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Dirty Trick
Deborah hated it every time Silvia picked up Jim’s phone, leaving her no choice but to accept her words excusing him. But on Wednesday, she was glad to hear her pick up. Deborah confirmed Jim remembered the live stream scheduled for that afternoon, and smiled to herself when Silvia used the plural about being in her office in a couple of hours.
She disconnected and called Ron over. Her assistant didn’t hide his disbelief as he wrote down on his phone the list of errands she needed him to run in the next ninety minutes. She didn’t give any explanation, but she was determined to turn around the unwavering negative buzz about Jim’s new chick, and the fundraising dinner the next night was an excellent chance to do it.
To keep the Q&A from going on forever, only Jim, Liam and Tom would take part of it. Sam had everything set at the conference room by Deborah’s office, so the musicians would go straight there.
As soon as she had the three of them sitting for makeu
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It took Silvia a couple of minutes to get over the relief of escaping Deborah without needing to get rude. Then she realized her savior was the last person she would’ve ever expected, and now she was alone with him in his car, while he cursed the traffic under his breath.She didn’t have the slightest idea why Sean had intervened on her behalf or where they were going, and his evident foul mood wasn’t exactly an invitation to ask anything. She hadn’t forgotten what Jim had told her about him back at her home, but whatever Sean had said to his brother was between them, and nobody was more of an outsider than her when it came to Sean.He drove toward the studios area without even glancing at her, to pull over at a narrow street outside a hidden bar. Silvia managed to not jump out the moment he stopped the car and saw him go straight to open the bar door and hold it for her, so she could only walk in.It was a small shadowy place, with a few
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“Now you believe me?”Jim chuckled while Silvia kept shaking her head slowly, eyes out the windshield.He’d joined her and Sean at the bar by the time they were done with their beer, and his brother had left without a word, just nodding goodbye at them with one last glance at Silvia.Jim took the way to his home, hearing her incredulous account of her close encounter with the eldest Robinson.“I mean, from the moment I left you to your Q&A, it all felt like I’d stumbled on an acid and it fell down my throat, getting me lost on a bizarre trip,” she said, making him laugh. “All of a sudden I’m wearing a frigging Versace! And diamonds! What the hell! And a minute later, I’m having a beer with Sean?” She threw up her hands, feeding Jim’s laughter. “You know what’s the craziest thing of all? Seeing you walk into the bar was the most reassuring thing to
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She sat down in the gap with her back against the coffee machine, face to the glass doors. That way, she even had room for the guitar on her lap. She could hear the old man humming My Way from the gents’.She wondered what she should play, tuning the strings. Most of the songs she knew were sad love ballads, not exactly the best choice for the occasion. Maybe bringing the guitar wasn’t such a good idea, and she should just burn out what battery her phone had left. That made her think of the music she had in it. She smiled. No Return’s songs were nothing like tender, and she knew enough of them to keep herself entertained for a good while.Lucky her, she had many of the rare acoustic versions, so she wouldn’t need to improvise some lousy adaptation. She’d taken about a year of guitar lessons, but she’d had to drop them long ago, so she wasn’t that good at playing.Her fingers slid over the metallic strings, looking for a chord. There it was, the beginning of Break Free.She didn’t look
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