I was kind of jealous of Estelle. I’d love to be doing the same thing. But I wasn’t kissing Julie, not… not like this, at least. I had to at least get through the heat of the moment, the thick of the emotions. If I kissed her right now, I’d start to like her a little too seriously.
Chapter 24
Julie
Luckily, Krysten was still in the office, even though it was late now. Unluckily, she looked at us like we’d lost our minds once we’d pitched the concept.
“You are spending too much time with the little one, I fear,” she said. “The nonsense in her brain is starting to infect you.”
“Like I can’t hear you?” I said, my hands up.
“Oh, I am aware that you can hear me. Otherwise I would have said it more kindly.”
Helena leaned against the table, her arms folded casually at her waist, and an unhelpful part of my brain pointed out how hot she looked like that. I was trying to focus. “You keep insulting Julie, and I’ll have to step in,” she said. “I’m the one in charge of making fun of her.”
Krysten raised an eyebrow at the nameJulie.I sighed. “I told her everything,” I said.
That, finally, got Krysten to smile, relaxing back in her seat with such a declarativewhooshthat her chair rolled backwards towards the window, the half-drawn blinds letting in streetlamplight in slits behind her. “So you finally come upon a drop of sense,” she said. “And I can assume it went well.”
“Nah, not really. I got kicked out of my apartment, Helena stopped talking to me, and my mom still doesn’t understand whatlesbianmeans.”
“You were kicked out of your apartment?” She leaned forwards. “What are you doing now?”
“Figuring things out,” I said. It was weird that I wasn’t even putting on a face anymore, but I was still saying all the same things I’d said when I was. I guess it had just stuck. Worked its way into my brain and changed who I was.
The king’s mindset.
Ugh. I had to kick that habit.
“Figuring things out,” Krysten repeated. “That does not keep a roof over your head.”
“I’m in a hotel right now…”
“You are a homeless vagrant coming in to pitch a whole new business project!” she said. “Abeg. I fear you are even more audacious as Julie than you were as Cassandra.”
“And that’s a good thing, right?” I said. Helena backed me up.
“I think her audacity has been an effective strategy to date.”
Krysten laughed. “You are correct. And out of respect for that level of brazen audacity, I will forget that you missed out on an important task for your job. But we are not starting a new project, of that scale, this close to the deadline. No, no, no.”
“I’ve got a team,” I said. “And I’ve got sweat equity.”
“Sweat equity! You sweat like a dog in a field, it does not make an industry event.”
Helena was on fire in a way I’d never seen before, her eyes gleaming as she spoke. “Respectfully, Krysten, what’s the point of bringing on a consultant for the music industry if you won’t take her input on strategy for the music industry? I challengeyou to look at Julie’s results and still doubt that she’d be able to pull it off. Especially with a team at her back.”
“I think—” Krysten started, but Helena wasn’t letting up.
“And I’m sure you picked up on the importance of Linyue’s network,” she said. “That network will either be working with us or it won’t, depending on which way this goes. She’s already on the verge of pulling out. And we don’t want to lose her relationship with Jewel in general.”
“Ah, so you are blackmailing me,” Krysten said good-naturedly.
“I’m negotiating with you,” Helena said, smiling and cheerful even though her voice had an edge that could cut steel, and I was supposed to be focused on the task at hand, but that was, uh, hot.
“Where will we find the operational logistics for this?” Krysten said. “Where will we find the budget?”
“That’s for us to work out,” Helena said. “Give us the conceptual go-ahead and we’ll move to the next stage.”
