like a shot when Jack offered. I wasn’t surprised – the guy looked like he had an evil hangover this morning, not having stumbled back from the nightclub until we were starting to prepare the breakfast.
And yes, yes I was back working. Jack hadn’t been happy about it but I couldn’t go from staff to guest at the drop of hat. It was too weird. So I’d moved back to the bunkroom with Kira and he’d grumbled but respected my decision. He’d then hilariously tried to downgrade himself at the check-in. The lady at the desk did not look like she was having a good day and a bizarre downgrade request was met with a long-suffering stare and silence. I’d managed to drag him away before she exploded.
“I haven’t had a chance,” I heard Jack reply. “She’ll be on board though. I can guarantee it.”
Ben laughed. “Been putting in the hard yards on that one have you.”
“Bugger off and mind your own business.”
“Listen, I like her. She’d a good kid and this could be a big break for her. With that song and your agency I think we could be onto something. I know you’ve been chasing this for a while.”
“Every ad agency in the UK wants the Richmond’s Christmas ad, Ben,” Jack said.
“Yeah, but you’ve been obsessed with it for years.”
“That’s because I knew my agency would do it better than anyone else’s. You know that too, you evil bastard. You’ve just been playing with me.”
“Well, it’s within your grasp now. All I want is the girl and that song, then we’ll be away.”
“It’s fine. Leave Urvi to me.”
I took a sudden step back away from the curtain and nearly collided with a stewardess. My mind reeled as I stumbled to my chair. I closed my eyes once I was seated and willed the impending nausea away.
The Richmond’s Christmas advert.
Even I knew that that was the most coveted campaign in the history of UK advertising. The department store had turned its fortunes around based on their Christmas advert five years ago and since then each one had been bigger and better than the last. Watching the Richmond’s Christmas advert was now firmly entrenched in British Christmas rituals. The money riding on it must be huge.
And in my stupidity I’d forgotten that these people would do anything to get ahead.
Leave Urvi to me.
Jack’s deep voice echoed through my brain. Of course he’d changed his attitude towards me. I was now his ticket to the biggest campaign of his career. So all that attention, wooing even: it had all been so that he could control me and my music for his own ends. He’d ignored me for days until I’d sung that night. He was such a liar. He didn’t care about me, about my health. The Freestyle Libra, having his people source it - all of it was so that he could work his way into my heart and then use me.
Ben liked my song.
Unfortunately the thrill of that fact sinking in was overshadowed by the sense of betrayal. I squared my shoulders and told myself to get a thicker skin. I’d need it if I was going to make it in the music industry. I should be focusing on the fact that somebody wanted my song to feature in the most popular and watched advert in the UK. The Richmond’s advert launched careers. So what if Jack had pretended? I’d just add him to the growing list of people that had let me down. First Mum and Dad, then my brother, and now Jack. It was clear that if I was going to get anywhere I needed to rely on myself. Not my family, not my friends and most certainly not a man.
*****
Jack
“What’s crawled up your arse, Knocky Knockerson?” Kira stood at the entrance to the flat she shared with Urvi with her hands on her hips and a fierce scowl on her face.
“I need to talk to Urvi,” I said as I tried to take a step inside. She kicked my extended leg right in the shin with the point of her lethal-looking shoe. I’m ashamed to say I winced and hopped back. “What the – ?”
“You’ve got some nerve coming here,” she hissed at me.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my hands going out from my sides in exasperation. “What the hell is going on? We were getting on well in Saint-Tropez and then –”
“You were fucking her in Saint-Tropez to get your greasy mitts on