Page 102 of Euphoria

Alex nodded. “True, I’m not ashamed of it, but I’m not exactly proud of myself either.”

“So…can I expect a raise?” Morgan grinned.

Alex laughed. “Maybe, but right now, let’s get some sleep, so we’re prepared in the morning.”

“For the headlines?” Morgan asked.

Alex said, “For Francine.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

“Well, so far, you’ve gotten lucky. Not a whiff of it in the headlines, that’s not to say it won’t be. It was pretty late last night; they may run with it tomorrow, though,” Francine said, still pissed off at the pair of them. “Even the St Andrews mess has gone quiet.”

“Okay,” Alex answered. She sat as close to Morgan as she could physically get, one leg bent with her foot on the couch, the other knee leaning on Morgan’s thigh. No longer hiding them.

Francine picked at a croissant, popping a piece into her mouth and chewing before she asked, “So, you gonna tell me when it started?”

Morgan had already decided that she wasn’t going to be speaking unless spoken to, so she turned to Alex and waited for her to answer for them.

Alex pushed her tongue around her front teeth. “Winchester.”

“Winchester?” Francine got loud again. “Are you fucking kidding me, the entire time? How many other public interactions have there been?”

“What do you want? A blow by blow of every time we’ve been intimate?” Alex asked. “We’ve been attracted to one another since the hospital visit. Neither of us thought it was something we could act upon, and then we were thrust together in this and things just…happened.”

“Nothing in your life just happens, Alex. Breakfast arrives because someone cooks it and delivers it, your stage is set because a group of guys put it together, your world turns because I keep it spinning. This…” she waved her hand at the pair of them, “this didn’t just happen. You didn’t just slip and fall face first into her vagina. I put her there.”

“What do you mean, you put her there?”

“How long have we worked together?” Francine asked her. “It’s a lot of years and you forget how well I know you? I saw the way you looked at her at the hospital. I saw how easily you were convinced to bring her along. We didn’t need a doctor on tour. We’ve got a list of medics to call on who wouldn’t have cost more than five figures, but you needed something more, someone more. And I was right.”

Alex frowned. “Right about what?”

Francine shook her head. “You lost your passion. Oh, you’d play the music and get by, but the excitement had gone from your eyes. I see that, I see you, Alex. And I saw it come back the moment you met her. The moment I suggested she come on the tour with us.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Alex scoffed. “I didn’t lose anything.”

“Oh yeah, so why are we doing this tour and not bringing the Ivan thing forward? He’s chomping at the bit to get you in the studio, and you keep finding excuses.”

“Bullshit.”

Francine stared at her.

“My father just died,” Alex said incredulously.

“He did, yes, and you know how sorry I am about that, he was a good man.”

Silence filled the space for a moment.

Francine held her hands up. “All I’m saying is, for the last year or more, you’ve been lost. You wanted out, and we came up with a plan to make that happen but in order for it to work, you needed to find something to inspire you.” Francine turned to Morgan, but spoke to Alex. “Look at her. She’s perfect. Beautiful but not overtly. Smart, kind, funny, challenging…she’s your dream woman. And look at you, from the moment she entered your life you started composing upbeat music again, you get up, and do as you’re told, all with a smile on your face. Because she inspires you.”

“You used me,” Morgan said quietly.

Francine turned back to her. “No, I gave you choices. I gave you both choices. Everything you did, you chose to do. I just gave you the opportunity to make a decision.”

“What if I’d said no to the coming on this tour?”

Shrugging, Francine said, “We’d have gone on the tour, and I’d have needed to find another way to keep the plan on track. But you were never going to say no, not once I put the offer to you. Only an idiot would say no. The opportunity to spend three weeks with a celebrity you found attractive and earn six figures. Come on, even if this hadn’t happened, it was still an experience most wouldn’t turn down. My biggest issue was convincing your bosses, but even then, money talks, it always does.”

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