“Amber. Oh my god, everyone,” Julie groaned.
To make matters worse still for poor Houdini who couldn’t seem to escape, Kingmaker got back with a diagram that he held up out of her reach when she tried to snatch it, handing it to me.
“Oh, let’s see,” I said, taking far too much delight in the situation as I took the document from him.
HELENA WARRICK – HOT MODEL
FUNNY
CLEVER
INTELLIGENT
CHARMING
MAKES YOU FEEL LISTENED TO
FOR FUCK’S SAKE DON’T WRIT
He’d scribbled the last one out. I think I could figure out the conversation that had happened. “Helena Warrick,” I said, narrating it aloud. “Hot model, funny, clever—”
“Amber,” Julie said, “please, dude, you gotta do this, you just gotta kill me.”
“Right now?” Amber said. “I’m having way too much fun.”
“I hate you all,” Julie groaned into her hands.
“Well, not me, you don’t,” I said lightly. “I hear you think I’m funny, clever, intelligent, charming, and that I make you feel listened to.”
She made a sound halfway between angry groan and horse whinny. She was probably about to shut down. I handed the document back to Kingmaker.
“I appreciate the detailed recordkeeping,” I said. “Very well-planned.”
“They don’t let just anyone be a kingmaker,” he said.
“They apparently fucking do,” Julie said.
“Oh, you know something?” Stephen said, standing up taller. “I just realized, this song, it almost kinda suits Ms. Branch and Ms. Warrick, now that I’m thinking about it.”
“How about that,” Amber said.
“I have gotta tell my momma about this,” he said.
“Tell her I said hello,” I said, and he looked like he’d just won the lottery.
“Aight, team, settle down,” Kingmaker said. “I’m here to talk strategy, yo.”
“Dude, take your strategy somewhere else,” Julie said. He ignored her. He seemed to do that a lot.
“I hear you’re organizing a whole event around this stuff. Big expansion for that Krysten Adesina person’s app, launch party, industry mixer, the whole shebang.”
“How’d you even find out about that?” Julie said.
“I got my sources, man. An’ I told you success was guaranteed, so I’m here to pitch in. For something like this, you gotta manifest it. We get the whole city to believe in this, I swear, it’s gonna go wild.”
“You arenotmy marketing manager,” Julie said.
“C’mon, I’m serious,” he said. “S’the least I can do. I’m making a king out of you. I’ve got my network. We gonna push this to make sure everyone knows about it, and then Krysten Adesina will have her market proof it’s a go.”
