Easy to Remember: A Boudreaux Universe Novel (The Agency Book 1) Read online

  Easy To Remember

  Bailie Hantam

  Contents

  Easy to Remember

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  The Boudreaux Universe

  About the Author

  Also by Bailie Hantam

  Acknowledgments

  Easy to Remember

  A Boudreaux Universe Novel

  The Agency Book One

  By

  Bailie Hantam

  EASY TO REMEMBER

  A Boudreaux Universe Novel

  The Agency Book One

  Bailie Hantam

  Copyright © 2020 by Bailie Hantam

  All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect are appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover Design: By Kari March

  Published by Lady Boss Press, Inc.

  To a long lost friend. I hope you’re happy.

  Chapter 1

  Eleven years ago

  Tariq

  There weren’t many things better than a lunchtime booty-call. For Tariq Salie, hailed as the voice of a generation and a card-carrying womaniser, it was rare. Between evening gigs and hook ups that often lasted beyond breakfast, he was seldom awake at lunch time. When they did come along, he grabbed on with both hands, literally, and savoured every moment.

  Of course, his current afternoon delight was not only married, she was the wife of the man who controlled the South African music scene. Barry Moses was the CEO of the biggest national record label, not to mention he had a finger in every distribution pie there was in the country.

  Sleeping with Libby Moses may not have been his wisest move. Except, she was hot. At thirty-five she was about ten years younger than her husband, and there was nothing real about her. Fake breasts nearly the size of soccer balls, blonde hair extensions falling to just above her pert little ass. And she gave good head.

  He looked over at his bed mate, wondering how a woman with so much privilege would even consider betraying her husband.

  The noise of footsteps wandering through the huge Sandton mansion used to bother him. Libby had assured him, however, that her housekeeper was the epitome of discretion. He propped his head on his hand, using the other hand to twirl a fake blonde lock around his finger. “So, what time will your husband be home?”

  Libby sighed. “He said he had late meetings.” She propped herself higher on the pillows, pulling the red bed sheets over her breasts. “He’s probably screwing some young ingénue.”

  Not much different to what she was doing. Though, he could neither be considered naive nor innocent. He was barely twenty-one, on the verge of breaking into the music industry. A singer-songwriter who could play both the guitar and the piano. And he was one hell of a drummer.

  He’d met Libby a few weeks ago at a record launch party where he performed. His band was one of several promising acts invited to the launch. She’d promised to put in a good word with her husband and ensure he stood out among all the talent present on the night.

  Libby had warned him that making it in the music business was all about having the right connections and she could make sure he had an in. Of course, she was also rubbing her body against him at the time. How was he supposed to decline? He would do anything to make it big as a musician.

  Tariq flopped onto his back. His eyes fell onto the photographs lined up on the solid oak dresser. There may have been a huge age gap between husband and wife, but they were happy once.

  About a dozen pictures of them, all smiling and loved up. Some were clearly selfies that one of them had taken. Some others were of each of them alone, obviously taken by the other one.

  There was one with him holding a large galjoen fish with the Vaal river in the background. One with her standing in front of a black limited series BMW with a huge red bow on the hood. A gift from her husband maybe?

  Tariq turned back to Libby, finding her staring at him.

  “I know people don’t believe it.” She tightened her arms around her chest. “But we really were in love.”

  “What happened?” Tariq wasn’t a complete asshole. He could tell when someone needed to talk. And after what she had done to him a few minutes earlier, the least he could do was listen to her. “Did you just fall out of love?”

  Libby shook her head. “Life happened. Circumstances changed.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I was the young ingénue, once.”

  “So, you know the signs.” Tariq had no words of wisdom for her. “Do you know who he’s with now?”

  She smiled. “I have no idea. All I know is, he’s been spending lots of time at auditions and late meetings.”

  “And you don’t want to repair things with him?”

  It may have been contrary to his libido, but he was curious. If they were really in love, why not fight for their marriage. Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work? Tariq didn’t know much about the institution. His mother died when he was seven and his father had never remarried. He had nothing to base his assumptions on. Still, it made no sense to just give up on someone who had meant so much.

  Libby let go of the bedsheets and grabbed hold of his cock. “I don’t really want to talk about that.” She stroked him a few times, desire flaring in her eyes. “Do you?”

  His erection came to life, despite the action it had gotten less than half an hour ago. He rolled over, propping himself on his elbows as he hovered his body over her. “Hell, no.”

  He bent down to kiss her when the bedroom door flung open.

  Tariq rolled off Libby so quickly, the momentum flung him right off the bed.

  The man. The record producer he had to impress. The husband of the woman still naked in bed, stood in the doorway. He barely spared a glance in Tariq’s direction, keeping his eyes trained on his wife.

  “When you’re done with your latest conquest,” he said with a sneer. “I would like to have a word with you.”

  He closed the door gently, and Tariq listened as his footsteps disappeared down the hallway.

  He grabbed his jeans off the floor and shoved his legs into it as quick as he could. He looked over at Libby. Worry etched into those artificial features. Her lips twisted and her jaw clenched.

  Could he just leave her? She wasn’t making any attempt to get out of bed. “Will you be okay?”

  “Oh, I’ll be fine.” She pulled her tiny tank top from the floor. “It’s you I’m worried about.”

  Yeah, truth be told, so was he. He may have just put his career in jeopardy for a little tail. The only thing he ever wanted to do with his life was about to go up in smoke. He could onl
y hope it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. A setback was not a derailment. He just needed to work harder.

  He pulled his shirt over his head and made his way to the door, before turning back to her. “I’ll see you around.” He motioned his hand between the two of them. “Though, I don’t think this will be happening again.”

  Libby smiled up at him. “No, it won’t. Good luck, Tariq.”

  There was no other way. He had to go through the main living room to get to the front door. The man certainly had a flair for the dramatic. The Trumpet Voluntary sounded through the house. He hadn’t heard it since he was a Boy Scout. And then it was on a church organ. Now it was being played on an electronic keyboard. A damn good one, but still not the real thing. To the untrained ear it would sound the same. But Tariq could tell the difference. It wasn’t just his musical training that aided his hearing. His ears were so finely tuned he could tell what room his father was in whenever they called each other.

  Tariq was nearly at the front door when Barry cleared his throat. Tariq turned to face him.

  He was sitting in a leather armchair with ball-and-claw feet. Despite the receding hairline and the crows-feet around his eyes, the man was still big and imposing. “Let’s get something straight.” He leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “You are finished in the music business.”

  Tariq’s gut clenched. He blinked, unable to say anything.

  Barry took advantage of the silence and continued. “Actually, no. I will allow that little band of yours to continue with its little gigs. I’ll let you close enough; you can smell it. But you will never sign a record deal, let alone play at any of the big stadiums.”

  Tariq nodded. What else could he do? He pulled the door closed and slumped his shoulders as he made his way to his car.

  Sitting in the driver’s seat of his little Honda hatchback, he slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Everything he’d been working for since he was thirteen years old had just been burned to the ground. Singing and making music was all he wanted to do. He had no plan B. How the fuck do I get out of this mess?

  Chapter 2

  Present Day

  Mila

  Let’s make a road trip of it, they said. It will be fun, they said. What they neglected to mention was that they would fall asleep about half an hour into the trip.

  With a hard jab of her finger, Mila poked her best friend Allie's shoulder. “We’re here. Thanks for the company.”

  “Ugh, finally,” Allie said as she blinked her eyes open and wiped her hand over her face. “You’re even worse than Callum when it comes to Old Lady Driving.”

  Callum Cooper was Allie’s brother and notorious in their family for being an over-cautious driver. Mila winced and turned away from Allie. Her best friend was the only one who knew about her issues with cars. It was why she offered to drive. So, she could control the speed. Then again, it had been such a long time since they’d spoken about it, Allie was likely to have forgotten.

  She watched as Allie pushed herself to sit up straight and stifled a giggle at the sight of her friend’s long hair, all dishevelled into a nest on top of her head. When she wasn’t wiping drool from her chin and sleep from her eyes, Allie was beautiful. Her rich dark hair fell in natural waves to the middle of her back. Even while wiping sleep from them, those bright blue eyes shone with excitement.

  “Lay off her,” Holly croaked from the backseat. “It’s not like you offered to take the wheel at any point, sleepy head.”

  “Neither did you.” Allie turned around in her seat to face Holly. “I do recall you falling asleep before me.”

  “I’m allowed.” Holly winked at Mila in the rear-view mirror. “I’m pregnant. I get tired easily.”

  A likely story. Holly was the reason they were taking the trip. As a charity events coordinator, she had organised the Lift seminar they were attending, hosted by some big shot from England… Or New Orleans. Mila wasn’t really sure about the details.

  The other thing they forgot to mention was the amount of sweat involved in a road trip. Mila gingerly peeled her thighs from the leather seats of her little Jeep and wiped her palms on her cut-off denim shorts. She pulled her limp brown hair from its ponytail, cringing at the sweat accumulated at the back of her neck. She twisted it into a bun, something she should’ve done before starting the trip.

  Of course, there was nothing she could do about the boob sweat. No matter how expensive and uncomfortable the bra was, it couldn’t prevent the two damp streaks on the underside of her breasts. When you were as well-endowed as she was, boob sweat was just a regular part of summer.

  She hopped out of her car, grateful for the chance to stretch her legs.

  The hotel they were staying at was the only one within a fifty-kilometre radius. Oh, the little tourist town of Bedford had a host of B&B’s and backpackers lodges perfect for city folk looking for a long weekend getaway. And yet, it boasted nothing more than a three-star hotel. Still, what it lacked in luxury, it more than made up for with beautiful scenery.

  Mila stretched her neck from side to side and turned to look around. She couldn’t help the gasp that had escaped her lips.

  The hotel’s promo content didn’t lie. Neither did the pictures on the little town’s website. To her north was a magnificent view of the Drakensberg mountains. Too late in the year for them to have snow on the peaks, but beautiful, nonetheless. To the south, an abundance of lush green farmlands and rolling hills. Like a patchwork of different shades of patterned green fabric.

  “You were right,” Holly said, standing alongside Mila. “It’s the perfect place for a women’s retreat. I hope the rest of the venues you have lined up match up to this.”

  Mila smiled and nodded. As a corporate travel agent, she had only made the initial booking. She had pitched the venue to Holly because it was one of the few places that had everything she needed and fit into her budget. Once the booking for the hotel was secure, Holly had taken over the arrangements.

  The lack of five-star amenities would not deter Holly from impressing her new international client. She ran non-profit functions on a low budget for a living. Mila had no doubt she would make everything the hotel lacked seem like part of an adventure.

  Allie elbowed Mila in the ribs. “I know it’s beautiful, but are we going to spend the whole day standing out here?”

  Holly let out a laugh and turned to both of them. “Come on. Let’s check in and get cleaned up. I want to meet with Simon before I treat you two to lunch.”

  Mila opened the back of the Jeep, pulling all three small suitcases out. “Who’s Simon?”

  “Simon Danbury.” Holly’s eyes widened when the name still didn’t ring a bell for Mila. “The convener of the Lift seminars?”

  “Oh, right.” Mila released the handle on her suitcase and pulled it up. She still wasn’t sure what exactly Lift did, but that could wait. “I can’t keep up with all the info you throw at me.”

  The three women wheeled their suitcases into the reception area of the hotel. The first thing Mila noticed was that the area had air conditioning. The cool air hitting her damp skin was a welcome relief. Then, a small seating area for anyone waiting to be attended to and a coffee table filled with magazines. Much like a doctor’s waiting area. Behind the wooden desk sat a young woman. By the looks of it, she was barely out of her teens, wearing a light blue dress with a name tag on her left breast with Maryna written in black permanent marker. Blonde hair piled on top of her head and the brightest smile greeted them as they approached her.

  Holly stepped ahead of the other two, offering a wide smile of her own. “Hi Maryna.” She lifted her sunglasses on top of her head. “I’m Holly Cooper. I have four rooms booked.”

  The young woman smiled at Holly. “We’ve been expecting you.” She opened a drawer and removed three keycards. “Your audio-visual man,” she checked her notepad, “Tariq Salie, is already here. He arrived at the same time as the men from the security company. I checked him into room two-
o-four.”

  “That’s perfect.” Holly signed the form the woman placed in front of her. “He actually does work for Ward Security. He’s moonlighting for me this week.” She turned to Mila and Allie. “It’s strange, really. Normally Simon has his own staff handle those things, but he insisted on getting someone new this time.”

  That got Mila’s attention. Jack Ward’s bouncers were big and buff and oh so easy on the eye. If she got nothing else out of the couple of weeks ahead, at least she’d have some decent eye-candy to look at.

  The young woman handed them each a keycard. “The elevators are around the corner to your left.” She motioned to the area behind her desk. “The conference area is down the hall to your right. The entrance to our on-site restaurant is one building down, but there is also a lot more on offer if you feel like a ten-minute drive into town.”

  Mila shook her head. “There will be no more driving today.”

  “Then it’s settled.” Holly lifted the handle of her suitcase and started walking in the direction of the elevators. “We’ll meet down here in an hour to go and meet Simon before going next door for lunch.”

  Possible cute guys and a free lunch? The day was definitely starting to look up.

  Tariq

  “Testing.” Tariq pulled the boom-microphone closer to his mouth. “Testing, one, two.”