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“Perfect. Thanks for doing all this.”
“I’m so excited to be working again,” she said. “I love being a mom, but I found I needed something more than diapers and bottles. He’s fourteen months old now, so it’s a good time for me to be getting back into something, and you guys needing a new manager was perfect timing.”
“I’m glad you were able to take us on,” I said. “After the bullshit with Aurora, we needed someone to take over, but at our level, it’s not like we need hand-holding. The business mostly runs itself, other than the tour stuff, which was the biggest thing we needed someone to handle.”
“Exactly. And I’m really grateful you guys are taking a chance on me. After I got pregnant so unexpectedly, I wasn’t sure I would ever go back to work, but now that I’ve dipped my toe back in, it feels good.”
“We were pretty gun-shy too,” I said. “But you being Casey Hart’s daughter makes a difference.”
“I appreciate that. Anyway, I’ve got a million phone calls to make, so I’ll talk with you later today.”
“Thanks, Sasha.”
“You’re very welcome.”
We disconnected and I padded into the bathroom.
Our last manager had been with us from the beginning, but she’d harbored stronger feelings for Z than he’d anticipated, and when she started keeping secrets from the band, we knew it was time to let her loose. The issue had been finding someone new because, as I’d told her just now, we didn’t need someone wheeling and dealing behind the scenes. That stuff happened organically at this point. What we needed was someone to take on the minutiae, like planning a two-month European tour in less than three months.
Sasha’s mother, Casey, had reached out to us when she’d heard we’d fired Aurora. We’d had a few meetings and decided to give Sasha a chance. Sasha was the daughter of a Las Vegas billionaire, the stepdaughter of a European king, and married to a professional hockey player. She was only in her mid-twenties, but didn’t need our money, so if she worked, it was because she wanted to. That was important to us. We didn’t need another manager with a secret agenda. Hell, I was still worried that there would be fallout from some of the shit Aurora had done.
I made myself some coffee and took it out to the patio that overlooked Beverly Hills, with the mountains in the distance. L.A. was home but for some reason I was always more comfortable on the road. Travel fed my soul and kept me grounded, which made no sense. But the minute I was home for more than a couple of weeks, I got the itch to run.
My mother said it was because I was lonely, that my condo was just a place to lay my head and not really a home.
She had a point, but I struggled with the idea of settling down.
It would take a hell of a woman to want to be with me because I figured I’d be touring for at least another twenty years. The idea of a wife and kids waiting at home for me didn’t turn me on in the least. I wanted someone who’d be willing to come explore the world with me, and the truth of the matter was simply that most women got bored. Touring was novel for a while, but then it turned into drudgery for them, and I couldn’t blame them. While the band got up on stage to perform almost every night, doing the thing we loved most, our wives and girlfriends simply followed us around without any real dreams of their own.
Having their own career would be nearly impossible. Someone like Cheyenne, the supermodel I’d recently ended things with, had potential because she could fly back and forth in between fashion shows and photo shoots. But the thing that made her perfect also made our relationship difficult because her career kept her too busy to ever focus on me.
I didn’t begrudge her having her own life and career, but it had made me realize it didn’t work for me. If I was going to commit to someone, they had to be willing to make sacrifices. Maybe that made me a selfish prick, but just like she had a right to follow her dreams, it was my right to have expectations in a relationship.
Right?
I stared out at the clear blue sky wondering what was next.
A mental image of Devyn popped into my head, as it had a lot the last couple of days. She was the most fascinating woman I’d met in a long time. An enigmatic combination of sexy and androgynous, I didn’t know what it was about her that made my blood heat up. Every time I saw her—and granted, there had only been a handful of times so far—I was transfixed.
That would be bad once we got out on the road.
Impulsively, I pulled out my phone and texted Cheyenne.
KINGSTON: Hey, you in town? Wanna go do something? Just as friends. I’m so bored I’m crawling out of my skin.
CHEYENNE: I feel like I should be offended, but yeah, I could use a casual night out. Any interest in seeing the new James Bond film? We can wear baseball caps and find a random theater in the Valley where no one will recognize us.
I chuckled.
KINGSTON: Sure. Let me find some showtimes and theaters and I’ll text you the info.
CHEYENNE: See you later!
I closed my phone with a nod.
A casual night out with a beautiful supermodel was just what I needed to push thoughts of Devyn way back into the deepest recesses of my brain.
* * *
