Page 54 of Protect Your Queen

I sprayed perfume on my wrist and my neck, before I did my first big walk. For good measure, I also sprayed the room to cover up the scent of his flatulence.

That was the moment my career began. The moment I tied myself to the protection of a man who helped me because I could bring his empire down.

And it looked like my house of cards, built on the shaky foundation of ourfriendship,was teetering, ready to fall.

“Let me have a word with Jestiny alone,” Michael Dryden said, his booming voice surrounded me from the speakers, as he looked at me through the glass that separated us.

It was a command, not a question.

His wife reached a long, elegant arm out, the sleeves dangling gracefully from cuffs at her wrist, as she pressed the button to silence the speakers that let me hear what they were saying. She said something to her husband before she gracefully rose from her seat and walked out of the room. Loïc, Simon and the engineer casually followed her.

I stood from the piano bench and tightened my shoulders. I was not going to speak to him in a sound booth. Not in a place where no one could hear me scream. So, I walked with the dignity of a fucking queen to the glass door that separated me from the control room.

The space around him was rancid and stale. The air grew heavy and dirty, as it passed by his skin. Like something on him was contagious, and adding a disgusting humidity to the air.

I have the power here. I am the one with all the cards. I have the royal flush…

I took a seat on the recently vacated engineer’s swivel chair and put on a toothless smile.

His patent leather shoes squeaked as his heel bounced on the ground. There was no flattering way to tailor that suit to him. He was just a strangely built man, rounded by too much drink and even more ego.

“Jestiny,” he crooned, his teeth bared in a lopsided smirk. “It seems that your album isn’t going well, is it?”

I bristled. There was nothing more hurtful than when your enemy tells you something true.

“You know I think you have great potential,” he said, wagging a blunt-tipped, sausage finger at me. There was a smirk on his horrid lips. The upturn of his mouth deepened the pock marks on his right cheek. The man must be careless with a razor. “But maybe this is a sign that music isn’t for you.”

Another dagger in my heart. Another jagged piece of the barbed wire around my gut that told me I wasn’t good enough.

“You can always try the movies, baby. Or modeling. Runways and fashion are where a walk like yours belongs.” His hand twirled in the air as if he was letting out some thoughts that were noodling in that smooth brain of his. “This music industry is such a different animal. Why not go to where you know you’ll succeed?”

His brows lowered as he tilted his head down - the look of a cat about to pounce on a canary.

“Let’s be honest, this concert is just going to be a redo of all your old songs, since you have nothing new to show. The album is a flop, sweetheart.”

The Black Bird concert, the event that would launch my second album, was the one time where all the Barkada siblings would be in the same place, at the same time. Since I was crowned Miss World Idol, they had pulled me out of Jorik’s fights. Jomari was busy making real music and didn’t have time for me. Jazz and Jareth were flying everywhere handling the Barkada business, and popping in with the rest of us when they could.

Maybe it was because I was the youngest… but I got the least amount of time. After all, I was the last in a long line of our father’s mistakes.

I wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. I wasn’t going to let this man take away the thing that I had worked so hard for.

I took my hand and bashfully tucked a curly strand behind my ear.

“Oh, I know you’re probably right.” Blink. Blink. Innocent and doe-eyed.

Dryden chuckled, almost sounding relieved that I wasn’t fighting him. “I’m so glad we’re seeing eye to eye.”

“Yes.” I blinked my lashes. I made my voice breathy, young and naïve. “It is so hard… this music thing. It’s just so complicated.”

Yes, my little stupid girl brain just couldn’t possibly do this. Blah-blah-blah.

I pretended to blink back tears, knowing that my curled, black lashes gave me a youthful look that appealed to men like him.

“I never thought it would take so much work, you know?” Which was total bullshit. I knew it was work. I knew how hard it would be.

“It’s okay, honey.” His smirk turned into a full-blown smile. “It’s good to see that you’re being such a smart little girl. This has been a good experience, but you’re still young. You can go conquer the world in another industry - a place where your looks are enough.”

“Yes,” I said, giving a little dramatic sniffle as I looked wistfully to the side. “I guess I should.”

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