36 Inches: A MFMM Romantic Comedy

by Alexis Angel

  And I don’t give a fuck about whatever little scheme Sienna uses to try and destroy us. She’ll never be able to do it. As long as the three of us are together, we’ll face anything life might throw our way.

  “Jesus fuck,” I mutter as dozens of people keep on bumping their shoulders against mine. Everyone’s moving away from Sienna’s booth, and that’s because an announcement has boomed through the whole convention floor, telling everyone to head toward the main stage. Like drones, everyone starts dragging their feet and walking through the cramped corridors lined with authors’ booths. I push my way through thousands of people and women trying to rip my shirt off my body; I might not be as famous as Parker is, but I sure as hell have the looks to make any woman in here become wet in a matter of seconds.

  Not bragging, just telling it like it is.

  Taking my cell phone out of my pocket, I dial Mason’s number. “She’s about to get on stage,” I tell him the moment he picks up, watching as Sienna talks to the promoter on one side of the stage. She’s wearing an emerald green dress, one so tight I doubt she can breathe inside of it, and her hair looks even more horrid than before. What I wouldn’t have paid to see Cara sticking that chewing gum in Sienna’s hair. I bet she had a meltdown that lasted for days.

  “We’re on our way,” Mason tells me curtly from the other side of the line, and I just end the call and place the phone back on my pocket. As I do it, Sienna finally strolls across the stage and stops at the podium, her hands grabbing at the microphone set up there.

  The chatter of the crowd dies down, and the only thing you can hear is a slight buzz of excitement. No one really knows what Sienna has in store for today, but everyone’s expecting it to be big. Naughty Angel took a big hit with the piracy incident, and some people are betting that Sienna will overthrow NAP and establish a big brand of her own.

  These are the rumours, at least.

  “Thank you for coming here today,” she starts, her voice echoing across the whole convention floor. The grin on her lips is so wide that I’m half-expecting to see the skin of her face tearing any second now. She really thinks she has won, doesn’t she? She can smell victory, and she can feel her fingers already brushing against the big prize.

  Oh, it’s gonna be fun to crush those dreams of hers.

  “I have big news!” She continues in that excited tone, her gaze wandering over the thousands of people hanging on each and every one of her words. “As you know, there’s a gap in the romance industry. Some publishers have been struggling really hard, and I’m more than happy to announce that I’m looking to fill that gap.” She takes a dramatic pause, and then narrows her eyes. “Today, I’m happy to tell you that I’ll be launching Sinner Publishing!”

  As she says it, the large curtains behind her drop down to the floor to reveal a large banner. It’s a picture of Sienna sitting atop of pile of books, as if she’s some kind of conquerer from a gone-by era.

  “Sinner Publishing, huh?” I hear someone say, and I turn around to meet Parker. Mason’s standing by his side, and both men are smiling as they look up at Sienna.

  “It’s time we pull the rug from under her feet,” Parker adds, and I simply nod.

  Let’s take this bitch down.

  Chapter 25

  Parker

  “Thank you, thank you,” Sienna continues as the crowd claps hard, eating her words up. The smug grin on her face makes her look like a porcelain doll, which is a nice way of saying she looks creepy as fuck. “Now that you know about who’s going to lead the industry in the coming years, it’s time I reveal the first book that’ll be published under Sinner Publishing: Cum To Me!”

  At that, she takes one step back toward one of the long battles pushed back against the edge of the stage. She grabs the sheet covering whatever’s in there, and throws it back to reveal a mountain of books the size of fucking Everest.

  “Cum To Me!” she announces, waving one hand at the mountain of smut next to her.

  “Yeah, I’ll come to you alright,” I whisper, smiling to myself as I take one step forward and move toward the stage. I button up my jacket as I go, casually strolling up the stairs that lead up to the stage. A few of the people on the first rows of the crowd start talking excitedly as they see me come up, but Sienna only notices what I’m doing when I’m right next to her.

  Moving fast, I steal the mic from her hands. She spins around fast, her eyes widening as she sees me on the stage, and her skin turns to a pale white. “Hello, Sienna,” I tell her, returning her grin. “How are you doing?”

  Without waiting for her reply, I take the mic to my lips and walk toward the edge of the stage. “I’m sorry to interrupt, guys,” I start to say and, judging from the look on the face of some of the people closer to the stage, they must be thinking this is all part of the show. Well, in a sense, it is—just not Sienna’s show.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Sienna whispers under her breath, pushing the words out from between her gritted teeth. She looks so mad that I wouldn’t be surprised if she started snarling and trying to bite me. “Oh, you know… I heard you talk about Naughty Angel Publishing, and I thought I could clarify a few things for the folks in here,” I reply, but I'm doing it while talking into the mic. At the mention of Naughty Angel Publishing most of the crowd starts to clap hard and whistle. Even though NAP has hit a road bump, true fans will never desert the authors they love.

  “Naughty Angel?” She scoffs, grabbing a mic of her own from the table. So, she wants to confront me head-on? Alright, dealer’s choice then. “Naughty Angel is dying, Parker. You know that the NAP ship is sinking, don’t you? Too bad for you, I don’t have the time to put up with a cover model for a company that can’t even survive piracy.”

  “Is that so?” I whisper, never taking my eyes from hers. She grits her teeth even harder now, so much that I wouldn’t be surprise if her teeth simply shattered. She’s reading the look I have on my face, and she’s not liking it. She knows I wouldn’t be doing this without a plan, and she’s afraid of what that plan might be.

  And you know what? She’s right to be afraid.

  “Well, I know my friend Sienna is excited about her new book,” I tell the whole crowd, walking straight toward the edge of the stage and flashing my million-dollar smile at the small army of women crowding at the front. “And I also know she’s excited about following the path that Naughty Angel braved in the first place ... but not so fast, Sienna.”

  “Get off of my fucking stage, Parker,” she growls at me, tightening her fingers on the mic so much that I’m just waiting for the whole thing to explode in her hands.

  “What? Without introducing my special guest? That’d be a shame, wouldn’t you say?” I ask the crowd, and then I simply point straight ahead. Just like Moses in front of the red sea, I stand there as the crowd parts in front of me, and only one person remains still as that happens.

  Right in the middle of the convention floor, she’s wearing an elegant black dress, one that makes her look more like the owner of the whole convention than an unemployed PA. Her hair cascades smoothly down her shoulders, and the serenity on her face contrasts the anxiety I saw there weeks ago.

  “Ladies, let me you introduce you to the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” I start to say as Cara walks up to the stage. “Her name’s Cara, and she’s the reason Sienna is here today.”

  “No!” Sienna shrieks, stomping to one side of the stage and grabbing the arm of one of the security guards posted there. “Stop her! She can’t be here!”

  The guy, wearing all black and a I’m not your friend expression, starts walking toward Cara but I just stand in front of her. “Not so fast, friend. If I were you, I’d sit this one out,” I tell him, lowering my voice in such a way that he knows exactly what I mean. He stares into my eyes for a long second, gauging just how far I might go, and then he simply nods and walks back to his position.

  That’s right, I might be just a model ... but I’m the kind of model that knows
how to use his fucking fists.

  “You’re not supposed to be here! You were banned!” Sienna tells Cara as she walks up to the stage, her elegance and poise making me feel more proud of her than anything in my life.

  “Yes, I’m banned, Sienna,” Cara says, her voice smooth and controlled. “But that’s about to change,” she continues, smiling as she looks at the stairs leading up to the stage.

  “That’s right, Sienna. Things are about to change,” Mason says as he walks up.

  Chapter 26

  Cara

  Just a few weeks ago, I was nothing but a simple personal assistant no one cared about. No one knew my name, no one cared who I was. And now here I am, under the stage lights at the Romance Guild convention, thousands of eyeballs trained on me. Whatever happens today, all these people will know the name Cara.

  In a way, I should thank Sienna for that.

  “What a lovely day,” Mason whistles as he climbs up onto the stage, looking around as if he was just taking his bearings. His gaze lingers on Sienna for a long while, and I notice the corner of his lips lifting as he smirks at her. Mason has an ego the size of the world, so I guess it’s only logical he’s the one facing Sienna head-on.

  “Get out, get out,” Sienna repeats over and over again like a broken record, her words completely devoid of any meaning. She knows we’ve got her trapped and, just like scared prey, she’s entering a panic.

  “No, I don’t think I’m ready to leave just yet,” Parker tells her with a smug grin. “I’d like to hear what Mason has to say,” he then says into the mic. “Wouldn’t you like to hear it as well?” He asks the whole crowd, and the enthusiastic screams make Sienna turn so pale I’m surprised she’s still standing. All her blood seems to have drained out, and her eyes are bulging so much that she looks like a caricature of herself.

  “See? Everyone’s interested in what I have,” Mason tells her, taking one step toward her. She shrinks in place, her mouth possessed by a wild snarl. Mason places one hand into his pocket, and she stumbles back, almost as if she’s expecting me to pull a gun on her.

  Of course, Mason doesn’t do that; he does something much worse.

  “Remember this, Sienna?” he asks her, holding the USB drive right in front of her. It's cold metal glints under the stage lights, and Sienna’s lips part to let out a sigh of pure desperation. She looks so sickly I’d say she’s going to faint any second now.

  “GIVE ME THAT!” She screams out like a banshee, jumping toward Mason with both her arms stretched out, her fingers turned into claws. Without taking the grin off his face, Mason simply sidesteps her, keeping the drive at bay.

  “Oh, so you do remember it,” he laughs. He glances at Parker and, as if the two were sharing a telepathic link, Parker throws him his mic and Mason grabs it mid-air. “Hello everyone,” Mason greets the whole crowd, and you can almost see the confusion on their faces. They have no idea what’s happening, and some of them have already started to realize this isn’t part of the show. But they’re all human and, as such, they simply can’t help but to stay and stare at the carnage.

  “I know I’m crashing this party, but I think you’re all gonna love what’s inside this flash drive,” he continues, raising his arm up in the air and showing everyone the small metal stick in his fingers. “You see,” he points toward me, and the two of us exchange a quick glance, “as some of you might know, Cara in here was accused of being the pirate mastermind behind the Naughty Angel leak. Of course, that’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard in my fucking life. In this drive I’ve got proof that Sienna was the one behind the leak, and that the whole thing was a setup.”

  “LIES!” Sienna shrieks.

  “Shut it,” Mason casually tells her, and his tone is so relaxed that she actually obeys him, surprise taking over her. Right now, she’s the only one losing her cool on stage, and that in front of the whole romance industry. Even if we stopped here, her reputation has already started to suffer. You can’t have a meltdown on stage and expect to leave the situation unscathed.

  “I’ve got an exchange of emails between Sienna Sinners and Pure Smut for You, arranging the sale of pirated copies of Naughty Angel’s entire book catalog. She has been planning this for quite a while, and she wanted to pin on it on her personal assistant.”

  The crowd quiets down then, and confusion starts to turn into disbelief. Most of the people looking up at the stage and romance readers, and they all love Naughty Angel and its book. Fans don’t take a betrayal like Sienna’s lightly.

  “That’s bullshit!” She hisses, moving so fast that even Mason doesn’t have the time to react. She steals the mic from his hands, and looks down at the crowd with fire in her eyes. “Don’t believe these lies! These emails are all fabrications!”

  “Fabrications, huh?” Derek asks her casually, stepping out from the crowd and climbing up the stage. Now my three men are here with me, and we’re ready to deliver the smackdown of a lifetime.

  I almost feel sorry for her. A bad haircut and a public shaming? That’s tough.

  “Fabrications!” She echoes Derek’s words. “Even if those emails were real, who was I talking to? You don’t know, and that’s because these are all lies. Lies, lies, and more lies!”

  “Chill the fuck out,” Parker tells her, pushing her books back and sitting on one of the tables. “You’re losing it, Sienna,” he tells her in an almost bored tone, and that just makes her look even more pissed.

  “They shouldn’t even be here! How’s this even allowed?” She snarls into her mic, waving her hand at me and my men. The crowd looks up at her apprehensively, and it’s clear as water that they know she’s trying to worm her way out of a situation she has no control over.

  “Well, but there’s one person that’s allowed in here…” Mason tells her, flashing his grin. As he says, a curtain behind the stage is pulled back, and a woman in high heels and a red dress steps onto the stage, her bright eyes locking on Sienna’s right away.

  The crowd loses it then, and they start shouting out the name of the newcomer.

  “ABBY! ABBY! ABBY!”

  That’s right.

  Abby.

  Chapter 27

  Abby

  “ABBY! ABBY! ABBY!”

  Remember me? Of course you do. I still haven’t forgotten about you, you know? You were there when I met Aidan, and you were there when I battled Grady and Bad Boy Publishing. We have a thing going on, the two us, wouldn’t you say?

  I should be used to this by now but, between you and me, I’m not. Thousands of people shouting my name? That’s the stuff dreams are made of. But my life is a dream, so I guess that makes sense. Now, don’t think I’m arrogant; I’m just happy with the way everything turned out. I have Naughty Angel Publishing, the leading brand in the industry, and the love of the most perfect man who has ever lived: Aidan.

  I’m happy, and I won’t apologize for that.

  “Hello, everyone,” I tell the whole crowd as Parker hands me a mic. They all quiet down at once, hanging on each and every single one of my words, and I can’t help but smile. Sienna was just a blip on my radar a few weeks ago, but she was so adamant on destroying Naughty Angel Publishing that I had to come here myself.

  It’s time I lay down the law.

  “Let me walk you through it,” I tell the crowd, addressing them as if they were all my personal friends. I wasn’t that charming when I started out—oh, God, I was far from charming, but I picked up a few things from Aidan. If there’s someone who knows how to tame a crowd, it's him. “A few months ago, Sienna bought copies of the entire NAP catalog. She hired a few tech guys, ripped them all, and had them uploaded to a pirate site.”

  If the crowd wasn’t entirely convinced of what Cara and her guys were saying, now there’s no doubt in their minds of what’s happening. I can already see a few of the women down there throwing looks of disgust at poor Sienna. Oh, this is going to be a day she won’t forget for the rest of her life, that much is for sure.
>
  “She used to be a great author, actually. I read a few of her books when she started out, and they were pretty good. I even considered taking her under the Naughty Angel umbrella. But Sienna ... well, let’s just say she isn’t easy to work with. Instead of seeing her fellow authors as friends, she always saw them as rivals. Competition. And once Naughty Angel Publishing started to grow, becoming what it is today, Sienna started spending more time on scheming than on writing. A waste of talent, I’d say.”

  “You’re just … you’re just jealous!” Sienna cries out, her voice quivering as she says it. She sounds out of breath, and I notice that both her hands are trembling. We’re closing in on her fast, and she knows she’s trapped. “Fuck you, Abby! And fuck Naughty Angel Publishing! Sinner Publishing is going to crush you,” she insists, but she’s just grasping at straws.

  “Oh, Sienna,” I tell her, a sad note to my voice. “I feel sorry for you.”

  It’s the truth, you know? Tearing down a fellow author isn’t something I enjoy doing. I’ve had my fair share of battles in the romance industry, but it’s always disheartening when I have to point my guns at someone who started out just like me. But I do what I gotta do.

  Fuck with Naughty Angel Publishing, and rest assured that I won’t stop until everyone forgets your name.

  “I hate you, Abby!” Sienna continues, completely losing it. She runs one hand through her short hair (what the hell’s wrong with her haircut?), disheveling it, and she starts looking more and more like a fairy tale witch. “I hate NAP! I HATE YOU ALL!” She lets out a shriek so loud that I feel my skin prickling, and I feel even more sorry for her.

  She’s gone mad.

  “Someone has to take them down!” She tries and tells the crowd, frantically waving one hand at me. “They do what they want, when they want! It’s not...it’s not fair!”

  “FUCK YOU, SIENNA!” Someone shouts from the middle of the crowd and, like a dam that has just burst, everyone starts booing her all at once. She takes one step back, the mic dropping from her hands and falling flat on the floor with a dull thud.