“I told Ronnie. She understood. Said she’d talk to Stacy.”
Dino’s words sliced through the fog in Michael’s brain. “Told Ronnie what?”
“About Beth. She nearly cried. She—”
“For God’s sake!” Michael resisted the urge to pull his own hair out. “What the fuck did I ever do to you?”
“I was trying to control the damage! Fuck. I thought you’d appreciate—”
“Appreciate you spilling my life story to a complete stranger? Jesus Christ, Dino.”
Michael seethed. Anger boiled inside him. Anger at Dino. Anger at Stacy for not listening to him. Anger at Beth for abandoning him all those years ago…
“I have to get out of here,” he said, his blood boiling. “I need a drink. Or a smoke. Or something. God damn it! Anything!” His emotions rocked, threatened to spill into something unnameable. Something he couldn’t fathom. His father. His asshole father….
He couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t go to Stacy for the comfort he craved in her arms.
Where to go?
Where?
He slammed the door.
* * *
Stacy pasted a smile on her face as she signed another book. These were her fans, the people who supported her, fed her, clothed her. She adored every one of them, and by God, she’d act her part today if it killed her. None of them would know her heart had been shattered into a billion tiny fragments.
“Thank you so much,” the gushing woman said, taking her book. “I just love your work. Starr Shannon is one of my favorite characters.”
“Thank you,” Stacy said. “It means so much to a writer when a person enjoys her work.”
“Could I ask you a question?”
Stacy nodded. “Of course.”
“Have you ever considered making Starr a cougar?”
“A cougar?”
“Yeah, you know, give her a lover who’s significantly younger? Like seven years or more?”
A cougar? Seven years or more? Michael was thirty-six to her forty-five. Did that make her—Stacy—a cougar?
Of course not, because they weren’t in a relationship. They’d never been in a relationship. A one-night fuck did not a cougar make.
“I just always thought of Starr as the perfect cougar,” the fan went on. “She’s so sure of herself and so vibrant. I think a younger man would find her extremely sexy, and think of all she could teach him in the bedroom!”
Stacy let out a high-pitched laugh. Ha! A cougar teaching her younger man. A cub, isn’t that what the younger lover was called? Heck, she hadn’t taught Michael a thing. He’d taught her. Given her her first orgasm, no less.
But Starr… Starr could be a worthy instructor.
“Thank you”—she glanced at the woman’s name tag—“Mary. I think that’s a great idea. Starr would make a wonderful cougar.”
“I’m so glad you think so!”
“In fact, when I write her cougar story, I’ll dedicate it to you, how about that?”
“Oh my!” Mary nearly jumped out of her jeans. “That would be amazing!”