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Colt
“This isa great opportunity for you. One you shouldn’t pass up, in my opinion. Think about the other bands that will want you to write with them after they hear the magic you create with Seven Underground. Darrien is convinced you’re a master of words. He was singing your praises all night. Yours and Nash and Ace’s. But that doesn’t mean you can’t go this alone. He gave you the option.”
“He did.”
“And if nothing else, you should take it.”
I love that she’s encouraging me to chase my dreams, but…
“Even if it takes me away from you?”
“Nothing will ever take you away from me for long. A few weeks, maybe. A month at most. I heard what he said.”
“I know. And it’s a great opportunity. Writing with him will open doors I didn’t even know existed and the chance for another opportunity would be that much greater.”
“Which is what you need to explain to Nash and Ace. They’ll be on board.”
Will they?
They want to play. They want their name in lights.
And I want to write the songs that hit the charts. Whether I’m the one singing them or not.
I stare straight ahead, contemplating if this is something I want to do alone. If I could walk away from Fade Into Nothing and not look back. We’re a team. We’ve always made these decisions together. And doing it without them, even though it’s an opportunity I don’t want to pass up, feels like betrayal.
When Darrien called as we were headed back from the gala, I almost shit my pants. Not literally, but I stared at my phone in disbelief for a few beats before Scarlet nudged me. My first thought wasn’t to call the guys. I haven’t even told them yet, even though I should have. I wasn’t sure what he wanted until tonight, but now that I do, I’m going to have to tell them. Soon.
“Hello?”
I shouldn’t sound confused. His name was scrawled across the caller ID. But I do because after almost a month of silence, of not hearing anything and trying not to dwell on it, he’s calling me.
Nash, Ace, and I went to the show. We hung out backstage after and talked shop with Darrien and the rest of Seven Underground. For hours! And when we left, we all had a good feeling about what would happen next.
Ace and Nash were convinced they’d ask us to join their tour. The openers for the openers. Nothing fancy. No big headlines. But everyone starts somewhere, right? And this was our chance. Our one opportunity.
Then he never called, and we figured we misread the situation.
“Colt. How are you man?” Darrien screams into the phone. I can hear commotion in the background and then silence. “Sorry about that. The bus is a zoo tonight. The boys invited a few groupies to ride to Dallas with us, and they’re playing strip poker.”
“Sounds like fun,” I lie. I hate groupies. Always have, always will. They all want something from you.
“Not really, but that’s not why I’m calling. I’ve been waiting to hear back from the studio, and the call finally came. I have an opportunity I want to discuss with you. My agent is booking me a ticket to fly in Sunday night. Can we meet for dinner and talk shop?”
He wants to talk shop.
Holy shit! Darrien wants to talk shop with me! This is it!
“Sure. It’ll have to be a little later. I have a meeting I can’t skip at six o’clock. How does eight sound?”
Please be okay with that. If not, I’m telling Max I won’t be at the meeting. I’ll call in every favor if I have to.
“Sounds perfect. I’ll text you with a location. See you then.”
“Darrien?”
The line goes dead.
“What did he want?” Scarlet whispers in my ear, though I’m not sure why. Everyone in the car just heard my side of the conversation. Everyone heard me say his name. And Kane’s attention is focused on me right now because he knows exactly who I was talking to.
