Blue Shoes 2 (New Adult Erotic Romance)

by Knight, JJ

  Every time someone came into the room, I dreamed it was Dylan, then woke up to my nightmare.

  Now we’re in the same room together. He’s here. He’s really here, but he’s still so far away.

  I try to move my lips, but the words won’t come out.

  He still has my hand in his, so I squeeze his hand.

  His eyes flicker with light. He squeezes my hand right back.

  I take a deep breath and turn my hand to tighten our grip, to tighten our hold on each other.

  Our arms are both outstretched now, between the two chairs.

  “Jess, I need to apologize,” he says.

  I glance over at Chet, then back to Dylan. “Not now,” I whisper.

  “This can’t wait,” he says. “I don’t know what’s happening right now, or anything about the future, but I know what I did in Italy was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  I keep clenching my jaw, but I’m not sure how long I can hold back the tears. I know he’s apologizing for Italy, but I don’t feel any better. He says he isn’t sure about the future. Our future.

  He gives my hand one more squeeze, then lets it go.

  My arm stays stretched out for a moment, reaching for him. He’s already moved on, though, and he’s talking to Chet like I’m not even here.

  “I should have known that blonde was up to no good,” Dylan says to Chet. “I swear she knew about my gigs before I did. It was like she was the one booking them. I’d show up with my guitar, and she’d already be there, waiting for me.”

  He turns and gives me an apologetic look. I can read something in his eyes. Guilt. He noticed something was up with Ryanna, but he didn’t have security kick her out. He was enjoying the attention.

  I tear my eyes away from Dylan’s. I don’t want to know about whatever stupid thoughts he had about that girl. Knowing that he was interested in her… it’s worse than the stories in the press. At least those I could write off as outright lies.

  Chet waves his hands at me. “Jess?”

  I look up at Chet’s face. “What?”

  “I’ve been talking to you for the last minute. Did you hear anything I said?”

  “No, sorry.” I shake my head to clear my thoughts. “It’s been a crazy day. I just got back from a visit with Ryanna Lambert.” I let out a crazy-sounding, high-pitched giggle. “We had lunch. We split a sandwich.”

  Chet and Dylan are both quiet, waiting for me to continue my story.

  “I tracked down her address and went to her apartment,” I tell them. “She was in our records from a job she did a while back. I wore a stupid-looking wig and pretended I was from the PR department.” Even as I explain what I just did a few hours ago, I’m shocked at what I did. “Ryanna said she was hired by Morris to do this ‘bad boy’ publicity for Dylan. She said it was mostly arranged through email, by a guy called John.”

  “That can’t be us,” Chet says. He’s scowling now. “Why would we do something so illogical? Dylan’s sales have tapered off, but they were steady. Now he’s a joke. He’s not cool anymore, and sales have been tanking since yesterday.” He pauses and frowns even deeper. “Sorry, man.”

  We both look at Dylan for a response. He looks stung by the news that his sales are plummeting.

  “I’m a joke,” Dylan says.

  Chet leans forward on his desk and shakes his head. “We can do damage control once we know what’s happening. Your personal publicist always has great ideas. The new album doesn’t have to get put on ice.”

  “On ice?” Dylan finally moves, leaning forward in his chair. He looks like he’s ready to smash something.

  Chet holds his hands out. “It’s nothing personal. Just accounting.” He looks genuinely sorry. “I’ll do what I can.”

  My mind is racing to sort out details. “Chet, I don’t want to put you on the spot again, because you’ve been a good boss and friend. But do you swear you had nothing to do with this? You and your uncle didn’t do this to break Dylan’s heart and make him write better songs?”

  Chet laughs bitterly. “Of course not. His songs can’t possibly get better, because they’re already perfect. We wanted Dylan to be a mega-star. His image was perfect for that. Now all my plans are shot.” He sighs and rubs his temples. “That’s why I’m back in here today instead of taking a couple days off to recover from jet lag. And that’s why I asked Dylan to come in, to figure out the best strategy.”

  I turn to Dylan and give him a hurt look. “You didn’t come here to see me?”

  He looks down, away from me. “We can talk later.”

  “Later? When? You won’t return my calls.”

  He looks up, his eyebrows high with surprise. “Me? You’re the one who blocked my number and won’t return my calls.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I do that? I actually do love you, Dylan. Even though you’ve been acting like an idiot.”

  “I’m the idiot?”

  “Yes. You stormed out of my hotel room because of dirty laundry. Who does that?”

  Chet interrupts us. “Guys? Excuse me for being Captain Obvious here, but do you think maybe your phones got hacked?”

  Dylan growls, “Why would someone hack a phone?”

  “It happens,” Chet says. “Let’s just say… I know a thing or two about corporate espionage, thanks to my uncle. We used to have our house swept for listening devices once a month.”

  I pull my phone out of my purse and set it on Chet’s desk like it’s evidence. Dylan does the same with his phone.

  The three of us look around at each other.

  “I guess I’m getting a new phone,” I say.

  Dylan looks like he wants to smash them both. This actually makes me feel better—seeing him angry at the phones, not me. We can always get new phones.

  “Hang on,” Chet says. “Don’t do anything to those hacked phones just yet.” He taps away on his computer, then sends something to print. He hands me the sheet of paper, warm from the printer. “Take the phones here.”

  I look at the printout. It’s a map, for a residence that’s up the coast, a few hours outside of the city.

  Dylan grabs the paper from my hand. “I’ll go,” he says gruffly.

  I grab the paper back from him. “Not without me, you won’t.”

  Dylan and I walk out of Chet’s office together.

  The tenth floor is full of people, and they’re all watching us.

  I instinctively reach out to hold Dylan’s hand, then stop myself. He doesn’t seem like he wants to hold my hand, or even acknowledge my existence. He’s so angry right now, it’s spilling over to everything.

  We step into the elevator together and the doors close.

  BLUE SHOES by JJ KNIGHT

  You've just finished reading Volume #2. The story continues in Blue Shoes Volume #3 - click here for Blue Shoes 3 on Amazon.com.

  BLUE SHOES is a 3-book series about Jess Rivera and Dylan Wolf.

  We first met Jess and Dylan in JJ Knight's 5-book series, REVENGE. Click here for JJ Knight's REVENGE on Amazon.com

  Click here for all JJ Knight books on Amazon.

  Thank you for reading!

  Love, JJ

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