“And give them fodder elsewhere, distract them—”
“With mine and Z’s shit.They’ll back off Ariella to focus on us.”
“That gives us some time behind the scenes to judge the Raiths’ reaction to her presence.If they want to throw anything at us, and they kick-start the story, that’s on them.If not, people will still be interested, so, Stream Queen, you introduce Ariella as your newest friend.”
“Just another babe on the Crimson adventure.”Roxie linked their arms.“When we air, there will be the Hatfield interview.And we finish that off with—"
“A book,” Knox finished the thought.“Something we can pour over and get exactly right.That’s the period at the end of the episode.Honey?”
“Works for me.”
“Know how we know Knox’s plan is righteous?”Roxie bumped her.“He’d never do anything to disappoint his wife.Let your conscience be your guide, Collier.Or your appetite for sex anyway.When you said ‘talk to Hatfield’ you meant me.I should talk to him.”With a slight nod, Knox confirmed Roxie’s speculation.“Because—”
“He wants a sniff at your panties?Yeah.”
“Excuse me!I am a married woman.”Faux offended, Roxie swept the tip of her pointed middle finger across her shoulder.“Greg Hatfield and I are colleagues; we have respect.We talk to each other as professionals.”
“Professional what?Whipping boy and master?That guy’s obsessed.”
The haughty tone that came with Roxie’s hair toss was theater.“He’s a man of taste.”
“You going to talk to him or not?”
“Yes, and we’ll preapprove the questions.Though he knows better than to get squirrely with me these days.Have you talked to Bambi?”Roxie asked then explained in an aside.“The best of our producers.”
“Struan,” came Knox’s answer.
“Of course you talked to the male producer.”
“Bambi was unavailable, lost in Struan’s bed.I prefer talking to the half-naked guy than the half-naked woman.”
“Ah, how times have changed.”Roxie appealed to some wistful God above before switching on suspicion.“You want me to tell Jane that, so she knows you’re not looking elsewhere?”
“Be honest, RK.How likely is it that’ll ever happen?”
“Hmm, a hundred percent unlikely or we wouldn’t have let you marry her.”
“And if I’m invaded by body snatchers and you catch me at it—”
“Good point, I wouldn’t have to tell Jane anything.The universe would know when I obliterated you, leaving nothing but a crater.”
“Yep.”
Roxie turned to her.“Struan and Bambi are our producers and extremely good friends… of ours.They’re a helluva lot more than friends with each other.”Was anyone not Roxie’s extremely good friend?“With Roxiverse, I have complete editorial control.Nothing will go out that isn’t vetted.And I know how to work Hatfield, we have an… understanding.We’ve been doing this a while.”
“I won’t have to talk to him tonight?”
“I’ll introduce you.We’ll make sure some people see you outside and upstairs.The good thing about owning the place is we say who gets in where.We can ‘accidently’ let in two or three who might be inclined to leak.And we have a panoramic view of the dance floor, which means…”
“They’ll have a view of you.”
“Good,” she said, reassured by Roxie and Knox’s confidence.“You know what you’re doing.”
Way better than she did anyway.Though it may be premature, she was looking forward to living without worrying the story could break any minute.This could free her to make choices she maybe wouldn’t be able to make with this yoke around her neck.
“Let’s do this, ladies!Crimson awaits!”Roxie took her and Honey’s hands and hurried past Knox.They were right there at the front door, ready to sail on out into freedom, until it opened in their faces.Three men blocked their route.
Zairn, Tripp, and, ah, Cam.
