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Derek shakes his head. “I don’t want to get ahead in my career because of her.”
“Grow up, kid. That’s sometimes how it works in this business.”
“I’m not okay with that,” Derek says.
“What about the rest of the band? Did you even bother to consider what they think of all this?” Dale asks him. “No, you didn’t because you were too busy thinking about her pus—”
“Don’t you fucking—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dale waves him off. “You love her and all that happy horseshit. But imagine where you’re going to be in a few months when you give up everything for her and your band is in shambles. Will it really have been worth it all? Think about it, man.”
“It’s not fucking like that,” Derek grits out.
“He has a point,” Aiden says. “Did you even consider what this would do to Crave? We’ve been working hard. Yeah, this thing with Serena isn’t ideal, but it was helping. The albums were climbing the chart and people were listening to our songs.”
“So, you’re okay with people listening because they think I’m fucking Serena and not because they think we’re talented?” Derek asks him.
“It may have started out like that, but they’re staying for our music. They’re staying because we built a following with them. It’s just going to take some time. And we already talked about how you two would split amicably. That way no one was the bad guy. Well, you blew that shit to pieces.”
“Ace, this is your sister’s and my happiness you’re talking about.”
“You are not dating my sister,” Aiden grits out.
“What does this mean for us?” Brent finally speaks up, and of course it’s to ask the right question. He’s a man of few words, but he uses them wisely.
Dale sighs and sits back down. “The internet isn’t loving you right now. You’re going to take a hit for this. I can try to run some damage control, but I don’t know if it will work. Then there’s the very basic and simple instructions he couldn’t follow.” He juts a finger in Derek’s direction. “If I can’t trust that you’ll listen and do what I ask, how can this partnership go forward?”
“You’d drop us?” Aiden asks, shaking his head.
He and Brent make their way over to the desk and sit in front of it. Derek stays with me. He reaches out and grips my hand.
“What can we do to fix this?” Brent asks.
Dale sighs and looks over at Derek. “Are you going to continue to be a problem?”
“I won’t be. Just don’t make me go back to her,” Derek replies.
“I’m sure rekindling your relationship with Serena isn’t something that’s in the cards. She doesn’t want to look like she just goes back with man who would cheat on her—feminism and all that,” Dale says with a roll of his eyes.
We’ve only been in his presence for a little while, and I can tell why Derek detests him most of the time. I detest him right now. He’s slimy and exactly what you would expect an agent to be like. I’m sure he’s very good at his job, but right now the only thing that he’s good at doing is pissing me off.
I move forward and start to say something, but Derek yanks me back. “Go on,” he tells Dale.
“So, we’ll just have to do some damage control on that end of things and hope the whole world doesn’t hate you for hurting her. Plus, there’s the song you two have together. It’s going to number one and there’s talk about a Grammy.”
“Dude,” Brent says, shaking his head.
“Really fucking this up good for us, man,” Aiden remarks.
“I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry I fell in love,” Derek says sarcastically.
“Don’t. Just fucking don’t,” Aiden replies sharply.
“Career-wise, are you keeping us?” Brent asks, turning his attention back to Dale.
Dale sighs. “I want to. But…”
“Man, please,” Aiden says, jumping in.
