Chapter 21 #2
Torin, among his many talents, was a fantastic cook. “Sounds great,” I said, edging toward where he’d left his sketchbook as he hunted in the fridge for ingredients.
“Noah!” Z called from the sofa, making me snatch my hand back before I could peek inside the book. “You want proof? Come see the comments now.”
Blowing out an irritated sigh, I reluctantly returned while Xavier generously read some out for me.
“‘Are you and @NoFear dating or just fucking?’” he read aloud. “‘What the fuck is happening? NoFear and CattyKay? Does ParkMinho know?’”
“Aw, this reminds me of the old days in 1-4-3.” Minnie laughed, seemingly entertained—unless you knew him well.
The tight set to his eyes and the way his hand clenched the arm of the sofa told a different story.
“My group literally couldn’t speak to another performer about the weather without ending up in a dating scandal. ”
I frowned at his odd tone but forced my gaze back to the screen, where dozens of commenters seemed to be spiraling out over the one innocent comment I’d put up with the hope of saving that poor girl’s mental health. And I’d just made it all ten times worse.
“Hey, at least her Cliks are climbing,” I pointed out weakly, gesturing to the rapidly increasing viewer count. It was almost triple what it’d been before I commented.
Skye grimaced, ruffling his messy hair with his fingers. “Sure, but so are her threats of violence. Look at that guy, CattyKatsLeftLabia. He’s losing his shit about this.”
“Nah, he was one of the crazies commenting before Noah dropped a bomb in the comments,” Z said with a snort of laughter.
“But that definitely pissed him off. Actually, Captain Chaos, if you’re still logged into the Live, can you report him for harassment?
He’s threatening actual harm, which goes against the CB user agreement. ”
I nodded, pulling out my phone. “For sure. Fucking hell, she looks rattled now. Why doesn’t she just end the Live?”
“Because she can also see the Cliks climbing, and clearly someone in her management team was leaning pretty hard on the girls to deliver better results,” Xavier muttered with a sigh. “This isn’t even sexy anymore. It’s just kinda sad.”
I swung my gaze his way in disgust. “I didn’t realize you were trying to get off, Xavier. I thought Peaches was the only online porn you subscribed to?”
“Eat a dick, Little Dude,” he sneered back my way. “Oh wait, maybe you’d enjoy that too much.”
My jaw dropped, and my brows hitched. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He smirked, giving me a calculating look. “I think you know exactly what that means. If you wanted to—”
“Oh shit!” Z exclaimed, sitting forward in his seat. He wasn’t paying attention to us, though—his eyes were locked on the screen. “Someone is in her house. Dead-ass just saw a shadow figure walk past her doorway!”
What? I abandoned my argument with Xavier and peered at the screen while Cat Kay tried to keep a smile on her face while applying glittery highlighter to her collarbone with a makeup brush. For a minute, we were all silent, watching and waiting to see…something. A shadow figure, whatever that was.
“Z, bro, are you imagining things?” August asked when nothing happened.
Z shook his head, his teeth worrying at the edge of his thumbnail. “No,” he muttered, tucking his hands into fists as if to prevent himself from chewing. “Someone is definitely in the house with her. Noah, can you warn her in the comments?”
“No!” Xavier exclaimed, reaching out and physically snatching my phone out of my hand before I could do anything. “Are you kidding? He’s done enough damage with that one comment, and you want him to start being all look behind you like he’s fucking flirting?”
Z threw his hands up, exasperated. “I don’t know! But the weirdos in the comments and the shadow in her doorway—” He broke off, eyes on the screen, then gasped. “There!”
“I saw it,” Skye confirmed with a grim expression. “Somehow I don’t think that’s one of her friends or staff.”
“Use the burner account to warn her,” Xavier suggested, tossing the remote at Z, who flipped it sideways to use the keyboard and rapidly typed out a message.
On the screen, a comment popped up from AceHarts_Hairy_Nutsack6969, and I eyed Z with disgust. He just shrugged and shot me a grin.
“Can’t say it doesn’t blend with all the other usernames. They’d never know it was us.” He winked, then typed out another comment warning Cat Kay that she wasn’t alone.
I could see the moment she read Z’s comment, her smile slipping as she glanced over her shoulder, except the doorway was empty now, so she laughed it off and muttered something about commenters trying to scare her.
We all watched silently, eyes glued to that doorway, until a minute later when something crashed off camera and Cat stiffened up in fear.
“Um, I think maybe you guys were right,” she said to the camera, grabbing it off the tripod and taking it with her as she left the room. “Someone is maybe here in the house with me. I need…um… I should call the police.”
Then all of a sudden her screen went dark, like the power had just gone out in her house. Or been cut. Because her screen was dark but we could still hear her breathing. It was a short, sharp, panicked sound, accompanied by her footsteps as she tried to hide, maybe? Or get out?
“Someone is in my house,” she whimpered, her voice disembodied with the dark screen. Comments were rolling in thick and fast, and her viewers were now in the hundreds of thousands. Then she screamed.
Not just a scream of surprise or shock, either—a real, bloodcurdling scream. A scream that cut off with a sickening gurgle and a crashing thump like that of a lifeless body being dropped to the floor.
For a minute—a whole minute—the screen remained black and comments flooded the stream, ranging from people worried about her to irate that they couldn’t see what was happening to downright revolting. And then the lights turned back on, and I seriously fucking wished they hadn’t.
The CB-Live moderators must have finally paid attention because the stream ended abruptly a moment later with a graphic stating, “Content Violates ClikByte User Agreements,” but it was too late.
We’d all seen what had happened to Cat Kay.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to un-see it.
After all, it was the first time I’d seen someone with their throat slit open so aggressively I could see her spine shining in the glossy, red blood.
“Fuck,” Skye breathed, breaking the silence. Then I gagged and took off running for a bathroom before my stomach emptied itself right there on the living room rug.