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“I know I’m not Zane’s keeper,” Jett says, “any more than you’re Dragon’s keeper. But you’re the leader of your band, as I am, and you, like I do, probably feel a sense of responsibility to the whole group. You’re feeling like you’re at fault.”
So he gets it. He really gets it. “Man, I sure as hell do.”
“I have to tell myself the same thing about the band. But they’re all grown-ups, and I can’t control Zane’s actions any more than you can control Dragon’s.”
“I’m sorry.” I shake my head. “What exactly are you getting at?”
Jett smiles. “We travel with a large staff, as you probably already know. That includes extra musicians who can pick up the slack if something happens. In other words, we have a drummer for you.”
“But you… Our contract…”
“Yeah, your contract. All five of you signed, and Dragon is unable to perform. But rather than make a huge issue of that, why not find a solution? And I think we have one.”
“But your drummer… I’m sure he’s great, but he doesn’t know any of our stuff.”
“Derek’s not the backup we normally travel with,” Jett says. “Our backup was unavailable, but Derek is amazing on percussions. He’ll pick it up. You can rehearse this afternoon. You know I wouldn’t be traveling with subpar musicians.”
“No, of course not.”
“Jesse,” Rory says, “this fixes our problem.” She looks at Jett. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Yes, I should be thanking him.
“Yeah, of course, man. Thank you. You don’t have to do this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he says. “All our contracts with all the venues specify an opener, so if we don’t have an opener, we’re in breach of contract. This fixes it for all of us. And Dragon will probably be back to work soon. But if he can’t do the rest of the UK tour, he’ll join us when we get to Paris.”
I’m still in shock. “I… I just never imagined…”
“Dude,” Jett says, “don’t you think I’ve been where you are? People helped me along the way, and I try to pay it forward when I can.”
“You’ve already done that by inviting us on this tour with you.”
“Yeah, and I want you and your sister up there singing your hearts out tonight. You two are fabulous together. You don’t need a specific drummer to make that work.”
“There’s more good news,” Brock says.
More good news? The words don’t even make sense to me at this point. How can there be more good news?
“What’s that?” I ask.
“I’ve been looking at the numbers from the concert last night. With regard to merchandise, we’ve almost broken even.”
“That’s great for the first night.”
“No,” Brock says. “You’re not understanding me. After just one night—one concert—you sold enough merch to pay me back for my entire investment. All that’s left is my two percent, and that won’t be calculated until the end of the tour. But other than the two percent, it’s all profit from here on out, dude.”
Again my jaw drops. And not because Brock called me “dude.”
How can this all be happening?
How can all these people be on my side?
Seems I’ve had to work my ass off for every little thing I’ve gotten, and once our big break came, I thought it was ruined.
I thought it was ruined because that’s how Jesse Pike’s life goes. Jesse Pike is not Brock Steel. Or Donny Steel. Things don’t go Jesse Pike’s way all the time.
But it’s not the end.
