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Instead, I saw Jason Cain.
CHAPTER 27
QUINN
Ajolt that felt like electricity went through my entire body. It prickled in my fingertips, making me reflexively curl them tight into my palm. It zinged up my arms and slammed into my chest, making my heart skip a beat.
“Callum, Jason is here,” I whispered, all of the old fears rushing back at once, so noxious and corporeal I couldn’t believe I’d managed to forget them. Had I really been living almost carefree these past few weeks? Had I really thought he would just go away?
“I see him,” Callum said grimly. “Stay here.”
But Jason wasn’t about to stay on the other side of the room. Before Callum could take a single step, he swaggered right up to the stage, tipped his sunglasses down, and said, “Hello Quinn, long time no see.”
“That’s because I told you to stay the fuck away from me,” I said, grateful that my voice rang out clear and strong even though my insides were still shivering from shock.
“And I told you the same,” Callum said, his arm like steel around my waist.
“And if you didn’t understand it the first two times, we’re happy to say it again for you,” Renee barked as she, Joanne, and Mia came to the front of the stage.
Jason had walked right past a shocked Moira and Jimmy, but now they came up behind him. “We’ll hook up the PA system if you want to hear it real loud,” Jimmy offered. I’d never seen his expression bent inward like it was now–in an unmistakable glower. It was like seeing your favorite teddy bear suddenly pull its eyebrows down, the stitches of its mouth dropping into a frown. Unnerving, but hardly intimidating.
And it took a lot to intimidate Jason Cain. He did a full 360 swivel, taking in everyone’s angry expressions, reveling in their loathing, and smiled like a reptile soaking up the heat of a sunbaked rock. “I’d have been happy to stay the fuck away, Quinn, but you’re about to breach your contract.”
“Heroldcontract,” Callum said, his voice low and furious in contrast to Jason’s sunny tone. “The one that we’ve renegotiated. This new one doesn’t limit who she performs with.”
“You’re jumping the gun.” Jason’s ever-present smirk was tattooed onto his face. “I haven’t signed the new one yet, so the old contract still stands. And it does limit her.”
I looked down at Callum, desperately hoping he had a way to counteract this. I could see him trying, frustration was scrawled in the cursive of his furrowed brow and the deep parentheses forming around his frown. “Sign it right now then,” he said abruptly. But even I could hear the desperation.
Jason shook his head slowly, clearly savoring the moment. “No can do, counselor. You see, I’ve made some good bets recently. My straits aren’t as dire as they were a few weeks ago. I have a little breathing room, and you know what I decided?”
Everyone stared at him stonily.
He laughed. “I decided that my girl here is too important to me to just sell back to you. No, I want her third album. And I’m willing to wait as long as it takes.” He looked just at me then, and his voice grew quieter. “I’m willing to guide you every step of the way.”
“No one knows what the fuck you’re talking about,” Renee said loudly. “But no one cares. You need to get out of here.”
“Quinn cares.” He looked right at me. His gaze felt like a firebrand. My thin cotton band shirt was seared right away, and now it felt like my flesh was peeling back in charred flaps, and a hot poker was sliding right between my ribs.
“Sign it,” I whispered. “I’ll pay you.”
“The hell she will,” Callum snapped, sliding so that he was standing fully between Jason and me.
“She doesn’t have it anyway,” Jason said, switching his lascivious gaze to Callum. “And you don’t have what I want, counselor.”
“There are other ways out of her contract.”
“Sure, if you want to tank her career.”
Callum didn’t have a rebuttal for this. I didn’t know what ways he had meant exactly, but Jason clearly did, and based on Callum’s reaction, he was clearly right–they would damage mycareer. I could see the cords of Callum’s neck standing out, red and ugly. I was suddenly aware of Noah standing between Renee and me, his small fists balled, his chin raised. My heart folded in half, adoration for this small boy glaring a snake in the eye, and heartbreak that he was witnessing this. Callum had taken such pains to protect him all his life, and now here he was, smack in the middle of my mess.
I had to get Jason away from here, but how?
The faint outlines of a ruse formed in my desperate mind. I would tell Jason I would go with him, but I’d have to follow him in my own car. We could renegotiate the contract in private. He would think that meant something it didn’t, and I wouldn’t correct him. Not yet anyway. I would buy myself just enough time to figure out what to do.
Even in my mixed-up state, I knew it wasn’t a good plan, but it was the best I could do right now.
I swallowed hard and put a hand on Callum’s shoulder. “This is between you and me, Jason,” I said clearly. “We can’t do it here.” I lowered my eyes, willing him to think that I’d been outsmarted. Outmaneuvered. That I was out of fight. When he nodded, I turned away and began packing up my guitar.
