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“Do I get a choice in any of this?”
“Not anymore.” He turns and walks back to his desk.
I glare at him, jaw working. I’ve never met someone that’s able to make me come, make me want more, and also make me want to kill him within just a few minutes.
“You’re dismissed,” he says.
Chapter 12
Marie
The bar is quiet and crowded but I manage to wrangle a table in the very back away from the noise. The waitress is overworked and overwhelmed, so I nab a pitcher from the bar and pour a round for the band. Kari sits with her brother, Kurt, while Dean and Tobias swaps stories about the various gigs they played over the years as they came up in the indie underground scene.
“And remember that guy who threw the glass? Remember him?” Dean laughs loudly and spills some beer. “He got beat up so bad they had to drag him out by his legs.”
“I almost felt sorry for him,” Kari says, frowning.
“The glass missed your head by inches,” Kurt points out. “The glass scraped your snare, remember?”
“Well, not that sorry.”
“Don’t worry,” Dean says, “he’s totally fine. Probably wandering around somewhere making trouble for another band as we speak.”
“Hopefully, he doesn’t throw anymore glasses,” I say, grinning at them. I think they’re telling these stories for my benefit, and frankly, I’m pretty happy about it. I love hearing about their trials and tribulations as they came up in the Philly independent scene, playing gigs in dive bars, dealing with rowdy assholes and fights and owners that didn’t want to pay.
That sort of hard work pays off in the end, and the result is Pride, a cohesive and fantastic live band. I’m not sure they’d say it was all worth it, but hopefully by the time I’m done with them, they’ll see the light.
“At least not at the drummers,” Kari says, nudging Dean. “Lead singers? I don’t know, they could stand to be knocked down a few pegs.”
“She’s right, it’s true,” Dean says, grinning and nodding along. “I am truly the worst.”
“Before you all start piling in on Dean, I have an announcement.” I clear my throat and stand, holding up my cup. Everyone’s staring at me, and for one second, I balk at the attention. I love this band—I love their music, I love the people, and I want them to succeed. Am I really the right person to shepherd them through their career? With Ansell’s resources, I think I can take them to the next level.
But what if I’m wrong?
Too late for that now.
“Everyone, Ansell Drake has decided to sign you all to Drake Entertainment. After some standard contract signing and all that crap, I’ll be your manager, and you guys are going to take off. Here’s to making it big.”
Kari looks shocked and she turns to her brother, who also looks shocked, and it’s finally Dean who breaks the stunned silence.
“Well, fuck, yeah!” he says and sloshes more beer on the table. “To the next level!”
They cheer and laugh and Kari comes around the table to hug me. “I can’t believe this,” she says, breathless, smiling so big I think her face might fall apart. “Seriously, I thought we screwed everything up with Baptist that night, like we weren’t playing that great and afterwards we were all so awkward and weird. I thought he hated us.”
“Oh, no, he loved you guys,” I say, laughing and hugging her tighter. “So did Ansell but he’s harder to read.”
“He’s a real creep, that one. Never freaking smiles. What’s with that?”
“He’s got his own stuff going on.” I brush past her comment because I understand what she means by creep and I don’t blame her for saying it, but there is a defensive part of me that wants to correct her here and now. Can’t get off on the wrong foot with my new band though. “But this is good news. I know I’m not the most experienced, but Ansell’s going to work with me directly, and I’ll have the resources of his management company at my disposal. We’re going places.”
“I fucking love places,” Tobias says and that earns a laugh. “I want to see all the places, especially the ones that give me a ton of money.”
I’m so excited and happy for them as the band chatters at each other, laughing and hugging. Kari especially is elated, and this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. Now that it’s finally on me, I sit back and do my best to soak it in.
Baptist’s comment keeps playing through my mind: this might be the last good thing I get to experience for a while.
But I have to push those thoughts away. Kari hugs me again and leans against my shoulder and I feel like I might burst with joy. This band worked so hard to get to this point, and signing with a major management team means they’ll get better gigs, better pay, and more exposure. I’m going to work my ass off, and while this is just the beginning—this is a beautiful, amazing beginning.
