Page 3 of Chloe

Jubal Ash could sense his shuttle getting ready to land, but it was the fancy kind with opaque walls, so he couldn’t get any sense of what kind of place he would be spending the next week exploring.

On his comms, his promoter droned on.

“You did a great job acting a fool at the HotShotz Awards,” Eed was saying. “Everyone will think you’re on a bender, or maybe back at rehab.”

“Good,” Jubal said.

Once his quirky brand of hard rock made him famous, he quickly learned that his life wasn’t going to be all about the music anymore.

Every moment now seemed to be filled with tour dates, agent calls, important parties, and hangers-on blowing up his comms at all hours.

After his first year of living the life, he had barely been able to hang onto his sanity.

Jubal had looked at his options and decided to fake a nano-dust habit he didn’t have in order to buy himself some privacy by doing stints in “rehab” that were just media diversions.

He was actually going back to his ridiculously small town and hiding out in his grandmother’s basement, so he could write music and play video games, just like when he was a kid, trying to do everything his big sister did.

This time would be different, though. The Midsummer Fertility Center was back on his homeworld of Maltaffia, but it was a long way from home.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re actually doing?” Eed asked suddenly.

That was new.

“Don’t ask when you don’t want to know the answer,” Jubal replied lightly.

“I know you’ve never done nandy,” Eed said softly. “I’ve had enough clients who did to know you’re clean as a whistle.”

Jubal blinked back his surprise.

“If you want to keep working for me, you’ll have to keep that opinion to yourself, Eed,” he replied at last.

“Understood,” Eed said stiffly. “You know, you can trust me Jubal. If there’s something I can help you with, I’m here. That’s kind of my whole job.”

Eed probably thought he had a gambling problem, or a secret family, or something worse.

“Thanks, man,” Jubal said sincerely. “I’m glad you’ve got my back. Comm you in a week.”

They disconnected just as the flight assistant came through the curtain again

Jubal knew for a fact that this shuttle had an army of helper bots. But the flight assistant was too starstruck to let them do their job. She kept coming in to check on him personally.

“Mr. Ash, we’re about to land,” she drawled in what she clearly considered a sexy voice. “Do you need any help with your seatbelt?”

“I’m good,” he told her.

“If you’d like, I can share my comms,” she offered, her cheeks turning pink. “Then if you need anything during your trip you can just hit me up.”

“No thanks,” he told her. “You signed an NDA before taking this gig, right?”

Her face fell.

He felt kind of like a dick for bringing up the non-disclosure agreement, but he couldn’t have posts on the feed letting anyone know where he was headed.

“Of course, sir,” she said. “I would never tell anyone about your trip.”

“Good girl,” he said, giving her the wink and smile combo he had been told melted hearts. “It’ll be our little secret.”

She perked up immediately, and scurried back behind the curtain.

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