Insatiable Pt. 2 - Rhys Montrose x Reader
Part 1
Picks up right after Part 1. Because Joe Goldberg doesn't exist in this fic and someone needs to secretly text Rhys Montrose, right? Even if might be getting you closer to breaking any rules you may have as a journalist. But who cares about ethics when you'll have a fun time?
A big part of covering the news is being at the place where things are going wrong at the right time. This is where you happened to be when Simon Soo got killed. Your unmemorable, throwaway article on another gallery show became something much, much bigger. Your first call, of course, was to your boss at The Herald, to let her know that you couldn't exactly write the article you were sent here to write because the artist was now dead.
It was a long night of typing, double-checking every single letter and punctuation, going over your notes to make sure you got the facts right, sending it over to the editor, and then hitting publish.
Soon enough, it was up before any other publication. This was bigger than anything else you had worked on. But also - and you wouldn't admit this to anyone else - it didn't feel like it mattered. Sure, a rich asshole was dead but his death now overshadowed the fact that he might have stolen another artist's work. Even before he was killed, it seemed like nobody would care about the girl, but now? Now, it didn't matter at all because everyone cared about Simon Soo's art too much to even investigate whether it was his. It had crossed your mind if she had killed him but you were sure the police would've arrested her already if that was the case.
You didn't even feel like checking tweets in response to your story like you would have otherwise because it felt so inconsequential. Instead, you thought about Rhys Montrose. Was it fucked up that you were thinking about Rhys more than you were thinking about the murder that happened so close to you? You could get into a long chat with a therapist about your desensitization to violence. At the very least, some introspection.
But who liked facing the uncomfortable truth about your true self? You chose to scroll through his Instagram where you had finally followed him at the respectable hour of 8 in the morning after looking at it all night. At least you were aware of what you should be doing instead even if you didn't do it. That had to count for something, right?
Rhys hadn't posted anything about Simon, not even on his stories. He had a social media presence but he wasn't very active. It was personal, but professionally curated. There he was looking very approachable doing a tour of his favorite lunch spot, a cheap Indian restaurant. And then, there he was looking very classy in a blue suit very likely picked by a stylist that brought out the blue of his eyes as he stood smiling backstage of a talk show. Someone who looked at home in both places.
But did he really feel like he did or was it all just an act to make him appeal to everyone for his mayor candidacy? You couldn't deny his charm, you had only spent every single free moment since you'd met him thinking about him since you saw him.
You were far enough back that when you accidentally liked a post, you quickly unliked it. You just hoped that for a verified account, it would be lost in a sea of notifications and he'd never know you had been spending hours looking at pictures he'd posted.
But then your phone chimed. Fuck. But Rhys had somehow seen your message, because there it was. A DM. From him. There was no hello. Just a word and numbers.
Evanesce. 91210.
And then, he must have deleted his message because it was gone, just like that.
You repeated the numbers back to yourself until you wrote it down. What was that?
A quick search led you to a highly encrypted messaging app with messages that disappeared when they were read. You remembered hearing about it but had never needed to use it but you knew some investigative journalists who might have needed to use it. The other person needed to have it installed too and to send the first message you needed their code. You typed in the five digits slowly. Why did Rhys Montrose want to message you on a secret app?
Rhys?
I thought you didn't get my message because you took so long. But I shouldn't have worried you had read it. You've been stalking me, haven't you?
You couldn't deny that, so you just chose to answer his question with one of your own.
Is this really you? Or are you Rhys's social media manager pranking me?
I don't have a social media manager. If I did, they wouldn't know that we met yesterday night when you were not thrilled about writing what you were assigned.
So it was him. It was a bit morbid to say that you were glad you got to write about someone getting killed, especially when you didn't care about their death at all and it happened to be someone he knew. You chose to go with a kinder message.
I'm sorry for your friend's loss, Rhys. It must be a shock.
To be honest, it was the opposite.
You waited for him to elaborate, but nothing else came. So you asked him a question instead.
Why did you want me to message you here?
Because I'm surrounded by people who wouldn't ask me that question.
You noticed that it still didn't answer your question. Why the additional secrecy if he didn't have someone else checking his DMs? It certainly wasn't because he was so well-known. Plenty of celebrities flirted in their DMs and the newspaper you worked at had itself reported on the ones that had leaked. But it certainly didn't get anyone into trouble. No crimes were being committed here.
When you didn't reply right away, he sent another message. Was he impatient or just eager?
And because we didn't get to finish our chat. I felt that you were someone I wanted to get to know better. I prefer not to linger on what-ifs.
You shook your head. Always the writer. But could you deny that you wanted to know him better too? You typed out a message and looked at it, considering whether or not to send it. He'd been the friendlier one so far and nobody would question your professionalism in anything you'd sent. Not that anyone else would read it. So, what it did matter? Besides, it was just a joke. You hit enter.
So you prefer to fuck around and find out?
His reply was quick.
When I know what I want, absolutely.
And, as I said, right now, it's getting to know you. That's all there is to it.
You wanted it to be flirtatious but your journalistic insticts also pointed out that he was keeping it ambigious and refused to give a clear answer. There could be more to it but you would have to build trust to know what his true intentions were. Or, if you could meet him, you could ask him directly again and refuse to let him deflect.
Besides, it was true that you knew a lot about him from his memoir than he would know about you, even if he did look you up.
I'm an open book. You replied. Not as open as a published memoir but close enough.
Well then, I'm looking forward to exploring what your pages hold.
Cheesy, but you had started it first. A smile tugged on your lips. And he was typing more.
Meanwhile, do you mind keeping our chats between us? It's just that being in the public image put my actions under more scrutiny and I wouldn't want that to come between us.
You suspected there was more to it than he was letting on but you couldn't risk alienating him too. Whatever this was between you, you wanted to explore it too. Your personal and professional curiosity was very piqued. So you didn't even have to reconsider sending an affirmation.
And just like that, covering a surprise murder wasn't even at the back of your mind anymore. You had the mystery of Rhys Montrose to unravel.
And now, if you've made it this far, I'd love to know where you would want to see this headed!
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