The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

My phone was buzzing. I’d put it on silent.

Kash calling.

Erik had just put his phone away. Didn’t need to guess who he got off the phone with. I moved to a corner, knowing they’d wait for me and also knowing Erik and Fitz would form a wall for me. I’d have a modicum of privacy.

“Hey.”

“You okay?”

No. “I haven’t seen exactly what’s happened, so I guess?”

“That blogger, Camille Story, released a shit ton of information about you, me, and Matt. She had everything. She also sent her entire blog in an email to the entire student body of Hawking University. It looks like the faculty added were only the faculty of your program.”

“Shit,” I whispered. “I hacked her.”

“I know.”

“She must’ve had more files.”

“I know.” He added, “She knows about you, so she was smart. Prepared. My guess is she had it on a separate computer, one that wasn’t connected to the internet. She got help with the student email list. No way did she get that herself.”

“Timing is suspect.”

He was quiet a beat. “If your classmate was pissed off enough, I’m sure she could do an easy search. She could find who broke the story on me, reach out to her. You still intent on me not firing her?”

I didn’t want to mess her life up. An IT job at Naveah was a good job, and being fired from any job was something that could mess up her life. Maybe not in a big way, but enough of a way to make an impact with her.

Still. I already told her to lay off, so the good in me was saying we needed proof that she was the one to set this in motion. The bad part in me was saying enough was enough and just fire her.

I sighed into the phone. “No matter how it played out, the fact that one of your employees and one of my classmates is our first suspicion on who got this rolling probably says it right there.”

“Right. Will you be okay?”

He wasn’t fully asking about the leaked information. He was asking about the fallout of Hoda being fired. And my answer was a growl into the phone. “I’ll be fine. I’m done waiting. She’s going to learn how much she underestimated me.”

Another beat of silence before he sighed. “Just be careful. I’m not talking about catfights or whatever cyber war you’re going to unleash on her.”

He meant me, as in me not getting emotionally hurt. My throat was choking up. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll see you later for lunch.”

“Okay.”

We hung up. I squared my shoulders back, raised my head up, and announced, “I’m ready.”

With that said, Ms. Wells showed me everything that was leaked, and it was a lot. It was way more than what was already out there, and it was way personal, with images of Kash and me kissing.

I understood those pictures being put on a blog. Kash was hot news right now. If it weren’t me kissing him, it would’ve been a different girl. But these pictures were of us in his office, and they were current. Like, a few nights ago current.

That had me seeing red.

To make matters worse, these images were intentionally sent to the entire email list of Hawking University.

Camille Story.

She’d gone too far.

She would regret that.

SIXTEEN

Today was another reminder just how new this world was to me.

Going through the day, I was in a daze. I didn’t want to be in a daze. That made me feel weak. But I was, and logically I knew it was about me processing everything. My old world to this new world, where I wasn’t only visiting. I was in. I was staying.

I was just new.

Not a lot changed in my classrooms, except the normal buzz was quieter. There were a few more sad glances my way. Hoda seemed paralyzed when she saw me, but after one glare, I promised myself that I’d be dealing with her after class. Since then, Hoda had kept a wide berth, which was a good idea. For her.

Liam gave me a chin-up and a “Yo.”

Melissa’s energy was still there, but she was holding it back. Like the guys, she seemed more sedated, and almost sad.

That struck me, too. I didn’t know how they’d react, and to an extent, I still didn’t. It wasn’t until I was debating if I should even attempt lunch with them or not when I found out. I was in the hallway, just leaving the bathroom. Melissa was quick on my heels, as if she didn’t want me to even walk out a door alone. The guys were all waiting in the hallway, which was normal.

Hoda was absent. That wasn’t normal.

Liam was at the door, one hand on it, and half turned to look outside.

Erik and Fitz were accompanying everyone. Erik led the way. Fitz fell in step behind Melissa and me. The guys dropped in behind Fitz. At the door, Erik paused, but Liam only gave him a chin-up too, then pushed open the door, and Liam was the one who led the way. His hands were in his pockets. His backpack was on and he was the image of cool and calm together. I caught the amused look Erik gave him, but it was faint and brief. He was half trailing Liam, half walking to the side for a better vantage point on the entire group. Fitz was doing the same, I noticed. He was somewhat observing the guys behind us.