Geek Actually Season 1 Omnibus

by Cathy Yardley

  Taneesha grabbed her bag, pulling out her mace. “Stay with me. Is he doing anything? Are you all right?”

  “He says his name is Diego?” the woman said, now sounding as freaked out as Taneesha felt.

  “Diego?” She bit her lip. “Is he tallish, dark hair? Latino?” She paused. “Good looking in a rugged teddy bear kind of way?”

  The woman let out a breath. “Um, yes?”

  It could be him, Taneesha thought, although she’d never asked him to stop by. Which was a little weird, but right now, she could handle a little weird.

  “He’s, um, got flowers?”

  Flowers? That would’ve been surprising, and heartwarming, if she didn’t have an adrenaline spike of fear coursing through her veins. “Hold on a second,” she told the receptionist.

  Juggling the mace, she grabbed her phone, quickly texting Diego. “Are you at my job right now?”

  “I just texted him,” she told the receptionist. “The Diego I know. If it’s him, he’ll respond to me, and I’ll let you know it’s okay.”

  “I am not getting paid enough for this,” she heard the receptionist grumble.

  You and me both, lady.

  She quickly got a text back. “Yup. Although I see this ruins the surprise aspect.”

  She felt like Jell-O, putting the mace back on her desk. “Yes, it’s him. Thanks, and I’m sorry for all the drama.”

  The receptionist said something like “no problem” although her tone of voice suggested it was, in fact, quite the problem. If the receptionist complained, maybe HR would take the whole thing a bit more seriously. She had to dream.

  Taneesha got up from her cubicle, heading for the elevator. When the doors opened, there he was. He blended right in, at least with the usual programming crew: a T-shirt that said What happens at Board Game Club stays at Board Game Club, a pair of khaki cargo pants, and a beat-up pair of sneakers. He was carrying a small bouquet of bright and exotically colored flowers—orange and fuchsia tiger lilies and those spotted little purple-ish flowers she never remembered the name of. He gave her a sheepish smile, but his eyes were scanning her. Not lecherously, though. He looked concerned.

  “Hey,” he said, handing her the flowers, then giving her a quick, warm hug. The guy gave great hugs. “You okay? Bobby gave me a heads-up on what’s going on.”

  “Hey,” she said back, sniffing the flowers, and feeling her eyes sting a little with tears. Do not cry at work. You’ll never hear the end of it. “C’mon, I’ll show you my dungeon.”

  “Is that like ‘come up and see my etchings’?” he asked, in a hopeful tone of voice. “Because I’ll have you know I’m not that kind of boy.”

  Don’t I know that.

  “Thanks. For the flowers, and for visiting,” she said as they walked down the hallway. She noticed several people peer over at them, then look back at their screens. “It really has been a sucktacular week.”

  “Maybe you can come game with us tonight,” he said. “Help forget about all this ish for a while.”

  “I’ve been nervous even leaving the house.”

  “Well, we’re not Navy SEALs or anything,” he said, his voice soothing and persuasive, “but there are about seven guys—and sometimes two girls—who I’m sure would be sympathetic and have your back.”

  That sounded nice. She hadn’t felt that kind of friendship outside of the Rebel Scum. And as much as she loved them, it was sometimes hard when your best friends were thousands of miles away. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass this time around.”

  “We’re playing Pandemic,” he singsonged.

  “I’m already living a bit of a dystopia, thanks.” She shook her head, rubbing absently at her eyes with the heels of her hands. Then she remembered she was wearing makeup, and swore, seeing some of her mascara smudged on her palms. “Sorry. I don’t… I’m not trying to make it the Taneesha Show. I know this stalker crap is probably boring.”

  “Don’t do that,” he said, and to her surprise, he sounded sharp, pissed. “Don’t downplay what you’re going through. Of course you’re freaked out, of course you’re fixating on it. You’re scared for your life.” He frowned, then stroked her shoulder. “I want you to feel better, sure, but that’s not because I can’t handle being around someone who’s freaked out.”

  It took her a second to puzzle out what he was saying, but when she did, she shot him a watery smile. “That’s the nicest thing anybody’s said to me in a long time.”

  “Well, I may not be all that articulate,” he admitted, “but I mean it. I like you, Taneesha.”

  “I like you, too,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat a little bit.

  She leaned her butt against the desk, and he stood next to her, nudging up against her side. His shoulder bumped hers gently.

  As good as it felt, she knew that they were in a fishbowl in the bullpen. It wouldn’t do to have her cuddling up to anyone, much less a guy as sexy as Diego. Not that it was anybody else’s business, but it would just give them more ammo to launch against her, simply hinting that she might have sex in some alternate sphere. She deliberately took a step away. “I’m glad you stopped by.”

  “Maybe I can come visit you in your Fortress of Solitude,” he said quietly. “Bring dinner, or something?”

  “I’d like that.”

  They stood that way, quietly. Then her phone buzzed, and she jumped. Again.

  “I need to change that goddamned ring,” she cursed, and he let out a snort of laughter. “Sorry, I need to get this… hello?”

  “This is Marie in HR. We need you to get down here right away.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” She hung up. “Looks like the freaked-out receptionist finally did the job. I need to talk to HR.”

  “Okay. I just wanted to stop by and check in, anyway,” he said, and he hesitantly stroked her cheek, just a quick motion. It should’ve felt awkward—she wasn’t really touchy-feely, and he had never even remotely caressed her—but it was sweet. Nice. More comfort than flirt, though. “What time you want me to stop by tonight?”

  “Tonight?” she said. “Don’t you have to run your Pandemic, or whatever?”

  “Bobby can hold the fort,” he said, with a grin that hit her right between the legs. Down, girl. “What kind of food do you like?”

  “Um… Mexican?”

  “Oh, you’re in luck,” he said. “I’ll be by around seven, that okay?”

  She found herself nodding, and was even grinning a little when he walked away. It perked her up as she headed over to HR. She’d scored dinner at her house with a genuinely nice guy, and now HR was finally starting to address her issues.

  Maybe things were looking up.

  When she got there, though, Steven was sitting across from Marie’s desk. “Please sit down, Taneesha,” Marie said.

  Taneesha frowned. “What’s this about?”

  Steven growled. “You fucking doxed me.”

  “What?” Taneesha didn’t sit. She stood in front of him. “I never doxed you! I don’t even know where you live!”

  “Oh, like it’s that hard to find out,” he spat out. “I mean, you only found my WoW account and trashed my shit there.”

  “You posted your account on the intracompany group!” she snapped back. “I didn’t dox you. I know what it’s like. Why the hell would I do that to anyone else?”

  “Revenge?” He stood up, too, and got in her face. He was taller than she was, a little heavier, she noticed. She stood up straighter, her arms tightening, her hands fisting. Her heart was beating like a trapped bird. “You had your friends get even with me, is that it? Because now I’m getting all kinds of shit sent to my house, and it’s your fault!”

  “I swear, I had absolutely nothing to do with this.” Her eyes flashed, and she looked at Marie. “Which is more than he can say about doxing me, by the way!”

  The woman sighed. “Breaching confidentiality is against company policy,” she said sharply, “and is something we take very seriously.” />
  “I. DIDN’T. DO. IT!” Taneesha yelled. “Didn’t you even hear me?! I’ve been dealing with the fallout from spanking this guy on Warcraft, for Christ’s sake, and HR has done nothing! Even after I said I had screenshots of his complaints. Even after I showed you guys proof of threats. At this point, I just want all this to go away! Why the fuck would I kick the hornet’s nest now?”

  “Last night I got twenty-five anchovy pizzas sent to my house,” Steven bellowed. “I’ve been glitter bombed. I had somebody slash one of my tires!”

  “Oh, yeah?” Taneesha felt her blood boil. “I fucking wish I was just getting glitter bombed! You getting rape threats?” She threw a quick side-eye at Marie.

  Steven reddened, and she could see his jaw clench.

  “Must be nice, being a guy. Being able to complain that the worst thing that would happen is somebody sends pizzas to your house. Did someone threaten to slit your throat and stick his penis in the hole, Steven?”

  “There is no call for that sort of language,” Marie said, shifting nervously in her seat, looking a little green.

  “I’m not saying anything like that! I would never,” Steven said, through gritted teeth. “And it’s totally unfair. You can’t blame that on me. And what kind of fucked-up revenge is it, to put my address up, when I didn’t do anything?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Taneesha snapped.

  Marie rubbed her temples. “Let’s everybody calm down,” she said, in the closest thing Taneesha had ever heard to a Zen bellow. “Taneesha, you’ve been warned…”

  “But there’s no proof,” Taneesha said. “Because I didn’t do it. I couldn’t prove to you that I was being stalked and threatened—despite the fact that I’ve had death threats, that I’ve shown you guys the IP addresses. That I’ve shown you that this guy”—she pointed at Steven—“put out the call on Reddit that set this all in motion.”

  “But I didn’t dox you,” Steven protested. “I never told anybody to, either. I just told them what you’d done. I was blowing off steam.”

  “Well, I didn’t even know about any of this,” Taneesha shot back. “I didn’t even complain on the Internet, like you did! So why am I going to be punished when you didn’t even get a slap on the wrist?” She looked at Marie.

  Marie sighed… and looked just the tiniest bit nervous.

  Taneesha crossed her arms. “I don’t suppose there’s any difference between us that might warrant a difference in treatment, is there, Marie?” she said, her voice cold.

  Steven groaned. “So now you’re going to play the race card? Is that it?”

  Now Marie looked like she was going to have a stroke.

  “I was thinking it was because I was a woman, but thanks for pointing out the intersectionality, Steven,” Taneesha answered.

  “Why don’t you two take the rest of the day off, while I run this by management?” Marie said quickly. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  Taneesha and Steven stared at each other, then both stalked out of the office. “You’d better make sure it stops,” Steven said.

  “Like you’ve jumped through flaming hoops to help me?” Taneesha said. “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.”

  He muttered something too low to hear.

  Taneesha was too fixated on her own next course of action to care. She needed to find out who had doxed Steven, and why. Just to cover her own ass.

  CHRISTINA

  Christina sat at Vivi’s computer, with its huge screen and lack of lag time. She wasn’t quite sure why Vivi had such a beast of a desktop, considering she only seemed to use her phone, but she wasn’t going to look a gaming computer in the mouth. She was just fucking around, playing Mirror Layers for giggles because of Markiplier’s send-up of it, while Vivi puked up their last meal and took a nap before whatever they had on tap for tonight. Some party. Christina was getting used to partying with Vivi. She got to wear some of the fashion-forward, gender-neutral clothes she’d been hoarding, and she got to do so in front of large crowds. And it wasn’t like she cared about all the star-fucking—she was a lowly PA, and “ambition” wasn’t exactly a watchword—but she had gotten to see some interesting places since shacking up with Vivi.

  Not that they were living together, she thought quickly, as she attached a leg to a hanging corpse and quickly backed through a mirror. God, she’d spent most of her life avoiding relationships, and now she was dancing on the edge of becoming one of those U-Haul lesbians in the terrible stereotypes—the zero-to-one-hundred, move-in-immediately, instalove types. She had not moved in, nor did she plan to.

  But she was spending a lot of time with Vivi. Between being her handler/babysitter on set and fucking the life out of her, Christina figured they probably spent at least twenty-three hours a day together.

  Twenty-three hours a day with the same person. Without wanting to kill said person. That was new.

  “I’m taking a shower, and the driver’s gonna pick us up at nine o’clock!” Vivi yelled from the bathroom. “So you’ll need to wrap that shit up by eight and give me a quick bang before I get changed.”

  “I live to serve,” Christina drawled, snickering as Vivi slung some choice curses her way in that sexy-as-fuck voice.

  Her phone rang—Taneesha. Christina felt a burn of righteous pride in her chest as she answered it. “Hey there. How’s it going? Any more scary shit?”

  “Did you dox Steven?”

  Christina blinked, pausing the game. Taneesha didn’t sound particularly happy. Christina frowned. “Why? Is that prick giving you a hard time? Did you get more backlash?”

  Taneesha’s exhalation of breath was shaky. “They called me into HR. They think I did it.”

  “What the fuck?” Christina shut off the game, pacing around Vivi’s spacious “office.” “It’s not in your name, not in your IP address, Christ, not even in your state. Thought you worked for tech people? How the hell do they not understand that?”

  “The human resources department is surprisingly clueless,” Taneesha said, fatigue, anger, and frustration pumping through every syllable. “The thing is, Steven thinks it’s me. Told HR that.”

  “That, again, is bullshit,” Christina said. “Which I will swear to, to whomever you need me to. And besides, how the fuck does he get a free pass on outing you on Reddit, huh? Turnabout is fair fucking play. If he doesn’t like it, he should imagine how you feel.” She paused a beat, grinning maliciously. “Oh, wait. He doesn’t need to imagine it, since he should be feeling it himself.”

  “Except for the fact that I sincerely doubt he’s getting rape threats,” Taneesha said.

  “Give me a few nights. I’ll make sure the right boards get his info,” Christina promised darkly.

  “No, Chris. I do not want you spreading any more of his info.” Now Taneesha’s tone was whiplash harsh. “That’s why I called. I want you to take down your original posts, wherever they are, and just… just shut this down.”

  “The fuck? Why? Because some ballsack in HR is saber-rattling?” Christina rolled her eyes. “They can’t do anything to you. If they do, you can sue them.”

  “Yeah. And watch me sail into another job that way,” Taneesha muttered. “But no, that’s not why I’m asking you to take it down.”

  “You weren’t exactly asking me,” Christina said. “More like ordering. And I still don’t see what the big fucking deal is.”

  “Doxing sucks, that’s what the big deal is,” Taneesha snapped. “I’m not okay with that. Was he a dick for complaining about me, calling me out on a public forum? Yes, absolutely. Do I think he should get away with it? No, absolutely not. Do I wish that every one of those dickbags that sent me shit, that are making my life hell, would get sewn up in a bag of feral honey badgers and thrown into the Grand Canyon? FUCK. YES.”

  Christina grinned.

  “But that doesn’t mean that I turn around and out those people, bust their privacy, and spread their shit around, either,” Taneesha said, her voice quiet and
dignified. Which made Christina feel childish, and pissed as hell as a result. “It’s not right. You have to take it down. I mean it. Now.”

  “I’m trying to help you,” Christina said, her stomach clenching. Was it anger at the whole situation? Disappointment, that Taneesha seemed to be backing down? Irritation that she was being rebuked like a fucking three-year-old? Probably some toxic cocktail of the three of them. “Your hands are tied. Mine aren’t. They can’t connect it to you. Hell, I’ll take credit if need be. Just… let me help you get some kind of justice.”

  “Oh, no. Don’t do this for me,” Taneesha said, and just like that, anger leaped to the fore. “If you’re going to serve a heaping plate of vengeance, you do it for yourself. We both know this isn’t just about me, anyway.”

  “You’re damned right it’s not,” Christina said sharply. “You’re one of many, and you fucking know it. It’s time these guys got more of a sense of the consequences of their actions, T. These man-child little fucks use anonymity as an excuse for their shit, for their bullying and their hurtfulness. If it wasn’t you, it’d be somebody else. We keep quiet, and those fuckers just get braver. We take the high road—and they fucking run us over on it.”

  Christina slammed her palm down on the big polished maple desk, the ringing thwak singing all the way up her arm as her other hand gripped her phone so hard she thought she’d crush it. HULK SMASH style.

  “So I’m sorry you’re scared, and I’m sorry if this is distasteful to you, but this is bullshit, and I can’t believe you’re backing down this way.”

  “I am begging you,” Taneesha said. “Please, please don’t do this. This is fucked up, even for—” She stopped abruptly.

  “Even for me, you mean?” Christina laughed harshly. “The thing is, I’ve done plenty of stupid shit for no reason other than that I was bored. This, I was doing because it felt right. I believed in it. Now you’re telling me to knock it off and play nice. You know me. When the fuck have I ever, ever played nice?”

  “Jesus wept,” Taneesha ground out, sounding like she was gritting her teeth. “I have had enough of all of this drama.”