“Yes, Fern,” the band mumbled, punching their drummer in the shoulder because it was his dick that made an appearance on Instagram in the middle of the night, and by the time I woke at 5.35 am, had over two million likes.
“This will be your first and only warning. You do this again and you’ve breached the terms of your contract. You want to do porn, you go elsewhere. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Now get out. And I’ll be watching… everything.”
The four of them stood, eyes focused on the floor as they left my office. Just as they left, my phone buzzed with a message.
Charlie: Arch found Nee. Working in a restaurant in Miami. I’m not sure what’s going on. Apparently, she’slost her memory, but she’s been painting his tattoos. It’s all very weird. I’ll keep you posted.
Me: OMG. That’s mental.
Charlie: I’ll call you later and catch up properly. I just wanted to let you know.
Me: :)
Charlie: I miss you.
Charlie had left with the rest of Alchemy Myth for the US a week ago and we’d been texting and Facetiming whenever we could, but we both agreed it wasn’t enough. I went to type out a reply when there was a knock at my door and standing there was a teary eyed Lea. “You busy, Fern?”
“For you? Never. You heard about Nee?”
She nodded before bursting into loud, uncontrollable sobs.
Lea was Ionee’s best friend, and she’d been heartbroken since her friend vanished with nothing more than a shitty break up text to Archer days after they got engaged.
“Hey, come and sit.” I stood from my desk and guided her to the sofa at the other side of my office, closing the door and the blinds so no one could see us chatting. Her and I had become good friends since she’d moved her events planning business to our building.
“I just don’t understand why she’d leave without telling me. I’ve been worried sick about her and all this time she’s been in Miami, of all places. I mean, what if Addi hadn’t made the guys go there on their tour? Archer would have never found her. It’s like she went there to hide from him deliberately. Why would she do that? That man loves her more than anything.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Hopefully Archer will find out more. Let’s just hope they behave this time,” I muttered, voicing the thing that had been playing on my mind since Addi told me she’d added a Miami gig to their itinerary.
Lea wiped her tears, looking confused. “What do you mean… behave?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head, smoothing out the invisible creases on my black Capri pants. “It’s just the last time they were there Charlie got into all that trouble.”
Lea’s eyes turned dark. “Rightly so. What that bitch did to Archer…” She froze. “Shit, Nee swore me to secrecy. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
The phone on my desk buzzed. “Fern, your 10 am is here.”
“Bugger,” I muttered, wanting to know what Lea was talking about. “Look, I have a meeting, but do you want to meet for lunch later?”
“Yeah, that sounds perfect.”
“I’m stuffed.” I declared as I pushed my plate away, reaching for my coffee instead as we sat at the large round table in my office. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know. I need to see her and hear her explain. Nothing makes sense. I just want to get on that flight and see her with my own eyes, although I can’t believe she won’t remember a thing about me.” She let out a sigh.
“Also, I was thinking about what you said about Charlie in Miami and what happened last time. What do you think happened?”
“He attacked the hotel manager.”
“Yes, but why?”
My face scrunched up. “They were drunk. He smashed a bottle, threatened the hotel manager because he asked them to keep the noise down, and then he punched him.”
Lea let out a sad sigh. “Who told you that?”
