Chapter 18

I said goodbye to John and hurried almost ran back home. I didn’t even need to change clothes, but I was scared to death that he’d open his mouth and say it was me in the photo. Hardly anyone would really recognize me—the image didn’t show my face—but gossip is gossip, and the damage to my reputation would be the same.

What worried me the most was knowing that if Freddy pushed John, we were screwed. John can’t lie to save his life. He couldn’t pull it off even if it depended on it.

Freddy was one of the weirdest guys in John’s crew—and that’s saying something since all his friends are kinda odd. He seemed like he didn’t even have proper male hormones. Blond, smooth skin, not a hair on his body, all neat and tidy, he looked like a girl.

But he wasn’t gay. He’d dated a girl from my class, and she swore he fucked her good. All delicate in how he talked, super polite… but when it came down to it, she said, he turned into an animal.

And now it was this “animal” who’d seen my ass with a plug shoved in it. And he thought he’d uncovered my secret.

When I got home, my parents were in the living room, and I rushed to my room. I grabbed another pair of shorts from the closet, washed the back of the old ones in the bathroom sink, and hung them to dry out of sight.

On my way back through the living room, I already knew: my mom was gonna ask why I’d only changed my shorts. The lie was ready—I had a little accident, the kind of normal thing that happens to me. She’d buy it without batting an eye. My dad, as usual, wouldn’t even look up from the TV or shut up with that embarrassed look on his face.

When I got back to John’s apartment, Freddy was already there. I sniffed out the room like a cornered animal—scanning everything, listening to everything—looking for signs of chaos, tension, anything out of place. But no. Everything seemed too normal for my liking.

The two of them were excited, talking about starting a business to complete sticker albums and sell them online. Yeah. Stickers. Nothing about photos, no hints, no suspicious smirks. That made me even more anxious.

I left them to their chat and flopped onto the couch. I pretended to check my phone, but the truth was I just wanted to keep an eye on things. The moment I lay down, I felt the pain. A sharp sting in my ass. John had smacked me earlier—lightly, but enough to leave a mark—and my little hole… well, after so long with the plug stuffed in, it was a mess.

I tried to shift, change positions. I had to keep my ass kinda up, and that’s when I felt the stare.

Freddy.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. He saw the face I made. The bastard smirked. A subtle smile, nothing major, but it pissed me off.

“What the fuck, this kid notices everything,” I thought right then, pretending I hadn’t seen.

He went back to talking with John like nothing happened.

I stayed there, phone in hand, pretending to scroll, but every now and then I’d glance at him. He was skinny. Thin arms, almost the same size as mine.

He had no curves, but no muscles either. If he put on makeup and some earrings, he’d fool anyone. He’d pass for a girl easy. The guys used to tease him nonstop. Called him doll, faggot, that kinda shit. They stopped when he started hanging with John’s crew. Then he became “an exotic type.”

That’s when he started his attack. Subtle.

“John, we could share what we’ve got and try to build a community on Reddit. There’s nuts for everything there! What do you think?”

My stomach dropped right then. Reddit. That’s exactly where I’d posted the photo. That’s how he’d messaged us. He was probing. Testing. Fishing for info.

The one bit of luck—maybe the only—was that John sucked at lying, but he was too slow to catch hints.

“It’d be cool… but it takes time to build a big community. If we look, I’m sure we’ll find one. There’s all kinds there.”

Freddy sized up John with his eyes. He seemed to be trying to figure out if he was faking or just dumb. When he couldn’t get anything out of him, he kept going.

“True… And I need to leave some. I must be in over a hundred. It’s a pain getting notifications from groups you don’t even follow anymore. But the upside… is you always run into someone you know.”

That was it. In that last sentence. That’s when I knew for sure: he didn’t know yet.

He suspected. Big time. But he wasn’t certain. If he was, he’d have come at us guns blazing. That’s what I would’ve done. So he was waiting for us to slip up.

“But dude, just turn off the notifications.”

“Yeah, but I gotta sit down and do it little by little…” he replied casually, flipping through a book John had shown him, like the conversation meant nothing. “I really need to clean house. No point otherwise.”

He closed the book slowly and set it on the table. Looked right at me.

“Virginia, I made a huge blunder. I saw a girl posting something and messaged her thinking it was you! Can you believe it?”

His face was pure fake. His voice came out light, almost innocent, but his eyes… his eyes were hunting for any slip-up from me.

John froze. Went pale.

I, on instinct, took a deep breath trying to keep my cool, but the surprise caught me off guard. I felt my face react before my mouth did.

“When was this?” It came out too rushed. Way too wrong.

“Earlier today.”

“But… I don’t have an account.”

The words tumbled out, defensive. I knew I’d fucked up. He noticed. That wasn’t a question—it was a trap. And I’d walked right into it.

He took a deep breath, eyes gleaming, and started laughing slow… slow… like a Disney villain. All he needed was to clap and twirl his cape while revealing the evil plan.

“I… knew iiiit! Caught you red-handed!”

I tried to react, I swear I did. But it was too late.

“The photo you posted! I knew it was you, Virginia!”

“What photo?” I said, forcing a laugh, my voice too shaky to fool anyone.

But he’d nailed it.

“No need to lie, I know everything. And it’s cool, no one’s gonna find out, okay?”

John, desperate, tried to lie. But it was a disaster.

“What are you talking about?”

Freddy just pulled out his phone, swiped through the gallery, and showed it.

The fucking photo.

My ass. The plug shoved in. My pussy all dripping wet.

The reaction was automatic. My body shot up, ignoring the pain, the discomfort, everything. My voice came out flat.

“Fuck it. What do you want for this, Freddy?”

He didn’t answer right away. He showed the image again and, with two taps, apparently deleted it.

It didn’t mean shit. He could’ve saved it a thousand places. And I knew it.

I waited. What did he want? What was the price?

“Chill. Everyone’s got secrets. I’ve got mine.”

He went back to fiddling with his phone. A heavy silence fell over the room. John looked at me with panic in his eyes. He was pale. Looked like he was gonna puke.

Freddy looked up again, calm.

“Here. I’ll show you mine. Then you decide if I’m a friend… or not.”

John’s phone buzzed with a notification. Mine right after.

A message from Freddy. A link to a shared photo folder.

“What is this, Freddy?”

“Look. If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.”

I opened the link, kinda defensive. They were photos of some girl doing anime cosplay… or more like hentai. A tiny outfit, all ribbons and cleavage, super teasing. But nothing explicit. Just sensual.

“Who is that? Why are you showing me this?”

John leaned in, curious, grabbed his phone, and opened the link too.

I was still trying to figure it out… look closer…

“Fuck, Freddy! You’re hot as hell!”

It took me two seconds to process.

I looked again. And then it hit me.

Oh my God. It was him.

It was Freddy. Doing cosplay dressed as a woman.