“Excellent,” she said.“We may get some new information, and I may buy us time to investigate everything.Ah, lunch!”
?
The entire gang sat around his dining room table, bowls of steaming ramen: one meal they used to have together so long ago.Lon blew on his noodles to cool them down.Alex continued stirring a dizzying myriad of hot sauces into his bowl.Light reflected from glasses hid Brand’s eyes.Ry needed this to go well.His breath came quick and shallow, and he forced himself to expand his lungs as if for the first note in a song.
“I want to quit Ghostfire,” he said, leaning his elbows on the dining room table.He expelled the rest of the air and tried to regulate his breathing.He clenched his jaw, his muscles tensing, anticipating the blowback.
Lon shifted in his chair.“What?”
“I can’t continue with this, not after rehab,” Ry said, not looking up.“Not with Efreet, not with Arend.”
“We’ve talked about this before.”Lon sipped some of his broth.
“Sania mentioned that there is another way,” Ry said, glancing at his friend.His simple black shirt hung off his frame.“There are contradictions in the contract we can use to get out.I never saw that until she pointed it out.I suspect ‘someone’ tampered with at least my contract, if not all of them.She’s investigating that as well.”
Alex whistled.“Shit.”He had turned red.“Manipulated?How?”
Ry shrugged.“I also don’t remember signing some clauses that wormed their way in.”
Brand looked over at him.“Why are you telling us?”
He stirred his food, waiting for it to cool down more.“Because if Sania can’t show a discrepancy between the copies I had and the official filing, I’ll need your help to reduce sales and radio play to put pressure on them to settle.If we all mobilized, that could be a lot less.”
“What about the band?”Lon asked.“What happens to us?”
Ry fidgeted with his chopsticks.“That’s up to you guys.If you want to continue on without me, I won’t fight.But if I leave and you all agree, we could dissolve.Right now, I’d rather have my friends and sanity.But—”
“You’re planning something else,” Alex said, interrupting.
“Yeah,” Ry said.He set his utensils down and looked at each of them.“I hope to recreate what we had at the beginning.I’d love to start a new group.Pick up our original name, perhaps add an up-and-coming audio engineer with vocal talent about to graduate college?Since we can’t do much for two years, we’ll have space to write and could record another album.Make our own label or go indie.We gotta work out the details, but I want to do this with you.But the right way this time.”
Lon glanced at him and then at his bowl.“We can already do that now, Ry.Why do we need to suffer through this?I mean, I’m happy that you’re doing better, but why not just finish the terms of the contract?”
Ry stared at his friend.Lon had changed.He’d lost weight again and covered up the dark circles under his eyes.“I can’t.”His voice was soft.He needed him on his side.“Arend won’t let me be who I need to be.Efreet execs only care about numbers and not offending right-wingers.I’m tired of the lyric approvals, the whole damn sterility.All of that killed me.I will not go back to that living nightmare, Lon.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over them, and they all returned to their food.Ry calmed himself by focusing on the flavors of his dish.The sharp green onions bolstered the umami of the broth, combining well with the silky-smooth noodles.
He had to say something else.“I wanted to tell you about what I was planning before doing it.I’ll be meeting with Arend next Friday with my lawyer.”
Alex asked, “How are you gonna come up with the cash?”
He waved around him, saying, “Sell this place.I don’t know how much I’ll have after that, but probably not much.”
Brand smoothed his dress shirt and set his spoon to the side of the bowl.“This is a lot to take in.You’ve obviously been thinking about this for a long time.”
Ry swallowed his noodles before answering.“I know, and that’s why I don’t expect any answers tonight.With Dr.Rosa’s help, I figured out that the contract, the situation, everything really messed me up.The only way to truly heal is to walk away before any more damage is done.Sania came recommended by the Rosewood team.They’ve got the clientele that needs, and can afford, good lawyers.”
Alex finished his ramen and set the bowl down, crossing his arms.“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Ry’s face flushed.“I only found out this was an option yesterday.The entire time I was hoping and praying for a way to get out of this without blowing everything up.I’m sorry if I made an ass of myself again.I … I want to make things right between us.”
“You’ve always been ready to charge in, headfirst.”Brand set down his napkin and smiled.His voice softened.“Two years.I’m in.Ghostfire doesn’t exist without you.”
Ry breathed easier after Brand finished speaking.He smiled.“Thank you.”
Alex leaned forward.“New band?Ella as our new audio-engineer and vocalist?Fuck over these corporate asswipes?Count me in on all the above.”
Lon turned to him, his eyes wet.“Brand is right.But I don’t have the money to pay any fines, let alone live for two years on residuals.”
