I put my hair up into a messy bun. I pull on my hoodie and push my feet into my flip-flops.
Then, I look down at myself.
I’m wearing my Little Mermaid pajamas.
I consider this for a moment.
Screw it. I’m going out in them. It’s not like I’m out to impress anyone right now. And, honestly, I don’t give a crap what people will think.
I can just be the crazy lady in her pajamas.
I’m just about to get my wallet and room key when someone knocks on the hotel door.
Gabe.
Don’t be stupid Ava. He doesn’t know where you are right now. And he hates you.
I go over to the door and open it without checking the peephole to see who it is, and I find Charly standing there.
“Nice pajamas.”
I open my mouth to speak, and I burst into tears.
“Oh, hell.”
She wraps her arms around me, hugging me tight, and I sob into her shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay.” She soothes me, rubbing my back with her hand.
“I’m sorry.” I sniffle. Pulling away, I wipe my face with the sleeve of my hoodie.
“Don’t be.” She closes the door behind herself and drops her bag to the floor. She takes her jacket off and tosses it on top of her bag.
“I know, but you’ve just gotten here. You don’t need me bawling on your shoulder.”
“Bawl away.” She lifts her shoulder in offering, forcing a smile from me. “That’s why I’m here. So, you can cry, scream, and do whatever you need to, to make yourself feel better.”
“Thanks,” I say, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
Gucci gets up, wanders over to me, and climbs in my lap.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me, too.” She tosses her cell on the bed and comes to sit by me. “This Gucci?” She reaches out and strokes her.
“Yeah.” I smile.
“She’s super cute. Aren’t you, Gucci?”
Charly scratches behind her ears, and Gucci, the attention whore, climbs off my lap and onto Charly’s lap where Charly continues to lavish attention on her.
“Have you slept at all?” she asks me.
I shake my head.
“You need to sleep, Ava.”
“I know. I just…I couldn’t.” I rub my hands over my face.
“Have you heard from Gabe since last night?”
As my mouth turns down with sadness at hearing his name, I bite the inside of my bottom lip. “No.”
“Vaughn’s on his way over there now. He just dropped me off, and he’s going to meet Tate and Julian at Gabe’s place. I know you didn’t want him to be alone, so I thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks, Charly.”
“I saw the news…about Gabe.”
I glance at her. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t tell Bradford Digby anything.”
“I know that. God, you didn’t even tell me on the phone, and you could have because you knew the story was about to drop.”
“I would never share Gabe’s private life with anyone. I just don’t understand how this happened, Charly.” My eyes swell with tears, and I blink them back. “There’s a recording of our private conversation, which Gabe thinks I did. And a contract with my signature on the bottom, giving exclusive rights to Digby.”
“Fucking Digby,” Charly mutters. “That guy has his nose in everybody’s shit. Look what he did to Vaughn.”
Before Charly met Vaughn, he was dating this actress, Piper Watts. Vaughn, Piper, and Cain Acton—Vaughn’s best friend—were on Digby’s talk show, doing a live interview about their upcoming film. Then, Digby exposed that Piper and Cain had been having an affair behind Vaughn’s back. He was humiliated. He took it quite badly for a while, partying and hooking up with multiple women. But that was before he met Charly.
“I just don’t get it. How Digby could say that it was me when it wasn’t. And it’s not like I can call him up and say, Hey, why the hell are you spreading lies about me?”
“It fucking sucks, babe.”
“The thing I can’t get my head around is how he got a recording of our conversation or my signature on that contract.”
“Signatures can be forged,” Charly says.
“Yeah, but it was definitely my writing. I recognized it.” I sigh.
“Well, have you signed anything recently?”
I shake my head. “No…oh, wait. I did sign something the other day for Gabe’s cleaners.”
“What?”
Lifting Gucci into her arms, she shifts around on the bed, sitting Indian-style, and puts Gucci back in her lap. I move on the bed to face her.
“It was this new form. Sadie, one of the cleaners, asked me to sign it. It’s something that their boss implemented just to prove that they’ve done the work.”