The Billionaire and the Bestseller

Chapter Five: The Non-Apology

This was fine, right? Totally fine. Most of her nerves had faded once she stepped up to the lectern, but in the back of her mind Nicolette was still cursing Riley for having booked this lecture. 

While she did regularly attend the Atlanta branch of Maskerade as a dungeon mistress, she preferred to keep her circle tight and had never intended on visiting other branches - much less give a lecture or DM a one shot at one. But, leave it to her agent to find a way to use her membership in a nerdy s*x club to drum up attention for the book.

It made sense from a marketing perspective; What Becomes of Snow was all about two adults with a shared love of comics and role play finding love and friendship in an unexpected place. Even Lettie had to admit that speaking at Maskerade was clever PR, with obvious audience overlap, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

The lecture portion had gone well, and now that they were into the question and answer portion Lettie’s nerves were rearing their ugly heads. A latecomer had just walked up, and his presence had her shook. The casual way he leaned against the railing that looked out over the courtyard below was one thing. Even the way he’d challenged her had been fine - fun, really. She loved having an open discourse with her readers.

But there was something about the way he was looking at her now that felt less friendly and more like a warning. It was all dark and sensual, with a knowing smirk that made her sweat. What the hell was that about?

She took a few more questions, trying to ignore the unblinking stare of the man in the wolf mask. Then, after asking for one last question, the tall drink of water in the wolf mask spoke again.

“How did you choose your nom de plume?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble that shivered up her spine. She wasn’t the only one; several members of the audience had turned at the sound of his voice.

“My pen name? Oh. It’s a little embarrassing…uhm...” Lettie replied, feeling herself blush. She’d never told this story before, but didn’t think there would be any harm in it. Riley always said that it made you more relatable when you shared little anecdotes from your life with fans. “You know how young girls will sometimes match their first name with the last name of their crush? It’s like that, but make it nerdy. A combination of my DnD barbarian’s first name, and the last name of my highschool boyfriend’s rogue. If you’re up for a cringefest, you might even find some old fanfiction written under the name Everly Martindale floating around on the internet too.”

More laughter. Awesome. Hopefully knowing that she wrote bad fanfiction endeared her to the audience instead of making her sound like a shyster.

“Do you think he knows that you co-opted his character’s name?” a young man from the audience piped up. Lettie glanced at her watch; there was just enough time for a follow up, but this really needed to be the last one if she wanted to start the one shot she was DMing on time.

“Haha, fat chance. He ghosted me after graduation and probably doesn’t remember a character he played in a one shot a decade ago.” Lettie reached up to tuck a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear. “But, in a way I’m grateful to him for being such an enormous douche canoe. I might never have written the book that I did if he wasn’t.”

Nicolette shrugged a little, and found herself making eye contact with the man in the wolf mask. At least, she thought she was making eye contact. It was hard to tell with the way that the mask cast the mystery man’s eyes in shadow, but still she was drawn to his imposing presence. She was never one to back down, and his very stance felt like a challenge.

“When I was writing What Becomes of Snow, I wanted Hunter to be everything that my ex wasn’t. Call it wish fulfillment, but I’d like to think that if assholes like that exist, then there must be someone out there who is both equal and opposite to him, maintaining the balance of the universe. So, thanks Colt. Success, as they say, is the best revenge.”

She must have spoken with just the right inflection, because once her words died away several people began clapping. Soon, the whole room was clapping for her. It was the end of her allotted time, but knowing that her words had prompted the applause - rather than having the lecture director cue the audience to applaud for her at the outro - was much more gratifying.

Within a few minutes of the outro, most of the games room had cleared out. A couple fans were still milling around to chit chat or ask for an autograph, but otherwise Nicolette had a few much needed minutes to herself before it was time to dive into game prep. Or she would have, had the man in the wolf mask not sidled up to her table with a, dare say it, wolfish grin on his lips.

When she looked up, she could see that his eyes were a striking blue gray color that almost shimmered gold in the reflection of the brass toned wolf mask he wore. Lettie gave the rogue wolf what she hoped was a warm smile, despite feeling a little nervous now that he was so close, and greeted him with a simple, “Hello.”

“Hi.” he replied, keeping his voice low - almost a whisper. 

That was a little weird, but kind of hot. She hoped he wasn’t about to proposition her, but not because she wasn’t into it. She could tell from the way he carried himself and how well his suit fitted to his large, muscular frame that he was packing. It was actually a little difficult not to notice the bulge in his pants when he’d been standing across from her, though his little friend had calmed down some now. Honestly, she was totally down for some anonymous fun with a fit, well hung dude who gave off a mild air of danger. Or she would be if she had the time. Unfortunately, Lettie knew that if she ran off with this guy, even if she waited until after her one-shot, Riley would skin her alive.

Her schedule over the next few days was tight as a duck’s arse. After her one shot, which was scheduled to start in about twenty minutes, she needed to get back to her hotel so that she could pack before taking a red eye back to Atlanta. She had a magazine interview the following morning, followed by an appearance on a podcast, an ask me anything on Spreddit and then several hours spent signing hardcover copies of What Becomes of Snow that were going to be distributed to local bookstores. Oh, and she needed to DM her regular game Saturday night too - which was honestly more important to her than any of the promotional events that Riley dreamed up.

“I owe you an apology.” he continued after a beat. “And also, you’re welcome.”

Nicolette’s eyebrows furrowed in mild confusion. “Er, what?”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad that my douchery inspired your bestselling debut novel. At least I was good for something.” the wolf added as he leaned in close. He wasn’t whispering anymore. “You deserve all the happiness and success that you can get your hands on, Nico.”

Nicolette’s mouth popped open, her eyes dilating as they zoomed in on the gray ones behind the mask. They were the color of the sea in storm, a storm that threatened to drown her in surging waves once more if she dared get too close.

“Colton…?” she heard her own voice come out in a dry whisper.

Then, she pushed herself back from the table, her shoulders bumping into the bookshelves behind her as she put as much distance between them as possible. He frowned, and looked disappointed by her reaction. Well, f**k his disappointment. How did he think she was going to react? Especially coming at her with that cocky, insincere excuse for a non-apology.

“Nico…” he said, lifting a hand up as if to calm her.

“Don’t you Nico me. It’s Mrs. Martindale to you.” Nicolette hissed.

“I thought it was Miss?” now it was his turn to look confused. Good! Let him be confused.

“You know what I meant!” Lettie snapped. “Look, I have s**t to do. Why don’t you take your apology, stick it up your ass, and find a cute little bimbo to peg it further up there for you? I’m sure there are plenty of blondes here tonight that would be happy to help. Please, f**k off.”