Page 32 of Make Me Laugh

My fingers meet the hem of West’s shirt, but a knock at my front door stops me from stripping it over my head. I let out a groan and stomp across my apartment.

“Josette! It’s Hilda!” I hear, followed by another knock.

“Coming!” It isn’t unlike her to pop in occasionally, and she certainly knows Frankie’s here. She’s probably bringing over a joint to smoke and gossip.

I unlock the top lock and pull the door open. “Hi, Hil—” The words catch in my throat.

Hilda isn’t alone. Two men tower over her shoulders. One covered in tattoos from his neck to his ankles. The other wearing a crooked smile, dimples, and a backwards hat.

Fuck.

West’s eyes leave mine and shoot to the shirt I’m wearing like a dress. I watch him swallow hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing like he’s forcing words down.

Hilda breaks the silence. “I found these two handsome young, emphasis on handsome and young,” she pauses and gives me a wink before continuing, “Men at my front door looking for you and Franceska.”

“Ummm, JoJo…” I hear Frankie say from behind. She pauses next to me, phone in hand, but her attention is fixed on Hilda and her entourage. “Oh, shit.”

“Is this a new service?” Hilda asks, wiggling her brows.

“What are you doing here?” I ask West directly. “Better yet, how are you here?”

“Enzo wanted to make sure I got home safe last night cause Sam was being… Sam,” Frankie answers. “I shared my location with him for twenty-four hours.” She looks from me to West and Enzo. “Are you here about this?” She holds her phone up to them, out of my line of sight.

They nod at the same time and Hilda smirks. “Oh my. Josette, you look great.”

“Doesn’t she?” West drones, looking over her shoulder, gaze fixed on the screen.

“What?” My stomach drops with worry.

“Three million views,” Frankie tells them while turning up the volume and flipping her screen to face me. “I have a strict no social media policy before breakfast. I just saw it.”

I take it from her, my entire body going numb as I focus on what everyone else already knows.

A video of me and West from his show went viral overnight… and I’m tagged thousands of times in the comments.

HexedHeroine has a face and everyone knows it’s Jo Daniels.

I think my mouth might be open. I’m not sure though, because I think I might also be floating? I watch the video three times before anyone moves.

I swallow and click on the profile. The girl’s name is Hanah. She likes Boston sunsets and seems to be a regular at last night’s comedy club.

She didn’t doxx me intentionally, but a witch hunt for who “Joey baby” is began the second she posted the video.

I drop my hand and look up from Frankie’s phone. Everyone is staring at me like I might explode or burst into tears. I’m not sure I’m capable of either at the moment.

I‘ve known this was always a possibility when running a masked account. My tattoos are recognizable enough if someone looks closely. I guess I didn’t expect it to go down like this though… Because of a man I just met.

In my brain, it was going to be a scorned ex or jealous coworker.

“Joey, I’m so sorry,” West says, the hungry look in his eyes when they landed on me in his T-shirt is gone, replaced by a worried one. “I didn’t realize I was doxxing you.”

I broke a guy’s nose in middle school for calling me Joey when I’d asked him to stop. I can’t find it in me to care, nor do I have the mental capacity to explore the reason behind my liking when West calls me Joey.

“It’s okay,” I hear myself say.

Is it?

Of course, if West had known my real identity was a secret, he wouldn’t have done what he’d done at the show. I don’t know him that well, but I don’t need to know much to assume he wouldn’t intentionally doxx someone on the internet.