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“Yeah. I’maware.”
Both Devi and Google had filled me in on the extent of the man’s fame, informing me that Jesse Fucking Mayes was nothing less than a rock god, a sex god, and a totalheartbreaker.
Not to mention that his current girlfriend was none other than Elle, the super hot female bass player ofDirty.
Even if I could muster the nerve to walk out there in this lingerie, I, Katie Bloom, was not built for that kind ofpressure.
“You know we rep an actress who just shot a love scene with Leonardo?” Devi went on. “And an actual Victoria’s Secret model. They passed on all of them. They wantyou.”
“Uh-huh.” That part, to be honest, still didn’t compute. But it did make me feel more nauseous. “Why thehelldid I agree to do this? You know I hate being in the spotlight.” I shut my eyes, fighting back thespins.
Devi fell silent. She knew,alright.
She’d been there, standing by my side at the altar while the minister looked on with grave sympathy and the minutes ticked by. While everyone stood looking at me in my white dress; everyone but the one person who was supposed to bethere.
The one who’d just walkedout.
I wanted to disappear then, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t escape that horrible moment that just stretched on andon.
I was still reliving it, almost two yearslater.
“And that’s exactly why you need to do this,” my best friendsaid.
“Why,exactly?”
“You know why. Look, Katie, I’ve been there with you. Through all of it. I’ve watched you mope around for the last two years of yourlife—”
“One year and ten months. Let’s notexaggerate.”
Someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Katie?”
It was Maggie, here to take me to shoot my scene. I pictured Jesse Mayes out there, waiting…Shit, would he be half-nakedtoo?
“Just a minute!” I called as sweetly as I could, even as the bile rose up again. I tried to choke it down, but it waswinning.
“Okay,” Devi pressed. “I’ve watched my best friend in the entire world feel bad about herself for a year and ten months, all over some asshole who didn’t deserve heranyway—”
“Devi—”
“Wait. He never deserved you in the first place, and we both know it. I know you know it, deep down, that he was a total dick and the way he hurt you wasdespicable.”
I threw up.Quietly.
Just a bit, in Jesse Mayes’ tattooed manager’s beautiful marblesink.
“But the fact that you’re still letting it run your life,” Devi said, oblivious to my vomiting, “…Katie, that’s onyou.”
This.
This was exactly why Devi was, and would always be, my bestfriend.
She loved me when I needed love. And shetoughloved me when I needed a kick in the ass.Unfailingly.
“You’re right,” I croaked. I swished some water around my mouth and spat in the sink, rinsing the vomit down thedrain.
“You need to grab this moment by the balls. Take your fucking life back,babe.”
Devi was always trying to get me to grab something by the balls. Usually life. Sometimes aman.
