Page 19 of Song Bird Hearts

It’s only then that I realize I have no clothing, only what I’m wearing. And this place is distinctly masculine. What am I gonna do about?—

As if he knew what I was starting to stress about, Gilden opens the trunk of the car and takes out one small duffel bag and a large one. At my look, he holds up the small one.

“Clothes and toiletries for you. May not be what you enjoy but they’re in your size at least.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Anything is fine. Thank you.”

Once inside the cabin, I realize there are literally no markers of life. While it’s decorated nicely with pictures of the mountains, there are no family photos or anything at all to tell me who’s cabin this might be. I’m starting to feel more and more like I’m in a spy movie.

Gilden sets the bags on the couch and claps his hands. “There are two rooms. You get the one on the right,cher.”

I nod gratefully. “So, what now?”

“I’m going to shower and change,” Knox says, reminding me that I’d puked on him only a few hours ago.

“I should probably check my social media,” I murmur. “But I destroyed my phone. Can I log in somewhere else?”

“GPS will ping you if you use it,” Knox says as he digs through the larger duffel bag and pulls out some clothes.

“Can I use a VPN?” I ask, frowning.

“No need,” Gilden says, holding up a phone. “I follow you. I can look at your profiles if you’d like to see if there’s been anything new.”

My eyes widen. “You follow me?”

He grins. “Since you had your first viral song, singin’ into the mic at the Boot Skoot,la grande flamme.”

Kevin waddles over to the couch and rubs against it. Knox scowls at the pig.

“That thing doesn’t sleep inside, does it?” he asks.

“He’ll sleep in my room. Don’t worry,” I reassure him.

He glances at me and shakes his head. “Whatever. Just make sure it doesn’t eat any of my stuff.”

“It has a name,” I remind him. “Just like you and I do.”

But Knox doesn’t respond. He disappears into the bathroom and closed the door with a reserved, final click.

“I don’t think I like Thing Two very much,” I tell Gilden.

Gilden just laughs. “He’ll grow on you. I can promise you that.”

I doubt it, but I don’t want to tell Gilden that. So, I just smile and nod, before grabbing the duffel bag for me and disappearing into my room.

Chapter11

Valerie

“There ain’t much on the 27 Foundation,” Gilden announces sometime later. He and I are sitting at the table, both with a mug of coffee in front of us. There are no signifying markers on the mugs. They’re just plain white. All the dishes are. “Looks like they keep everything locked down tight that the public sees.”

“Expected,” Knox replies. “We’ll get more information soon. I’m lookin’ into it.”

I look between then, take note of how casual this seems to them despite acting as my bodyguards. “So, what are you two? Technically, I mean.”

Gilden glances up. “Technically?”

“Yeah. Like, are you spies? Mercenaries? Something else? What’s your job title?”

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