“Crazy scheme? We’re going to LA to give our band a real chance. Nothing crazy about that,” he said with all too much nonchalance.
“And you’re dropping out after wasting one year’s worth of tuition. Must be nice to have someone footing your bill.”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Two college dropouts trying their luck in LA… Can you get any more cliche? I bet you’ll be crawling back to your parents in less than six months, begging for forgiveness after you realize no one is interested in your shitty music.”
“We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” he challenged.
“I guess we will.”
3
THREE YEARS LATER
MOLLY
The officeof Hyperion Artist Management was in its usual state of organized chaos, punctuated with the staccato rhythm of many pairs of heels walking along the glossy marble floors.
I passed by Jenny at the reception desk and gave her a quick wave. She blew her hair out of her face and gave an irritated scowl. It wasn’t personal. After working at Hyperion for nearly a year, I’d rarely seen Jenny in a good mood. She was always at the office at the crack of dawn, stocking the conference rooms with specially requested snacks, putting together customized gift bags, and working on whatever was needed to keep the steady stream of A-listers coming through our office happy.
My job as a personal assistant to one of the senior managers may be grueling, but at least my boss, Trinity, didn’t require me to be here before sunrise. Since she was the most in-demand music manager at the firm, she had enough clout to set her own schedule. Most days, she didn’t make it in until nine-thirty in the morning.
Today appeared to be an anomaly.
I checked my watch for the time—five minutes before nine, yet there was Trinity, sashaying past rows of see-through acrylic desks with her laptop under one arm and her ostrich-leather Kelly bag in the other. Her height—a cool six feet—made her impossible to miss. Add in her obsession with leather corsets and chunky metal jewelry, and she was pretty much a modern-day Amazonian. I always thought she would have made a perfect Wonder Woman.
Her purple-lipsticked mouth was pursed tightly, and her hawk-like eyes searched for some poor, unfortunate soul. I could see the fear reflected in my coworkers’ faces as she walked past them, and the subsequent relief when they were ignored. Trinity was a step below partner at the company, and everyone knew she had her mind set on the coveted title. She was one professional win away from getting it, and no one, absolutely no one, was going to keep that promotion from her.
Those hawk eyes landed on me.
“Molly,” she barked. “Where have you been hiding?”
“Nowhere,” I squeezed out my suddenly dry throat as I hovered beside my desk. “I’m here.”
Even after working together for more than a year, I had to consciously fight against the terror Trinity inspired. My fate at Hyperion rested entirely in her hands, and I couldn’t afford a single screw up if I wanted to have a career here. The pay for my entry-level job was just enough to keep me surviving, but it most certainly wasn’t enough for me to thrive in this city. I was desperate for a promotion. If Trinity made partner, she would likely bump me up to senior assistant, and that would come with a much-needed raise.
She surveyed the mess of papers on my desk with an unimpressed look, then her gaze landed on the framed photo of Ade and I. Trinity probably found my connection to Bleeding Moonlight the most interesting thing about me, which rubbed me the wrong way, but not enough for me to hide my sister away. When Trinity discovered our relation, she drilled me with a list of questions. To my relief, she’d never demanded an introduction. I was afraid she’d send me on a mission to steal Bleeding Moonlight away from their current management.
“I signed a new act over the weekend,” she declared, bringing her attention back to me. “Last Rites. A rock band. They’re fresh, heavy, and sexy. They sound like something that should be playing in every after-hours club in LA. Get smart on them in the next few hours. They’re coming in after lunch.”
“Absolutely.” I searched for my notebook and a working pen amidst the papers. “Anything in particular I should know?”
She popped her hip out and leaned against the edge of my desk. “I have a good feeling about these boys. They’re not with a label yet, but their indie releases are charting exceptionally well. We need to get them a record deal quickly to really blow them up, so we’ve got a lot of hustling to do in the next few weeks. This is an opportunity for both meandyou, you understand?” She gave me a meaningful look. “You ready to do whatever it takes?”
Excitement surged through me. I’d put on a ridiculous costume and hand out Last Rites fliers on a street corner if that’s what it took to get me that promotion and raise. “Yes, of course. Happy to play whatever role you need me to.” Ah, there was that notebook. I flung it open and jotted down some notes.
“Good. We’re going to need to be very hands-on with them. See you at one.”
By the time I looked up from what I was writing, Trinity was already walking away. I sank in my chair and sucked in a grounding breath. If Trinity thought this new act was her ticket to partner, I had no room for error. I needed to become an encyclopedia on Last Rites in time for this meeting.
“How the fuck did you get her to like you?” a familiar voice cut through my thoughts. I turned to see Piper plopping her leather tote on the desk directly beside mine. She brushed her curly brown hair back with her hands and heaved a sigh. “That woman breathes fire in every direction but yours.”
I grinned at my friend. Piper and I had started at Hyperion on the exact same day, but what began as a friendship of proximity had quickly bloomed into the real deal. She was on the partnerships team that worked on getting brand deals for our clients, so she spent a lot of time on the road. It made days we overlapped at the office kind of special. She swore like a sailor, had a steely backbone, and was known to not mince her words even when talking to some of the more senior folk at the company. Most importantly, she was one of my few friends in LA. Graduating from college a year early meant I’d left all my college friends behind.
“Likeme? She merely acknowledges my existence.”
“That’s more than the rest of us get,” Piper grumbled. “What did she want?”
