Page 147 of Hate Me Like You Mean It

I wasn’t attached to any of them.

This wasn’t what I’d grown up dreaming of doing. The plan had been to get a double comp sci, finance major, then start a gaming company with my childhood nemesis.

But shit happened. And I’d adapted.

Not satisfied with my answer, Adrien tapped at his phone and handed it over. “Fix it. Now. Otherwise, it’ll be all over the internet by noon, and I’ll have to kill you.”

I scrolled past the pictures—Adrien, grinning behind a set of mics at some sort of press conference; me, wearing a dark suit and walking the carpet at an event I had no memory of attending—and scanned the article.

“…allegedly knew each other growing up… ten-year age gap… Dominic’s jealousy-fueled tirade… allegedly purchased 6Queue Media when Cloutier rejected his advances and cut ties… sources are saying the rumors were all lies, meant to get Cloutier’sattention… nurse who was on shift claims he witnessed an altercation between the two… followed him to the hospital… Cloutier finally snapped…” I trailed off, a small alarm triggering in the back of my head.

There wasn’t a single thing about a fanfic in here. This was real, and if left unchecked, it would go viral before breakfast.

Straightening, I tried to look up my name, but the search function wasn’t working. It wouldn’t let me latch long enough to type anything.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

What the fuck was going on?

“Kill it,” Adrien demanded, more forcefully this time.

I went to click on the homepage icon but decided to scroll down to the comments first, just to see what type of engagement it’d gotten so far.

tatiana7878:Now THIS is tea.

banana-allergy-and-me:Let me get this straight. All the stuff they released about Adrien Cloutier was defamatory bullshit? All because Dominic wanted to get with him and it wasn’t reciprocated? The fuck?

Advanced-Islanderreplied:Yup. All those “sources” were allegedly planted. Dominic deserves what’s coming. Guy can get fucked.

colorblindreptile replied: People don’t talk about this enough, but Cloutier’s deeply passionate about the environment. Rumors aside, he’s contributed more money to rainforest preservation and biodiversity conservation than anyone else in his tax bracket.

Birdsofprayer:Have you guys seen the security footage of Dominic’s car running in the hospital parking lot for six hours? Imagine visiting a sick family member, you’re already stressedand shit and then you come out and find your stalker waiting for you outside.

justice-for-trollsreplied:the fuck is wrong with people

Advanced-Islanderreplied:I’d have decked him too.

deeepsilk88888 replied:This is terrifying. Dominic should be behind bars.

Those were the only comments so far. No one else was typing, and the view count didn’t seem to be going up yet. Strange… Were the bots suppressing?—

“Dominic. Hey.” Adrien smacked the counter again. “You need to wake up and listen to me. Call whoever you need to and kill this. Right now.”

Tension was snapping off him, and for the first time this morning, I was conscious enough to recognize it wasn’t from anger.

It was fear.

“I’m not fucking around. Kill this. Now.”

“Have you read it?” I asked. “The article and the comments?” Did he realize how heavily they weighed in his favor?

Frustration clawed up his neck. His teeth clenched. No answer.

Nodding, I gulped down what was left of my coffee. “I told you I’m not involved in any of the day-to-day operations anymore. Thanks for breakfast.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Which way’s the door?”