Page 181 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

“We need to shake things up. I’m thinking of asking Molly to come on and sing a song too. So we can get the placement right and shock the shit out of people.”

“Well, she’s a badass bitch too. So yeah, definitely. Oh, we should have Luc come on with her. He’s sex on a stick and will definitely hold the attention of the crowd.”

“Brilliant.”

“I have moments.”

We rushed across the lobby. A few fans popped out of corners, but Jamie knew how to get gone. She left me to be the sweet one.

Fucking brat.

Not that most people knew the song was about me, written for me, or even with me. I just needed to put a strong front out into the social media sphere. I smiled and took pictures, signaling to the staff at the hotel that they didn’t have to step in and get rid of people.

Luckily, it was only a handful of diehards. I even recognized a few of them. The one in a hood along the back was a little disconcerting, but he didn’t move forward. In fact, he seemed to be content with watching.

Was probably wearing a body cam for pictures. Or was part of our new security team.

The prickle between my shoulder blades didn’t feel right though. The burnished gold of Noah Jordan’s hair came into view. His eyes skimmed the room, then he nodded almost imperceptibly before crossing to me.

“You need to let me know when you change your schedule, York.”

I stiffened at Noah’s clipped, harsh voice. I’d agreed to cooperate and already I hadn’t even thought about letting him know I was going to the venue early. Not that I was in danger with my whole band around me.

I glanced around, but the hoodie guy was gone.

I slipped my sunglasses off the top of my head to hide the quick prick of emotion. I smiled at the fans around me. “Thanks, guys. I gotta get to the venue.”

“Aww.” The young girl hugged her notebook to her chest. “Will you play ‘Archer’ tonight?”

“Wow, going for the deep cuts.” That one I might be able to add in without a lot of problems. It was a non-single, but a powerful song. And I needed a bit of my badass first album self to get through the night. “You know what, I’ll give it a go. No promises, but I have a little pull.” I smiled down at her and gave her an impulsive hug.

The girl squealed and jumped up and down in my arms before an older woman eased her away. “Sorry about that. She gets very excited. We’re looking forward to the show tonight. Me and four of her friends.”

The harried look on the woman’s face made me take a second more and give her a soft smile. “This venue has those individual box wine stations. I highly advise.”

The woman laughed. “Good to know.”

I waved to the group and slid away. Jamie was waiting inside the shuttle. Noah climbed in after me and sat at the front just behind the driver.

I plopped myself down next to her. Jamie had her AirPods in. I took mine out and hooked to her phone. The new update to the iPhone was genius and helped when we were working in a small space.

“None of you should go out unsupervised.” Noah gave me a hard stare, then glanced at Jamie. “Least of all you, trouble.”

She sneered at him. “I don’t get into trouble.”

I gave her a long look.

“What?”

“According to my notes, you got arrested in Georgia not a month ago.”

Jamie hit pause. “That idiot had it coming.”

I pressed my lips together. “You still can’t punch a bartender.”

“How was I supposed to know he was the owner? He wouldn’t stop calling me ‘honey’. I warned him.”

I rolled my eyes. Jamie had a hair trigger temper sometimes. Especially with men who didn’t treat her with respect. Unless she explicitly asked them to not be respectful, but that was a whole different issue. She was a hard-drinking, hard partying, hardworking woman and wasn’t great about downtime. Which was why she required supervision.

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