Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTY
u/Nite Light
Miami’s Reigning Queen of House
Music Stumbles and Falls Hard
Ivy sent her the Reddit post sometime after midnight, but Quinn hadn’t caught it until her alarm rang at six – just in time to ruin her morning mantras. Along with the post, Ivy shared some wisdom. ‘All press is good press.’
Quinn loved Ivy, but the girl could use a day off. A profile in The Sunday Times , even a scathing one, was press. This was the work of a troll, which made it trash.
‘Nite Lite’ posted a blurry photo of Quinn and Kya at Smoke, seated at the bar, practically melting into each other’s eyes. The caption read:
Is Quinn falling for this queen? Seen here at Smoke with Kya Reid, a failed tech blogger and former Ex-Cell employee recently accused of misleading her social media followers.
She couldn’t read past that. It was enough they’d invaded her privacy. Why go out of their way to paint Kya in such a negative light? Why drag in the drama of her former job, or even her private LinkedIn group? She’d made such an effort to put all that behind her.
The photo gave her chills, but in a good way. It was beautiful.
Quinn got Ivy on the phone. She rarely slept, spending her nights doom-scrolling until dawn. Predictably, she answered on the first ring. ‘Hey there,’ she said, stifling a yawn.
‘One day or another, this man is going to reveal himself – they always do. When he crawls out of the woodwork, I’m going to stomp him like the roach he is.’
‘It’s not that bad,’ Ivy said, yawning still. ‘Think of the buzz! With all this talk, your events will draw even bigger crowds.’
Quinn wanted to scream, to hurl the phone across the room. ‘I’m not using Kya for buzz!’
‘You’re not, but someone out there is. Accept the benefit.’
‘If you think—’
‘Give me a second to run the blender, will you? I’m making a smoothie.’
Quinn took a few deep breaths while Ivy’s monster blender whirled. Her career wasn’t built on hype. She didn’t need scandal to draw a crowd. If there was a way to put that message on a billboard, she’d pay for it.
Ivy got back on the phone and mumbled an apology. ‘That was bitchy of me. I’m in a dark place.’
‘And so is Kya,’ Quinn insisted. ‘She doesn’t deserve this.’
‘Neither do you,’ Ivy pointed out.
Not really. She’d signed up for this, but Kya hadn’t. ‘She’s a private person,’ Quinn explained. ‘This is going to wreck her.’
‘Let’s not tell her,’ Ivy suggested.
‘That’s not how relationships work,’ Quinn snapped.
‘Are you in a relationship? Is that what’s happening?’
Quinn studied the photo more closely now. It certainly looked like it. ‘I’m in something, and I don’t want to ruin it.’
‘I’m going to take off my promoter hat and talk to you like a friend,’ Ivy said. ‘Or even a therapist.’
‘Please do.’
She was this close to firing Ivy the publicist, but she could use a friend.
‘That pic melts my heart,’ Ivy said. ‘You two are so obviously into each other, no one is going to read the stupid caption. And the stuff about her job is old news, anyway.’
‘Not that old. It happened last week.’
‘It’ll blow over,’ Ivy assured her. ‘Isn’t she leaving for Cali soon? That would solve things.’
‘She’s staying the week because I asked her to. She’s staying for me.’
‘Damn.’
‘I’m going to need more feedback than that,’ Quinn said.
‘Here’s what you’re going to do,’ Ivy said. ‘Send Kya the post. Give her a moment to process it. Then lovingly explain what will likely happen next time you’re out together. As the hot new couple on everyone’s radar, you’ll get lots more attention than she’s likely used to. Can she handle it?’
Could Kya handle it? Would she run?
Quinn would soon find out.
Quinn’s message turned Kya’s phone radioactive. Kya stuffed it into the gym locker and spent thirty minutes attacking a punching bag with blind rage. It felt as though she’d been outed once again, and this time they’d targeted her personal life. The timing was terrible: just days before Music Week. Quinn didn’t need this. Now her name was linked to a fraud, a faker, and a failed blogger. Could it get any more humiliating than that? Yes, it likely could. Her life was on a downward spiral, hooking anyone on its path.
With each jab and punch, Kya thought of the post. Although the caption was a hit job, the photo was a work of art. Under any other circumstances, she would have thanked the photographer, would have made it her screensaver, or even framed it. She and Quinn weren’t touching, hugging, or kissing in the back alley of a club. They were simply gazing into each other’s eyes. It was sweet, but not really. The intensity of the look they shared had Kya at her throat.
After their respective workouts, they’d agreed to meet at the smoothie bar to talk. What was there to talk about? Kya’s life was a blazing dumpster fire. She had to extinguish it before it spread and killed them all.
Quinn was waiting, a strawberry smoothie in one hand and Kya’s favourite, an iced lavender matcha latte, in another. She looked nervous. Kya had never seen her this way, and she wanted to kiss her berry-stained lips.
Quinn handed her one of the drinks. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘What about?’ Kya asked, startled.
‘My troll is now your problem. He dragged you into this, trashed your reputation, just to get at me.’
‘My reputation is already trash, so …’
‘Don’t say that!’
‘It’s true. I’m making peace with it.’
‘Well don’t,’ Quinn snapped. ‘You’re getting a new job. That’s the plan. Will this hurt your chances?’
It shouldn’t, but it would. Silicon Valley wasn’t the land of saints and do-gooders. It was a boys’ club. Most of her former colleagues were notorious for their bad behaviour, but Kya wasn’t one of the boys. The same rules didn’t apply.
‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘I’ll worry if I want,’ Quinn said. ‘You can’t stop me.’ She reached for Kya, who adeptly turned away and reached for the latte. Quinn shot her a look, then motioned for Kya to follow her out of the gym. They went to her car to speak privately, far from the eyes of the barista, who hadn’t been paying attention to them anyway. Kya felt a little foolish for overreacting, but really all she wanted was to keep Quinn from getting burned.
‘They got one thing wrong,’ she said. ‘If anyone is falling for anyone, it’s me.’
Quinn smiled at her for the first time that morning. ‘Is that right? I’m curious. Who are you falling for?’
‘The bartender at Smoke, obviously.’
‘The one behind the bar, with the muscle tee and the tats?’
‘That one.’
‘I didn’t think he was your type.’
‘He had a tattoo of a dagger on his forearm. That’s hot.’
‘Hotter than me?’
No one was hotter than Jade Quinn.
Kya set her cup in the holder and took her hand. The yellow convertible was parked in the shade of an oak tree that shed its leaves all over the parking lot. Quinn let down the top and they pushed back the seats. Quinn stared up at the clear sky. Kya’s gaze followed a gaggle of ducks crossing the lot. It struck her as odd, considering there was no pond or lake within walking distance.
‘How do you really feel about all this?’ Quinn asked quietly.
‘Everyone who sees that picture is going to think I roped you into my queer agenda,’ Kya said.
Quinn laughed. ‘Anyone who knows me knows I have a queer agenda of my own.’
‘Have you been with a girl before?’
‘Yes.’
‘In a real way – or just bi-curious?’
‘I don’t label things, Kya,’ Quinn said. ‘Let’s just say you’re not the first girl I’ve fancied. What does it matter, anyway?’
It didn’t matter. Kya was looking for an easy way out, some excuse to pull the plug on all this. ‘I’m wondering if it’s worth it for me to stick around. You’ve got a job to do this week and can’t afford any distractions.’
That Reddit post was a smear campaign in the making. It might not work, or it might mess with Quinn’s big moment. Why chance it?
Quinn looked at her, the way she’d looked at her in the photo, with longing and feeling. Wasn’t that how they’d got into this mess in the first place?
‘Don’t look at me like that!’
‘Like what?’
‘You know like what.’
‘Like I like you, maybe?’ Quinn asked, those brown eyes ever brighter.
Kya turned away and sought out the ducks. They were nowhere to be found.
‘For some reason, my booking Solstice got some people in their feelings,’ Quinn explained. ‘They’re trying to tear me down. They’ve made it about my looks, my clothes, and now the girl I’m with.’
Kya understood their motivation all too well. Haters were going to hate; that was a given. But the ones who’d vilified her for losing her job were the ones who thought she hadn’t deserved it in the first place.
‘I know I asked you to stay, but—’
‘But what?’ Kya interrupted.
‘I don’t want them dragging you through mud just to get dirt on me. Maybe the smart move is for you to go home.’
The suggestion left Kya cold. As Quinn had pointed out, the world didn’t run on logic and JavaScript. It ran on the very human impulse to make dumb choices, and Kya was only human. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Don’t be stubborn, Kya.’
‘I’ll be stubborn if I want. You can’t stop me.’
Quinn rolled her eyes. ‘You’re impossible.’
‘I’m not going home. I’m all in.’
‘“All in”?’ Quinn said. ‘I’m not asking you to commit crimes. We’re going to have a little fun while telling some very nasty people to fuck off. That’s all. Nothing crazy.’
‘I don’t care if things get crazy,’ Kya replied. ‘I’m here for the ride.’
Quinn brightened. ‘Let’s take a ride to the beach. I haven’t been for a while.’
‘South Beach is a short walk away, at most a bike ride.’
‘If we stay here, I’ll never relax,’ Quinn said. ‘I booked a concert on the beach to wrap up Music Week. It’ll be all I can think about.’
Kya rested her hand, palm up, on Quinn’s lap, beckoning for hers. Quinn obliged her.
‘We could just spend the day at the pool.’
‘It has to be the beach. I have a fantasy.’
‘Let’s hear it.’
‘I want to fall asleep on the sand.’
‘Tell me more. What else would we do?’
‘I’ll tell you what we won’t do,’ Quinn replied. ‘We won’t give any energy to those trolls.’
‘Agreed,’ Kya said. ‘And we won’t talk about my job, not one word.’
‘Or Music Week. I’m sick and tired of it, and it hasn’t even begun.’
‘We won’t take any calls from my brother or my brother-in-law,’ Kya said. ‘I love them, but … you know. They’re a lot.’
‘We won’t take calls from anyone. We’ll unplug!’
‘We’re off-the-grid girls!’
‘I love this for us!’ Quinn exclaimed.
Kya loved it, too. Maybe a little too much? She drew a breath and collected herself. ‘Where would we go?’
‘Key Largo. It’s not that far of a drive. I’ve never been.’
‘I’ve been, but I was six. I don’t remember much.’
‘It’s settled,’ Quinn said. ‘What do we need for the trip?’
‘We need a plan,’ Kya replied. ‘An American road trip is not like a drive along the British countryside, Quinn. There’s tradition to uphold.’
‘Like what? We Brits are big on tradition.’
‘A karaoke playlist, for one thing,’ Kya said. ‘We have to commit, hit notes higher than Ariana Grande ever could.’
‘That’s simple enough,’ Quinn said. ‘I’ve got a playlist for that.’
‘We must have snacks,’ Kya said.
‘Of course we’ll have snacks! Who do you take me for?’
‘I don’t mean apples and trail mix.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Chips.’
‘Crisps?’
‘Yes. Not the low-cal kind.’
Quinn rolled her eyes. ‘We’ll get bags of greasy crisps. Happy?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. Are you ready to get out of this car park? We’ve been here a long time.’
‘It’s a parking lot, but whatever. I’m ready.’
Quinn started the engine and put up the rag top to give the A/C a fighting chance. ‘I wonder where the ducks went,’ she murmured.
‘You’d noticed them?’ Kya asked, surprised.
‘How could I not? The little one with the wobble was adorable.’
Quinn backed out of the car park – as she’d called it.
Kya closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. I’m worried I’m falling for this girl.