Page 33 of Bishop's Queen

“Okay. Yeah. I was. But I’d rather you just realize you’re not a moron. Stupidity isn’t something you can catch. And from my point of view, what you just did was stupid as shit.”

Her chin dropped. “Easy, killer.”

He pulled back, recalibrating. “Not the best move, all things considered.”

“I just talk to people. I did it when there was nobody there, and then there was one person, then two. It was me, chatting about what I hoped for and what I knew was possible. I needed a… distraction and desperately needed to focus on something that was… important to me.”

The defeat on her face cut straight to his chest. “You’re not the girl with ten followers anymore. You’ve got, like, ten million.”

“Boom,” she whispered, tossing her hands up. “I had some. A lot, I guess. But not that many. And then, there they were. Just kind of blew up.”

“Under the Roofwas a tipping point, maybe.” Reality TV would do that.

She closed her eyes as though maybe her popularity was something she hadn’t come to grips with. “Talking candidly is a habit. And it’s what I do. I want to be authentic.”

Now that was a stretch. “What’s authentic in this room?”

Bristling, she opened her eyes and became a fortress again. “You don’t know me anymore, Bishop. This is all me. I like everything about this place. It has order. It is where it is, how it should be.”

Completely in control… okay, so he could appreciate that. A lack of control had, in one way or another, ruined their lives. “Fair. Being authentic, staying true to yourself? That, babe? All that won’t matter if you’re not here to keep your stuff going. There’s no Eco-Ella without Ella. Figure out how to balance the truth and your lifestyle with your reality.”

“And what’s my reality?” she asked.

He couldn’t tell if that was sarcastic or genuine, so he ran with it the way he needed the conversation to go. “The world is messy. Trust but verify, and when you can’t, which you can’t with millions of fans, have no faith. Zero. Zip. Zilch.”

Her blue eyes lost their shine, and her lashes fluttered down. “That’s awful.”

“That’s the path you’ve chosen if this is how you want to keep going.” He wished it was more black and white for her. She had such a good heart, always had.

“I can’t look at the world that way.”

“Ella—”

“But… I can keep my faith. Do what I do, and you, Locke, Titan…Jared,” she said in a tone that Bishop totally could appreciate. “All of you can see humanity for what it is, and I can see it for what itcan be, and desperately protect it from where we’re headed.”

No wonder the woman had an army of followers behind her. She didn’t give up. All she needed was a level of protection. Bishop took a step closer, wondering how wild a ride it would be to guard this eco-trailblazer. “How about this?”

Her chin tilted up, hope flickering.

“Put yourself on delay or be generic. If we’re headed out for a beer, that’s all you need to say. No ‘come and meet me’or maybe ‘I’m posting it when I get backtonight.’ Just post the pictures after you’ve left.”

She looked to the side as though she were considering what seemed so simple.

“If you have to say a specific place, say it as you leave. That way you’re there, but we get in the car and roll out.”

She nodded, rolling her lower lip into her mouth. “Makes sense.”

“Will you delete it?”

“What I just posted?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Then later you can be as authentic as it getsandsafe.” Okay, that was about as deep as Bishop could go. “Let’s go.”

He turned for the door, wishing he had the ability to down a six-pack, but the woman kept him on his toes, and he was on the clock. His drink would be a nice, tall glass of nothing with a kick.

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