Page 118 of The Bad Girl

“Places!” Harry’s voice booms.

We take our spots, and a moment later, a flurry of lights and barked orders assault us. I smile as I’m pressed, positioned, pulled, turned, and eventually evacuated from the set.

Maxwell, Allison, and Alesso are the only two that remain, Allison maintaining some semblance of normalcy, and Maxwell turning on the charm.

Maizey circles them, snapping dozens of photographs in the span of a breath.

“I need you to act more casual,” the choreographer barks. “It’s all too staged.”

Maxwell ditches the tie, but when it’s not enough, he sheds his blazer, unbuttons the cuffs of his button-up shirt, and rolls up his sleeves.

It takes me a moment to understand what I see, and I blink half a dozen times to make sure my mind isn’t playing tricks on me.

“Is that Higglesworth?” I say, staring at the black outline of a hippo on his forearm.

The photographer starts snapping pics, ordering them into different positions, and soon I see Sir Fookshit the giraffe followed by Ernesto the Alligator, and at leave seven other cartoons I’ve drawn up his arms.

What the hell are they doing there? Maxwell has no tattoos. I know because I’m familiar now with EVERY part of his magnificent body.

Nothing makes sense. Why on Earth would Maxwell have the characters I’ve doodled tattooed on him?

“You stupid fuckshit!” Allison’s outburst snaps me back into reality. Now Eric is there, standing beside her. “How could you!” She takes her bouquet of flowers and starts beating him over the chest.

I rush to her side, hoping to abate the attack.

“Hey, hey, Allison,” I say gently. “I know it’s been a rough day, but I think we’d better take a deep breath and calm down. Eric loves you, and he wants to make sure this is perfect—”

“Eric is fucking his secretary.”

My head snaps in Eric’s direction. “What?”

His jaw is slightly ajar. “Allison, I think we’d better—”

“And he REFUSES to give her up! I found out a month ago, during our wedding planning. He says a man that makes as much as him gets to reap the rewards.”

I take Allison’s bouquet from her and start bashing it into Eric’s chest as hard as I can.

“You fucking cock shit! I’m going to wipe your balls with a fucking cactus!” I scream as I continue to beat him.

Apparently, when my friends are wronged, Bad Girl Nadine comes out in full-force.

Arms wrap around me, and I look over my shoulder to see Harry pulling me away.

“God, you’ve turned into such a train wreck,” Harry says with a light chuckle.

Tom approaches, his blazer’s gone, his face is full of rage and hate. “Did she just say what I think she said?”.

“How Eric likes to take his cock out for walks?” Harry replies.

Maxwell’s brow furrows. “Is that British slang?”

“No, and dammit, I don’t think it really works,” Harry says, finally setting me down.

“You fuckin’ hurt my baby sister, and now I’m going to fuckin’ kill you!”

Tom leaps at Eric, but Maxwell dives at him, knocking him to the ground.

“What was that for?” Tom says, rolling out from under Maxwell. “This isn’t about you, Money Man!”

“I know, but I have the lawyers and funds that allow me to do this.”

Maxwell gets up off the ground, turns to face Eric, pulls his arm back, and punches him square in the jaw.

Eric hits the pavement hard, and the gathered crowd swarms the scene, some trying to pull Maxwell away, others trying to get a glimpse of Eric. I reach for Allison, trying to shield her from the shitstorm, when Eric’s best man rushes past us, sending me spinning. I stumble over a sculpture, reaching out to right myself, but something else smashes into my body, sending me crashing, and as my head connects with the ground, the world goes black.