“Our Selina was supposed to win that first place, not this nobody,” she spat out in spite. Tammy and Jeri held her arms as tight as pipes in a vise while she squirmed uncomfortably.
“We don’t decide that, Cary,” Valery responded in confusion. “You can’t just attack authors when they beat ours out for an award. It happens. I don’t understand your behavior, but it’s certainly embarrassed me.”
“Embarrassed?” Cary’s face twisted in a snarl. “I did it for you!”
Valery’s brows shot up, and her mouth dropped. “What do you mean ‘for me?’ Cary, you must have been under too much stress leading up to this conference. I’m going to make an appointment for you with Dr. Lorraine as soon as we get home. Now apologize to everyone and pray Aspen, Catherine, and Windsor Court don’t press charges.”
Cary stared at Valery with wild eyes and tried again to pull free of her captors. “I act out of my devotion to you, and you want to have me hauled off by the men in white coats? There’s nothing wrong with me—it’s them! Aspen Wolfe! You know that isn’t her real name. Nobody gets born with a name that cool. And besides, you rejected her, remember? She wasn’t good enough to publish with Femlove; why should she be stealing what’s ours? I mean, all these little upstart self-published writer-wannabes with no oversight and no credibility are challenging our established prestige. Someone must fight to preserve your legacy.”
A bewildered expression hung on Valery’s face, the weight of which made her look her age for once. “When did Aspen send us a book proposal? I don’t recall reading it.”
“Five years ago,” Cary snapped. “You threw it in the reject basket where it belonged.”
“You know I don’t read all those,” Valery said. “I didn’t reject Aspen’s query letter because I thought her book idea was bad or her writing sample poor. We get too many, and I was probably swamped at the time. We can’t maintain our excellent reputation with you going around punching the competition. Cary, whatever is going on with you?”
“What’s going on with me?” She tossed the question back at Valery with a look of anguish rather than rage.
I guess my head was clearing because I heard myself say in astonishment, “You’re SapphicLover69!” Winter’s arms supported me as I sat up on the floor, gaping at her in disbelief. “I never considered the ‘69 was the year she was born, but it fits you. So do the tumultuous fits of rage. And you’re like that delusional Hinckley fellow who shot President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster—as if it would have done him any good. You’d blow up an entire country to impress Valery, you’re so obsessed with her.”
If Valery could look any more stunned, she did in that instant. “Cary?” Her hand moved instinctively to cover her heart. “But we work together.”
“Yes, we do!” Cary wailed. “Every fucking day for the past ten years. Only I work harder than everybody else to make sure things flow smoothly, all deadlines are met, and your every whim is satisfied. Do you know how it stabs me in the gut whenever you leave the office to go out with another woman? How much it drives me crazy to work beside you every day and never be the one who gets to hold you at night?”
“Those were business dinners,” Valery stammered. “After Dru passed, I—”
“And who was there to help you pick up the pieces? Who helped make all the arrangements, took charge of the wake, and wrote the thank-you notes when you were curled up indepression? Who’s by your side defending you, protecting your interests every single day, yet you don’t see me?”
“Cary, I, I …” Valery stuttered. Catherine took her elbow to steady her, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d fainted then and there.
I glanced at Winter and whispered, “Help me up?”
“Besides,” Cary continued as Winter gave me a hand staggering to my feet. “I couldn’t let her get away with being so disrespectful to you on Friday at the book fair. She had to be punished!”
Valery’s shoulders drooped, and she hugged her arms around herself. “It was only a difference of opinion, not a declaration of war. You went too far.”
I smoothed down my fabulous dress, knowing there was no hope for my hair, and took a step toward Cary. “So, you were mad about that, but why fixate on me to begin with? I don’t get it.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly try to seduce Valery with my online persona, could I?” she answered in sarcastic scorn, as if I was the stupidest human on earth.
“You really are SapphicLover69,” Valery uttered as if realizing it for the first time. “So, that’s why she was always praising our authors, posting five-star reviews, and making flattering comments about Femlove. I thought she was a real person.”
“Iama real person!” Cary roared. “A real woman who’s devoted her blood, sweat, and tears to you, Valery. You’re the only thing that matters to me, and you never thought of me the same. I knew it, and, still, I ached for you.”
“And then you just twisted it all up into a bundle of bitter wrath to unleash on me?” I concluded in disgust. I shook my head and rubbed a hand on the back of my neck in hopes of relieving some tension.
“Maybe if you’d given me the time of day, you wouldn’t have made me lose control!” Cary retorted, turning the blame on me. “But no—even a friendly admirer was beneath your attention. You blew me off like last year’s leaves.”
“I was offline for a week, and you turned into a raving monster,” I rebuffed with heat in my voice. But Cary was too pitiful to harbor hatred toward. “So, you harassed me, spread fake rumors about me slapping my name on AI-propagated books, and did everything in your power to destroy me because your boss didn’t love you back?”
Cary glowered at me, no longer straining against Tammy’s and Jeri’s grasp. “It doesn’t sound right when you say it,” she grumbled.
From across the room, Elaine’s voice boomed with fortitude over the murmuring in the hall. “You sent Aspen the black roses and trashed her room! You tried to burn us to death in a locked corridor! How was any of that going to make Valery want you?”
“Hey, you and the little one weren’t supposed to be there,” Cary called back in her defense. “Can I help it if you followed her?”
My face darkened as I took a step closer. “Except when you came back to lock the glass door to the hallway, you could see they were in there with me. You could have aborted your devious plan when you realized I wasn’t alone, but you didn’t. You just didn’t give a damn about my friends’ lives,” I snarled, ready to punch her in her beady eye.
“All that was you?” Catherine’s voice dripped with more venom than mine had. If looks could kill, Cary’s psychotic breakdown, along with her days on Earth, would have ended on the spot.
