The #5Star Affair (Love Hashtagged Book 1)

by Lindt, Allyson

  “Not quite what I had in mind.”

  She stepped out of his grasp. “That’s the only answer. You might think there are fifty million of them, but there’s just the one. You’re familiar with the phrase ‘don’t feed the trolls?’ Anything I do gives them more fuel to push this further.”

  “Look at you.” Some of the tenderness was gone from his voice. “It’s been a day, and you’re pulling your hair out.”

  “And the sooner this goes away, the sooner I stop doing that.” She didn’t want to be irritated with him. Why had she even argued? She could have pretended to go along with things, just to have the security of him. Except something about that idea made her gut sour. “Just, please, don’t respond to this.”

  He sighed, and his expression relaxed. “I may have told my brother we’re dating.”

  Her brain tripped, stumbled, and almost fell at the instant change in subject and the meaning behind it. Dating. Were they? “Your brother, the Battleship bully?”

  His smile faded before his laugh died off. “Yeah, that’s the one. But he’s still family. He’s in town, invited me to dinner, and when he started giving me grief about a girlfriend…I told him I had one. I didn’t mention you specifically, but I’ll admit I had you in mind.”

  She wanted to be concerned he’d dropped the other topic so quickly. Her brain nagged, telling her to call him on it. But she’d wanted the change in subject. “So you’re already introducing me to your family?”

  He kissed her forehead, then her nose, and lingered on her lips. “If you’re free tonight. And not the entire family, just Damon.”

  She didn’t have the mental capacity to figure out why the entire situation seeped under her skin like an itch she couldn’t quite reach. It was probably because the day had been overwhelming misery.

  An evening with the guy she liked? She could do that.

  The real world would—unfortunately—still be there tomorrow.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jaycie’s eyes grew wide when Ethan pulled his car into the steakhouse parking lot. She’d been there a couple of times, but never on her own dollar. It was the kind of place bored editors with big expense accounts ate when they were in town.

  Ethan had been uncharacteristically quiet during their drive. “Ready?” He offered his arm when she climbed from the car and stood next to him.

  She hooked her hand into his elbow, and fell into step. In her heels, she was almost his height. Despite his low-key mood and the tension keeping his back rod straight, he looked incredible. It was the first time she’d seen him dressed up. Button-down, slacks, and a tie. Then again, he’d never seen her in anything dressier than a T-shirt and jeans, either.

  Yesterday had been amazing. When she pushed aside all the crap of today, it was a great memory to lose herself in. They’d gone from strangers to keeping their distance, to sex, and commitments beyond one night in that short amount of time. She liked him, but was she making the same mistakes she had before? Latching onto a guy just to fill a void?

  She shook the doubt away when she stepped inside. All of those were details she could consider later. She didn’t like the idea of being a showcase piece, but regardless of how she and Ethan defined their relationship, she cared about him enough to help him out in a situation he obviously wasn’t looking forward to.

  She recognized Damon the moment she saw him. He was taller that Ethan, and his shoulders weren’t as broad. His tailored suit that fit him better than should be legal, instead of the off-the-rack Ethan wore. Overall, though, he was a maybe-five-years-older version of the man whose arm she was on, and just as attractive.

  Except something about his smile. The way he approached, the fact he held himself as if he expected to dominate anything in his path, set off all her mental alarms.

  “Hey, bro.” Damon shook Ethan’s hand easily, and slapped him on the shoulder, smile never reaching his eyes. “Sorry for the short notice.”

  “Not a problem.” Ethan’s pleasant expression looked frozen in place. “This is my girlfriend, Jaycie.”

  She wanted to be pleased at the term. He wasn’t shrugging her off after last night. And the way he hesitated for the briefest a second before he said it made her think he was still adjusting to the idea as much as she was, instead of just assuming the topic was closed. The tightening of his hand on hers before he let go was a sign of reassurance, and not possession? She was overthinking the entire situation—that was for sure. He’d already assured her she wasn’t a conquest. Why was she trying to analyze this into anything more than dinner with the guy she liked?

  “A pleasure, Jaycie.” Damon’s gaze traveled her frame, never lingering too long in one place, but appraising the entire journey before fixing on her face again. “I can see why you caught my baby brother’s attention. Are you intelligent enough to keep it?”

  The number of hidden cut-downs in the single sentence crawled under her skin. She opened her mouth to retort, but Ethan cut her off. “And then some.”

  She clenched her jaw. Had he just spoken for her? She was a display piece for the evening, and not even allowed to talk for herself? She breathed in slowly, trying to calm the irritation. Don’t overreact.

  Damon leaned in, mouth close enough to her cheek, his breath caressed her skin. “Don’t worry, Ms. Wharry. You’ve got all evening to prove it yourself.” His stage whisper was just loud enough she knew it was meant for Ethan’s ears as well.

  How had Damon known her last name? Ethan had said he didn’t mention her specifically when he and Damon had talked. Ethan took her hand again, fingers intertwining with hers. This wasn’t about owning her, she realized, but it was about appearances. She squeezed his hand, and focused on the warmth flowing between them. There were reasons she wanted to give things a try with him, and she burned those into her thoughts now, letting them displace the day’s negativity.

  The host led them to a table near the back. It was empty enough in the restaurant that there were several spots between them and any other diner.

  Ethan held out her chair, and then pushed it in as she sat, before taking the spot next to her. Appreciation filled her.

  “How’s work?” Damon asked the moment they were settled. “Do they pay you what you’re worth yet?”

  Ethan’s mouth tightened for just a second, before his neutral expression moved back in. “It’s great. Never better. And you wouldn’t believe some of the names I’ve consulted for in the last few months.”

  “Probably not.” Damon held up a hand, silencing him long enough to order a bottle of wine.

  “How about you?” Ethan spoke the moment the waiter was gone. “Still keeping big money out of white-collar day camp?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Even though she wasn’t part of the conversation, the tension between the two men made Jaycie wince. It explained some things about Ethan, though. She’d wondered if his stories about childhood had been exaggerated, but even spending ten minutes with the two of them, she could guess his choices growing up had been to take a stand or get lost in his brother’s presence.

  “Jaycie”—Damon turned a bright smile on her—“Ethan talks about you all the time, but it’s always ‘gorgeous eyes’ here and ‘stunning good looks’ there. What do you do for a living?”

  Was that really all he had to say about her? She smothered the welling bubble of hurt inside, wrapping it in logic. Damon was lying. The way Ethan tensed up just saying his brother’s name, the odds he ‘talked about her all the time’ were slim. So why would Damon say something so patronizing?

  Besides, as of yesterday, the entire world knew what she did for a living. No, that wasn’t true. Only the gaming community. It was a harsh reminder that her problems didn’t exactly register on a big scale, no matter how career-destroying they were in her world.

  Her standby answer surfaced easily. “I’m in journalism. I take the jobs I can, you know?” Her laugh was even part of the canned answer. “But my name is in a lot of the top magazines.
” That was typically enough to make people smile and nod in appreciation.

  “Really?” Damon leaned in. “Time? You don’t look like a People kind of woman. Rolling Stone, maybe?”

  “Similar distribution numbers. Nothing so mainstream, though.”

  The waiter arrived with their wine, and Jaycie suppressed the desire to down the glass in a single gulp.

  Damon leaned back with a sigh, and raked his fingers through his hair. He met her gaze again. “I have to come clean.”

  “That’s a first.” Ethan muttered against his glass.

  Her smirk slipped out before she could stop it.

  Damon raised his eyebrows, and glanced at his brother before looking at her again. “He doesn’t talk about you. Not to me anyway. And I can almost guarantee it’s nothing to do with you. We don’t talk in general. Asshole doesn’t approve of what I do for a living, and the feeling’s mutual.”

  Ethan snorted with laughter. “Understatement of the evening. Got another one in you?”

  Jaycie clamped her jaw shut. Damon’s confession didn’t surprise her, but the mounting hostility set her teeth on edge. Why had Ethan even agreed to this evening?

  “But you don’t deserve to get caught up in whatever issues we’ve got with each other,” Damon said. “He told me he was dating someone, and I’d still rather see him happy than not, even if he says otherwise. His fiancée left him high and dry, and he doesn’t deserve to go through that again.”

  “Stop.” Ethan spoke the single word in a drawn-out warning.

  Fiancée? She should be bothered she didn’t know Ethan had been engaged, but it was squashed by the reminder she didn’t know much of anything about him.

  Damon plowed ahead. “I was prepared to pull strings to find out who you were. Turned out I didn’t have to. The two of you are internet sensations. And you, my dear, are brilliantly brutal with words. I wouldn’t mind having you pen a closing argument—or all of them—for me.”

  The compliment would have filled her with pride, if the reminder of reality hadn’t squashed her mood. So that was how he’d known her last name. He’d looked into her. “Thanks. I’m glad someone likes it.”

  Ethan’s hand found her knee under the table, and he squeezed. The reassurance clenched like a fist in her chest.

  “You could have just asked about her,” Ethan said.

  “You’re right. I could have. You wouldn’t have told me, but I could have asked.” Damon sipped his wine. “Anyway, my point is you’re talented, and bullshit aside, it really is nice to meet you. Slander sucks, and I hope this clears up for you soon.”

  “Me too.” When the chest thumping stopped, he was nice enough after all. She still expected the evening would be tense, but it was a relief to hear some encouragement.

  “Is it really slander?” Ethan asked. His rigid spine relaxed and his expression smoothed.

  “Don’t.” She kept the word quiet enough it was only meant for him, and hoped it conveyed her meaning.

  Damon’s raised brows told her she hadn’t said it quietly enough. “Of course it is. Libel. Slander. Defamation. I can’t imagine it’s anything but damaging.”

  “So she could do something about it? Something legal?” Excitement lined Ethan’s question.

  Doubt and irritation wormed their way into a series of thoughts her brain was already working overtime to process. Had Ethan planned this? Was it the entire reason he’d dropped the subject of ‘fixing the problem’ earlier? She hated thinking he’d done something as deceptive as dragging her to dinner just to try and back her into accepting help she didn’t need, but the idea wouldn’t leave her alone. “I can do something about it. I can let it pass.”

  “He could help. This isn’t right. You and I both know it. Half the internet knows it.”

  “And the other half doesn’t. And they’re the scary half.”

  “Besides, who are you going to sue?” Damon asked. “In a slander suit, there’s a defendant, and the point is typically for the plaintiff to walk away with some kind of reparation. You have to have someone to go after, and it’d be nice if they had deep pockets. You know, so you could pay your legal counsel. ”

  Ethan growled. “Of course. It always comes back to money. Doesn’t it?”

  “Always, baby brother. The world runs on cash. Or the promise of it, at least.” Damon looked at Jaycie, sympathy in his eyes. “He must really like you, to beg on your behalf, and I’m sorry this is happening. But I can’t help you slap a gag order on the entire internet, and shutting down one guy, who probably struggles to pay his mortgage or lives in his parents’ basement, isn’t going to stop anything.”

  “I know. He doesn’t seem to get that, though.” She nodded at Ethan. Even though it was similar to what she’d been saying all along, hearing someone else acknowledge the reality made a portion of her insides crumble. There really was no way out of this, except for through it.

  *

  Ethan had hoped this would be one of those evenings with his brother that went smoothly. Some joking…maybe he could sneak in some questions about what was happening to Jaycie.

  He should have known it wouldn’t be that straightforward. Damon was in rare form tonight, and less than helpful on top of that. Greedy fucking asshole. This wasn’t about money, but he should have guessed it would be painted in that light. And Ethan was still struggling to figure out how to make Jaycie see this wasn’t just going away.

  They placed their orders, and Ethan refused to look at the price. This date was going to eat into his bank account, but he wouldn’t give Damon the satisfaction.

  “As long as we’re swapping professional opinions”—Damon flowed into the change of subject as if it were nothing—“I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on something.”

  Ethan’s irritation swelled. At least now he knew what the evening was really about. “Sure. Why the hell not?”

  Next to him, Jaycie had tucked her hands in her lap, only extracting them for the occasional sip of water. Her gaze wandered the room, landing everywhere but on him. Of course she was going to shut him out again.

  “Say someone accused you of doing something to the competition that was unethical.” Damon purposefully phrased his statement without directing any blame. Ethan was sure of it. “In this case, worming your way into their network, planting a potentially dangerous virus, and trying to shift the blame to someone else.”

  Ethan stared back, expression blank. “That’s disturbingly specific.”

  “And completely hypothetical. How would you prove you weren’t responsible?”

  “For starters, I wouldn’t have done it. So someone would have had to work awfully hard to plant evidence to the contrary.” Ethan wasn’t in the mood for this. Damon’s clients tended to be large corporations with enough operating cash to do whatever they wanted.

  The reminder brought Ethan’s irritation with the #5Star situation surging back to the surface. Maybe if Jaycie had access to that kind of corporate backing, Damon would actually help.

  “Then again, since I don’t make a habit of things like that, I wouldn’t keep an overpriced lawyer on retainer, to protect me from my own ethical violations,” Ethan said. It was a petty, passive response, and he knew he shouldn’t sink that low. He needed to bring his reactions under control, or it was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The moment the apartment door was open, Jaycie brushed past Ethan. She didn’t even know where to start with the disaster that had been dinner. Every fucking chance he got, Ethan had changed the subject back to #5StarFUQ and legal ramifications. It was as if the phrase “just drop it” meant something entirely different in his universe.

  “Jace, wait.” His hard tone halted her stride.

  How dare he order her to do anything? Or maybe she was the unreasonable one? No. She’d asked him to stop, and he hadn’t. Her only consolation was that Damon had picked up the check at dinner before Ethan could stop him, and Ethan had looked both furious and f
rustrated at being shown up. Served him right.

  Or she was being immature. She wouldn’t back down from this, though. Her request to just drop the subject, reasonable or not, was still her request. She spun back to face Ethan. “What?”

  “Talk to me.”

  Her irritation surged back on a fresh wave of powerlessness. “Why? So you can ignore everything I say some more?” Putting words to the fear dug deeper inside than the rest of the evening combined. She’d thought he was interested in what she had to say. In what she wanted. Was he more like Nick than she wanted to admit? A sick pit formed in her gut. She hadn’t fallen into a new relationship just to avoid being alone, had she?

  Guilt joined the accusatory thought. Ethan was nothing like Nick. Somehow, that didn’t make the situation better, though.

  “This thing you refuse to talk about, this #5StarFUQ thing—dealing with it is important.” Ethan’s eyes held a hard edge, and his gaze never wavered from her face.

  “So is respecting my wishes. You’re welcome to voice your opinion on anything. I’ll listen. But I already asked you to drop this, and you tricked me into the conversation this evening, anyway. Blindsided me with something I already told you no about.”

  “But you’re wrong,” he said. “Ignoring this isn’t the right thing to do.”

  The blunt words raised welts on her thoughts, stinging and lingering. Even worse, a tiny voice in the back of her mind squeaked that he had a good point, and she plowed it aside. “That’s on me. You gave me your opinion—many, many times, though once would have been enough—and it’s up to me to listen. What happens next? You decide you want to have sex, and I’m wrong if I disagree?”

  He clenched his jaw and drew his mouth into a fine line. Silence stretched between them in the seconds it took for him to respond. “That’s different.”

  “How?” In a way, it was; she knew Ethan wouldn’t do that. But in a way it was exactly the same.