Page 7 of Confused AF (At First #2)

seven

~ Otto ~

“ T hank you again for agreeing to reschedule.”

I smiled and waved my hand to show it hadn’t been any trouble. “Honestly, it worked out better this way.”

And not just because I had been preoccupied with Vaden’s tongue down my throat. Although I would definitely consider it a contributing factor.

“I’d love to have you on the channel again. Maybe in a couple of months?”

“Absolutely,” I agreed at once. “I’d love that.”

Yes, it would help my career, but I would do another collaboration with Chloe Rae, even if I had nothing to gain from it.

She had to be one of the kindest, most generous people I had ever met.

Unlike other influencers who lorded their popularity over everyone else, she used her status and wealth to lift up others.

A truly rare quality, especially in online spaces.

The interview hadn’t been anything like I’d expected, and it had been all the better because of it.

Rather than a dry Q&A, Chloe had wanted me to recreate my butterfly look for her.

So, using a mixture of shimmering shadows and colored gel liners, I had shaped, blended, and contoured a pair of butterfly wings around her eyes while we spoke.

Instead of rapid-fire questions, we’d talked like old friends, the conversation flowing smoothly from one topic into the next. It had never felt forced or awkward, and I’d probably laughed more in the last hour than I had the rest of the week combined.

In such a short time, I had been given so much to be thankful for, and probably far more than I deserved.

After we said our goodbyes, Chloe headed off with her team while I turned back to my table to begin preparing for the day. Since I had arrived early to set up before the interview, I really just needed to double-check the schedule and look over Vaden’s notes while I waited for the doors to open.

Settling into the chair behind the table, I retrieved my cell phone from my messenger bag and brought up the calendar app we shared to keep track of everything.

It looked like another packed day, filled with consultations, demos, and tutorials, which suited me just fine.

The busier I stayed, the less time I had to overthink or worry.

Next, I skimmed the notes Vaden had left about the private consultations, highlighting any areas of concern or questions the client had. Thankfully, the requests all seemed pretty standard—shade matching, hiding dark circles, minimizing certain features.

When nothing concerning jumped out at me, I closed the app and returned my phone to the side pocket of my bag. As soon as I sat back up, an iced latte in a sweating plastic cup appeared on the table beside me.

Smiling, I pushed out of my seat and turned to greet my mate with a chaste kiss to his lips. Vaden had been right to assume that I wouldn’t want our most intimate moments broadcasted on social media, but at the same time, I refused to hide our relationship.

Partly because I had seen the way other people looked at him, and I wanted the world to know the demon belonged to me. Mostly, however, I just enjoyed being close to him, and I didn’t want to censor that happiness simply because there might be a camera nearby.

“Thank you.”

“Any time.” He palmed the back of my neck and pulled me close again, pressing a kiss to my brow this time. “How did the interview go?”

“Really well, actually. She wants to have me on her channel again, maybe sometime later this year.”

His face split into a wide grin, and his eyes flashed with pride. “Congratulations. Do you need me to pin down the details?”

I chuckled at his enthusiasm but shook my head. “I don’t know if it’ll actually happen or not. She could have just been saying that to be nice. Let’s wait and see if she reaches out again.”

“Of course, she will.” His tone held not even a shred of doubt, as if she would be foolish to pass up such an amazing opportunity.

“I think you might be a little biased.” I laughed again, but I couldn’t deny how much that unwavering belief meant to me.

“Maybe,” he allowed with a shrug. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” His gaze flickered across the rows of tables in front of us. “The doors will be opening soon. Are you ready?”

I nodded firmly. “Today’s going to be a good day. I can feel it.”

As it turned out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

From the moment the doors opened, something had been different.

A small, vain part of me had anticipated an increase in traffic to my table after the livestream, but that didn’t happen.

In fact, hardly anyone stopped to speak with me, and I didn’t think I imagined the dirty looks being sent my way from those who passed by.

Still, I didn’t really start to worry until my first appointment of the day didn’t show. Sure, it happened, especially in settings like the Spellbound Expo, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something, somewhere, had gone very, very wrong.

In a single hour, I had gone from being on top of the world to someone to be avoided.

I searched my memories, going over everything that had happened since I’d arrived at the convention center that morning.

Other than Chloe and her team, I hadn’t really interacted with anyone else.

The interview had been fine. At least, I didn’t think I had said anything that could be seen as insensitive or offensive.

Since Vaden had also noticed the shift in the energy, I couldn’t pretend it was my imagination either. Rather than sitting around worrying about it, however, he had decided to get to the bottom of it.

When I spotted him making his way toward me through the crowd, I could tell by the look on his face that he’d found the answers he’d been looking for. I also knew I wouldn’t like them.

“What is it?” I asked, popping to my feet as soon as he joined me. “What happened? What did you find out?”

Rounding the table, he urged me back into my seat before settling down on the edge of the chair beside me. Then he took both of my hands, holding them in a loose grip, and looked me in the eye, neither of which did anything to calm my anxiety.

“Chloe had an allergic reaction to the eye makeup you used this morning.”

“Oh, my god,” I gasped, my fingers flexing around his hands. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“She’s fine,” he assured me. “Just some redness and swelling. Nothing serious.”

“I need to talk to her.” I tried to stand, but he grabbed my arm and dragged me back into my seat. “What are you doing? I have to—”

“She’s not here,” he interrupted, shaking his head. “After she was treated, she went back to her hotel to rest.”

“Right.” I bobbed my head slowly, my mind a wild storm of thoughts and emotions. “That makes sense.” I stopped nodding and jerked my head up again. “How do you know all this?”

“Once I heard the rumors, I contacted her assistant.”

If it had been anyone else, I might have been surprised that he just casually had Chloe Rae’s personal assistant on speed dial. But Vaden had a way of making the impossible seem, not just possible, but almost mundane.

“I don’t understand,” I mumbled under my breath. “How did this happen?”

Every product I had put on Chloe’s face that morning had come from her own line of cosmetics. I had seen her use those exact shadows and gel liners in numerous videos and livestreams. Furthermore, I had personally used them on other clients during the expo without anything like this happening.

I took safety and hygiene seriously, always so careful to avoid cross-contamination. As such, I felt confident this hadn’t stemmed from a cleanliness issue. No matter how I looked at it, I just couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong.

“Otto, this isn’t your fault.”

I glanced at him with a raised brow. “It kind of is.”

Releasing my hands, Vaden leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. “You know better than that. Something isn’t adding up here.”

His words hung in the air, heavy with implication. “Wait, are you saying you think someone did this on purpose? To what? Sabotage me?” It seemed so absurd, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Who would do something like that?”

“I can think of at least one person who would love to see you fail.”

A chill raced down my spine. “Kassidy.”

I let myself entertain the idea for a moment, but ultimately, I couldn’t believe it. Kassidy was a thief, but she wouldn’t do something like this. Right?

“No,” I said, more to myself than to Vaden. “That’s ridiculous. Even if she wanted to, she didn’t have access to my palettes.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Of course, I’m sure.”

I made sure to pack away all of my products at the end of every day and cart them back to the hotel. Granted, I did it to prevent theft, not betrayal, but the result remained the same. No one would have been able to touch them without my knowledge.

Even when I took breaks, I enlisted Vaden to keep an eye on things. Meaning that, at no point since our arrival had I left my table unattended.

Except last night.

My breath hitched, and I sat up straighter, my gaze darting to my mate. When Vaden had dragged me off to the conference rooms the previous evening, work had been the last thing on my mind.

“No,” I repeated, but my voice didn’t hold the same conviction. “Why would she do something like this?”

Vaden’s expression didn’t change, but he spoke with a sharpness that hadn’t been there before. “Gossip spreads like an infection in places like this. I don’t doubt she heard about the interview.”

“She knew,” I confirmed. “She stopped by my table last night while I was packing up to ask me about it. I didn’t tell her anything, but she sounded pretty upset.”

“Chloe Rae isn’t just anyone, Otto. Landing on her radar is a big deal, and that kind of visibility breeds contention.”

I swallowed hard, my heart racing as I took in his words. “But Kassidy couldn’t have known I would be using those products on Chloe. Hell, I didn’t even know until this morning.”

“I don’t think she meant to target Chloe,” he responded with a shrug, his nonchalance both infuriating and oddly grounding. “More likely, she just wanted to damage your reputation among other clients.”

Throwing around accusations without evidence didn’t sit right with me, but I couldn’t deny that his theory made a certain amount of sense given what I knew about the faery. Either way, I needed answers, and I wouldn’t find them by sitting there feeling sorry for myself.

“Cancel the other appointments.” An unnecessary precaution since I doubted anyone would actually be showing up for their consultations, but I’d rather play it safe. “In fact, cancel everything. The tutorials, the demos, all of it.”

“Good idea,” Vaden agreed. “Do you want to pack up your kit?”

I glanced at the table, at the thousands of dollars’ worth of products scattered across it, and sighed. “Yeah, let’s box it up.”

Since I couldn’t be sure which products had been tampered with, I would have to trash all of them. At the same time, I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, and just leaving them out for anyone to grab felt like inviting disaster.

“What else do you need me to do?”

I didn’t think it possible, but I actually smiled. While not how I had planned for the day to go, I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have by my side at the moment.

“Can you contact Chloe’s assistant and set up a meeting? Or even just a call?”

“Sure.” His brow furrowed, and his lips turned down at the corners. “Why?”

“I might have been the target, but the makeup I used came from Chloe’s brand. I have a feeling she’s going to want to get to the bottom of this as much as I do.”

“I think that’s a pretty safe bet,” he agreed.

While my gut told me Kassidy had definitely had a hand in the incident, I couldn’t confront her without evidence, but I needed help finding it. Which was where Chloe Rae came in.

“We need to do another livestream.”

Vaden’s frown deepened, and he cocked his head to the side. “What exactly are you planning?”

Looking out over the crowd, a slow grin curled the corners of my mouth. “A scavenger hunt.”