Carly shrugged. “It could be fun going into the city, shopping together. You know, peopling.”
Thomas squinted. “Is peopling even a word?”
“What do you think, Scott?” Carly asked.
Scott shuddered at the thought of Warren stalking him, trying to get him alone. “I’m happy with online too.”
Carly slumped and returned to the stove with Jay.
Thomas finished the rest of his breakfast, then pulled the laptop in front of him. He shifted his jaw left to right, then stiffened as he looked at Scott.
“What is it?” Scott asked.
“People have been…commenting on your teaser videos.”
“O…kay?”
“Most of them are good, thirsty I’d say, but there’s a few…” Thomas exhaled slowly. “Not so nice ones. I don’t want you reading them. I’ll tell you if there’s something you need to know, and share with you any positive comments, but I don’t want you to go through them on your own.”
“I’ve probably heard it all.” Scott snorted. “Mostly from you.”
“Scott…”
“Okay. I won’t read any of the comments.”
Thomas slumped. “Good.”
“Are there that many bad ones?”
“No, but all it takes is one to start getting to you.” Thomas frowned. “One of the messages, I don’t get.”
“What do you mean?”
Thomas tilted the laptop away from Scott so he couldn’t see. “This one I’m looking at. It has a date and a time.” He shook his head. “August 17. Midnight.”
“Is that all it says?” Scott asked.
“Yeah, there’s two unhappy emojis around the words.”
Scott’s lips popped open. “What’s the username?”
“Biggestfan468.”
August 17… That date would be near enough a month after Scott had first made the profile. Warren was giving him the month he’d requested.
He was backing off, giving Scott time to make the money.
“Oh, I get it,” Thomas said. “It’s in response to your bio. A month.”
“A month,” Scott echoed. He smiled. A weight lifted from his shoulders. “You know what? It might be fun to go shopping after all.”
Thomas shot him a disgusted look. “You are joking, right?”
“Nope. Let’s do it.”
No one spared Scott any attention. Everyone looked at Thomas. A few people even crossed the street, and one woman shielded her baby’s eyes.
Thomas ignored them all like he was bulletproof.
