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 skincare products 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 and out 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.
I hadn’t thought about what I’d say. Shit.
Just channel the king inside you.
Rah—that freak was probably transmitting psychic messages to me. He could fuck off.
I put out my hand. “Hey,” I said. “You’re Linyue, right? Julie Branch, music talent agent and outreach coordinator for Jewel. Nice to meet you.”
Linyue flicked her gaze between me and Helena, who was the cold rigid metal of a signpost right now. “You’re Ms. Warrick’s friend,” she said, cautiously shaking my hand.
“Helena’s been working extensively with my team to help us expand Jewel into the music industry. She’s been an invaluable contributor. Although I think I owe you some of the thanks, too, because from what she’s said about you, you’re the one she learned all her organizational skills from.”
“Oh, she was saying that, was she?” Linyue said, a glint in her eyes. Helena looked desperately at me, signaling what are you doing without words. As if I knew!? Did I look like I knew!?
I hoped I did.
“Oh, she was,” I said, pushing out the biggest smile I could manage.
“Specifically once we were a few glasses of wine deep, so I won’t embarrass her too much saying it in front of her.
Well, I know you’re a busy woman, so I won’t impose too much, but Helena and I were having a social morning and I was making breakfast for two, so if you wanted to talk logistics, it could be breakfast for three. ”
Helena laughed, stilted and awkward. Linyue looked at her. “Where did you find this one?”
“Er, it’s…”
“It wasn’t too long ago,” I said. “A tech and talent mixer in Williamsburg with me and the Jewel founder…”
Helena paled. Linyue narrowed her eyes at her. “This is what you were going to that party for? Why did you never say anything?”
“We… I didn’t think it was… well, I didn’t want to announce anything prematurely,” Helena said, her voice small. Linyue frowned, and I had the awkward realization I was probably making things worse.
“Helena’s not feeling her best,” I said. “We were supposed to meet in Midtown today, but she woke up a little under the weather, so I drove down here and came to meet her where she was able. Speaking of, you should sit down,” I said, gesturing Helena back inside. “You’re looking pale.”
With Linyue’s eyes on me, Helena mouthed what are you doing, and I didn’t know the answer, so I just gestured her inside again. Linyue backed me up. “If you aren’t well, you should rest,” she said. “Drink more hot water. Ms. Branch and I will talk.”
Helena laughed self-deprecatingly, stepping back towards the doorway with one last confused look my way. “Sorry about this. I’ll be inside.”
“The coffee should be ready in the kitchen,” I said as she pushed the door nearly shut, walking inside, and then I was alone with Linyue, who gave me an evaluating look.
“You work on the app?”
“Yes,” I said, standing up taller. “I’m in charge of outreach into the music industry. I spend a lot of my time going around to different music studios, talking to producers. Keeping a network active. Helena’s been accompanying me on some of it lately as an expert consultant.”
“Hm.” She adjusted her glasses thoughtfully. “You’re an interesting one, Ms. Branch.”
“I have certainly been told that.”
“It’s good that you’ve come around to help Ms. Warrick when she isn’t well.”
I relaxed, a more natural laugh coming out unbidden. “Well, fair’s fair. I wasn’t feeling too well the other night, and she practically dragged me here to make sure I sat down and ate properly. I’d never had hong shao rou before, and she fixed that.”
She lit up. “The spot on Duane Street?”
“I’m going to assume yes, because she said it came with your recommendation, so I owe you thanks for that too.”
She gave me a conspiratorial look. “Did the owner try to talk to you?”
“No, we got delivery, but now I feel like I need to go in to see if the owner does talk to me.”
“Do not let him. He’s a terrible conversationalist and doesn’t know it. He thinks people come in to talk to him. He’s lucky he’s a good cook, or he wouldn’t have any friends.”
“Now that I’ve seen what a tough critic you can be, I’m realizing I should have prepared more to meet you. I dread to think of what you’ll tell people about me.”
“It will be nearly as bad as what I’m sure Ms. Warrick has said about me.”
“Ah, you know. She sees you like a third parent, so, she complains about you, but in the way everyone does about their parents.”
She laughed. I guess I said something good. “I have a few minutes to talk. I’m curious what Ms. Warrick’s work with the music industry has been, and if there’s a way we can leverage it. Are you a good cook?”
“Oh, um. I’d lie to you, but I feel like you’re the type to see through a lie.”
She waved me off. “I’ll finish cooking.”
Linyue making me breakfast wasn’t on my bingo card. But then again, neither was Helena tying me up and fucking me senseless, so I guess we were well off the beaten path.
She was surprisingly friendly once we were inside, and I probably shouldn’t have made up a story about Helena not feeling well, because Linyue insisted on Helena sitting down and resting while Linyue had me in the kitchen to help her finish up the meal, taking it somewhere much more interesting than scrambled eggs and toast. She barked a lot about what to do, but you could tell there wasn’t any hostility in it, just a whirlwind of a woman, and I made conversation with both of them as we finished a meal.
The tension between Linyue and Helena was gone once we sat down together with food, Linyue asking a thousand specific questions about the kind of work we were doing together, and we answered them all as truthfully as we could manage, talking about the upcoming industry event.
Linyue penciled it into her calendar, and I tried to look normal while I ate even though the food tasted like the best thing I’d ever eaten.
I mean, outside of everything I ate last night.
It wasn’t too much longer before Linyue checked her schedule and stood from the table with an irritable sigh.
“I have to run,” she said. “But it was good to meet you, Ms. Branch. Make sure Ms. Warrick feels better soon.”
“She’s not my nurse,” Helena laughed surprisedly.
“I could pad out my resume a little more,” I said. “I’m her nurse now. You can expect only the best results, Linyue.”
Linyue smiled. She didn’t seem like the type to do that often. “I expect reports.”
“On the nursing? Number of sneezes per hour, type of complaint…?”
“I trust you have your own system for that. No. On the music work. I will see who I can contact about your event.”
Oh, shit. Linyue was using her network? I wouldn’t be surprised if her network included like…
European royals, billionaires, King Solomon.
“Yeah, will do,” I blurted. “I’ll talk to Krysten about the reporting system we want to implement for this and I’ll keep you in the loop. Thanks, Linyue. It’s a pleasure.”
She looked seriously at Helena. “Ms. Warrick.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t neglect your other work.”
“I won’t,” she said.
“She hasn’t been,” I said, which was probably ill-advised, but apparently Linyue didn’t mind the pushback.
“Then make sure it stays that way.” She narrowed her eyes, looking between us, before she turned back to Helena. “And keep me posted on developments.”
Helena pursed her lips, pupils going small. “Linyue.”
I think I was on the outside of an inside joke. But Linyue shook my hand again and made me promise once again to look after Helena, and then she was out the door, leaving us in the awkward quiet where I don’t think either of knew what came next.
“So,” Helena said, and I turned back to where she was giving me an intense, loaded look, rising from her chair. “What was that?”
“By all appearances, Linyue. Possibly a really good impostor.”
“You just walked in and dumped all our operations onto her.”
I scratched my head. “You looked stressed, and I… don’t… know how to mind my own business.”
“Julie,” she said, and I got a shudder. Shit, I’d introduced myself to Linyue as Julie because I’d been thinking of music work and…
“Helena.”
“Is that what I should be calling you now?” she said.
“Ah, you can, uh, call me whatever you like.” No, I really owed her an explanation. Having two names for no reason was weird. People didn’t have maiden first names. But I couldn’t really give her an explanation at this point.
“How did you just get Linyue to like you, Julie?” she said, drawing out my name, tasting it. Holy shit. I should have asked her to keep calling me Cassandra. Helena Warrick saying my name like that was going to give me a stroke.
“Just a bit of, uh, you know, charm. I was inspired. By the muse.”
“God, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just jumped in with—”
“No.” She stepped closer to me, and I got a lump in my throat at the fiery look in her eyes. “Don’t be sorry.”
“Huh?”
“That’s the exact conversation I’ve been dreading all this time, and you just walk in like you fucking own the place, you smooth everything out, and you get Linyue of all people to come around to our side enough she’ll help with the event. What the hell was that?”
“Honestly, I’m… not sure.”
“It was really fucking hot, is what it was,” she said, and she pushed me back against the wall. I think I got that stroke. “Take off your pants.”
“I’m the what what?”
“I said—” She grabbed the front of my pants and tugged down. “Take these off so I can go down on you and work out my feelings.”
“Holy shit.” I wasn’t asking questions. I undid my pants, and I melted when Helena kissed me ferociously, pinning me against the wall as I did.