I think I hear Taya and Carlo talking, but I might dream it . . .
“Have you been online?” Carlo whispers.
Taya snorts. “No. I’ve been dealing with her drunk ass. Why? Is the world going down in flames already? And look at me with no fucks to give.”
She sounds snarky and carefree, two things she most definitely is not. Taya worries about everything. That’s why she’s so passionate. Even now, as big as she is and with as much money as she has, she worries it’ll all poof! away somehow and she’ll be left holding the bag. But she plays the bitchy role to perfection, and most people never suspect that there’s a fear of becoming that little girl who was hungry for food and desperate for a hug underneath her barbed, rough exterior.
“The Carson guy. He’s going viral.”
“What did the asshole do now?”
“He’s looking for you,” Carlo says. “Come on, I’ll show you.” The door closes with a soft snick, and I curl into the fetal position.
But that doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would Carson be looking for Taya? I mean, her ass is fabulous, and now that he’s done with me, I could see why he’d hit her up. But Taya’s not gonna hook up with him. She’s the bestie of BFFs, and there’s a code against shit like that.
“Fuck you! She’s my Taya. If anyone gets that ass, it’s me,” I grouse to the darkness of my mind and the empty room.
CHAPTER 28
CARSON
“Hey . . . uhm, everyone. I’m not sure how this works, but my sister says you can work miracles, so I need help getting this to Taya.”
In the background, you can hear Toni whisper, “Keep going.”
“My name is Carson. You might’ve seen me recently in a viral video. Or maybe with Jazmyn Starr at the Freedom Fest at Americana Land. But those things are not what this video is about.” My throat bobs visibly as I swallow.
“I’m here because I fell for someone. Hard and fast.”
The image whirls, refocusing on Toni’s grinning face. “No pun intended. He’s a dumbass, but not on a Dad-joke level yet.”
The video flashes back to me, and trying not to look annoyed and utterly failing, I continue. “As I was saying, this person I fell for, we had . . . have something special, and I need to talk to her to sort some things out—like my feelings for her, what size diamond she wants to wear on her finger, and how many kids she wants. We need to plan out our forever. Taya, if you’re seeing this . . . you know what I’m talking about. Who I’m talking about. I can’t find her—she won’t return my calls, and if she’s home, she won’t answer her door. Can you help me talk to her? Please.”
I meet my own eyes in the video, noting that I look empty and forlorn. No, I look lovesick without Jayme in my arms.
I sigh, putting my phone down.
“This had better work,” I tell Toni for the millionth time. I’m still not sure how I let her talk me into this, given how a viral video is what started all this, and Jayme told me that I’d be better served behind the camera rather than in front of it. But here I go again.
Toni doesn’t look up from her phone but rather scrolls to the next TikTok video. “Duh, of course it’ll work. It’s literally blowing up.”
When I’m not settled by her reassurance, she comes over to sit on the couch next to me and holds out her phone, letting me see the video I just watched on my own device. “Look, it’s been viewed two hundred thousand times in less than twenty-four hours and shared hundreds of times. Taya has been tagged dozens of times, so even if Jayme is avoiding you, Taya won’t. She’ll either respond to tell you to fuck off or to negotiate a settlement, hostage-style.”
“Jayme’s not a hostage,” I counter.
Toni laughs, pushing at my shoulder. “You are such a dumbass. Of course, she’s not. You’re Taya’s hostage. She’s got your dick in a vice, threatening your very future. Or at least your shot at happiness in whatever future you have. And she’s a quick draw. Everybody knows that.”
“Not helping,” I grunt morosely.
Toni posted the video first thing this morning, and it went big pretty quickly with the #helpmeTaya tag she added. I guess the speculation over what I did and just how profoundly I fucked up—because of course I did—is helping push views up too. Toni tells me that there’s even a debate going on because some people think my wanting to put a ring on Jayme’s finger and a baby in her belly is sexy as hell, and others think it sounds asshole-ish and crude.
I don’t care what they think at all.