Page 81 of The One With the Mountain Man

This was why we picked Jessica to host the event. She was a good human. "I've been better, but I'm happy to finally get this event under way."

The readers watched us, clutching their books, rippling with their own nervous energy. Maybe once we got started everyone would relax.

"Just this way." Jessica waved me to the wooden stairs before turning back to the attendees. "Give us five minutes and we'll get started!"

Originally, we planned to do everything downstairs. There was more room. But upstairs was cozy and designed for readings, so while it would be tight, it was probably the better option. I settled in at a large wooden table that sat three feet higher than everything else on a small platform. Jessica tested a microphone so I wouldn't have to strain my voice. Several of her employees rushed to rearrange chairs. Jackson helped bring a set up the stairs. Then he picked a spot beside one of the wooden columns to stand watch. He was quiet, but his attention was firmly on me and the crowd.

The readers and a handful of specially chosen journalists filed upstairs and into the seats. There was a no cell phone policy until the signing portion of the event started. Only journalists were allowed to use any equipment. So I had the crowd's full, undivided attention.

Sometimes that made me nervous. Sometimes it got me excited. For the last two years it filled me with dread. But I realized as I calmly scanned the group that had paid a handsome price to spend the afternoon with me, that today I felt nothing but peace. As Georgie, Moses, and Adam sat invisibly beside me, I knew that somehow, someway, today was the day everything changed.

Twenty-Five

Jackson

There wasn't a dry eye in the place

How wasany of this real? Marley was plastered to my side in an employee elevator with security guards all around us, hiding her face. The private car was large. Two of the guards rode up front while Felicity, Marley, and I rode in back. The other two security guards followed in an identical car.

Marley was beautiful but so different. The hair, the makeup, the clothes. None of it resembled the woman I'd fallen in love with. This was A.M. Quill, and while I still thought she was hot as fuck, I had to keep reminding myself this was an act. When we got home tonight she'd transform back into my Marley.

Was it bad I thought her security detail was a joke? Not that they weren't professionals and could do the job, but if they thought they could protect Marley better than I could, well, that was just funny.

When we pulled up at the bookstore and saw that crowd though, I really wished I had Travis by my side. Hell, with Digger and Scottie, we could handle this on our own. But it was just me and goddamn did it take everything I had to keep from biting the heads off everyone in the car.

Felicity rattled off information about the police and how we were getting inside the building. I knew how we were getting in. Marley would follow me while I crushed everyone who got in our way. If we were really fucking doing this—which I thought was unnecessary and dangerous—then I would make sure she got inside that building safely.

Marley was stiff beside me. I kept rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand, but I didn't think she even noticed it. She was strung tight and kept murmuring under her breath, like she was having an entire conversation with someone I couldn't see. Probably a coping mechanism of some kind. All of it made me want to throw her in my truck, drive straight back to Golden Hour, and forget any of this ever happened.

"They're ready," Felicity said.

"Let's go," Marley whispered.

All I wanted to do was keep her safe. When the sound of the crowd hit us, every protective instinct I had turned on. "Wait for me." I stepped out of the car and took in the sea of fans. It was the kind of crowd I expected at a movie premier. Excited, hopeful faces, cameras—so many cameras—and signs.

I love Montague!With a hand drawn version of the character from the book.

We love you A.M.!Huge hearts drawn all over the poster board.

Justice for Angel!

No more cliffhangers!

It went on and on. There were even some fans in costume. While they all seemed nice and genuinely interested in seeing their favorite author, I didn't trust any of them and made sure they all knew it.

Then I reached back for Marley. When she took my hand my damn heart stopped for a second before restarting harder and faster. I could feel how much trust she put in me, and it was a goddamn treasure. The police officers surrounded us, but I stood head and shoulders above them, making sure everyone knew that they might get past the guys with the guns, but they wouldn't make it past me. We stepped slowly, carefully, deliberately up the pathway to the store. Fans shouted, but no one stepped any closer.

Once the door to the shop closed, everything got real quiet. The fans that waited inside looked as scared as Marley. There were no blinds or shades to block out the people pressing their noses to the glass windows.

"We're moving upstairs," Alex said with a nod to the team.

Good.No matter how many faces I scanned I couldn't be sure if any of them was Cristobal. Getting away from these windows would help ease some of the tension.

I followed Marley up and watched her take a seat at an elevated table. The store staff were hurriedly moving chairs upstairs from where they'd been set up downstairs. So I grabbed as many as I could and helped.

Then I settled against a wooden column near the stage where I could keep an eye on the audience and the windows below. Marley sat quietly, an almost serene look on her face. She'd settled in now that she was in a smaller space with a quieter group.

She was as at home here as she was at the TBR Pile. This other part of her life might be different, but it was very much still her.

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