Triple-Duty Bodyguards

by Lily Gold

No. If I want someone to melt into a red carpet, I’m going to have to go with the chiselled white guy. Great. I turn to Matt and smile at him as sweetly as I can. “Makeover time.” Hopefully, the look of horror in his eyes will make up for the rest of my shitty day.

“Let’s get you sorted. How many lives have you ruined today, babe?” Briar examines her nail beds. “Depends. Matt, is your life ruined?” “It’ll take more than you could ever give me, princess.” She sighs. “Then I guess I haven’t ruined any. But it’s only early.” She tilts her head. “What have you got for me?”

I have a theory: I don’t think she’s rude or bitchy at all. I think she’s just a very private, intelligent woman who is playing the media like a fucking violin.

In just the past week, she’s criticised a supermodel for advertising dangerous weight loss drugs; a director for underpaying his female actors; a rapper for getting handsy with his staff.

Unless she’s just making the stories up—which is possible—she’s not stirring drama. She’s using her reputation to expose powerful people who think that they can get away with doing shitty things.

“This is just point-and-click, right?” He nods. “Aim for the eyes.” “I always do.” That finally makes his mouth twist into a grim smile.

“When you’re trying to make hundreds of millions of people like you,” I say eventually, “they control you. They control the way you speak, and act, and think. I couldn’t do it anymore. It almost killed me.”

“This isn’t about you, it’s about me. You’re right. Seeing you have a nightmare was so traumatic I need comforting. So do it.”

Matt kisses me like he wants to eat me alive. Thunder crashes outside the windows as he drags me into his lap, sucking, nipping, biting. I can barely keep up, my heart hammering in my chest as he sucks on my tongue.