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“Do we have the time?” She laughs before kissing me again.
“Do you care?”
She moans into my mouth, and I'm about to deepen the kiss before a buzzing sound interrupts us.
It keeps going on, a barrage of notifications. One after the after.
"What the hell is that?" I don't do a great job at hiding my annoyance.
“Oh.” She leans over to grab her phone. “I must have just gotten signal back. Sorry, it's my comments. I just posted a video of the view from the deck when you were busy with your meeting.”
I want to return to the moment, but she's scrolling through her notifications now.
Her face falls.
“Something wrong?” I soften immediately, taking a seat beside her.
“It's nothing, I just.. well, you'll probably think it's stupid.” She sighs.
“If it's important enough to bother you, then I want to know, too.”
She searches my face for something. I guess she must have found it as she hands me her phone.
“See for yourself, then.”
At first, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at, and then I notice them.
“What a T-R-Y-H-A-R-D. It's like she can't go a minute without letting everyone know how much 'fun' she's having.”
“Guys, do you think she's found herself a sugar daddy?”
“I'm sure the Europeans are laughing at her. She sticks out like a sore thumb.”
Anger bursts inside me. There're dozens of these.
“They aren't usually like this,” Quinn explains in a quiet voice. “But lately... I don't know what's been happening. Maybe I just reached the wrong audience, there's just so many of them on everything I post.”
I put the phone to the side and caress the side of her face gently. "Quinn, you know you don't need to pay any attention to the trolls, right?"
“I shouldn't, but it's hard to ignore when it’s so personal,” she admits. “I mean, all I wanted to do was live my life and grow my career online. I didn't expect people to have such a strong opinion about it.”
“Maybe they're just bitter you get to be here, and they don't.”
She shakes her head. “I'd agree with that if there was just one. But there's just too many. Maybe I'm the problem.”
It hurts me to see her like this, but the things being thrown at her really are brutal. Even the strongest person has their limit.
“Quinn, I'll teach you a lesson I learned early on in business.” I squeeze her hand. “No matter what you do or how hard you try, there's always going to be some people you cannot please. My advice? Just tune them out. You have too much going for you to be bogged down by bullies hiding behind a screen.”
She sighs. “I'm sorry. I usually don't let this stuff get to me.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. If I were you, I'd double down on the posting. Just to piss some haters off.”
That gets a small laugh out of her, and I realize how much I like hearing her make that sound.
“You're right.” She smiles. “I should be grateful for the life I have. It's taken me a lot to get here.”
“Mhmm.” I trail my hands along her skin. “It's taking a lot for me not to kiss you again.”