Page 8 of The Last Love Story (Baker Girls #3)

CHAPTER SEVEN

JUSTIN

The growl that rips from my throat sends the shitstain of a human with his hand on Jade’s ass skittering backward.

Darren Corval. He’s a sniveling fuckwad. I’ve heard stories about him from authors, including one I’ve worked with a lot who’d worked with him as an “influencer” to help promote one of her books. She refuses to work with him now. No fucking wonder.

Jade swings from staring at me wide-eyed to glaring at the prick.

As much as I want to pull her protectively into my arms, I need to deal with this scummy sack of shit first.

I stalk over to him, getting right in his face.

“Why the fuck do you think you have a right to touch any woman without their consent?”

He sneers at me. “How do you know I didn’t have her consent? ”

“Because I watched her jump when you touched her.”

“You want me to have him thrown out?” the bartender asks.

“Not unless you can get him thrown out of the romance convention too,” I grit out.

“Already working on that.” Jade’s voice is calm and in control as she taps away on her phone. “I’m talking to the organizers right now.”

Fuck yes, she is.

“Go to your room. Pack your shit. Leave. If I see you hanging around the romance con, I’ll be sure this hotel throws you out, and you’re blacklisted from every reader event possible.”

“Fuck you,” he spits at me. Then as he walks by Jade, he mutters, “Like I’d want anything to do with her disgusting fat ass anyway.”

“What did you?—”

Jade steps in front of me and puts a hand on my chest. “Let him go.”

“But he?—”

“I know. He’s a piece of shit. But you punching him will only help him look like a victim. Let him go. The organizers will handle it from here.”

My eyes drift down and skate over her gorgeous face, and finally, my body relaxes.

God, she’s stunning.

“Hi,” she whispers.

I let out a heavy laugh. “Hi. Not the way I wanted our first meeting to go.”

She smiles at me. “Me either. But you’ve officially passed my vibe check. Thank you. I could’ve handled it, but men standing up to other men who pull that shit matters. When men say it’s not okay and ostracize other men for doing it, that makes a difference.”

I look at her sincerely. “No one should ever have to feel uncomfortable getting a drink or doing anything else. And especially here at a romance con?— ”

“I know. This is a safe space, and he’s a predator in it. Even if it doesn’t happen today, eventually karma will get him.” She breathes out and shakes her body like she’s shaking it all off. Then she looks over at the bar. “Can I get another drink? That one feels tainted now.”

The bartender gives an understanding nod. “No problem.”

“Put it on my room tab. 428. And I’ll have a… watermelon mojito.”

The bartender nods. “If you want to have a seat, someone will bring those over.”

“Does that extend to outside too?” Jade asks, eyeing the doors out onto the stone terrace.

“Sure thing.”

“Thanks,” she says.

I offer her my arm. “Shall we?”

She laughs a little. “Yes.”

“Anyway, that’s how I got started publishing. I might never have done it without that support from my dad.”

“I’ll have to remember to thank Papa Jackson if I ever get to meet him. It would be a crime for your books not to have made it into the world.”

Her cheeks heat, like they have every single time I’ve given her a compliment tonight.

It’s clear she’s not great at taking them, which is all the more reason I’m going to shower her with them.

She deserves to hear them and believe them so she knows how amazing she is.

Even more so in person. And her voice… I’ve been fixated on how beautiful it is since that one little voice note she sent me.

Now that we’re here together, I could listen to her talk all night.

“I’m sure he’ll love the nickname. ”

“I’m assuming you two are close, then?”

“Definitely. We’ve been each other’s rocks for a long time. It’s always a safe space with us. I’m lucky to have that. What about you? Close with your parents?”

She shifts in the chair and tucks her legs up, making sure her dress covers everything.

I’ve lost track of how long we’ve been sitting here.

We’ve had drinks, appetizers, and dinner, talking the whole time.

Everything I enjoyed about talking with Jade over the past couple of weeks is amplified now in her company.

I drag my teeth over my bottom lip and shake my head. “No. We have very different views on life, and having a close relationship with them would be impossible without a lot of toxicity, so I keep things more at arm’s length.”

Mom’s been plenty pissed at me since I told her I was moving. But other than a dinner at their house that I suffered through every couple of weeks, we don’t have any connection tying us together.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jade says, her voice gentle and sincere.

I shrug. “I’m used to it. I compartmentalized a lot of my parents’ behavior. It wasn’t until I moved home that I noticed it. Which is probably why I’m moving again. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you live in New York? I assumed so since most of your stories are set there.”

“Yeah. A tiny little two-stoplight town called Woods Junction. Most of my stories are based on surrounding towns, but my very first series of interconnected standalones are set in a town just like it.”

“But not the Marianos?” I ask.

She laughs. “Nope.”

“You know… if you need any beta readers for book eight, I volunteer as tribute. I’ll sign an NDA. Whatever you want.”

She stares at me for a long moment. “I might take you up on that.” Then she sighs. “It really depends if you’re comfortable reading it without knowing when you’ll get book nine. ”

My brow furrows at the hitch in her voice. She doesn’t work with a publisher as far as I know, so there shouldn’t be anyone stepping in to say she can’t release something.

“Writer’s block?”

I don’t know what else it could be.

She looks to the side at a fountain in the courtyard.

“No. Believe me, I know what I want to write and it’s killing me that I’ll have to wait, but I have a severe case of carpal tunnel.

I have to have surgery for it in a little over a week, and I’ll be out of typing commission for three to four weeks, and it’ll be even longer before I can type as much as I used to. ”

Shit.

“I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

She nods. “I have so many ideas in my head, and having to get through with voice notes when all I want to do is write—have the catharsis I need—kills me. And I suck at dictation. So here I am. I was hoping to at least get the process of audiobooks for the Mariano Family series started during that time, but now that won’t be happening either. ”

“Why not?”

She laughs bitterly. “I was saving up so I could have all eight done, and then save up the rest for the last few books while those are being produced. But my insurance company decided that covering my surgery and all the therapy I’ll need after isn’t something they’re interested in, so I’ll have to dig into the money I was saving for audiobooks to do that. ”

“What the fuck?”

Her eyes go wide, then she smiles softly. “It is what it is.”

“It’s not. It’s bullshit. Where is your insurance through?”

“I’m self-employed. So I self-pay. I’ll be looking at new options when my enrollment is up in January, but until then, I’m stuck.”

Leaning back in my chair, I shake my head.

Insurance in this country is beyond fucked up.

I’m lucky I get mine through my cousin. She runs a law firm, and since I gave her some money to help found it back when I first started modeling, she keeps me on the books, and I help with their commercials and advertising whether it be modeling or voice over.

It’s a small chunk of my income, but they have great insurance and that’s a huge plus.

Now I’m pissed for Jade, and I wish there was something I could do to help her.

She waves a hand as if she’s swatting away a bug.

“Can we change topic? I found out yesterday and spent all night wallowing—that’s why I didn’t respond much. I want to enjoy this weekend, not think about all that.”

“Of course.” I glance over at the courtyard, which is lit up with twinkle lights. “Up for a walk?”

She smiles brightly. “Yeah. Sounds great.”

I stand and hold out my hand to her. She stands too, and the second her skin brushes against mine, a crack of electricity ripples through me, aiming straight for my heart.

She must feel it too, because she freezes for a second before lacing her fingers with mine.

“How did you get into narrating?” Jade asks as we step off the terrace and onto the path that winds through the courtyard.

“Combination of things. My cousin Stacy had been suggesting it for years. She runs a law firm, and I do the narration for most of their commercials and radio ads. Then as I started getting attention for my book covers, I had some authors tell me my voice would be perfect for their books. I love the romance community, and the idea of narrating sounded fun to me, and like a complement to working as a model. I took some voice acting classes first to make sure I had the skill to back it up, and I also took a course on audiobook production. It was an investment to build out my recording area and to get the production software, but as soon as I started doing it, I fell in love. It’s so much fun. ”

“Zoey tells me I should consider narrating audiobooks—particularly some of my own—but I don’t know…”

“You should. You have a beautiful voice.”

Again, her cheeks heat. “That’s something coming from you. ”

I chuckle at that. “You like southern drawl, darlin’?”

She tries and fails to hide a shiver. “Maybe. But I’ve heard books you’ve narrated without it, and you still have a captivating voice. You’re excellent with emotional work too. That’s something I look for.”

“With your books, you have to. If I ever get a chance, I’d be honored to record one of your books.”

“Thanks,” she breathes. “What made you pick up the Mariano Family series?”