Page 114 of Our Little Dove

My t-shirt barely covers her ass and as she walks toward the sofa. Her hips sway seductively and I can see a sliver of her bright red underwear peeking from underneath.

Alex settles onto the sofa and sighs in satisfaction. “That was delicious,” she chimes with a wide smile. My mind immediately goes through all the dirty things we do together but it is short-lived when Molly’s words from last night pop into my head.

I head to my room and get dressed before walking out to the balcony and light a cigarette, enjoying the afternoon sun while my mind goes a thousand miles an hour.

We need to rethink our plan.Even if we get a one in a million chance, and by some miracle, we manage to bring Hush down, the internet is forever. Our content is out there.

Alex and Fin are chatting in the living room now. I exhale a deep sigh as I kill the smoke and head back inside to join them.

“We need to talk about Hush,” I say, feeling terrible at how fast their smiles fall at my words.

“Sure.” Fintan clears his throat as I join them on the sofa. Alex remains silent but her serious expression urges me to continue. “I have been thinking about what Molly said about our plan.”

“Yeah, me too. I think we need to come up with something more aggressive to work our way in,” Alex cuts me off as she turns to face us with her legs crossed on the cushion.

“You have something in that pretty little head of yours, Dove?” Fintan asks with a curious smirk and Alex giggles in response to his flirting.

“Guys, this is serious. I don’t know if we can bring down a site like Hush,” I say and their expressions fall again. “We have no way of knowing how many people work for them or how many are watching the content. Joel isn’t being much help to us by staying on the sidelines and let’s be honest with ourselves. It’s the internet. Our content will probably outlive us. We need to be okay with that if we are going to be posting more.”

Fintan’s brow furrows as he thinks over my words, while Alex looks like she’s seconds away from bursting into tears. The three of us sit in this tense silence for minutes that feel like they might never end.

Fintan clears his throat, breaking the deafening silence. “Joel said he suggested a new payment structure for the content. Let’s hold off on posting until we know if his changes have been implemented. I think we are resilient enough to see out our plan, even if it takes years. We can do this,” he says, placing one hand on Alex’s thigh and the other on mine.

“We can’t give up. We have to keep trying and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Alex says as a tear rolls down her cheek. “I know, baby. We’ll get our revenge,” I say, trying to reassure her that I believe in our goal.

I offer Kieran a small smile. “I will give Joel a call,” I say, dropping my legs off the side of the couch before standing and heading toward Fintan’s room to grab my phone off the nightstand.

“We’ll check in on our video and see what is happening in our comment section,” Fintan says. “It’s probably pure chaos,” Kieran adds before I disappear into the bedroom.

I dial Joel’s number and wait anxiously as it rings once, twice, three times before he picks up. His voice sounds tired but alert. “Hey Alex, what’s up?” Joel greets me casually.

“We wanted to check in on the new payment structure suggestion you made to Hush,” I say, getting straight to the point.

There’s a pause on the other end of the line before Joel responds, “It might take some time for them to implement it fully, but they seem interested.”

“How much time?” I ask, my voice echoing frustration and impatience.

“A few days, maybe a week or two. I’m not sure. But listen, they said they are willing to introduce a tipping option for the viewers but they will only allow that option for live footage and not previously posted videos,” Joel says with a sigh and his words ring in my ears for a moment before I am able to comprehend the implications.

“You still there?” he asks after a few minutes of silence. “Yeah, sorry… Hold on, I need to tell the guys,” I respond in a cold tone. My voice lacks emotion as I speak and I feel numb.

I walk back to the living room and relay this information back to Kieran and Fintan. They seem intrigued by my words and the prospect of this new angle for content.

Am I the only one disappointed and disgusted by this news?

Shaking it off, I take a deep breath before speaking again. “Thank you, Joel. Please keep me updated on the changes,” I say, trying to sound as casual as possible before ending the call.

Staring at the two of them with the phone still gripped in my hand, I open my mouth to speak but shake my head as my brows draw together and I decide against it.

“You okay?” Kieran asks when he notices my unease. Fintan looks over and mirrors my expression while I remain stunned in silence and try to gather my thoughts.

“How are you so calm? Am I the only one thinking the news from Joel isnotgood news?” I finally say.

“Little Dove,” Fintan starts. “Any changes they make to their platform is good news. A small win for us. We made it happen and it means we are a step closer.”

Disgust morphs my features before understanding smooths out my expression and I breathe out a heavy sigh. “I suppose… but live videos? That would make the other actors worse, wouldn’t it? We’re trying to put a stop to the abusive, not to mention, illegal content, not encourage it.”

Kieran gets up from his seat and kills the distance between us before he places a reassuring hand on my shoulder, his eyes full of understanding. “I know it’s not ideal, Alex. But we have to take the victories where we can get them. Like Fintan said, It’s a small step in the right direction.” His words offer a glimmer of hope in the midst of my frustration.

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