"My Streamverse account was deactivated,” I whispered, not trusting that I’d be able to keep the crack out of my voice. “I got banned.”
“What?” Indi said, with so much surprise in their tone that it made me look up at them, their face blurry with my tears. “What do you mean,banned?”
Cameo collected my phone from the table, reading the email aloud.
“Explicit content…” Indigo said slowly. “You weren’t streaming on SLCK’d last night?”
“N-No–” I sobbed, putting my face onto my folded arms on the table at the guilty look on Indi’s face. Feeling bad wouldn’t fix this. Nothing would. Even if I appealed it… I was fucking guilty. There was no getting around that. “I thought you turned the camera off!”
Cameo hummed. “What’s the big deal?”
"The big deal is that I just lost my job!" I shouted, though my anger was heavily undermined by the petulance in my tone.
"You don't need ajob,” the alpha said, stressing the last word like it was a curse. “You have us. Besides, when will you have time to stream while you’re running a studio?"
I shot up in my seat, fixing Cameo with a glare that would’ve made everyone but my stupid psychopath of an alpha cower with fear… probably.
"Bro,” Indi muttered, rubbing their temples. “That was sooooo the wrong thing to say.”
“Ineed ajob,” I snapped. “Because I’m not some fucking kept omega pet that you can pay off forever. And another fucking thing—” I turned to Indi, who did shrink a little at the intensity of my glare. It would’ve made me feel proud, if I wasn’t too busy crying my eyes out over the two of them ruining my life. “Youcouldn’t just shut my fucking stream off before you decided to force your cock down my throat?”
I was shouting, or at least talking way louder than was reasonable for a public place, but I didn’t care.
"You were well into your scheduled Afterdark time," Cameo said, his voice clipped. "Why would we do something that would lose your donations Ms. I-Need-A-Job?”
I wailed, fat tears rolling down my cheeks and snot bubbling my nose. The kind of ugly crying that was reserved for the end of romance movies and sad commercials about animals.
Indigo pulled me into their lap, rubbing my back in soothing circles. We were definitely drawing eyes, but the sensation of being watched didn’t last long after Cameo’s low, warning rumble.
“Mind your fucking business,” the alpha growled. “Never had a bad day before?”
“Uh—doll, do you want to go home? I’ll call Marcus, have him take the day and come cook you something actually worth eating?”
I sniffed, rubbing my snotty, tear stained face on Indi’s shirt before pulling back to meet the alpha’s eyes. “Did your account get deleted too?”
Cameo made a noise of extreme distaste, clicking his tongue. “Doubtful…”
"Let me check," Indi said, pulling their phone from their pocket. “Um… no.”
"Why the fuck not!?"
"Because," Cameo answered, his voice surprisingly gentle. "They didn't know it was them.” He waved a hand in front of his face. “You know… The mask?”
"Great, so I'm the only one who threw their career in the toilet for a cheap fuck.”
Indi winced. “Your career isn’t ruined.”
“And I’ll have you know that you are averyexpensive fuck, tesoro.”
I ignored him, mostly because I thought I might throw my water glass at Cameo’s head if he kept talking.
"No? Because there's no way I'm getting my account back. What am I supposed to say in the appeal? No, the pack I'm having a baby for didn't break into my house and fuck me silly? That was absolutely not me on video begging for two men in masks to use me like a fleshlight? Please, please Mr. Streamverse-TOS, it was all a misunderstanding! Some AI revenge porn made by my ex who somehow magically became aware that I like having my alphas tell me I’m a useless, slutty cum dump?—”
A cough from behind reminded me that we weren't the only ones here, and I let it drop. I took a deep breath, trying to control my emotions and failing, tears continuing to track down my face until they were dripping from my chin.
"We'll figure something out," Indi said softly. "It'll be okay, Eva. I promise."
"How can you promise that? Everything I worked for. All of the late nights. The sub-a-thons. The charity streams. Everything. All of it, five years of my life. Just… gone.”
