Page 84 of Cosplay & Consequences

“They said my book is an anthology written by my grandmother. You three and a couple of other people are the only ones I’ve ever shared that with,” she cried. “And now people are ranting against us? Why?”

“They think your whole endorsement and trailer was planned by the two of you,” Paige explained. “That we’re manipulating people and it’s all coercion.”

The color drained from Jess’ face. Her hands were trembling as she went through her apps and social feeds on her phone. I stood there mute and frozen unsure of what to do.

“Oh God! I’m losing followers. I’ve lost almost a quarter of my Patreon members! My forum is blowing up!” She blinked as her phone pinged twice. “My sponsors are asking questions about all of this!”

“Why is everyone shouting?” Faye asked, peering through the doorway from her room, still in her pajamas.

Jessica turned on Faye, her body movements becoming frantic. “Did you share the stories I gave you with anyone?”

Faye’s eyes bugged out as she stood straight up. “No! What’s going on?”

“A fucking train wreck!” Jess threw her phone across the room where it smacked against the wall and fell to the ground. Faye and Paige stepped away from the situation, giving each other wary glances.

Jess turned to me, crying and furious. “How did you let that happen?!”

“I didn’t do anything!” I protested.

“Those pictures! You said you weren’t going to do anything with them!” she shouted, pointing at Paige’s phone.

“We didn’t!” I shouted back, desperation seeping in.

“Then how is this happening?! How?” she demanded.

“We think Britta leaked it,” Paige said and reached out to touch Jess’s shoulder. She flinched away from Paige, backing away from all of us.

“I’m losing followers,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m going to lose partnerships and editing jobs. My parents are getting sued! All because your publicist wanted you to look good? Did you know this?”

I hesitated, and Jessica saw it on my face. “Did you know this was going to happen?” she demanded.

“Britta and MaxFlick wanted to do a piece on us, and I told them no,” I admitted. “I didn’t think they’d leak it.”

“So, they did this? They screwed me over so you could get some better press? Britta ratted me out to the studio? Why? Out of spite?!”

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, approaching her.

“How? These people pay me to make content! I use this to pay rent and bills, don’t you see that?” Jess shouted, crying harder now.

“We’ll figure it out. I’ll help,” I promised.

“How?! I literally make more than you do!” She pulled at her hair, spiraling out and away from us. “Why is it that everything we touch blows up in our faces? Your career? My livelihood?”

“It’ll be fine,” I promised.

Jess let out a hollow laugh, burying her face in her hands. I tried to take her into my arms, but she shoved me away.

“No. I can’t do this. Not to you, not to me,” she snapped. She gave me one last devastated look before heading for the door.

“Jess!” I ran after her, but the door slammed shut in my face. I turned around to see Paige on her phone tapping away and Faye frozen in place. “How do we fix this?”

“Working on it,” Paige grunted. “Hang on. I’m calling Marv.”

My phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and saw Reuben’s number. A flash of anger ran through me, and I stabbed the phone with my finger.

“Danny Boy!”

“Fuck you, Reuben.”