Page 33 of Save Your Breath

“Don’t act like you don’t love it.”

I thought I’d said the words low enough that only she could hear, judging by the slight flush of her cheeks. But when Isabella chuckled from her side of the car, my head snapped in her direction.

“Well, if she doesn’t, the world certainly does.” I’d almost forgotten she was in the car with us. I wondered where Glo had gone. She must have had her own car with the other members of the team who had met us at Rockefeller.

Isabella wore the shit-eating grin of a woman who knew she had the winning hand at a poker table.

When she turned her phone toward us, I understood why.

There was already a video posted of my exchange with the punk who’d screamed at Mia.

And by the time we made it to the hotel, it had gone viral.

Night Cap

Mia

My ears were still ringing when Isabella, Glo, and Rina finally left my suite. We’d eaten dinner together, going over the show and the media attention and discussing all the next steps for album launch. I loved talking about it all, from all the appearances we had lined up to the music video shoots.

But I was still human, and I was tired.

The silence seemed louder than the screaming fans were earlier once I was alone. I could still hear the distant hum of the traffic and bustle of New York City, but the buzz in my ears was the loudest. I always had a bit of that after performing, after being in the throng of a big crowd.

It was nearly midnight, and we had an early wake-up call for a radio interview. I was ready to climb into bed when I got a text from Aleks.

Aleks:Think you could call your guard dog off long enough for a night cap?

I frowned, confused, before a picture came through. It was Aleks standing in the hallway of the hotel with an over-exaggerated pouty frown. He was posing next to Hunter, one of my security guards, who wore a stone-cold, unamused expression. In the hand not holding his phone, Aleks held a bottle of what looked like champagne.

And suddenly, all my fatigue was obliterated.

I cursed under my breath as I rushed to the nearest full-length mirror, wishing I hadn’t already scrubbed off my makeup and washed my face. At least my hair still had a bit of volume to it. I ran my hands through the dark strands, fluffing the roots as I turned left and right and studied my frame in the bicycle shorts and extra-large t-shirt I wore.

As if that would be flattering onanyone.

I wasn’t wearing a bra, and I debated throwing on the one I wore earlier, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Once my bra came off for the day, itstayedoff. It was late, and I didn’t need to get ready to see Aleks. It wasAleks.

Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me like this plenty of times before.

With a shrug and an internal laugh at myself, I padded over to my hotel door. James was sitting on a chair in the corner reading a book. He snapped it closed and stood as soon as I wandered over.

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “Just Aleks.”

He nodded, sitting back down, but he didn’t open the book.

“James, it’s fine. You can read. Hunter is on the outside and we have the rest of the team downstairs.”

“Never can be too careful, Miss Love.”

I smiled, though he knew I hated when he called me that. I much preferred Mia. Still, I’d learned with James that the formalities were a boundary he liked to set between us, and a reminder that he worked for me and I wasn’t his friend. He took me up on the offer to let him read or be on his phone when things weren’t hectic, but he took his job seriously, and he always wanted to remind both of us where his priorities lie.

My father had been the one to find James and Hunter, along with the rest of my security team. That man was always looking after me, even though I wasn’t his “little” girl anymore.

When I opened the door, Hunter turned, arching a brow at me as Aleks beamed from behind him. I chuckled at the sight.

“It’s okay, Hunter. He’s mostly harmless.” I stood aside with the door open wider, motioning for Aleks to come in.

“I like him,” Aleks said as he passed Hunter, a thumb hooked toward my beast of a bodyguard. “Him, too,” he added with a point at James. “They don’t fuck around.”