“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.
I’m not sure if I want to be there when Aidan launches Huge Cock, but something inside of me tells me that it’s imperative I’m there. Why? I honestly have no idea; all I know is that I must be there.
So I let Cheryl drag me to the hall of cock.
Cheryl and I run through the convention floor, shoving our way across a thick river of people, all of them flowing toward the main hall. By the time we get there, the place is packed; there must be thousands of people crammed inside. Bad Boy Publishing banners hang from the ceiling every ten feet or so, like flags from some mighty empire hell bent on crushing everything and everyone in its way.
Aidan’s already on the stage, and I feel anger welling up inside of me as I see Grady standing by his side, a shit-eating grin on his face. It’s a good thing I don’t have any kind of super powers, or else Grady would be choking right now. Behind Grady and Aidan, there’s a two story tall banner covered by a huge red curtain, and I’m betting that the curtain is hiding Huge Cock’s cover -- Aidan’s amplified body oozing sexiness.
“Let’s get this thing going,” Aidan says, grabbing a microphone from the hands of one of the assistants on stage. His voice makes my heart tighten up, and I place both my hands on my belly by instinct, like a lioness protecting its cub.
Loud music starts coming from the speakers, and that’s when I realize there’s a small orchestra right under the stage, a quartet of strings building up the anticipation with each note they play. Jesus, just how much money is Bad Boy Publishing spending on this book?
When the music reaches its high point, Aidan walks to the red curtain and tugs on it. It falls over majestically, revealing—just as I thought—Aidan’s shirtless body, amplified in all its glory under the Huge Cock title.
Sparks start coming off from the edge of the stage, and then the lights go out. Bright spotlights light up the stage, focusing on Aidan and something behind him. There’s another red sheet covering a massive table behind Aidan and, when he pushes on it, he reveals an endless pile of Huge Cock books.
This doesn’t look like the launch of a book; this look like someone is launching a fucking rocket into outer space. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much fanfare just because of a book. Bad Boy Publishing must be throwing all of its weight under Aidan, which means Huge Cock is going to make a killing. Remember the studio execs I told you about? Yeah, right now they’re standing close to the stage, and they’re so excited that I wouldn’t be surprised if they just ran up to Aidan and forced him to sign a contract right here and now.
“I’m pleased to announce,” Aidan starts, his amplified voice booming over the excited crowd, “that Huge Cock is finally up for sale! Everyone who pre-ordered, your book is right here behind me, waiting for you.” He waves rather dramatically at the monstrous pile of books behind him, and the stage assistants climb down from the stage and start organizing—or, well, trying to—everyone into neat lines.
“Don’t worry, there are books for everyone!” Grady says excitedly, snatching a mic out of one of the assistant's hands. He walks over to the edge of the stage, looking down at the eager buyers below him as if he’s some kind of God-King, and then continues. “You can also head to Rainforest.com and buy your digital copy, and then --”
“Chill the fuck out, bro, I’m not done yet,” Aidan cuts Grady short and, judging by the way his face turns white, I doubt he was counting on that.
Walking to the edge of the stage and shoving Grady out of the way, Aidan takes the mic to his mouth and looks straight ahead, down into the crowd… And that’s when I realize he’s looking at me.
“There’s something I want to say as everyone gets their copy,” he tells everyone in the hall, and the seriousness in his voice makes everyone take pause. The crowd goes silent in the blink of an eye, and the silence is so deafening you could hear a pin drop.
Here we go, I think to myself.
Abby