Page 56 of Protect Your Queen

“I think you’ve found a good sound, my dear,” she continued. She was smiling at me - a genuine smile that reached her eyes. “I’ll push the suits to give you a little more time. This wholepop princessthing is a little trite, anyway. So many young girls trying to get into that space. But in this deep, soulful, bluesy, but youthful indie sphere? Well, we can make some real headway for you there, marketing wise.”

She was talking as if she hadn’t just blown my fucking mind.

“Let’s explore that, shall we? I think your team might not be the best one for you either. Load of incompetents. They’re like headless chickens, running around, too stupid to know they’re already dead.” She looked at her blood red nails and lifted a pencil-thin brow. “Come into my office next week, will you? I’d like to take you under my wing.”

Chapter twenty

We’re Not Bugging the Client

Chris

Jareth and I didn’t head back to the studio. We needed to get the stink of crime off before we were within spitting distance of the little Songbird.

We dumped Mario Pesci off the coast of California, way beyond the reef, with weights around his ankles.

“I feel like you and I just bonded,” I mentioned, as Pesci sank into the water, far below where the light penetrated the waves. “I kinda want to high five you.”

“Hard pass,” Jareth said, though there was a slight twitch in the corner of his mouth. He was starting to like me. I knew it.

We bleached the inside of the warehouse. We burned our clothes with thermite and stuck around to watch it turn to ash.

I waited around for the twins to bring her safely home, checking my phone, and staring at the door. I was practically bouncing on my heels, waiting to get a glimpse of her. I needed to know she was okay. I had to be sure that leaving her in the building named after the man who wanted to harm her wasn’t a colossal mistake.

Jareth didn’t speak to me once we got to the house. He went to the garden, where he snuck a cigarette, before burying the butt in a small ceramic pot.

“Not a word to Jes,” he warned me when he got back inside, and I made a zipping gesture over my mouth in response.

When the black Cadillac returned, I practically ran to the door, holding it open for her as she made her way up the drive, with Lea and Leo in tow.

She didn’t speak when she passed me. Hell, she didn’t even see me. She just headed straight for her bedroom.

“Jes?” I called out to her but was met with the sound of the door closing.

Lea and Leo came through next, heading straight to the office where they bunked. One of them stayed on the floor in a sleeping bag. I wondered why neither of them opted to take one of the other vacant rooms.

“She okay?” I followed them into the office, and watched as they both took off their blazers in a synchronized gesture.

“Dryden had a word with her, then she was in the bathroom for half an hour,” Lea said with a sideways glance.

“She wasalonewith him?” Shit. My heart was racing. “She should never be alone with him, ever!”

“Why not?” Lea asked, pulling out her butterfly knife and twirling it through the air.

“Well, he’s our number one suspect.” I ran a hand through my hair, tugging at the root. “Her last bodyguard wouldn’t even leave the two of them alone because he didn’t trust him. Mario said he’s the guy that paid him. Jesus… do we know what they talked about?”

“No, we haven’t bugged the client,” Leo said.

“Maybe we should,” Lea said, with a shrug. “Mario pointed the finger at the big guy, huh? Interesting.”

The twins looked at each other, and I wondered what they were communicating in their long, silent gaze.

She didn’t ask about the body, or how we got the information. I suspected that she didn’t care.

“We’re not bugging the client,” I muttered.

Lea shrugged, then changed the subject. “You think it’s Dryden, hmm?”

She turned on the computer and it dinged to life.

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