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"I love this girl, CJ," I tell her and she looks at me for a long moment. I don’t hide anything. I’m done fucking hiding. Let her see me for the real me. I’m fine being fucking vulnerable if it means saving Abby. "I’m not gonna fuck this one up."
After a long moment, CJ blinks.
"You’re telling the truth," she says to me.
I nod.
"Well, that girl is hurting, Aidan," she tells me. "So for both your sakes, I hope you know what the hell you’re doing."
"So do I, darlin’," I say with a sigh looking towards the distance of the city. "So do I."
Abby
"C’mon, cheer up. Seriously," Cheryl says, draping one arm over my shoulders and pulling me close to her.
"I’m totally cheery, can’t you see?" I say with a frown, sighing loudly as we head toward our booth. This is the biggest romance convention in the United States and, since Big Dick was such a hit, we have to be here. And by we, I mean Cheryl and I; since Aidan signed with Bad Boy Publishing, that means he removed himself from the equation.
I hate being here. It reminds me of everything that happened with Aidan, and I really don’t need that; the wound is still fresh.
It’s been two weeks since I found out about Aidan’s betrayal, and I’ve been a mess ever since. Do you know what the side effects are of a broken heart? Excessive consumption of vanilla-flavored ice cream, and binge-watching Gilmore Girls and all of those CW romantic dramedies.
And the worst part? I still haven’t told him I’m pregnant. I mean, he clearly decided to end his professional relationship with me, but the way he did it also meant that he doesn’t give a fuck about me as a woman… or even as a person. After everything we’ve been through, how could he be so cold? I’ve never been so wrong about a man before. You know, after catching Grady fucking that skinny woman, I thought there couldn’t be anything worse. But what Aidan did… That hurt so much more.
I sit up inside my booth with Cheryl by my side, but after the first few hours even our most loyal fans have deserted us. The convention's main attraction is Aidan’s Huge Cock (how’s that for a pun?), and it seems that’s all people talk about.Not to mention that with Bad Boy Publishing’s money behind him, Aidan secured an entire hall for the launch of his book. How can my tiny booth even compete with that? Seriously, if Cheryl hadn’t dragged me here, there’d be no way I’d willingly show up for this public humiliation. But here I am now, sitting in my cramped booth and feeling completely miserable.
Since Big Dick was mostly a self-publishing effort, our budget only bought us an ant-sized booth right between two Bad Boy Publishing authors. Swear to God, these people are everywhere. Aside from the fans and the authors, there are a few movie studio head-honchos walking around, trying to sniff out a potential blockbuster hiding in this convention, but even they only seem preoccupied with Aidan’s launch.
"Hey, it’ll be okay," Cheryl says out of the blue, reaching for me and laying her hand on top of mine. I look at her, and can’t help but smile. Her words are soft like a breeze, but they’re honest.
"I don’t know… It’s hard. I won’t give up, no, but all this stuff with Aidan… I just don’t know what to do," I tell her, unconsciously placing one hand on top of my belly. She smiles as she watches me do it, and then leans into me and kisses me on the cheek.
"Trust me, sweetie, it’ll be okay."
"How can you be so sure?" I ask her, realizing that there’s something she isn’t telling me. "Tell me, Cheryl. You’re hiding something."
"Well, I… I didn’t want to worry you, or get your hopes high," she starts, looking down at the floor while she looks for the right words. "But I talked with CJ, and she told me that things would work out. She seemed pretty sure of it, you know?"
"Yeah… But should we even trust her? I mean, she’s Aidan’s agent. As far as we know, she was the one that hooked him up with Bad Boy Publishing."
"I don’t know, Abby… This must be pretty hard for you, but I have a good feeling about all of this. That’s why I insisted that you come here. That and I didn’t want you to give up on your life, you know?"
"Thank you," I reply, squeezing her hand in mine and smiling. Somehow, her words have eased all the anxiety inside my chest. I trust Cheryl; I’d trust her with my life, if push came to shove. Even though I can’t say the same about CJ, Cheryl’s contagious optimism has brightened my mood.
"Oh, crap!" she cries out suddenly, looking down at her watch. "It’s about to start," she continues, jumping up to her feet.
"What?" I ask her, looking at the watch on my cellphone. It’s almost 6 PM, which means that Aidan’s launch is about to start.
"Fuck!" she yells and pulls me up.
I go up to my feet fast, shoving my cellphone inside of my purse.
"Let’s go!" Cheryl yells, grabbing me by the hand and dragging me out of our booth.
I know, babe. I’m wondering it too.
Why am I even letting my PA drag me to Aidan’s launch?
I mean sometimes PA’s can just walk all over you if you let them.
