So she’s putting her father where he’s supposed to be.
Putting things as right as she can make them.
For me too.
Sometime this week when she wasn’t working and we weren’t having sex, she read through the court filings in the lawsuit war I had with Xavier those first few months after I departed Technique Group. With my permission, she passed it on to her friend back in New York, who’s going to make sure people in New York start talking about it.
The whole thing flew under the radar. Xavier had blacklisted me so thoroughly that I didn’t have any local friends in the industry that I trusted to talk to about it, or to ask to talk to other people about it, and it wasn’t hard to see that if I’d started yelling about suing him, I’d look like the pathetic loser who couldn’t accept that I was bad at my job.
The accusations of financial mismanagement that I had based on what little evidence I could gather before going to court are still enough that he’ll take a reputation hit, which will help me look less like a fool grasping for straws too.
But the idea of vengeance isn’t what’s making me happy.
That’s all Margot.
I find her with Zelda near what’s supposed to be the end of her shift.
They’re huddled in the doorway to the dining room, which has been cleared of all tables again, with chairs set up for the sixty or seventy creators who’ve been here this week.
A familiar face is at the front of the room, on a makeshift stage, microphone in hand, about to start speaking.
“Oh, good, I’m not too late,” a feminine voice murmurs beside us.
I glance down and spot Laney Monroe.
She’s beaming at Theo on the stage.
He pulls a face at her, then smiles softly, and then he lifts his microphone. “Afternoon, naked people.”
Cheers and shouts erupt in the room. Someone yellstake it off. Someone else throws a ball of red yarn at the stage.
“Is this awkward?” Margot murmurs to Laney.
Laney shakes her head, still smiling. “We all have our stories about how we got to where we are. This is his.”
“Settle down, settle down,” Theo says. “I’m only here for five minutes, so if you want to hear what I have to say, you have to listen now.”
The room falls into immediate silence.
Clearly, they believe him.
“Wish that worked on toddlers,” Laney says.
Margot—shit,Margie—smiles and doesn’t answer.
Theo glances back at Laney again.
She nods to him.
I slip behind Margie and settle a hand on her waist.
She leans back into me.
And Theo starts talking again. “When I started my channel, I was talking to myself,” he says. “Telling myself the things I needed to hear. Teaching me to believe in myself, that I was good enough, that I deserved room and space to grow and learn. I did it naked because emotions are—they’re hard, my dudes. Being emotionally exposed is harder than being buck nakedin a crowded room. And I’d know. That’s how I got my first detention.”
Snickers go up around the room, and Laney laughs too. “I remember that.”
“Thing is, anyone can get naked,” Theo continues. “I hear you’ve all been naked half the week here. But the thing that’ll bring you success—and I don’t mean on a subscription channel, I mean in life—is embracing who you are and what makes you unique. Not if your dick’s tattooed or has a weird curve. But the part ofthisthat’s unique.” He taps his heart.
