Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
“We have to do something about that,” I tell him. “We have to buy your family’s home back.”
“I have no reason to believe it will ever be for sale.”
“I’m going to make a lot of money, though. I could make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
“That’s a sweet idea,” Zayne says indulgently. “But you can’t do that.”
“I can, and I will.”
“Have you read your contract yet?”
“Not down to the nitty gritty details, maybe not.”
He sighs. “You will be left with very little after the tour is over. All costs come out of your cut, including this very expensive hospitalization. Most starlets finish their tours with a small amount of money and perhaps a home. In your case, given the absolute chaos that has been left in your wake, and the interest payments that will inevitably be applied to your costs, it is possible that you could finish your three year obligation and be just as in debt to Simon as I am.”
“No fucking way.”
“Yes fucking way,” he says. “Simon knows how to pick people who won’t read the contract. He knows people assume that trillions of new fans will translate to riches beyond their wildest dreams. But that’s not how the universe really works.”
I don’t want to think about that anymore. I don’t want to do anything besides finally feel better.
“Please,” I whisper. “Fuck me.”
“You’re wounded. You’re drugged.”
“I’m mended, and I’m not drugged. I need you, Zayne.”
“You’ve got me. You’ll always have me,” he reassures me. But that can’t be true. At the end of my contract, he will go on to protect someone else, and I’ll go on to be broke.
“I can’t even have you now,” I moan sadly. “How can I possibly hope for later.”
Zayne
She’s cute when she’s sorry. And she’s absolutely adorable right now. I am enjoying holding her, and though of course I would love to be inside her, I don’t want to take advantage of her incredible vulnerability right now.
I’ve not told any of my charges about the plight of my family before. This woman has caused me to be more open than I ever imagined I would be, and I suspect it is because she is so very real with me. From the beginning, she has been unapologetically and at times maddeningly herself. I have never come in contact with the shell so many starlets use to keep themselves separate from everybody around them. Lyric is wild, but she is real.
She snuggles closer, and feelings of supreme tenderness wash through me. I tighten my arms and wrap my tail around her snugly and keep her pressed up against my body until she falls asleep…
“You’ll have to leave me when my contract is up.”
Not so asleep after all, I suppose.
“Don’t worry about that,” I tell her, mostly because I do not want to worry about that right now. I just want to be here with her. I want to enjoy this time, this little oasis of intimacy between the constant grind of shows and marketing.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” she mumbles against my neck. “I don’t want to lose you.”
She is so sweet. So lovable. And so absolutely unleavable. There is no way I will be able to sacrifice her once our contracts are up. I know that already as surely as I know anything. I don’t know what I am going to do, however. I am not a creature with much in the way of choice. I have to hope that somehow all of this will work out, that there is meaning to these apparently random events, and that loving Lyric will be enough.
I’m not usually given to that kind of romantic thought, but she has a way of making me believe in things I used to think were nonsense. Things like love, and forgiveness, and hell, maybe even hope.
The surgeon consults with the holographic Simon Scowl and me after Lyric’s surgery.
“It went well,” the surgeon says. “She’s strong. She should heal well as long as she takes some time to recover.”
Simon hadn’t asked. I notice, though maybe it is an artifact of the holograph, that he almost seems a little annoyed at the news the surgery was a complete success.
“She needs to rest for at least a week. No touring. I’d recommend staying on the station here in one of the hotels so we can do the checkups as necessary. Her cortisol readings are very high. She is incredibly stressed, in addition to being very wounded. If you want her to be able to finish the next leg of the tour, she needs a break.
“Fine. We’ll call it rehab,” Simon says. “Imply some kind of addiction.”
“But she’s…”
“Imply. Some kind. Of Addiction,” he repeats.
It’s not my place to say otherwise, and if I know Simon, his media machine is already on the case. He designed his intergalactic starlets to be women of the highest caliber, unattainably perfect creatures of pure aspiration. But he is clearly prepared to pivot and destroy Lyric’s reputation if that means more money for him. I am starting to think that this was the plan all along. Simon is a keen judge of character and a master manipulator. He has gone out of his way to keep himself physically separate from Lyric. That means he is not in physical danger when she is in physical danger. Now I’m wondering if that’s not an accident. Just how much danger does he intend to put her in?