And I didn’t buy it for a second. “Bullshit. If you were sorry, you wouldn’t have posted it. Especially not today.”
“I meant to cancel it. Or at least edit the scheduled video. It slipped my mind.”
I glanced at Link. His expression was flat. That should have her more concerned than me being pissed off. “It’s release day. What were you think—”
“There’s no such thing as bad press,” she talked over me. “It was meant to drive up game traffic.”
I fucking hated that phrase. Scott spouted it from here until eternity, and even Dustin had made it a mantra, but that didn’t mean I had to agree.
“So this was altruistic on your part?” Link asked.
Fallyn shook her head, making her twin braids bobble and jerk on the tiny screen. “No. It was completely a selfish business decision. It keeps the game I love online, and the hits I get from the keywords…”
“You humiliated us.” I didn’t mean to phrase things that way. Damn it. I needed to get myself under control.
Her brows were furrowed and her gaze downcast. “I reminded more people you exist. Scott McAllister knew—”
The comparison was a fantastic way to make me angrier. Not that I had any problems with Scott—I’d known him longer than almost anyone. Was a few years younger than him when we werein high school together. Even he’d be upset about something like this, he just wouldn’t let the public see it.
But I wasn’t Scott.
“We had so much fun this weekend,” Link said.. “And now… this?” There was a sharp edge to his hurt, and if that was showing through, what he was hiding was far worse.
She’d pissed off the unflappable, always sunny Link. That took talent.
“I’m sorry. I really am.” She repeated. “I meant to pull it…”
“But you scheduled it for today in the first place.” This was part of the underlying problem. It wasn’t as though making the video was a mistake. She didn’t trip and fall and her tits hit the keyboard to create thirty minutes ofET Howardjokes set to anime memes, and then accidentally schedule it to go live exactly six hours after our game did.
Fallyn shrugged. “But now that I’m getting to know you…”
“What? Things have changed? Nothing’s changed.”
Her expression shifted. Or the connection out here was bad. “No? Oh, right. Becauseno emotions. That was one of your rules, wasn’t it?”
Of course she was going to bring the sex into this. But Link mentioned the personal things first. Still… “So if you hadn’t met us this weekend, it would’ve been okay to post the video? You wouldn’t be sorry now?” Stupid question. Of course it was okay because she’d done it.
Fallyn didn’t answer.
I wanted to rip out my hair, or yell, or rage and throw things. If we were still in my office, I’d yank thatDays Since…sign off my wall, and hurl it out a window. “Well?”
“Don’t you dare demand I say anything.” She was being belligerent? Now?
“I deserve an answer.”
She scoffed. “I don’t owe you that. I already told you what I was thinking, and me phrasing it a different way won’t change anything. I also said I was sorry. Multiple times.”
“But you’re only sorry because the sex was good.”
Fallyn stared at me through the screen. A second ticked away, and then two. “You’re so fucking full of yourself.”
“You were full of me too, and weren’t complaining two nights ago.” And now I was keeping it personal. This had all gone downhill. But I didn’t see how any of that was my fault.
“I didn’t come all the way out here to be your doll. I hopped on that plane to see if I clicked with the guys I’d met online, and maybe to face a few fears about crowds.”
I was done with this conversation. Done with the circular argument and Fallyn’s bullshit apology, and I wanted to hurt her. “The only thing that clicks about us is how much fun it is for us to fuck each other. You just do it differently than I do.”
More silence, and she clenched her jaw. Was she going to hang up? “That’s about what I’d expect coming from an emotionless void.”