Page 100 of Before the Encore

Madison’s eyes crinkled, just slightly.

“I don’t trust her.”

Madison waited for her to expand, sitting further back into the sofa.

“She follows the stardust. Whoever is hot right now, that’s where she wants to be. And at the tour afterparty, the way she was looking at you…” She bit her lip. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but…be careful with her.”

Madison nodded, letting the information sink in. She stretched out her long legs before crossing one over the other. “I’ll tell Roberto no.”

“You don’t have to do that for me.”

“I know I don’t have to. But that’s what I want to do.”

“Really?” It seemed so simple when Madison put it like that.

Madison shifted closer to Bonnie, warmth radiating off her. “Honestly, I don’t like what I’ve heard about her, and we’ve already got enough pop interference with this certain little diva I know. Best not have any more. She’s kinda annoying.” Madison dipped to plant a kiss on Bonnie’s neck, her skin sensitive to the touch. “A bit of a princess too. But she’s also brilliant.”

Bonnie hummed. “Keep talking.”

“And smart.” Her lips traced heat across her skin. “Sexy. Dirty. Surprisingly into filthy things that no princess would normally associate with.” She kissed a little harder, making Bonnie’s toes curl. “She’s got attitude, but her heart’s in the right place. And she’s one of the strongest women I know.”

Bonnie pulled back. “You really think that? I don’t.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’ve been through a lot to get where you are. With the spiking, your mum, and putting up with fucking Bailey. I wish you could see it.”

“That’s the thing, though.” Bonnie shifted, her bare skin sticking to the sofa. “You say no to Roberto. With Bailey, I just go along with whatever he says because when I do stand up to him, it doesn’t change anything. It makes it worse. I want to—I wish—” She exhaled hard through her nose. “I wish I could be more like you.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.”

“I’m serious, Madison.”

“It’s not as if I have everything sorted out. I avoid stuff with my mum, but I can’t do that forever either. We all have our weak spots.” Madison cupped Bonnie’s hands in hers. “If you really wanna get rid of Bailey, you can do that.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. The tour and the contract—”

“Fuck that. There is no way that slimy bastard has upheld his end of the contract. Frank can look over it; he loves legal documents.” She rolled her eyes. “And we’ll get a lawyer. If you wanna do it, we can, okay? You deserve better.”

Her heart bloomed at the use of ‘we’. Since her mum’s diagnosis, she’d not had anyone she could really trust with her career decisions. “You really think so?”

“Fuck yes.”

All of Bailey’s put-downs over the years came to her like machine-gun fire. All of her music he declined. All of his valuable contacts she was forced to engage with. All the deals she didn’t want to do and all the stupid interviews. Bonnie let it sink in, new energy fizzing through her veins. “I do deserve better.”

“That settles it then.” Madison kissed her, tracing her jaw with her fingertips.

Bonnie deepened the kiss, roaming her hands over Madison’s body. Before things got too heated, she pulled back, looking into her eyes. “If you want to see your mum, I can come with you. But only if that is something you wanted to do.”

Madison smiled, her thumb brushing across Bonnie’s cheek. “We’ll see.” She turned her face, fingers tracing Bonnie’s neck. “Though we might have to wait a few days for these love bites to fade.” Then her mouth was back on her, kissing, sucking, her hands pulling Bonnie back into her lap.

Moonlight shone through the window, their shared gasps and moans eventually washed away by the first ray of daylight.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Madison

They didn’t leave Madison’s apartment for two days. With Bonnie ‘resting’ and Lipstick Fever’s album in post-production, she could quite happily stay cocooned in the sixty-metre square with Bonnie until they turned grey and decrepit. Apparently, that tied in perfectly with her moon house or whatever.

“Say that again.” Madison’s brain tumbled around in her head, trying to grasp how the different signs and houses came together. It was no wonder people thought followers of the Zodiac were witches. It made no bloody sense.