name. “But Noelle will suffer the fall-out. What do you think Dina’s going to say, Noelle?”

Noelle’s face lost all color, as if she hadn’t thought past the damage to my reputation. “I-I, she’ll probably be pissed off.”

Ashley flicked her fingers in the air. “I can deal with Dina. Don’t worry about it.”

Whether Ashley could manage Dina or whether she’d even try was highly debatable, but I could manage the situation to take the heat off Noelle.

“If I’m the Teflon boybander, I can take all the shite. We can turn Noelle into a victim too—make you both look sympathetic.”

Noelle stamped her foot. “I’m not allowing you to do that. Forget it. Did you hear the boos out there? I’ll make this work for all of us.”

“Okay, well, you two lovebirds figure it out. I’m going to do a little meet and greet with my adoring fans.”

Ashley floated away without a single care to her name, making me highly suspicious that she not only capitalized on my attraction to Noelle but exploited it for her own purposes.

“Don’t worry, Noelle. I’ll sort it out with Dina if you like. I’ll take all the blame.” I glanced at my phone and skimmed through a few messages from friends joking about my new status as the Five2Go bad boy. I ignored my manager’s text and squinted at one from an unknown number.

I swiped to read it, and all thoughts of the fake romance, my reputation, Ashley’s reputation, and even Noelle’s job security took a backseat.

“Noelle.”

“I’m contacting Dina right now to spin this before she calls me.”

I placed my hand over her phone. “I received a message from an unknown number.”