“No, but I’ve been getting calls back to back, though, about you. What’s on the TV?” Graham normally talked slow with a southern drawl that came out as fast as thick molasses being poured from a jar.
Tassia knew even he had to be worried. “That no-good gossip TV host, Chatty Charlie, just announced during his rumor patrol segment that I didn’t write any of the songs that other singers have sung. That’s bullshit.” She paced back and forth in front of the TV.
“Calm down, Tee. We can fix this.”
Tassia nodded. “I know, because the first thing I want to do is sue that son-of-a-bitch on TV for reporting that lie. Does he realize that he’s ruining my livelihood?”
“I’m sure that’s the furthest thing from his mind.” Graham’s cadence slowed down a little. “We have truth on our side.”
Tassia stopped marching. “Right.”
“You came on board with Charisma because of your writing, right?”
She chewed her lower lip before answering. “I sang studio work before I let anyone see any of my songs.”
She remembered being nervous to show off her work to anyone.
“Oh. That’s okay. You did write songs in front of the people you sold them to, right?”
The pause must have made Graham nervous, which, in turn, accelerated Tassia’s heartbeat again.
“I like writing alone. It helps my process.” She smoothed her hand back through her hair.
“You never collaborated with anyone?” Graham’s voice rose.
Like he could see her, Tassia shook her head. “Maybe change a word or phrasing here or there during recording, but that’s it.” She leaned against the wall next to the TV. “How bad do you think this is? I’ve got to post something on social media to let people know that this guy is full of shit.”
“No.” Graham’s voice now sounded like her father. “Say nothing right now.”
Tassia didn’t understand this tactic. Her reputation had been sullied and she felt like she needed to defend herself and her work.
“Right now we need to take the high road and not say anything publicly yet. You’ll have your chance to quiet the naysayers.”
She snickered. “Yeah? How am I going to do that?”
How would she work in this industry again if people believed this lie? Who would trust her?
Graham took a deep breath before he spoke. “There’s a meeting set up tomorrow at Charisma with Hyde Love. I trust you will be in town.”
Tassia glanced at her suitcase before staring at India, who looked like she wanted to fly to Fiji naked to get ready for their vacation.
“If going to this meeting will save my career, I’ll come tomorrow.” Tassia’s shoulders slumped down.
“Does that mean you’re not going to Fiji with me?” India crossed her arms over her ample chest.
Tassia disconnected the call. “I have to get my career straight. I know you can understand that.”
India didn’t. This time when India screamed, she did it out of frustration and not excitement. Tassia wanted to join her.
Chapter 5
Hyde sat in Charisma’s large conference room, waiting for Truman Woodley and his entourage. He knew the man would be in there with lawyers and business people ready for him to sign all kinds of deals. He wanted to meet Truman first before gracefully bowing out of the project, man to man, face to face. He could have done that easier without being flanked by Clever and three attorneys on Hyde’s payroll.
Clever glanced at his oversized, bejeweled watch and let out an audible sigh.
“Truman and Chantel do have twins to take care of.” Hyde didn’t know where this need to defend the Woodleys came from, but he wanted to go into this meeting with some level of positivity, or at least respect.
Clever leaned in close to Hyde. “Let’s face it. In this situation, you are the bigger star, and yet you’re here first.” He sniffed.
“None of that today.” Hyde waved his hand in front of himself. “It’s all about the music.”
At least, it should have been.
His father laughed. No, more like cackled. The sound bristled the small hairs on the back of Hyde’s neck.
“You’re not new to this. Everything is about business.” Clever knocked his elbow against Hyde’s side. “This is a power move. I feel it. The last ones in the room are the ones with the power.”
Hyde didn’t want to believe that of this duo. He had seen Truman and Chantel at a couple of award shows and shared a cursory “hi” and “good-bye” kind of interaction and nothing more. Hyde figured that despite the fame and fortune, the two of them had to be nice people.
The door opened. On instinct, Hyde stood even though his manager and the rest of his team didn’t. Hyde had been taught manners from the champion of excellent southern charm herself, Mrs. Mabel Love, his grandmother.
A mature man strolled in before a harried woman waltzed in behind him. The sight of that twisted Hyde’s gut. The guy should have opened the door for the woman even if he didn’t know her, which from the way they whispered to each other when they sat at the table, he could tell they must work together. Neither of them introduced themselves to anyone, which he also found odd and a little rude.
Hyde reached over the table. “Hi, I’m Hyde Love.” He held his hand up to the woman first, who blinked, glanced at the man next to her, and then finally accepted his hand.
“Uh, hi. I’m Norma Stern.” She shook his hand so briefly, she barely left the warmth of it when she drew it back.
“Graham Pontefort.” He, on the other hand, gave Hyde a strong handshake but limited eye contact.
Neither stood during their introductions. Mabel would have popped them both had she been in the room.
Hyde nearly took a seat, thinking no one else would be arriving besides Truman and Chantel, when a woman walked in who took every bit of his sense out of his head.
The gorgeous African-American woman floated into the room like she commanded every part of it. Time had been very generous to Tassia Hogan. He noticed she had something that looked like French braids in several rows in her hair that went down to a grouped ponytail that she let rest over her shoulder, different from the pigtails she used to sport as a child. Thin straps held up the very summery dress she wore that whispered over her breasts and brushed the tops of her sandaled feet. Her honey-oak skin tone looked smooth from where Hyde stood.
Without a word, she dominated the room, forcing grown men who didn’t bother to acknowledge the first woman who had walked into the room to actually stand when she entered. Hyde had nearly pulled off his trademark baseball cap when he felt a sharp elbow to his side. That motion alone prompted him to follow his original instincts and remove his hat in front of this beautiful woman.
Her reaction to not look at him didn’t surprise him. In the last few years, every time he had entered a room, every woman watched him and made a point of getting his attention. Not this cool customer. Their last interaction hadn’t been a positive one, so it surprised him that she would want to be a part of this project. Or maybe, like him, she only came to this meeting to turn the project down to his face.
She kept her gaze on the table and the empty chair across from him. When she finally connected her green-eyed stare to his, Hyde stopped breathing. He remembered her having that same effect on him when they filmed the show.
“Long time no see.” When he noticed that she stared at him blankly, Hyde decided to break the ice. He held his hand up to her. “I’m Hyde. I don’t know if you remember me. We used to work together.”
She gave Mona Lisa a run for her money with the slight smile she presented before taking his hand. Electricity shot up Hyde’s arm to the top of his head before zipping down to his booted feet that remained cemented to the floor.
“I remember you.”
Hyde had kept his total concentration on
the way her full lips formed words and sounds that came out of her luscious mouth.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I didn’t know you would be a part of this project.” Had Hyde known, he wouldn’t have shown up to the meeting. No use dredging up the past, especially after doing so much work to squash his previous entertainment work.
Tassia had him. Between her hypnotic gaze, the softness of her hand that made him imagine that he held velvet covered in mink fur, and her magnetic aura, Hyde couldn’t escape. Luckily, he wanted to be trapped in her vortex.
Hyde continued holding her hand as he spoke. “Tassia. You’ve changed a lot.” He didn’t know how to react to her. He had already shaken her hand, but because of their humble entertainment beginnings, he really wanted to hug her. “No more pigtails.”
“But you still have that baseball cap.” She pointed to the cap he held in his hand.
Hyde shoved the rolled-up bill in his back pocket. From the way Tassia crossed her arms over her chest, he figured she didn’t want the embrace.
In his mind he did a mental inventory of all the changes. Tassia had sprung up in height. Even at ten, she had towered over most of the boys on set, including him. Not now. From what he could tell from her flowy dress, it looked like she had a nice figure. Her eyes had remained the same. He remembered being eleven and too nervous to stare her in her eyes. Not today.
“We met one time after the show, but I guess you don’t remember me.” She pulled a chair back on the opposite side of the table from him.
“Maybe what you did wasn’t memorable.” If Truman and Chantel planned to pair him up with her, Hyde knew he couldn’t do this project.
He didn’t need the media bringing up their Ratty Rat’s Fun Crew association again, not when he had successfully managed to get the media to finally stop talking about his early acting work. If he got paired up with Tassia, he would be the laughingstock of the music industry.
“Maybe your taste in quality has changed.”
“It has. I no longer deal in childish things.” Hyde had to be clear with her. He had no desire to revisit the past. Tassia had to know that. “Besides, you’re doing a lot on your own these days, right? You do back-up singing for Aaron?”
The scowl that covered her face could have erupted every dormant volcano in the world. She promptly sat in the chair.
“I’m not a back-up singer. You made it painfully obvious that I wasn’t suitable, at least not for you.” She sounded like she growled the statement. “If you knew I was coming and you have no interest in working with me, why did you come?”
“I didn’t know who my duet partner would be.”
Tassia laughed. “Sounds like you still are being treated like a child. I knew you would be asked when I was asked about the project.” She cocked her head. “You may want to question your management team about keeping you in the dark.”
“Hi, I’m Clever Love, Hyde Love’s manager and his father.” He shook Tassia’s hand.
“I know who you are. I remember seeing you around the set from the Ratty Rat days.” Tassia nodded.
“I’m afraid I don’t remember you that much from that time period, but it was so long ago, and my son has gone on and done lots of things.” He shrugged, and then held his hand up to the two people who had come in the room before the surly beauty to introduce himself to them.
The woman shook Clever’s hand first. “I’m Tassia Hogan’s agent.” She nodded over to the man next to her. “This is Tassia’s manager.” Then she glanced around the room. “Anyone here on Truman or Chantel’s side?”
The rest of the people shook their heads. As though mentioning their names conjured the duo, the door opened and the Woodleys walked inside.
As Hyde expected, Truman held the door open for his wife. When she got to the table, he pulled her chair out for her. Gentleman through and through.
“Please excuse our tardiness. I had forgotten what having toddlers means to your life.” Truman sat down after his wife, while a smattering of laughter rippled through the large group.
“I hope you all introduced yourselves and weren’t waiting for us.” Chantel’s naturally husky and rich voice sounded strong, a far cry from the image of her being weak and fragile after her infamous nervous breakdown a few years ago.
“We did, but we haven’t formally met.” Hyde reached over to Chantel first. “Hyde Love. Nice to meet you.”
Chantel beamed as she shook his hand. “Very nice to meet you. I enjoy your work.” She pulled her hand back after shaking Hyde’s to put it on top of her husband’s arm. “Thanks to this wonderful man here, I’ve gained a new appreciation for all types of music, particularly country. I love it.”
Hyde’s face hurt from smiling so hard. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Oh, please. Call me Chantel.”
“Hi, I’m Truman Woo—”
“Woodley.” Hyde nodded. He suspected he must have looked like a wide-eyed fan, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he did enjoy this man’s music. “I know. Very nice to meet you. I’m a fan of your music.” He glanced at Chantel. “Both of you. My grandmother used to make me play ‘Love Me, Love Me, Love Me’ on the piano when we had company over.”
Again, the attendees laughed.
Chantel blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man sing that song. I think that would be interesting to hear.”
Feeling a bit in control and gentlemanly, Hyde turned to the trio that had come into the room before the Woodleys. “Have you met Tassia Hogan and her team?”
Chantel chuckled a little. “Yes. Tassia actually is a contracted artist here at Charisma. We’re very well acquainted.”
The picture started to come into focus for Hyde as he assumed his seat. “Okay.”
He turned to Clever to get his mind back on business and out of the euphoric fantasy that he had created in his head where he and the Woodleys would have fun jam sessions, and he and Tassia could discuss the tension between them before finally parting ways for good.
“Hopefully, you all know why we’re here.” Chantel clasped her hands together and rested them on the large, long table that looked like it had been a rooted tree only moments before. A thin varnish covered the sanded down level finish.
“Something about a duet, right?” Hyde glanced over at Tassia, who kept her stare on the Woodleys.
“That’s right.” Truman nodded. “My wife and I were thinking about our next project. We liked the idea of mixing genres.” He glanced at Chantel and smiled. “It worked so well for us.”
Chantel gripped his hand.
Hyde had written songs about that level of love and devotion that he saw in Truman and Chantel. He thought relationships like that only existed in books and songs. He wanted that kind of love with someone outside of the industry. Thanks to Shelby Lynne, he couldn’t imagine falling for someone in the music business.
“Sounds nice.” Graham’s voice cut through the still air in the room. “When would you want this released?”
Chantel directed her full attention on Graham. “We’re hoping by March of next year.”
“March?” Clever put his hand to his stiff peak of freshly dyed hair. “Promotionally speaking, that doesn’t give us a lot of time. I mean, we were promoting Hyde’s current release a year before it came out. We’re already into August, almost September. You want to record an album in that time and have it released by—”
“Spring. Yes.” Truman nodded. “It can be done. With the right social media buzz, it could still work.”
“We want to release the album that quick to capture the awards season.” Chantel sat up taller like she needed to prove something to someone. “We’ve already been given a time spot to perform at the Grammys and Breakout Music Awards.”
“When you mentioned this to me, you said you wanted us to write all of the songs.” Tassia pointed to Hyde and fina
lly looked at him.
“What?” As much as he didn’t want to, Hyde broke away from her mesmerizing stare to bring his full attention to Truman and Chantel, poised at the end of the table. “The songs aren’t written already?”
“We thought you liked writing your own songs.” Truman stared back at Hyde.
“Maybe I assumed that because this was some sort of passion project for you that you would have already had some songs in mind for the album.” For as much as Hyde had been doing for the last few years of his life, he wanted to be taken care of finally. Pampered a bit, well, if he decided to do the project.
Writing took a lot out of him because he put so much of himself into the work. If the Woodleys expected him to write, record, and promote this album, he definitely wanted to bow out of this effort.
“We wanted you two to have a meeting of the minds and write from your hearts.” Chantel volleyed her attention between Hyde and Tassia. “We would open Charisma’s studio up to you two for a month to have you write out the songs you want on the album. You’ll have access to all instruments.”
“Producers?” Tassia asked and leaned her head back as she awaited the answer.
“In-house again.” Truman pointed to himself and then his wife. “Me, Chantel, and Laz Kyson.”
Hyde hadn’t worked with any of them before, but a small spark ignited inside of him. Maybe this creative new direction would be the key to getting his love back into music. The more Truman and Chantel talked, the more he became enamored with the idea. The downside had to be working with Tassia. That couldn’t happen.
“What do you say?” Chantel intertwined her fingers with Truman’s.
Just as Hyde started to say he wanted to be a part of the project if they didn’t involve Tassia, Clever took away his voice with one statement. “No.” He shook his head emphatically. “You want my guy to do all the work to bring your singer up.”
Truman’s eyebrows furrowed. “No. Tassia is a gifted songwriter and singer.”
“Not according to every gossip site out there.” Clever glared at Tassia. “No wonder your name sounds familiar. You were just blasted for not writing any of the songs that you claimed you wrote.” He snickered. “I bet you pocketed all that money, too. And you’ll have to give back any awards you’ve won.” He turned to the Woodleys. “And now you want to link her tarnished image to my shining star and think it’s going to fly? Not a chance.” Then he wagged his finger at her. “I do remember you from the show now. You quit right before a taping. Your father dragged you out. Is that what’s going to happen here? You get upset about something and you’re going to give up and leave my guy in the lurch?” He glared at Truman and Chantel. “Did you know she did that before you two thought that they would be great back together again?”
Crazy on You Page 7