Sidequest for Love

by L.H. Cosway

  Leanne emerged, too, and proceeded to wash her hands in the sink next to mine.

  “Sexy little Clark Kent! Oh, my goodness, that’s the perfect description of Neil. How isn’t it simple, though? You like him, and I’ve known him long enough to see that he likes you, too. I just don’t get why Annabelle is even in the picture.”

  I blew out a breath, the many drinks I’d consumed making me feel much looser-lipped than usual. I eyed Leanne through the large mirror hanging on the wall over the sinks. “How much do you care about Neil?”

  “A lot. He’s like family,” Leanne replied without missing a beat.

  “I guess that means you’d forgive him if he did something really bad,” I said.

  Leanne frowned. “Well, yes, within reason. I’d forgive Neil most things bar murder. He’s been the backbone of our group for years. Every time there’s an emergency, Neil is there with a clear head and a cool reserve to handle things. There are so many times when I’ve relied on him, times I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten through without him.” She paused to eye me, a hint of concern on her face. “Afric, is there something I should know?”

  “What about Callum?” I asked, avoiding her question. “Does he feel the same way?”

  “Yes, he values Neil just as much as I do. Every member of the cast adores him. He’s been with us through thick and thin.”

  “Okay, that’s … that’s good to know,” I said, my thoughts racing. Was I really doing this? Was I actually going to tell Leanne the truth?

  “Afric, talk to me. You’re freaking me out.”

  I met her gaze, the buzz of alcohol fuelling my honesty. “Neil probably won’t forgive me for telling you this, but I’ll take the hit because I care about him so much and he’s too nice a guy to tell Annabelle where to shove her blackmail.”

  “Blackmail?” Leanne gasped, gripping my upper arm and ushering me over to the fancy velvet couch at the far end of the bathroom. She sat us down and levelled me with a serious look. “Tell me everything and start from the beginning.”

  So, I did.

  20.

  Neil

  I watched Afric and Leanne walk in the direction of the bathrooms when Callum spoke, drawing my attention.

  “I’ve actually been meaning to discuss something with you,” he said to me before casting an apologetic glance in Annabelle’s direction. “Sorry, love, I hope you don’t mind if we talk about work for a minute?”

  “Not at all,” she replied, demurely flicking her hair over one shoulder. “Go ahead.”

  Callum brought his attention back to me. “James and I have been working on a business idea for a while,” he said, and my eyebrows rose.

  “You have?”

  He gave a self-deprecating smile. “Neither of us is going to be fit enough to be jumping off buildings the rest of our lives. My knee is already fucked up. I swear it gets an ache right before there’s a rainstorm these days. But anyway, my point is that both of us aren’t the young whippersnappers we used to be. We need more long-term financial security.”

  “Seems smart,” I said, nodding as I took a gulp of my drink.

  “So, we’ve come up with a plan to start our own sportswear brand.”

  “Oh, that’s so cool. I would definitely buy your sportswear if you had a women’s line,” Annabelle put in.

  I really, really wish you weren’t here, a voice in my head complained. Every time she spoke, I thought of what she said over at the bar and the USB drive she had in her handbag that she’d clearly brought along to threaten me.

  “It’s early days yet, and there’s still a lot of planning to do,” Callum went on, “but both of us have been in agreement about one thing, and it pertains to you.”

  “To me?” I asked, not entirely sure what he was working up to. I was too busy fretting over Annabelle.

  “We want you to be our COO,” Callum said, and I blinked. “It’d be a big step-up from your current job, and there’d be a significant pay rise.”

  “Wow, what a fantastic opportunity for you, Neil,” Annabelle chirped with false sincerity, and just like that, turmoil set in. I remembered all the reasons why I didn’t deserve such a wonderful offer.

  “Yes, it is,” I agreed, glancing at Callum. “Are you sure you don’t want someone more experienced?”

  “Nope. We want you. It’s a new venture, and the three of us will be learning the ropes together.”

  I rubbed my jaw. In any other circumstance, I’d jump at this offer, but guilt and remorse swarmed within me. I didn’t deserve the respect nor the opportunity Callum was offering me.

  “Can I think about it?” I asked.

  “Of course. Take your time. There’s no rush,” Callum said just as Leanne and Afric returned from the bathroom. In the space of a second, the atmosphere changed. Leanne looked ready to commit murder as she glared at Annabelle. Afric stood behind her, a sheepish expression of drunken guilt and worry on her face, and just like that, I knew.

  I knew she’d told Leanne everything, and I was in danger of puking up every last scrap of food I’d eaten today.

  “You should leave,” Leanne said, her furious gaze intent on Annabelle.

  Annabelle shot her an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

  “Are you hard of hearing, love? I said you should leave,” Leanne practically growled, and Callum reached out to take her hand.

  “Leanne, what’s the matter?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s the matter,” Leanne snapped. “This bitch has been blackmailing Neil, and I’m putting a stop to it here and now.”

  I was frozen in place. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I cast Afric an accusatory look, and her eyes were filled with a thousand sorrys, but it wasn’t good enough. This wasn’t her secret to tell. It was mine, and she’d taken away my chance to do it at a time and place that suited me. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen to tell Callum and Leanne the truth in a flashy, crowded nightclub while Annabelle herself was present.

  Finally, I stood. “Listen, I can explain.”

  “No, you don’t need to explain anything,” Leanne said, her expression full of sorrow. Oh no, this was worse than anger. She felt sorry for me.

  “Can someone enlighten me because I’m completely in the dark here?” Callum asked.

  “Yes,” Leanne replied. “I’ll explain everything after this bitch leaves.”

  “What did you just call me?”

  “You heard me.”

  Annabelle’s gaze cut to Afric. “You told her.”

  Afric’s attention went from Annabelle to Leanne and then finally to me again. She looked like she regretted what she’d done, and I knew she was drunk, but that was no excuse. She shouldn’t have told Leanne, not like this. This was about to turn into a shitshow; I could already feel it.

  Some sort of determination formed in Annabelle’s eyes as she dug into her bag and pulled out the blasted USB drive. “We’re in love. We have been for months. I have all the evidence here,” she said, a wild expression on her face as she wielded the drive at Leanne.

  “Eh, who’s in love?” Callum asked, bewildered. He was still the only person present who didn’t understand what was happening and also the one who had been wronged the most. Every organ in my body pulsated with guilt. He was going to be so angry at me for this.

  “Do you think I’m an idiot?” Leanne asked. “Afric told me the truth.”

  “It’s a lie,” Annabelle said. “They’re trying to cover for Callum. We’ve been seeing each other behind your back for nearly a year.”

  Callum stood. “Who in the what now?”

  My head started to pound. “She’s lying,” I said. “She’s obsessed with you. I’m sorry for bringing her here.”

  “I am not—” the words died on Annabelle’s tongue when Afric leapt toward her and plucked the USB drive from her grasp. She threw it on the floor and stomped on it with the heel of her shoe. It cracked right down the middle.

  “You idiot,” Annabelle droned. “Do
you think that’s the only place the screenshots are saved?”

  “Nope, I certainly don’t, you absolute madwoman,” Afric said before she came to me, hands gripping my shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Neil. I did this because I care about you so, so much. Callum and Leanne love you. They’ll understand.” Then she crashed her mouth to mine and kissed me as though her life depended on it. Despite being furious at her, my body responded, a tidal wave of pleasure going through me at the sensation of her lips on mine. Too soon, she pulled away, looking to Annabelle one more time before returning her attention to me. “Now, I have to go. There’s not a moment to lose. I’ll explain everything later.”

  I stared after her in confusion as she turned tail and ran out of the club. “Where the hell is she going?” Callum asked.

  “I have no idea,” I replied before finally bringing my attention to Annabelle. “You should go.”

  “I’m not going—”

  “Yeah, I second that. Leave,” Callum said, and there was no mistaking the threat in his voice. The words rumbled out of him like a growl. Callum could be an easy-going bloke, but when someone tried to mess with his relationship, he took no prisoners.

  Annabelle’s eyes shone with tears as she realised her plan had failed epically. I had no illusions that she wasn’t going to share the dirt she had online, but at least now she couldn’t blackmail me anymore or try to break up Callum and Leanne.

  She hitched her handbag over her shoulder and glared at the three of us. “You’ll regret this. All of you will.”

  With that, she left, and I stood there feeling worse than I’d ever felt. I wished to be invisible because this entire situation was painfully mortifying.

  “I’ll hand over my resignation in the morning,” I said, unable to look either Leanne or Callum in the eyes. “I’ll work as many weeks’ notice as you need, but I completely understand if you don’t want to see me. If that’s the case, I can organise for a temp to replace me in the meantime. I’ll do my best to minimise the damage I’ve caused. There’s no way for me to ever make it up to you, but just know I hate myself for what I did more than anything.”

  “Good Christ, Neil. Will you quit falling on your sword for a second and sit down? Explain to me what’s going on because I’m still very, very confused,” Callum ground out.

  I didn’t want to explain anything, but I knew it was my duty. I owed him this much. I nodded soberly and went to take a seat, but before I could sit, Leanne was there. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I froze from the unexpectedness of it. Why on earth was she hugging me?

  “I wished you’d talked to me about this. You could’ve told me. We used to talk about everything,” she said. Something about her hug crumpled me. Emotion swelled in my throat, but I refused to cry in this situation. It was already humiliating enough as it was.

  Leanne drew back, and I finally sat down. Callum sat across from me, clearly waiting for a full explanation. I cleared my throat and forced myself to meet his gaze.

  “A few weeks after you had me start running your social media accounts, there was a message from Annabelle. She was a fan of yours. I replied to her in the usual polite, reserved manner, pretending to be you. I had no intention of a long, drawn-out interaction, but she continued to send messages, and before I knew it, we were having a full-blown conversation. That conversation turned into regular messages, and before long, I’d developed feelings for her, or at least for the person I thought she was.”

  “Christ,” Callum said, his thick eyebrows drawing together. “So she’s the woman you told me about? The one from the internet who didn’t know what you look like?”

  I nodded, seeing full understanding dawn on him.

  “I hated the deception, but I knew a woman like Annabelle would never be interested in the real me. She wanted a bloke like you, with the tattoos and the muscles—”

  “Fuck’s sake, Neil, you make me sound like a twat.”

  “Not at all. You have no idea how many times I actually wished I was you during all this. Life would be so much easier. I think all the messaging people and pretending to be you screwed with my head. I lost a real sense of who I was.”

  Now Callum’s eyes clouded with sympathy. “I had no idea.”

  “You shouldn’t have had him doing that in the first place,” Leanne put in, her voice scolding. “Not after …” she trailed off, and I knew what she’d been about to say. Not after how I’d told her I had feelings for her, and she’d rejected me in favour of Callum.

  Callum looked at her, then ran a hand down his face. “Fuck, I’m an idiot.”

  “You aren’t. Regardless of the personal struggles I was dealing with, what I did was wholly unprofessional. I completely understand if you fire me. In fact, I insist that you do. I broke your trust in the most abhorrent manner, and Annabelle has screenshots saved of our conversations. Conversations that make it look like you were cheating on Leanne with a fan. If she publishes them online, it’ll cause you no end of bad press.”

  “Actually, about that,” Leanne said. “There’s a reason Afric ran off just now. She and I were talking in the bathroom, and we hatched a plan.”

  “What sort of plan?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Callum added, eyeing his partner. “What sort of plan?”

  Afric

  “Okay, are you both absolutely sure you got everything?” I asked through my headset. It was two in the morning, and I was on a video call with TheBigSix and Yellowshoes.

  I drank several glasses of water as soon as I got home. I’d needed to sober up enough to explain the situation to them after running out of the nightclub like I’d left a candle burning next to a set of linen curtains. Neil was clearly furious with me, but he could yell at me and hate me later. Right then, I had a plan to put into motion.

  After Annabelle had pulled that USB drive from her bag, I knew it could work. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who kept backups of her backups. More than likely, the USB was the only place she’d saved the screenshots other than her computer and phone.

  I’d swiftly destroyed the drive before hurrying home and explaining the situation to my friends. It hadn’t taken too much grovelling to convince them to do me this massive (if somewhat illegal) favour.

  Okay, so I promised to buy them a bunch of new weapons and ammo in Greenforest, and they’d readily agreed to hack Annabelle’s computer, phone, and cloud files.

  “We got everything,” TheBigSix reassured me. “Veritably scrubbed clean. I’m nothing if not thorough.”

  “Yeah, hon, relax. We got you,” Yellowshoes added. “Of note, while rooting through this Annabelle person’s files, I noticed a few workout videos where she’s blatantly padded her ass to make it look bigger.”

  “Don’t they all do that nowadays?” TheBigSix asked. “I thought it was the norm.”

  “I guess it’s no stranger than putting chicken fillets in your bra,” Yellowshoes mused.

  “New business idea. We could start manufacturing backside padding. We’d make a fortune in fudge,” TheBigSix joked.

  “Oh! That could definitely work,” Yellowshoes agreed.

  I couldn’t believe how quickly they’d moved onto other topics. They didn’t even seem phased that they’d just committed a cybercrime, even if it was for the greater good. Clearly, I had excellent taste in friends.

  And clearly, they’d both done far shadier things online in the past.

  Best not to question it.

  “Sorry to burst your bubble, but padded underwear is already a thing. You’d be entering a competitive market,” I said.

  “What if it wasn’t underwear but an actual synthetic butt that looks real?” Yellowshoes countered.

  “That’s a bit weird, love,” TheBigSix commented. “Even for my standards.”

  I shook my head in amusement as the two of them continued discussing their hypothetical arse enhancing business, my thoughts wandering to Neil. The look on his face when he realised I’d told Leanne the truth
cut me to the quick. I didn’t regret what I’d done, though. In fact, I was relieved that it was finally over. Leanne had reassured me Neil wouldn’t be fired. She actually seemed to blame herself a little since she and Callum getting together had contributed to Neil’s low self-esteem at the time. That, combined with him having to pretend to be Callum as part of his work duties, well, she clearly understood it was a lot to take on.

  Now, I just needed to worry about how badly I’d fucked up Neil’s and my tentative … whatever it was. Okay, so I was pretty sure I was in love with him. And now I had to do whatever was in my power to earn his trust back. But what if I couldn’t? What if I’d ruined things forever?

  The thought made my heart feel like it had fallen out of my chest and plopped onto the floor where it was about to be sucked up by a diligent Roomba.

  Feeling particularly morose, I logged off with TheBigSix and Yellowshoes, then climbed into bed with my mobile phone. I wanted to call Neil and fully explain myself, but I had no idea how I’d be received. Would he even bother to answer?

  Taking the plunge, I hit his number and pressed call. It rang out before going to voicemail. Inhaling a deep breath for courage, I decided to leave him a message.

  21.

  Neil

  I felt like someone hit me over the head with a cricket bat. After a hellish night, I’d slept only a handful of hours. I hadn’t even had that much to drink, but the after effects of emotional turmoil were wreaking havoc with my cranium.

  Callum and Leanne had been far too understanding and not nearly angry enough about what I’d done. I struggled with whether I deserved their forgiveness. We’d gone back to their flat after the club and talked for hours, hashing things out. I hated that they felt guilty for the position I’d been put in because I was the one who’d abused the power I’d been given. They had nothing to feel guilty for.

  I was still considering handing in my resignation. They were too fond of me to see my deception clearly. And perhaps they just didn’t want to train in a new assistant. I was like a pair of old boots; reliable, comfortable, familiar despite my faults.