“Of course not!” She throws her straw paper at me and it bounces off my tit. “I definitely don’t want to add more to your plate. Babysitting me is more than enough.”
It’s my turn to throw my straw paper at her; it nearly lands in her glass before bouncing off the table.
“I am not babysitting you, mensa.” I purse my lips. “I’m just helping, in whatever way you and the guys need. Hell, Sebastian is forking out a fortune to put me up in hotels and even giving me a food budget…”
My words trail off as the reality of them hits me. Yes, I knew what I was agreeing to by coming here. Sebastian was very up front about covering the majority of my expenses so I could be here with Niki, but I’m not actually doing work for them. I’m spending time with my best friend.
As much as I love the thought of a free vacation and travel, I don’t like taking advantage of people. In fact, the idea makes my skin crawl.
Would it really be going out of my way to help run their socials? Just for a little while? It wouldn’t be much added work to my current list of clients, and maybe I canconvince them to hire a professional after they see their new conversion rates.
It’ll technically be free work, considering it wasn’t part of our agreement, but it’ll make me feel a little better about running up Sebastian’s credit card.
Our waitress arrives with our food, carefully setting the plates in front of us, and my mouth waters. We dig in, Niki expertly using her chopsticks to eat her Pad Thai. For several minutes, neither of us says anything.
“Okay, you’re too quiet. What are you thinking about?” She cocks a dark brow at me. She’s always been able to read me like a book.
“Who says I’m thinking anything?”
She glares.
“Okay, fine. I was just thinking, maybe I could make myself a little more useful. If your boyfriend is putting me up in hotels every week, the least I can do is help out.”
She glares at me. “Joseline, you’re doing plenty just by being here. You could be in New York schmoozing up to some big-time influencers?—”
“I donotschmooze,” I scoff.
“—but you’re here, taking care of me. Seriously, you’re doing plenty.”
“Okay, but what if I want to?”
Do I? I'm not sure yet.
Yes, I love marketing and posting on social media, but I don’t know much about metal bands. I’ve certainly never run a musician’s social media pages. Or taken photos of them to do just that.
But I have my equipment. I have my camera.
It really wouldn’t be hard…
And, if I'm lucky, I could pick up other artist clients at some point after they see my work with Rhage.
Niki blinks at me. “You want to run Rhage’s accounts?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. After all, you’re the one that put the idea in my head.” I point my fork at her. “I want to be helpful, and that seems to be the only thing I can help them with. Besides making sure you don’t hurt yourself, of course.”
She makes a face at me and continues eating her noodles.
“You know what I mean,” I go on. “Besides, it’ll give me something to fill my free time. I don’t have a ton of freelance clients yet. I can do it.”
Her pursed lips shift side to side. “Okay, I’ll talk to Sebastian. But please don’t feel like you need to help with anything. You’re here as a guest.”
“I won’t.” I smile through the lie. Even if I’m the only one who knows what I’m doing, it’ll bring me peace of mind. And I’ll still get to help Niki whenever she needs me.
Seems like a plan to me.
Chapter 5
Joseline
