Turning to Stone (Heart of Stone: Book 2)

Chapter 12: Workaholic

Chapter 12: Workaholic

Zola wouldn't let me anywhere near the organisational side of the music school operation, but she did throw me a bone during our journey there.

"Want a stab at the press release?"

I jerked up my head from my phone so fast that my neck cricked. "Really?"

Without looking across at me from her seat to my right, she nodded. "I'm happy for you to give it a go, on the basis that it will go through several rounds of approval before seeing the light of day."

Rather than the knock-down demoralising me, it ignited a flame of competitiveness. This was my opportunity to prove myself and remind everyone why they'd taken a chance on me. Even if it went through a hundred rounds of approval, it would still have been born from my hands and mind.

As we pulled up a couple of streets away from the building—we had to avoid it looking obviously staged otherwise it would cast doubt over Teddy's authenticity—Mark and Danny jumped out of the car in front and headed around the corner. Zola reached into her bag for her camera. They'd decided inviting journalists would risk too many unknowns, and given that Ed was currently treading on thin ice with his reputation, I could understand the desire for total control over the visit. Instead, Zola would snap the photos and auction off to the press.

Ed waited for Security's green light, and Zola slinked off into the shadows. They'd pulled the same stunt with Lacey earlier on in the year: the photos needed to be far enough away to look like sneaky paparazzi shots while being close enough to leave nothing to chance of misinterpretation.

Knuckles rapping against my window tore my eyes away from Zola and onto Helen. I cracked open the door and gazed up at her.

"Ready?" she asked. "Try to keep your mouth shut as much as possible. We can't risk saying anything that would suggest this is part of a stunt."

I put that into practice right away, because if I had opened my mouth, I might have accidentally told Helen exactly what I thought of her patronising tone.

Unclipping my seat belt, I shuffled out of the car and wrapped my coat tighter around me as the chilly October air replaced the warmth of the car's heaters. Ed leaned against the car in front, his serious eyes landing on me for a fraction of a second before returning to the street ahead. He was in business mode, but I knew his friendly stage persona would shine through as soon as he stepped into the building.

Danny's short frame appeared from around the corner, and he fired us a thumbs up before retreating again.

"Remember the brief?" Helen checked with me as Ed strode forwards, temporarily disappearing out of sight around the corner.

"For the staff: deeply apologetic for the intrusion, hugely grateful for their time, and mildly embarrassed about the inevitable disruption." I checked off each item with my fingers. "For Ed, give him space but don't let him out of my sight."

"Good. Let's go."

Helen and I waited for a few more seconds before following Ed around the corner. Seeing him walk along a street seemingly alone with no surrounding security highlighted once more how differently he lived his life compared to the rest of us. Something so ordinary looked so strange.

"Thank you so much for letting me in at short notice," Ed was saying to the reception desk as we crossed the threshold to the building. "I saw your appeal on Twitter and wanted to stop by. I'd love to sit in on some lessons if it's not an inconvenience?"

The young girl behind the computer screen stared up at him with a dazed expression, her lips slightly parted and eyes wide. She barely looked old enough to be out of school, and her rosy cheeks reddened as Ed continued his charm offense.