2016 WATTY AWARD WINNING CHEATER, FAKER, TROUBLEMAKER SEQUEL
Written by Jenny Rosen & Kristen Maglonzo
For rehabilitated bad boy, Elias King, falling in love again means losing everything--including his life.
When a ghost from his past tears him aw...
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Elias
Barnes and Noble is balls to the wall packed when we show up. After sitting through half an hour of standstill traffic leading up to the parking lot, my driver finally manages to flag down the valets who direct us over to the VIP drop-off area.
We haven't even left the Lincoln yet, and Jersey's nerves are starting to show. She's been picking at the leather seats for the last twenty minutes and fidgeting with the bottom of her dress like a little girl. I reach over and cover her hands with mine even though I'm shaking. There's a shit ton of people outside, but they're not the usual touristy mall crowd who hang around The Grove.
They're all girls.
Teenage girls.
Girls in their twenties.
Moms and daughters who honestly shouldn't even be reading my book, but I spot them all pushing and shoving their way down the escalator and towards the bookstore with copies of Letters to Jersey in their hands.
The driver pulls up to a small red carpet like area and ushers Jersey and me to get out. I'm not sure I want to, but I don't have a choice. The book's gotten so big at this point I have people handling the professional parts of it for me.
Sometimes, I still wish it was just me and Dan running things like we did before Letters to Jersey blew up. But once the offers for representation started rolling in, even D-Man suggested that I sign with someone "right for the job". That someone turned into me being picked up by my now agent/publicist/pain-in-the-ass Lisa. She's the one who gets me the press, the airtime, the signings, all the bullshit that I hate to do, but have to do.
I look out the window and see her standing in the entrance way to The Grove. She's dressed in a pants suit, attaché in one hand, cigarette in the other. Her foots tapping a hole to China through the concrete floor. Yep, she's pissed. But I'm not moving any faster for her, I've got more important people to worry about.
"You ready to go out there, J? Things might be kinda crazy. Like, fan girl crazy," I say.
Jersey watches another group of girls run by the window, and then shifts her gaze back to me.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be, I guess. You on the other hand look like you were born for this."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you seen a mirror? You changed into this classy, author-like outfit on the way here and just knocked me out of the running. Like who knew a v-neck black sweater and jeans could look that good on a person."
"Well, we are talking about me here. I make everything look good."
