“I see the muse really is inspiring you.”
“You’re dodging the subject, vampire queen.”
“I’m just thinking Estelle won’t be happy…”
She grimaced. “Oh. Yeah. Yeah, no, she won’t. So… I guess… we make sure she doesn’t find out? Vampire queen probably knows how to keep a few dark secrets.”
“I’ve never been good at keeping secrets from her… it’s like she reads my mind a little bit.”
“Oh, so she’s the vampire.” She yawned. “I guess we just… do what we can… and if Estelle kills me, just know I went out happy because I got to kiss you.”
“You’re a cute one, Houdini. We should get to sleep. I’m going to take a quick rinse first… do you want to go first? Or second, so you can take your time if you want to break more of my bottles?”
“Oh, god.” She buried her face in her hands. “I amsosorry about that.”
“Hey. Look where it wound up.” I touched her lips, and I enjoyed the way she went instantly soft and blushing when I did. “I’m just glad I made it back in time to hear you coming.”
“Ah… I’ll just die now. But I’ll go die in the shower. I’m going to go first, because if I stay here right now, I’ll fall asleep.”
“Good call.” I kissed her again, and I sank into my feelings as she slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
Estelle didn’t need to know about this. We could keep it quiet.
Chapter 16
Julie
I hadn’t realized how awful I felt until I felt good. I woke up well-fed, having gotten a good amount of sleep, after the best sex anyone had ever had, with the most beautiful woman who had ever lived, and damn, I was feeling electric. And that was even before I turned my head to see Helena still softly asleep in the morning light next to me, holding onto a pillow with both hands, her hair a little messy, but still impossibly beautiful even while asleep.
Damn.
It was a wistful sensation in my chest, tugging on me. I knew this wasn’t likely to happen again—Helena liked to flirt and she liked to fuck, apparently, and we’d flirted enough that the fucking happened too, but there wasn’t anything more to it than that.
But at this point, even if I had to give everything up and leave the city in humiliation, I’d still have had the best experience anyone had ever had. Maybe life wasn’t all bad.
I moved quietly, slipping up to my feet, and I cleaned up in the bathroom—I didn’t have my million haircare and skincareproducts here, but Helena had told me I could help myself to hers, as long as I didn’t break any more bottles, and I knew the process well enough to make it work. Took a quick rinse in the shower, came out feeling alive, and feeling a little cheeky, I went into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast for two. I mean, I wasn’t Gordon Ramsay, but I could make scrambled eggs and toast.
The window thrown open to morning air and some of Helena’s music playing from the speakers again, I felt so stupidly happy that I could throw up, and I laughed out loud to an empty room, just stirring eggs. That was where I was when I heard the bedroom door open, footsteps hurrying out, and I turned around and put on my best smile, rehearsing my seductive speech to brag about making her breakfast, but Helena went the wrong way—threw open the front door, saying something I couldn’t hear over the music, and I frowned. It was eight in the morning… I thought she didn’t have serious obligations in the mornings.
I couldn’t tell what she’d said, but I could tell she sounded anxious about it. Curiosity killed the cat, but I wasn’t a cat, so I turned off the stove and went to stand close to the front door, listening through to what was on the other side.
Helena’s voice, muffled through the heavy door. “I’ve been handling all my tasks in accordance with expectations. Is there a specific objective I’ve been—”
Another woman, this one with a Chinese accent, sounding irate. “Have you been rehearsing this speech? I am not saying you are falling behind on your metrics, Ms. Warrick. I am asking you why you’ve been having so many unreported excursions to music studios.”
Was that… Linyue? Had they been tracking Helena’s location? Jesus, what a bunch of creeps. I moved to look through the peephole, getting a distorted fisheye look at Helena looking so perfect I wouldn’t have guessed she just rolled out of bed andout the door if I hadn’t heard it happen, and in front of her, a woman in a lavender suit jacket with tiny round glasses. Helena looked so stressed, her posture rigid, even as she tried to look relaxed, hands in her pockets.
“I’ve been exploring new potential collaborations,” she said. “That’s all. I haven’t reported anything because there’s nothing to report yet, but—”
“You are not a musician,” Linyue said. “Have your little trips if you like, but doing it stealthily after our discussion last time doesn’t show we can trust you.”
“I—”
“And why are we talking in the hallway?” Linyue said. “Are you hiding something in your apartment?”
Oh, god. I needed to make myself scarce. But Helena looked so tense, so scared, and I could tell the way she was shutting down—her unflappable demeanor gone in an instant once it was Linyue in front of her, and I thought back to what Estelle had said, about Helena losing her light once it was her father involved. I didn’t want to see her close off like that again.
I scrambled in the bathroom putting on my nice clothes from yesterday, and I took a second to check myself in the mirror before, running on sheer instinct and zero thoughts, I unlatched the door just as I heard Linyue raising her voice again, and I only realized I was probably going to make the situation worse when I was standing in the doorway, Helena looking horrified at me and Linyue looking confusedly at me.
