I shake my head. “No, nothingthatextreme.”
“Bummer,” she mutters. “What is it?”
With a deep breath, I take my phone out, and with trembling hands, find the image that I took a screenshot of. It’s hard to even look at it, so I’m quick to turn the screen Aria’s way.
Her brows lift to her hairline. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Someone leaked it. I had someone mess with the internet and data all around for a while, so it doesn’t spread.”
“Things like these always spread,” she groans. “Alright. Arlo candefinitely have it taken down soon. But if someone took a screenshot, or if they saved it to their phones, I can’t guarantee it’ll disappear. The Internet is forever, darling.”
“I know, but is it possible to track where the image originated from?”
Aria takes the phone from my hands, zooming in. At the bottom of the screen is time, and she quickly flicks her eyes back to me. “This was taken an hour and a half ago. It definitely came from here.”
“Yeah. I’m curious who it is.”
“Fine. I’ll do it, but I can’t do it for free.”
“No, of course not. Whatever the price it is, I’ll pay.”
“No,” she shakes her head. “I don’t want money from you.”
“What do you want?”
Her blue eyes gleam with a deep, dark hue that sends chills down my body. The front pieces of her hair are bleached into white, as well as the bottom half of her hair, while the rest is in a deep, midnight shade of black.
“A favor.”
I blink. “A favor?”
“Yes,” she nods. “I won’t cash it in immediately, though.”
“Done,” I nod. “Just do it, and do it quickly.”
She hands me back my phone, then takes her own. “I’ll be back soon. Wait for me at the bar.”
My heart’s beating rapidly in my ribcage as Aria leaves the restroom, and I follow suit. No one seems to have noticed the data malfunction, and Soren’s nowhere to be fucking seen. It’s better this way, because if it turns out that he’s the one who leaked it, I’ll pay Aria to kill him, and I’m not messing around.
“Who was that?” Grace asks as I sit on the high chair at the bar,my fingers drumming against the cool countertop.
“Just an old friend,” I mumble. “Do you think anyone’s noticed the picture?”
“No,” Avalon shakes her head, taking my hand in hers and giving it a firm squeeze. “It was shared through Sinners and Saints. The older crowd doesn’t have any access to the site, and Lila shut everything down before it could spread.”
“I’ll have a shot of tequila, please,” I sigh as the waiter steps closer to my side of the bar.
The man’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, miss, we don’t have tequila.”
I blink. “You don’t?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Then give me the strongest thing you have, in a shot glass.”
The man’s perplexed, but he doesn’t say much. He works quickly, and before I can even start talking with Grace and Avalon, the drink is in front of me. It’s in a deeper color than a regular whiskey, and although it smells the same, the moment it slides down my throat, I can tell it’s not whiskey.
“That was… good,” I cough a little, covering my mouth with my palm.
