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Story: There's a Way

“I’ll let them through when they arrive. Do you want me to send someone to be there with you?”

“They’re my bosses. I don’t need protection from them. Thanks for offering, though.”

“Razor would probably be there regardless, if he and Matty were home.”

They’d stayed in Atlanta to spend a couple of days with Bud and Nicki, and I chuckled. “Probably, so it’s just as well he isn’t. Thanks for looking out for me.”

I hung up with him and checked to see what text had come in while we talked. It was Matty, asking what was up.

No idea. Maybe something about my leave of absence?

Text me when you know.

If I can.

Right. Of course.

I looked around my front room and decided it was fine, and I double-checked my fridge to see what I could offer them.

When they arrived, I invited them in and said, “Can I offer something to drink? I juiced a whole bunch of carrots this morning, and I have orange juice, beet juice, and water. No beer right now. Sorry.”

“Carrot juice? Beet juice?” Aaron asked.

I shrugged. “Gabby told me she juices carrots for herself, and they seem to chill her grizzly out so she triples what she juicesthese days so she has enough to give Horse, too, so I figured I’d try it. Turns out, she’s right. It’s kind of like it grounds the human parts of me and sends the bear packing. My bear likes blueberries but isn’t a fan of carrots.”

Nathan smiled and it seemed genuinely friendly. “I’m glad you and Gabby have gotten closer. Any control issues lately? You seemed fine in Atlanta, though I guess you had some trouble getting backstage?”

“Not trouble, I was never in danger of losing control, but a few minutes of quiet helped me regain my center, and Dawg realized what was going on and got me into Will’s dressing room.”

Aaron walked towards my seating area but didn’t sit, and I assumed they didn’t want anything to drink, so I invited them to sit. The old ones are big on the traditions of hospitality, and that means if it’s a friendly visit, they won’t walk into someone’s house and sit unless invited to, usually.

“Please, both of you, have a seat. I think it’s fine to skip the other niceties and get down to business, which I’m assuming is why ya’ll are here.”

They both sat, one on the sofa and another on the loveseat, so I sat in my favorite snuggle chair, but upright, not nestled in.

“From a purely business perspective,” Nathan said, “a forensic specialist with celebrity status isn’t as valuable to us as an unknown.”

My stomach sank into my feet, which made my bear try to come out, but I pushed her down and shook my head. Why hadn’t I considered this? Much of my job meant going to places where bad things had happened and gathering the minutia that could tell us who’d been there and what, exactly, had transpired. I couldn’t do that if people recognized me. “What does that mean? Am I going to lose my job?”

“I don’t think it’s that drastic,” Aaron said. “Worst case scenario, you’d be primarily lab geek and work in the office, but we wanted to get to you this morning because, so far, all the images of you online show you with dramatic makeup and in sexually provocative clothing. You look completely different without makeup while wearing the work clothes we assigned you.”

“If you wear actual Drake clothes,” Nathan said, “rather than the more fashionable all-black outfits you frequently wear, no makeup or just minimal, with your hair up, I don’t think anyone’ll recognize you.”

Wearing my hair up was part of the Drake dress code, and he was right that I’d bought a whole bunch of fashionable black clothing rather than wearing boring black pants with one of the black shirts Drake had given me when they hired me. I’d bought all work appropriate stuff, but not the same uniform as everyone else.

“We wanted to get to you before someone got pictures of you without the dramatic makeup and provocative clothing.” Aaron leaned forward a little. “This means anytime you’re seen with Lord Byron, or can be in any way associated with him, you’ll need to be in all that makeup with your hair kind of crazy, and a similar outfit.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I can do that, I think.”

“If they get a shot of you without all the sexy stuff,” Nathan said, “we can come up with a disguise for you to wear when you work, but it’ll be a pain in the ass and we’d prefer not to.”

Aaron shrugged. “Fifteen minutes to glue some latex pieces on and even everything out with makeup, likely something you can do in transit. Maybe put you in a hat. Not the end of the world, but as Nathan said, it’ll be better if we don’t have to resort to that.”

“While ya’ll are here, what can I tell Will about my job? He already knows I’m a lab geek who works for you, and he knew all that before we met after the concert because we have mutual friends. At the party, a reporter or influencer or whatever tried to make me think she knew I worked for Drake. I told her, on camera, that her information was incorrect, but she kept digging until Cora took her shirt off and started dancing on a table.” Which reminded me. “I need to talk to the bikers about sending her a thank-you package of steaks.”

“Already handled,” Aaron said, “but we sent her two live sheep.”

“Where is this headed with Will?” Nathan asked before I could respond to the live sheep comment. “Quick fling, or do you think it’s more?”