A/N: This fic contains potentially triggering subject matter including but not limited to: suicidal references, gun violence, sexual trauma, homelessness, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, and cancer. It may contain inaccuracies. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for reading!
BOOK THREE - PART TWO- CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE
Hey. Are you on the plane?
Sam and Cat hadn't wasted one more moment than necessary in Idaho. Now that they knew Cat's brother wasn't dying, they were headed back home, once again flying in coach. Sam was beside her, snoring, while Cat responded to the text from Jade.
Yes why?
Search yourself on Zaplook.
Concerned, Cat looked herself up—every one of the news articles contained the words "leaked nudes." Her heart shot into her throat. She opened the first website.
Breaking News!
Catarina Valentine's naughty streak continues as a pair of extremely explicit photos of her were leaked online earlier today! The photos were allegedly obtained from a public network belonging to an airline company. The story: Catarina's phone connection was unsecured when she privately messaged them to her partner, Sam Puckett, during a flight, and their correspondence was hacked. But some fans speculate otherwise. Is it possible that the couple aren't getting along and Puckett leaked them as a form of lover's revenge? And what exactly prompted Catarina to send the photos during the flight in the first place? Surely we'll find out soon. In the meantime, check out both NSFW shots HERE.
Cat's fingers were trembling as she tapped on the link. The screen of her phone was filled with the image of her in lingerie that she had texted Sam yesterday. She wore a red, lacy bra and matching panties, complete with garters. She was standing in front of a floor-length mirror, and one of her hands held her phone aimed at her reflection while the other one cupped her breast. It was already explicit enough all on its own. In the second one, she was entirely naked, lying back in bed with her legs spread; her hand in between them. Both shots also included Cat's face. They were extremely explicit—the article hadn't been wrong. And now the whole world had seen it.
Cat started hyperventilating, going into a panic. "Sam."
She continued snoring.
"Sam, wake up." Cat was feeling lightheaded. The world spun around her, and the turbulent airplane was turning her stomach. "Oh, God, I'm gonna faint. Or puke." She could always tell when it was coming. Usually it was the former, however. This time, she wasn't so lucky. Truly panicked, Cat pulled out a vomit bag and opened it up. Tears filled her eyes, and she began to retch.
The sound finally brought Sam out of her slumber. When she saw what was happening, she immediately sat up. "Whoa, Cat—what happened?" She pulled her hair back for her. Cat was in hysterics and Sam couldn't understand a single word she said. "What? Cat? Okay, you need to calm down—"
Cat's whole body lurched as her stomach finally rebelled and she threw up in the bag. It hurt, and it was humiliating—she couldn't understand how Sam could deal with this all the time. A few seconds passed, and then she vomited again.
"It's okay. Just try to breathe through it; you'll be alright," Sam gently encouraged her. "What happened? Was there turbulence? Why are you crying?"
Cat grabbed her phone and threw it at her harder than she meant to. Sam caught it anyway and looked at the screen in confusion. "These are the pics you sent me."
"I know. Hit the back button," Cat croaked.
Sam did. As soon as she saw the headline, the color drained from her face. "Oh, fuck." She read through the article. From what she could tell, only Cat's pictures had gotten leaked, not hers. But she was still extremely angry. "Who did this?"
"Maybe the guy that caught us in the bathroom together? I don't know," Cat sobbed. "It doesn't matter. It's too late and everyone has seen everything." She was still freaking out. She started retching again.
"Cat, hey—relax. Is there something we can do, legally, to get those pics taken down?" Sam asked her. She sighed impatiently. "Cat! Stop gagging. You're just working yourself up more."
"My family, my friends, my colleagues, my fans—they're all gonna see me naked," Cat cried hysterically.
"You don't know everyone's gonna look…"
"Yes, I do. God; I'm so stupid." Cat lowered the bag from her mouth and rolled up the top, then shoved it in the seat pocket.
"No, you're not. You didn't do anything wrong," Sam reminded her. "People are just fucked up. I swear, if I find out who did this—"
Cat unclipped her seatbelt and stood up. "Let me out; I need to go clean up."
Sam scooted back to let her by. "Hey. It'll be okay." She tried to force a smile. "I mean, it's not like you have anything to be ashamed of."
Cat choked out a laugh and her eyes stung with tears again. "I'll be right back." She quickly rushed away to the lavatory.
Once she was gone, Sam picked up Cat's phone, which she'd left discarded on the seat, and read through the article again. She was absolutely steaming. Nobody was supposed to see Cat that way but her. And people thought Sam might've done it on purpose, which only angered her more. Even if she and Cat hated each other, she would never, ever expose her that way. Unable to help herself, she scrolled down to the comments.
Shocking. I expected better than this from Catarina.
mmmm yeah i'd hit it
Did her gf send any pics back?
Wondering if Catarina and Sam might be interested in a threesome
Can't believe she was hacked!
I always wondered if the carpet matched the drapes haha
She didnt do anything wrong you guys she was privately sexting her gf
Does any1 have pix of the other JTC members?
Sam Puckett is one lucky motherfucker
Ugly bitch needs a shave
It's sad she turned out like this. She always had real potential.
Sam stopped scrolling. She was holding Cat's phone in her fist so tightly that she was afraid she might break it, so she put it down. She was trembling with anger, seeing red.
Cat eventually returned and pushed by Sam to take her seat. Then she placed her arm on top of hers. "Sam?"
Sam's other arm was gripping her armrest. Or it was, until she tore the whole thing off with incredible strength, drawing the attention of everyone around them. Immediately afterwards, she looked at Cat in a panic, holding the detached metal object. This kind of thing wasn't uncommon for Sam, but the flight attendants were already rushing over to see what had happened.
"How'd the armrest break?" one man asked.
"She tore it off," the woman across the aisle explained.
In the meantime, Cat was reaching over, trying to take the broken armrest from Sam. "Sam, stop. Give me that. It's not safe when you're like this." She finally managed to grab it from her and discarded it to the floor. Sam had tears in her eyes and looked embarrassed. Cat addressed the flight attendants, "Sorry; she tends to get a little, um, destructive when she's upset. I'll pay to cover the damages."
"Oh, it's alright. We just need to pop it back on; it shouldn't be too hard," the man said. "I'm just surprised you were strong enough to tear it off. I've never seen that done before."
"Yeah, it was pretty impressive," someone else commented.
Cat bit her lip. "Sorry, um… can we have a little privacy? Please?"
"Just leave the armrest where it is. We'll get it fixed up once we land," a woman told them.
"Thank you," Cat replied gratefully, "We really appreciate it."
"For Catarina Valentine? Anything," they all agreed.
The crowd eventually began to disperse. Once they were alone again, Cat whispered to Sam, "Ripping off their armrest? Seriously?"
"I was reading the comments for that article about you," Sam mumbled. "They pissed me off."
Cat sighed. "Disassembling an airplane is not the best way of dealing with that."
"Then what do you suggest? Just let people say all that fucked up shit?" Sam asked.
"Yes." Cat kissed her. "It's too late. There's nothing we can do."
"Isn't there someone we can sue?" Sam suggested. "We should at least try to identify the hacker."
Cat was feeling overwhelmed and didn't want to deal with this anymore right now. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Sorry."
Cat opened her eyes. "What?"
"Sorry for making you stressed out. You always do that breathing thing when you get really stressed out," Sam explained. She took Cat's hand with a surprising gentleness.
"Hello, this is your pilot speaking. We'll be landing in Los Angeles in about 38 minutes. Please return to your seats and turn off all electronics."
Cat squeezed Sam's hand and leaned into her side. "Just a little longer."
Sam nodded and echoed, "Just a little longer."