The #5Star Affair (Love Hashtagged Book 1) (10 page)

Ethan couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he made his way to his desk, the next morning. He’d only had one regret when he’d woken up, Jaycie still curled up in his bed. That they didn’t have more time together that morning. He couldn’t remember when he’d enjoyed someone’s company so much.

He plugged in his earphones, cranked the music on his cell phone, and dug in for a day of programming. Amazing woman at home, perfect job—life was good.

The light on his office phone flashed, a familiar extension popping onto the digital display, and he turned off the music. His ears rang from the abrupt absence of sound, as he picked up the receiver. “Hey, Bossman.”

“Join me in my office.” Bill’s words were clipped.

“Sure. Be right there.” Concern wormed its way into Ethan’s thoughts. Work was a fairly laid back environment, for the most part. A first-thing-in-the-morning call was usually at least pleasant. Had something blown up in quality assurance? Were they behind on a deadline he’d forgotten about?

Bill barely looked up at the tap on his open door. He nodded to the chairs across from his desk. “Close the door. Have a seat.”

Ethan’s concern rose another notch. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“No.” The single word fell flat in the middle of the room, and Bill finally faced him. “Kind of surprised you did.”

Something told Ethan
‘Best weekend ever’
wasn’t the right response. “What’s up?”

Bill exhaled loudly. “I should have an HR rep here for this.”

Ethan’s entire frame stiffened. “Are you letting me go?” What was supposed to come out as a joke sounded forced.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t know how else to say this. Have you ever exchanged…favors for a good review?”

Fuck. How could Ethan have not realized this was going to impact both of them? The stupid links Rich had sent him yesterday. Ethan had been focused on what this meant to Jaycie, never considering it would bleed into his life, too. At least answering Bill honestly was easy. “Really? You think I had sex with someone, to get her to say nice things about my work?”

“Did you?”

“No.” Ethan couldn’t keep the irritation from his voice. “Why would you even ask?”

“Are you living with this J-Dub person?”

Great. Now he was going to get a third degree about his personal life. Fucking Rich. “Yes, but—”

“Have you ever slept with her?”

Fury raced through Ethan. “First of all, that’s none of your God damned business. Second, yeah, you probably better get HR in here, if this is going any further.”

Bill rubbed the shiny spot on the top of his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. Understand, though, legal is breathing down my neck, and so is marketing. If this is true…”

Ethan spoke through clenched teeth. “Since you don’t trust me enough to know I’d never do that, I’ve only known her for a few weeks. I can prove that. Is that good enough for you?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, or trust you”—Bill sounded tired—“but you’re one person in a sea of thousands here. I can’t play favorites.”

“Are we done?” Ethan was already on his feet. He didn’t wait for a response before stalking from the office. He couldn’t believe he’d just been subjected to that. He should call his brother, Damon, and see how many of his civil rights had just been violated in that office.

Except things weren’t nearly bad enough to go to his brother for help, even legal advice.

“Enjoying playing house?” Rich’s question was another slash in Ethan’s growing irritation.

Ethan whirled on him, anger surging. “What the fuck were you thinking? Was this supposed to be funny? How did you even know?”

Rich shrugged. “I’ve known for ages. She never actually did a good job of hiding who she was. Nick just didn’t want to see it. She goes to gaming trade shows with a press pass, and her girlfriend calls her J-Dub. That demo game in your console—the one you put back in
her
room—kind of sealed the deal. Besides”—he stepped back when Ethan moved closer—“we’re taking this off you. Nick knows who she’s interacted with in the industry. Anyone she’s ever talked to and also reviewed. A couple more hours, and no one will remember she had anything to do with Fortuna. They’ll be focused on what she said about
The Horde
and other games.”

“Back off her.” Ethan kept his voice low, not wanting to draw attention to the conversation, but hoping to convey how serious he was. “Put this to rest, and walk away.”

“This is about her, not you. Don’t go down with that ship. Besides, it’s already got a life of its own.” Despite the arrogance in Rich’s tone, he was looking everywhere but at Ethan. “And since when is J-Dub too big a bitch to fight her own battles? Fucking guys in exchange for praise wasn’t enough, she’s got you sticking up for her now, too?”

Ethan’s growl slipped out before he could stop it.

Rich’s eyes grew wide, and his voice dropped. “Holy shit. You
are
fucking her, aren’t you?”

A quick check of Ethan’s peripheral vision confirmed they were alone. He bunched the shoulder of Rich’s shirt in his fist, and slammed the other man back into the wall, hard enough to draw a grunt. “Make this vanish.” Ethan poured every ounce of sincere threat into the words. “I hoped you’d back off on your own, but if that doesn’t happen, I can make you suffer far worse than you’ve done to her. Never go near her again. Make this go away.”

Rich jerked out of his grasp, and put several feet between them. “Not happening.”

Ethan fumed, but didn’t have a retort. He didn’t have a backup plan, if Rich called his bluff. Then again, he had no idea what he was doing anyway. He couldn’t beat the shit out of the guy in the middle of the office. The last thing he needed was to deal with assault charges, but the idea was still tempting. Anger raged inside, as he made his way back to his desk and took his place in front of his computer again.

His cell phone rang, and he groaned when he saw the name on the display. “Does thinking your name summon you now?” he said into the receiver.

“You were thinking of me? I’m flattered.” Damon’s smooth tone crawled under Ethan’s skin. “If you’re having trouble making rent, you just have to ask.”

“What do you want?”

“I can’t call my baby brother to say hi?” The only time Damon called him baby brother was when he wanted something and was trying to remind Ethan who was in charge.

“Nope,” Ethan said.

“Fine. Ulterior-motive guy—that’s me. I’m in town for a few days. I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner tonight.”

“Dinner. Sure.” An evening out with Damon was the last thing Ethan needed today. Turning his brother down meant Damon would hound him the entire time he was in town, until Ethan said yes. Better to get it over with.

Besides, Damon was only asking because he wanted a favor, and Ethan was going to grab one in return. He’d use the evening as a way to find out if Jaycie had any legal recourse in this entire mess. Slander, something. “When and where?”

“Not sure yet. Depends on how my meetings go. I’ll text you the details.”

“I’m not hanging out waiting for you all night.”

“It’s ten am, baby brother. Give me until lunch, and I’ll have you details. Oh!” Damon sounded as if he’d just remembered something. “Bring your girlfriend. No, wait. You’re single again, aren’t you?”

Ethan rolled his eyes at his cubicle wall. “No. She’d love to meet you, I’m sure.” He cringed as he hung up the phone. Maybe he should have asked Jaycie first how she felt about the term. Were they dating?

As the day ticked by, the situation degraded from sucky, to lethally brutal. Every time Ethan popped his head up from work, there was another round of what someone said on #5StarFUQ. He tried texting Jaycie a few times, and even calling, but she didn’t answer. By the end of the day, she’d been with half the big game producers in the country, according to the hashtag. Worse, several other reviewers and rumors had been added to the list. As far as Ethan could tell, most of them were guilty of the
ethical violation
of being a woman in journalism and gaming.

He sent Jaycie one last text, before he walked out of the office.
Heading home. Really hope you’re okay.

*

Jaycie raked her fingers through her hair, and paced the short length of her bedroom. She should be working on a review, but her focus had evaporated hours ago. She’d only meant to spend a couple minutes online before she got to work. That had turned into hours of her watching in horror, as the #5StarFUQ hashtag spun out of control.

It wasn’t just about her, anymore. The supporters claimed this was about ethics in all journalism. They were calling out her colleagues. Digging up information on who these women had dated, dumped, talked to casually in coffee shops.

All in the name of pointing out how easily a woman’s opinion could be bought when it came to video games. How easy it was to change their simple little minds about a subject they didn’t understand to begin with.

Jaycie fixated on the stuff about her the most. She couldn’t help it. She was a slut. A whore. Fucking half of Chicago. Her vagina was the size of an airport hangar. She sucked guys off to feed her ego. Made men beg, so she’d feel less ugly.

The insults whirled in her thoughts, churning at her grasp on reason and gnawing at her. A tiny rational part of her brain knew their opinions didn’t matter, but the reassurance didn’t stop the rest of her from fixating on the words. In the last several hours, she’d had several jobs pulled away—publications saying they couldn’t be associated with her.

Gwen had talked her down, but had needed to get back to work, and Jaycie hadn’t been able to reply to the messages from Ethan. He’d want her to do something. To confront this and deal with it. She just needed it to go away. She’d almost sobbed when she’d gotten his last text. His worry was tangible.

She reached the end of the room again, and a frustrated choke tore from her throat. What was she supposed to do?

“Jace.” The way Ethan spoke the single syllable squashed some of her out-of-control thoughts, but didn’t kill her anxiety.

She whirled. He stood in the doorway, watching her, concern heavy in his dark eyes, scruff of five-o’clock shadow on his chin. Desperation surged through her. The need to make all of this vanish and ignore it forever, the way they had last night. Except that wouldn’t solve anything.  She tried to force a smile into place, and tears pricked her eyelids instead.

“Christ. No.” He was next to her in an instant, wrapping his arms around her, and tucking her away. “I was hoping you hadn’t seen any of that today.”

“You should have hoped harder.”

He lifted her face, and traced a thumb along her cheek. “I might have a solution.”

She clenched her jaw and her chest tightened. Her fears were true—he was coming to her with solutions. What were the odds he’d wanted to drop this as much as she did? “Forget it all happened?”

“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.

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.