Page 92 of Protect Your Queen

The two Detectives walked away. That was entirely too easy, and I knew they would return.

“Before I go, though,” I said, calmly. Jareth was still staring at where the Detectives had been. “Make sure that Brian ends up at her concert . She really wants him there.”

“Don’t ever tell me how I should and shouldn’t take care of my sister.”

I turned the corner, out of line of sight of her door. I looked back to see him staring at his fist in his hand. His brows furrowed as he raised his head and looked at the door to his sister’s room. Then looked back at his hand. Then up again.

What the fuck was he thinking?

Whatever it was, I guess it didn’t matter. Not my monkeys, not my circus. Not anymore.

I left because she needed her family more right now. Sticking around would only hurt her, and I couldn’t do that. If she really wanted me, she’d let me know.

Fly to me, little Songbird. I’ll be waiting.

Chapter thirty-five

The Past

Jestiny

“Where is he?” I needed to know. Jareth wasn’t telling me.

We were on the couch, the room was dimly lit. Take-out boxes and Styrofoam littered my coffee table. Jareth sat on the floor, his legs out in front of him.

He wore gray sweatpants and a t-shirt. I can’t remember the last time he was ever so casual.

“You awake?” he asked, without looking at me. He just stared out towards the piano in the middle of the room.

“Yeah, where’s Chris?” I asked again, hoping that he would answer. Or maybe he was somewhere around here, and I couldn’t see him. He just needed to pop around the corner to tell me that everything would be okay.

“I fired him.”

I wanted to puke. I wanted to lie back down and find myself in oblivion, and to be in the circling darkness. “How could you?”

I wanted to cry but there were no tears left in my body. There was nothing more to say.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Dryden, Jes?” He brought a glass to his lips and I realized he had been drinking the rum we had uncorked the night Chris and I made love. “I was there when it happened. I was there with you and you never told me. Why?”

The bottle on the coffee table was near gone.

When I didn’t answer, he let out a breath through his flared nostrils and lowered his head.

“I need help, kid.” He wiped his face with his large hand. He had the best hands for playing piano. His fingers were so long that he could almost reach an octave and a half. But he refused to play. “I thought that music would make you happy. It was your dream. I thought that making sure you had food in your belly, and houses like this that I could… help you be happy. If I protected you, then…” He leaned his head back so that he stared at the ceiling, the nape of his neck curved along the couch cushion. “Tell me what to do, Jes. I’m out of ideas.”

The blanket from my room was on top of me. The gold, weighted blanket. Had he done that? I pulled it up and brought my knees to my chest.

My career was over, and they’d know anyway. So I laid it all out for him. The drug I got fromTitaJen. The way Dryden fell on the couch beneath my poster. The photos…

Jareth turned his head towards me, slowly, as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“That’s how I won. I told him that I’d release the photos if he didn’t make sure I won and then, later, to make him sign me to his label.” I bit my lower lip. “I know you thought it was because I was a good singer. That the talent portion was just so popular that he had to sign me, but that wasn’t true. It was… it was because I blackmailed him. And I’ve been doing it ever since. That’s why Dryden… why he tried to shoot me. Now, everyone will know that I’m a fraud.”

I thought my tears had dried but I was wrong. I still had one left. It would make sense for my family to abandon me, after I pushed this scandal on them. It was all my fault. I was a disgrace to the Barkada name.

But Jareth snorted. His lips pulled back into a grimace of a smile, then he laughed outright. He laughed for so long, I thought he had lost his mind.

“Kuya?” I asked, suddenly embarrassed. Didn’t he believe me? Did he think I was making it up? Why was he laughing? “It’s not funny! My career is over!”

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