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What?
I don’t move. Somehow my expression doesn’t change, and I feel the bemusement still etched into my own features.
Rob.
Like, of thefuck Robfame?Rob784who I hate more than most people I’ve ever met? The things he’d said to me, like calling me a whore not so long ago, skitter through my head like spiders. I don’t know what to do, and I just look at him, tryingnot to let the nervousness show on my face as my heart picks up in my chest.
This can’t be promising. Has he been following me since he came to town?
A worse thought enters my brain. Has he been the one following me formonths? Surely not, since a stalker does more than juststalk, right? But if Rook had been right, and the reason he’d told me to stay home is this one right here…
Then I really may have fucked up tonight. Not just by leaving my apartment, but by beinghere, in the alley where Mikaela had died. The street was bad enough, but back here, I’d have to really make a scene for someone to notice and help me. Especially since the street beyond is never that busy, and especially not at night.
“Oh,” I say finally, after too long of a time. “Sorry, I just had never expected anyone from my stream to try to find me.” I pull a smile onto my face that I’m positive doesn’t reach my eyes. “That’s why I wear the mask. I’m not very social in my real life, and it seemed like the best way to preserve that.” I’m rambling, sure, but I don’t know what else to do.
“Really?” He looks disbelieving. “Even though you letletsplayjayfind out who you really are and come fuck you on camera?” I don’t like the words being thrown at me like that, and I fight not to recoil as I shake my head.
“I’ve known him for a while,” I lie. “He’s a student at my school, and his stream was the inspiration for mine. I needed some help with my stream, and he offered to come over.” God, here I am rambling again, trying to come up with an explanation that will make sense and make him go away. Should I lie and say he’s my boyfriend?
“Shame.” Rob seems disappointed. “You know, I thought the way you spoke to me the other day was really rude. And you don’t seem apologetic about it. I was going to apologize to you,actually. I thought maybe I’d been rude, until I watched that stream with Jay again. I record all of yours, just in case.”
Just in casewhat?
“I mean, it’s for you,” he explains, like I’d asked or somehow indicated that I was curious. “Just in case I need to go back through them for any reason. You were really into how he was treating you. It was disgusting.”
My heart twists in my chest, ribs constricting around it as I unclench my hands and shove them in my pockets. “It was just a stream,” I tell him, trying to maintain my composure and confidence. “It’s just—”
“An act?” he snorts, with more venom in his words than I’d expected. I take a step back at the unfriendliness, and he steps forward as his face contorts into something less friendly. “Don’t fuck with me, Envy.” He doesn’t even know myname. “You loved the way he acted. And the shit he said to you?” The incredulous look on his face is evident, even in the dim light. “It’s borderline abuse, you know? You don’t deserve that.”
“Okay, umm. This is making me uncomfortable,” I admit, barely able to suck in a full breath through my anxiety. I raise my hands in surrender, refusing to take another step back. “I don’t like how you’re talking to me, Rob. I’m sorry that you don’t like Jay. I probably won’t share my stream with anyone again. But this isn’t really appropriate, you know?” With way more confidence than I feel, I walk forward to pass around him. “Why don’t we go somewhere else—”
I see the flash of metal before my brain registers what it is. And by the time the gun is at chest level, glinting in the dim light, I’m close enough to him that the barrel is pressed to my arm.
A moment passes as I drag my gaze up to his, mouth open to say something or plead with him to point the gun somewhere else. It’s such a short amount of time, yet it feels so long as his eyes darken and he takes a lurching step closer to me.
“Don’t you fucking go anywhere,” Rob snarls, waving the gun into my face. “I’m notdone, Envy! You’re going to hear me out.” He shoves me backwards, until I hit the wall behind me hard enough to pull a gasp from my body. The gun is suddenly back in my face, and when I try to move, he hits me with it, pulling a louder sound from my throat.
“Don’t youfucking move!”he shouts, showering my face with spittle. “I told you I’m notdone. I’ve given you everything lately. I watch all of your streams. I’ve been here since the beginning, and this is how you treat me? You-you let some other man break into your bedroom! I saw you that night he came upstairs with you. What were you doing? Practicing?” He moves like he’s going to hit me again and I flinch. Already my face is throbbing, and my cheekbone feels like it’s on fire.
“You let him fuck you like a whore on camera so that, what? We’d all think that’s what you are?” I whimper when he shoves the gun barrel into my face, my hands uselessly pressed against my face and close my eyes hard.
“Please don’t shoot me,” I whisper, feeling myself trembling. “Please, I’m sorry, I—”
“Sorry for what?” he asks cruelly, not moving the gun. “Sorry forwhat, Envy?”
“I don’t know. Whatever you want!” I cry, feeling tears burning in my eyes.
“Are you sorry for being a whore? Are you sorry for wasting my time? Huh? Are you—”
“I don’t think she has anything at all to be sorry for.” The voice is firm and silky, and as cold as the Arctic Circle. “And actually, I’d love it if you’d stop calling her a whore.”
I open my eyes, barely believing them when I see that Oliver is there, his hand on the gun barrel by my face as he smiles sweetly at Rob.
“Otherwise, I might just shootyou.”
Chapter 28
“Oliver?” His name leaves my lips in a whisper, but he doesn’t look at me. Instead, he rips the gun from Rob’s hold, instantly yanking it away from my face as if he might be afraid it’ll go off accidentally. He pulls again, easily disarming Rob and chucking the gun to the ground behind him.
