by Mia Archer
Now that had been an interesting experience. People shouting questions at Kaitlyn. Demanding to know when she planned on getting around to finishing the series. It was like all the bile and hate that you saw directed towards her online was manifesting in the real world and it had been surprising. I couldn't believe people would feel that entitled to be complete pricks over a book of all things. It made me wonder what I was getting myself into being pulled into this world above and beyond any misgivings I might already have about the whole dating a girl thing.
There'd also been Carrie. I was curious what the hell was going on with her. She'd continued to glare at me from time to time. I still had no idea what was going on there. What I did know was that as soon as Kaitlyn hopped off the stage and took my hand, pulled me along with her through that crowd into the line of waiting security guards, Carrie was somehow there and she was staring at me with pure hatred. Even more hatred than all the angry fans who were upset that their new novel had been delayed by a couple of years.
"So what's up with Carrie?"
Kaitlyn stopped. "Carrie?"
There was something about the way she said Carrie's name that had me on guard. She said it slowly, as though she was trying to sound like she was saying the name for the first time but she damn well knew who Carrie was. I immediately felt myself on guard.
"The girl who was introducing you on stage?"
"How do you know her?"
Again there was that odd tone. Slow, as though she thought she was walking through a minefield or something. Now I was even more interested even as I felt panic rising inside me. What the hell was going on here? What had I stumbled into? Another dark thought rose in the back of my head and I stomped down on it.
Carrie was always writing a story about a girl who dumped her a couple of years back. Could Kaitlyn...
No, that was ridiculous. That was my brain working on overdrive and coming up with a completely crazy scenario. I pushed down on that part and concentrated on the conversation at hand.
"She's actually in my creative writing class. Kind of a bitch too," I said.
Kaitlyn barked out a short laugh. "Wow. Small world. You can add "completely crazy" right on top of that whole bitch thing."
I laughed too. "Yeah, you've got that right."
"Yeah, she's sort of been coming to these cons for years," Kaitlyn said.
I blinked. For years?
"You look surprised," Kaitlyn said.
"I am, sort of. I mean the way she goes on in class you'd think she hated fantasy and you in particular."
Kaitlyn took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Well she sort of does hate me. Long story short let's just say she had a crush on me and didn't like being let down."
Huh. Well that seemed reasonable enough. Of course that didn't stop my mind from racing into overdrive. From thinking about how that seemed a little too convenient. At the same time things were going so well otherwise and it seemed like even if Carrie did maybe carry a torch for Kaitlyn the feeling wasn't reciprocated based on the way Kaitlyn talked about her.
Maybe it was a little stupid, but I decided not to pick at this subject any longer. I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I was supposed to not be letting the worst-case-scenario centers of my brain take over. So I ignored the quiet alarm that was going off in the back of my head and decided to trust Kaitlyn.
I took her hand and we started walking again.
"These tunnels are nice," she said. "Some convention centers don't have them. That's actually become one of my conditions for making an appearance. The days when I could walk through a crowd anonymously without a mask or a costume are long gone now. I'm worried it won't be long before someone realizes I go out in costume and then even that will be over."
She sighed and I guess I could understand the sentiment. I wondered how I'd feel if tunnels were the only way to get around without getting rushed by mobs of crazed fans. Of course wasn't I sort of in that situation now? Plenty of people had seen me with her. Plenty of people probably got my picture. I wondered if we'd wind up on any of the gossip sites.
"Well I can sympathize with someone being a little star struck when they see you," I said.
"Oh? Do you know from personal experience or something?"
"Let's just say it's probably a good thing we met online before we met in person. I might've short-circuited if we did things in reverse and then I wouldn't know what a great person you were independent of the superstar mystique," I said, hoping even as I said it that it didn't sound as stupid to Kaitlyn as it sounded to me.
“I’m glad we met the way we did,” she said after a pause where I worried I'd accidentally shoved my foot firmly in my mouth. It wouldn't be the first time I'd done something like that, but it's not like it was entirely my fault either. I had absolutely no experience dealing with the potential minefield that was a superstar dealing with some of the fallout of that stardom!
“Why’s that?”
“In my line of work, especially at these conventions, it’s very difficult to find somebody who likes me for who I am and not for what I am, if that makes sense,” she said.
“No, that makes perfect sense,” I said.
I could only imagine how lonely it must get at these conventions. There was absolutely no one here who would see her for her. For the person rather than the famous writer. Hell, not even some of the star guests, and there were some pretty A-list people here if the online roster I saw was any indication.
I couldn’t begin to pretend to understand leading that sort of life, but I could imagine that it would start to be a serious pain in the ass to wonder whether or not somebody was interested in you because they liked you or if they were just interested in you because you were world-famous and coincidentally super rich.
I suppose in a way meeting online was the perfect way to get around those awkward questions. I liked Kaitlyn well before I knew who she was. If I'm being perfectly honest in the deep secretive recesses of my brain I loved Kaitlyn well before I knew who she was. Still, I figured it would be better to steer the conversation away from getting too deep into that particular subject too early. Besides, she seemed uncomfortable now that we were getting close to questions of her fame.
God. I was still kind of surprised at the whole fame thing. She was Kaitlyn Morgan. She could have any woman she wanted even if it did seem she was still sort of in the closet, and yet she was with me. It was a crazy world if something like that could happen. I didn’t understand what it was she saw in me, not exactly, but at the same time I decided I wasn’t going to worry about that too much. I was going to do my best to strangle the worst-case scenario part of my brain before it could ruin this for me.
“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” I asked.
Kaitlyn blushed and looked away for a moment. I felt a moment of panic as she did that. Was something wrong?
“Well the problem is I have a lot of obligations here at the convention,” she said. “A couple of panels, meetings with some people.”
My heart sank as I heard that. She had a busy day, probably too busy to spend time with me.
“If you’re busy then I can make myself scarce. I can find Megan and hang out."
Megan. I hope she got out of that crowd. Hopefully nobody put together that she was sitting with me after Kaitlyn did that hand grab. Megan was scrappy despite the whole pale gamer thing she had going though. I had a feeling if any crazy fans tried to corner her they'd find themselves in a world of hurt.
I forged right on, mumbling and suddenly feeling a bit more morose about what the day had to offer after everything had seemed so promising. "Maybe we can meet up later or something.”
Kaitlyn must’ve stopped as I kept walking because I felt a tug on my arm. I yelped and then turned to a look at her, wondering what the hell she was up to. She was staring at me, totally serious. That sexy smile that I loved so much was gone.
“That’s the last thing I want,” she said.
I felt a chill r
un through me as she said those words. I felt heat as though I was in the center of a volcano erupting from between my legs to every nerve ending in my body. A very unladylike reaction but fuck it. That was just the sort of reaction she inspired in me.
“I’d like nothing more than for you to spend the rest of the day with me,” she said. “I just worried that’d bore you when you could go off and have fun at the convention.”
I smiled and moved closer to her. The plastic from our costumes clattered together and I giggled but didn’t pull away. I closed my eyes and inhaled her scent. I luxuriated in the warmth radiating off of her sculpted body. In the feel of her red hot skin where it was peeking out from under her costume.
“I’d love nothing more than to spend the day with you,” I said.
I was already in a mood to melt into a puddle just from her smiling at me, but that was nothing compared to the look that crossed her face when I said I wanted to spend the rest of the day with her. She looked both relieved and excited at the same time and it very nearly made me come just from that look alone. Seeing her look at me like that made me happy. Content. It made me feel secure and comforted in a way that I hadn’t felt in a relationship in a while.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said.
Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around me and pulled me closer. Or at least she tried to pull me closer. It was a little difficult because we were both still in these ridiculous getups. Our costumes clattered against one another again and part of her chest piece very nearly got knocked free. I managed to reach up and grab it which put my hand in a precarious position where I very much wanted to just let it fall free, but I also had to consider the poor staffer from the convention center who'd been tasked with leading us through this labyrinth, though she seemed oblivious to what was going on behind her as she kept walking.
I also had to keep in mind there was the very real possibility that someone else working for the convention center might walk past us so I decided it would be a better idea to just let her take over fixing her costume despite the way we were both blushing and obviously thinking the same thing about maybe having a little bit of fun in one of the tunnels under the convention center.
Though I suppose it would be okay to have maybe just a teensy bit of fun. Not as much as I'd like, but just a little wasn't going to hurt anything. I looked down at the hunk of plastic and back up to Kaitlyn. I moved a finger up and ran it along the seductive curve of her chest where it was exposed. she closed her eyes and breathed in sharply as I did so and I giggled at her reaction. It was nice to know I could get as much of a reaction out of her as she seemed capable of getting from me!
“You know this gives me an idea,” I said.
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh? What sort of idea is that?”
“Maybe we should head back to the suite and change into something a little more practical before we go to your business stuff and your panels? I know I’d love an opportunity to help get you out of that costume.”
I walked my fingers up her chest and she took in another sharp breath. I looked over my shoulder at the convention staffer who was supposed to be leading us through the labyrinth. She was still oblivious that we’d stopped. She disappeared around a corner so I decided to risk reaching down and running my free hand between Kaitlyn's legs, though it's not like I could do much for her with all the plastic in between my fingers and the prize, damn it. Oh well. I'd have to make the best of it. I smiled at her and gave her my best sweet and innocent look as I bit my lip.
“Does that sound like fun?”
“Fuck yes,” she said.
I wanted nothing more than to rip her costume off, pull her down to the rough concrete floor, and have my way with her right here and now. Only I resisted the urge. It could wait until we got up to the suite. Besides, I was truly worried that if we got too far behind our minder we’d get lost in this labyrinth of tunnels running under the convention center never to find our way out.
So I reluctantly reached down and pulled Kaitlyn's hand away from where it had slipped around and started to squeeze my ass in a most delicious way.
“Save it for getting changed,” I said.
Kaitlyn grinned but pulled her hand away. I promptly grabbed it and started dragging her through the tunnels. I needed to get her back to that fucking suite, and the way I was on fire I needed to get her there twenty minutes ago.
17: Whirlwind
The rest of the day was a whirlwind of activity. It started with an exclusive signing ceremony for people who paid for the top level VIP package which meant they each got about five minutes with Kaitlyn after she signed one of their books. The ones here were much better behaved than the fan rabble at the opening ceremony, though that might've had more to do with the impressively angry security guards standing around her than anything else.
I got a few odd looks. And why not? A random girl standing behind Kaitlyn feeling just a little like an idiot because there was no reason for me to be there? I could hope they thought I was a booth babe there to add some eye candy, but I wasn't in costume anymore and my opinion of myself wasn't high enough to seriously entertain that thought no matter what Kaitlyn said.
And Carrie. She was back and getting a book signed. Of course the entire time she was all smiles for Kaitlyn, but it seemed that Kaitlyn was a little stiff around her now that they weren't on stage. I watched them like a hawk despite my promise to myself that I was going to take Kaitlyn's word as to the exact nature of their relationship, but there wasn't anything there but stiffness on Kaitlyn's end and maybe Carrie leaning a little too close on her end. And once more I found myself on the business end of a glare as she made her way away from the signing area.
Weird. Fucking weird. At least she didn't try to talk to me. It was almost as though there was a spell that I was afraid would be broken the moment she decided to talk to me. Not that I wanted to talk to her anyways whether we were in class or in a completely different part of the country at a convention.
After that it was off to a panel where she answered questions from fans. Most of it had to do with where the series was going, though in here without security right there to look threatening there were a few people who were vocal about their anger that it’d been a few years since her last release with no release date for the next one. I realized I had a very real power if I wanted to use it or abuse it. I could just ask her what was going to happen with the books.
Only I dismissed that thought almost as soon as it occurred to me. Kaitlyn had opened herself up to me, and I decided in the middle of that Q&A session that I wasn’t going to take advantage of that trust. I wasn’t going to ask her any questions about her plans for the books or why the latest one wasn’t even announced, despite the burning curiosity I had about where the series was going.
I also felt something new, interesting, and completely irrational in the Q&A session. Jealousy. I’m not proud of it, I was reluctant to even admit to myself that was what I was feeling, but by the end of the session I couldn’t deny it, though it was something of an odd feeling since I was getting jealous of men showering attention on her even though I knew with certainty that there wasn't a chance any of those men throwing themselves at her had a chance.
Let's face it, Kaitlyn was an attractive woman. A very attractive woman. That pretty face coupled with her killer body and the fact that she'd been seen running around wearing a costume that revealed practically everything earlier in the day seemed to have really drawn out some of the creepers by the time we reached the Q&A. Let's just say she'd attracted quite a bit of interest from her male fan base. How could she not attract that interest the way she looked and being as rich as she was?
Of course if those male fans were hoping to catch her in that costume they were in for a bit of a disappointment. We hadn't been as thorough as first thing in the morning, but I had managed to get her out of the costume entirely and into one hell of a makeout session before her phone beeped with a text from someone at Elassa Corp asking where the hell sh
e was. She threw on some jeans and a T-shirt with the logo of the last book on it and we were off, leaving me high and dry and with a better empathy for guys who complained about being left with a case of blue balls even though I had no balls. So the sexy costume was gone, but even in jeans and a tight T-shirt Kaitlyn was quite the distracting package.
I thought one guy was having a seizure when he went up to the microphone and Kaitlyn repeated his name back to him. It turned out he wasn’t having a seizure, not at all. He was just freaking out that Kaitlyn Morgan actually said his name, and told her as much at least five different times while he was asking his question.
Apparently that first crazy guy who was so excited about hearing her say his name gave ideas to another creeper who came up to the microphone a few questions later. He had his phone out and he was taking a video, only he didn’t have a question. No, he was just interested in hearing Kaitlyn say his name while recording it for posterity. I tried not to think about what he might do with that video.
Of course that was nothing compared to a guy who came up to the microphone and actually had the audacity to ask her what her bra size was! Kaitlyn had fielded all the other questions pretty well up until that point, but even that one obviously threw her for a loop. It threw me for a loop as well. I was standing and about to walk across the aisles to the microphone to scratch the guy's eyes out when I saw Kaitlyn pointedly look to me and make a motion for me to sit.
I didn’t want to, but she had more experience with this sort of thing so I was going to defer to her judgment. For now. Maybe if I saw the guy out in the convention hall later I’d scratch his eyes out, or give him a swift kick in the nuts. Assuming I could find his nuts in amongst all the folds of fat. Ugh. Security came up and pulled the guy away from the microphone as he kept screaming his question over and over while people around him took pictures and videos of the ridiculous display.