AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I…” Halo started, and then Levi looked to me.
“Let me guess: you love it.”
“Wouldn’t you? Halo’s fucking hot.”
“Viper,” Halo said, and rolled his eyes, as the rest of the guys groaned.
Levi dropped his gaze back to the image and nodded. “As much as I know you’re going to hate this, Viper,” he said in a totally detached voice as he studied the cover more closely, “I agree with you. Halo is hot. But so are you. And together? Well, let’s just say Rolling Stone knows when they’ve got a winner on their hands. This is going to sell like hotcakes.”
I turned to Halo to see his cheeks were flushed as he stared in disbelief at Levi, who was now flipping through the magazine. “What’d I tell you? The cover is hot, Angel. We’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Levi took a moment to read over the article and look at the rest of the images, and then he shut the magazine and looked at all of us. “Okay, so here’s what I’d do. We need to take the story back.”
“Take it back?” Slade said, frowning. “But you just said the article will sell.”
“No, no.” Levi chuckled. “Not the article. This story,” he said, pointing between me and Halo. “After the prerelease party, all anyone can talk about is Viper’s grand declaration of love, and once this hits stands, it will only fuel that fire, because they are all out there speculating about the two of you. What happened after the party? Are they still together? Has the bad boy of TBD finally been tamed? So we need to take the story back. We need to control it.”
That actually made sense. Okay, so maybe this Levi guy was smarter than I first thought…maybe.
“I think the best thing to do is set up an interview with one show, have you two set the record straight—or not so straight, in this case.” Levi winked. “Say as little or as much as you want to about the relationship; you can decide later. Then, after you tell the story, you all go on to talk about the band. Voilà. That way you’re killing two birds with one stone, and after the story is out there, you no longer need to talk about it. You grant this one interview about your personal lives, get it done and over with, and after that, you stipulate you will only do interviews about the band.”
“Do you think that would really work?” Halo said.
“I do,” I said, surprising both Killian and Levi, who nodded.
“And anytime someone comes to you after the interview wanting a comment or photograph,” Levi said, “or you see something you don’t want getting around, you tell me and I’ll put a stop to it.”
“Just like that? No questions or arguments, you’ll just deal with it?” I asked, remembering the many showdowns I’d had with Brian.
“Just like that. I’m not sure what happened with your last manager,” Levi said, his eyes locking with mine, “but from what I’ve heard, it wasn’t a pleasant ending, which leads me to believe there were some trust issues. I want to work with you, not against you.”
Halo shifted in his seat to face me and said, “I think this all sounds good, don’t you?”
I did, actually, and when I nodded, Halo smiled at me in a way that made my stomach flip. If the angel felt comfortable and liked Levi’s idea on how to make our lives a little less chaotic, I wasn’t about to stand in the way of his peace of mind. I turned back to see the rest of the guys staring at us, and inclined my head in Killian’s direction. He grinned. Right. Decision made.
“So, okay, Levi,” I said. “How about you meet us tomorrow at Kill’s and we can get you up to speed?”
A smug smile crossed Levi’s mouth as he looked around the table and then back to me. “I’m busy tomorrow,” he said as he stood to his full height. He then reached inside the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a business card, which he slid onto the table in front of me. “But I can meet you guys on Monday at the address on this card. If you have any more…personal issues in the meantime, you two, feel free to call me. And Halo,” he said, turning his eyes in the angel’s direction. “Keep him out of trouble, would you?”
Halo chuckled and agreed, and as Levi made his way out of the restaurant, I turned back to face the rest of the guys. Killian’s eyes were firmly trained on Levi, and all I could think was: Levi thinks I’m the one who’s gonna be trouble? Didn’t look that way to me.
Fourteen
Halo
A RUSH OF adrenaline shot through me as the set designers for the Corruption tour walked us through the mock-up of the stages. Killian and Viper had given them a rough idea of what they wanted, and man, the designers had run with it. I’d never seen such a massive setup before, and it was blowing my mind that it would basically be my home for months on end. Performing in front of tens of thousands of people all over the country, having to own every inch of space on both stages.
