Page 118 of Forever Relentless

“My fault. Guy wound me up when he beat the shit out of Whittaker. Then yesterday he started on Dust, it was always going to happen.”

She didn’t say anything, just sipped her coffee.

“I asked if you could be discreet.” When she nodded, I carried on. “I wanted to build my social media presence, have the numbers, so it would be harder to get rid of me.” She nodded again; she knew this. “So that didn’t happen.” I joked lightly.

“I’m sorry, Noah.”

I waved it off. “I really don’t get it,” I admitted. “The social media angle. I mean, I understand it for news and even celebrities and stuff, but personally, I don’t see the appeal.”

“That’s why your account would blow up,” she told me with a small smile.

“Well . . . it might still.” I met her gaze. “Can you post anonymously?”

She frowned. “Like a fake profile. Or a real profile, but keep who you are hidden?”

I nodded. “Either?”

“Yeah. I mean, when you open an account, you need to put in your details, but you can keep them hidden. Your handle name can be anything you want. You don’t even need to follow anyone to get followers.”

“And the content that you post, does it need to be, I dunno, verified?”

“Verified?”

“You know, does it need to be corroborated?”

Hadley frowned. “No. We live in a world of the keyboard warrior. Anyone, anywhere can comment, or post, and it can all be bullshit.”

“Really?” I leaned forward. “Then why did your blog post get taken down?”

She made a snort of disgust. “Because I openly accused the football department. I wrote my piece as if it were fact, naming and shaming. That’s libel.”

I sat back. “So you can’t name anyone?”

“You really do know nothing about posting, don’t you?” she asked me in surprise. “I thought it was just you brushing it off, but it’s real. The avoidance?”

“I hate it,” I admitted. “Don’t see the need for it. It’s just toxic, and no one needs to be that invested in other people’s shit when they have their hands full with their own. Know what I mean?”

She looked at me with such seriousness. I wonder if I just made myself sound dumb. “I’ve never wanted to know,” I explained. “But now I need to learn, and fast.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Tell me what you’re thinking?”

“I want to make a fake profile. I don’t want anyone, anyone but me and you, to know who it is that’s posting, and I want to air it all.”

Her eyes widened. “Noah . . .”

I nodded. “Let’s do it, Hadley. I’m going to leak the information and let it loose.”

She swallowed hard and then took a gulp of her coffee, hissing as it burned her tongue.

“That’s ballsy.”

“I’ve only got my balls left.” I winced. “Sorry.”

She waved me off. “We drip feed them?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll post something big first, get the attention, then soften it, let it build, and keep on going.”

She stood up. “We have so much we can share.”