by Emma Vikes
I turned around and faced him and he had that cocky smirk on his face again and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion with what he was doing. “Yes?”
When he cleared his throat and smoothened his features into a serious expression, I knew he had something up his olive-green plaid sleeve. By now, everyone was looking at us and my heart was racing in fear of what he was going to say. I raised my eyebrows and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something.
“I want you.”
For a moment, I thought I misheard it. Three words, eight letters…but he didn’t say what my heart thought he did.
For a moment, I thought the world stopped spinning and everyone else dissolved into the light but Julian remained standing a few feet away from me, the satisfied smirk making its way on his face again.
Jesus Christ, this guy was going to be the death of me.
21
Julian
Audrey’s brown eyes widened and she quickly crossed the distance between us, looking peeved at me with what I just said. “Julian!”
I feigned innocence as my eyebrows shot up in question. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I told you we keep it low-key!” She was whisper-yelling at me at this point and her eyes darted around the café and I knew that she was making sure there wasn’t anyone in the café that worked in her company and started any rumours between us.
The thing was, I understood what Audrey wanted to happen. Starting a controversy before anything remarkable happened with the band under their management would be a reckless thing to do but to be honest, I didn’t really see anything wrong with what was going with Audrey and I. If there was, it was the fact that we never really made anything official between us and I never made it clear to her that I wasn’t planning on seeing anyone else.
I’d been looking for her for five years and I finally found her. Maybe it was time to finally allow myself to fall in love. Not that I already wasn’t falling for her anyway, even before I found out that she was the girl with that voice.
“I know. I know you did and I agreed with you,” I said with a shrug, making sure I was acting as nonchalant as I could. “I don’t even know why you suddenly come up to me in a frenzy. Did you miss me that much already?”
Audrey let out a long exhale and closed her eyes, trying her best to calm herself. “Don’t do it again.”
“Don’t do what?” I repeated, squinting my eyes and pretending to think for a moment. “Oh! Say-,”
“Don’t say it.”
“I want you,” I said, looking at Audrey seriously this time and she was clearly annoyed at me right now as she pinched her temples and sighed. I wanted to say ‘I like you’ but thought against doing so because I wasn’t sure how Audrey would react since we never really made our feelings for each other clear. But if there was one thing between us that was clear as crystal, it was how much I wanted her so saying it out loud wouldn’t really make a difference.
“Julian…”
“I want you.” I repeated and Audrey let out a small whimper before shaking her head, turning her back and rushing out of the café, completely flustered. I laughed out loud and followed her out, ignoring the fact that she specifically told me that we shouldn’t come into the building together.
The moment I came into the building, I was immediately swarmed by her employees and I saw Audrey look back at me for a moment, before smirking to herself and leaving me to fend for myself. I chuckled to myself and ducked my head, maneuvering myself away from the crowd of female employees that gathered around me wanting to take a picture until the security helped me.
I was led to a room where the rest of the boys were and all of them weren’t surprise that I already looked a little tousled up. “You know we didn’t get that kind of warm welcome when we first signed up with W&R.”
Dylan was the one who made that comment and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “We were barely known then, Dylan. We made a name for ourselves in the five years that we were with that label. Of course, the employees here already know who we are.”
“That and because our channel is even bigger than the last time,” Carlos pointed out. “The music we’ve made recently took the world by storm even more, Jules. You know that.”
The damage control that we thought of after W&R dumped us was to make a channel in the month that Audrey was my assistant. In a span of a month, we made sure that we uploaded music that could be enough for an entire album and who would’ve thought that our views would skyrocket right after the first upload that we’re back on the platform?
And to be honest, I did have Audrey to thank for that. She made sure that the music we recorded still sounded professionally recorded even when it was only done in our shabby recording studio at home. She also made sure that the music videos we made were edited professionally while she allowed Dylan and José to edit the cover videos we made.
Audrey made sure that even without a record label holding us afloat, we wouldn’t sink into oblivion.
“But really though, this place is insane. When you said that Finch Records was one of the first record studios put up in LA, I didn’t think they’ll be this big.” José kept looking around the room that we were in and shaking his head. “I wonder why they said that business wasn’t good for a while.”
As far as I knew, their business went down when Audrey’s Dad was still the one in position. There were many bad calls that he made, us being one of them and probably his biggest regret. It was one of the reasons why the board wanted us to be the band that Audrey pursued on signing up before she takes her rightful position and it was a good thing that everything turned out alright.
There was a knock on the door and Theo popped in. He was grinning at us. I think out of everyone, he was the most relieved that we signed the contract with them. “Guys, we’re ready. The media is already here and Audrey’s waiting for you at the venue.”
At the mention of Audrey, my eyebrows shot up. I wanted to tease her a bit but I knew that all we were going to do was sign for publicity and was also meant as a press conference. When it was announced two days ago that our band was going to officially sign with a new label, it was quite a shock for everyone which was why we decided to do it publicly and hold a press conference about it, to answer the questions.
Everything was all set when we arrived and the media quickly took our photos as we took our seat. Audrey was sitting right beside me and as I signed the contract, my hand was on her lap and I could feel her trying to swat my hand away but I held onto her thigh firmly. Despite the fabric of her pants separating our skin, I could feel the warmth radiating off of her.
Our new manager, Curtis, was the one who answered most questions of the press and there were some that the boys took turns answering and some that Audrey had to, despite how much of a distraction my hand was being. Not until a question was directed at me.
“Julian!” One reported said, his phone held up in my directions. “Fans have been wondering. You usually have a surprise song added into the album at the last minute. They’re wondering if it’s a love song.”
I leaned back on my chair and shrugged. “Why would they wonder that if I do tend to write a love song as the bonus track?”
“They’re wondering if there’s finally an inspiration behind the song.”
“Most of the love songs I write are inspired by my family and my brother’s romantic endeavors,” I replied coolly.
In my peripheral view, I saw Audrey squirm in her seat a little. I think she had a feeling of what the next question was going to be. “Will the new one finally be inspired by your own love story? If so, is there a girl that finally caught Julian Hudson’s heart?”
I could answer the question and tell them the truth about who really was holding my heart because she was right beside me. But I respected Audrey’s request earlier and knew that even if I didn’t mind the trouble that a controversy would bring me, that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t mind the trouble that it brought her. She fi
nally just claimed her real position in the company and I didn’t want to ruin that for her by screaming to the world that I like her.
So for the first time in my career, I decided to compose my thoughts and actually think of how I should respond to the question so it didn’t drag anyone down. “If anyone’s watched or listened to a podcast interview I did a few weeks ago, I was asked if I was ever in love with someone and I answered that there’s this girl that stole my heart five years ago because of her voice.”
By now, all eyes were fixed on me and I knew that everyone was tuning in intently on what I was going to say next. “Over the month I realized, that I may be in love with the idea of her and how pleasant her voice sounded to me but if that’s all the reason I have to be in love with her, it’s too shallow. I’d rather be in love with her heart.”
“So does that mean you gave up searching for the voice that stole your heart?”
I was quiet for a moment and I wanted to glance at Audrey but decided against doing so because I didn’t want people to speculate. “Not exactly. Let’s say someone else stole my heart and surprisingly, certain things just fall into place at the moment you least expect them to.”
The following questions that they threw at me after that statement were ones I chose to ignore. All throughout, I wanted to stare at Audrey but on the occasions that I could glance at her, she kept a straight face as if my answer didn’t bother her the slightest. When the press conference finally ended, we were meant to transfer in the conference room for a meeting about the recording sessions, the album and evidently when we would do the tour. All of which, I decided to be late in.
Rather than heading straight to the conference room, I detoured to where the staff room was by asking questions from employees and bee-lining to it to drink water. My throat felt parched even when I barely answered any questions but I could feel the weight of the words that I had released and couldn’t help but feel that it would open up a conversation that I think we both knew we needed to discuss.
Just as I opened the door of the staff room, four pairs of eyes fell on me, all of which belonged to female employees of Finch Records. Shit. I was ready to close the door again and just make a run to where the conference room was but they already called my name. “Julian!”
The thing about me, I did great fan service and truly couldn’t resist. I opened the door a little more and flashed them a tight-lipped smile and small wave. “Hi.”
They were all trying to keep their cool. One flipped her hair, exposing her neck and tried to position herself in a way that I could deem as provocative. “What are you doing here?”
I pointed at the pitcher of water that I expected to be there. Back in the Wayland and Ross Records Company, they kept most beverages and snacks in the staff room which also doubled as a lounge area. I had a feeling that it would be the same in this one.
“Just wanted to drink some water,” I said as I went in the room, cautious of how they looked at me as I poured myself a glass, “before I head to the meeting. The last thing I need is for Miss Finch to be pissed at me for being late.”
One of the girls giggled. “Oh, don’t worry. Miss Finch is actually really lax. I think it’s because she’s still young and she’s already a chairwoman of the company. But don’t be deceived, she’s ridiculously good at her job.”
“If she wasn’t good, she wouldn’t have gotten your band to sign with us!” The blonde chirped, shyly looking at me.
“But you guys were without label at that time,” The one who was showing her neck at me said, “so why did it take a month for you guys to sign?”
I shrugged as I brought the glass to my lips and took a long sip. “Audrey and I knew each other way back. I guess there were things that had to be smoothened up before I signed the band with the label completely.”
“Like what?” The fourth one couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity and I gave her a flat look.
“There are certain things that are meant to be private, you know,” I answered before chugging the rest of the water. I was about to tell them goodbye when the provocative one launched another question.
“We overheard you at the press conference talking about someone that stole your heart,” she quipped, looking at me with curious eyes, “by any chance, who’s the lucky lady that managed to catch your heart?”
I stared at the girl and wondered where she found the audacity to ask me something that I didn’t even want to disclose with the media. But before I could say anything and snap at her, someone came in the room and we all turned around to look. I’d already met him before in Audrey’s house and even back then, he looked like a sly scumbag and he looked like it even more.
“Anthony Carson, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in better circumstances because the last one…” Anthony let his voice trail off as he offered me a hand to shake and I could imagine his smirk before it even grazed his lips, “let’s just say that seeing you that first time in Miss Finch’s house didn’t seem like a likely way to introduce myself to you professionally.”
I could hear the buzzed whispers of the ladies behind me and I knew that Anthony was milking this moment in a way that the odds would turn in his favour. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply with that, Mr. Carson. When you first saw me, Audrey was simply my assistant, doing her part on the terms that we agreed.”
There were murmurs behind us about Audrey agreeing to be my assistant but I blatantly chose to ignore it. Audrey never said that I couldn’t disclose that information. “Assistant, huh? I’m guessing that’s the way you both want to put it when it seemed like it was a whole different thing.”
Growing up with Leo as my brother, he taught me how to seize up an asshole when I saw one and how to be a bigger asshole if needed. I could simply end the conversation with my fist but I knew how it would look like if a newly recruited band vocalist punched the COO of the record label he just signed with.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say here, Mr. Carson. Look, I may not work in a corporate world but the thing is, I know that creating fake news about your boss in front of other employees,” I motioned to the ladies standing behind me, “may put you in a bad position, Mr. Carson. If you’re trying to suggest that there’s more to how Audrey recruited me other than her agreeing as my assistant, then you better acquire evidence for that.”
I placed my hands on his shoulders and pretending to dust him off and flashed him a smile. “Or maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m weak when it comes to women and Audrey used her body to her advantage because let’s face it, it’s not like you could work the charm with me.”
“You’re digging your own grave, Hudson.” Anthony was looking at me with amusement and I could feel him looking down on me, thinking that I was stupid enough to say that so bluntly to him.
I smirked and patted his cheek. “Maybe I am. But as soon as that information’s out in public, let’s see how the fans react to that. Some fans are loyal to a fault, Mr. Carson, and sometimes, they tend to go beyond crazy and end up doing things that you won’t like.”
“Are you threatening me, Julian Hudson?”
“I’m merely informing you, Mr. Carson. I better head out now. I’m meant to be in a meeting. It’s good to meet you in pleasant circumstances,” I replied to him, feigning innocence as much as I could. But before I left, I turned back and looked at him. He could twist my words and use it against us, “oh and to get facts straight, Audrey Finch is nowhere near my ideal woman. If you want the truth, know that I’ve never hated anyone with burning passion now.”
“Then why the hell did you sign with us?”
I flashed him my signature cocky smirk. “She promised me an even bigger stage. It’s all about the money with me.”
I ducked out of the room and made my way to the conference room where they were already starting without me and I could feel the weight of Audrey’s glare on me when I entered and took a seat beside José and I apologized to everyone for being late. There weren’t really
much that I needed to comment on, to be honest, since Audrey had everything pinned down to how I wanted it. I guess working as my assistant for a month did her an advantage.
As everyone piled out one by one, I lingered until it was only Audrey and I left. “Why were you late, Julian?”
I wanted her to ask me about what I said during the press conference but got that question instead. I spun in my seat slowly. “Went to get water.”
I could tell her that I bumped into Anthony and said what I did but opted not to. I didn’t want to stress her out about an issue that was non-existent. “It took you that long to just drink water?”
She was looking at me with narrowed eyes and I could see the current of jealousy flash in her eyes and I couldn’t help but grin sheepishly. “Tour me to the recording room?”
Audrey’s eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head. “I have things to do, Julian.”
I pouted as I stood up and approached her, leaning close to her and putting each arm on her side to trap her. “Just grant me five minutes of your time, chairwoman.”
Audrey stared into my eyes and I could see the light of her fire slowly flicker into a soft light and she let out a shaky sigh. “Okay. I’ll give you fifteen minutes of my time.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at her cockily. “Wow, fifteen minutes. You must be smitten with me, chairwoman.”
She hissed in annoyance. “Don’t make me regret it, Julian.”
I wanted to take her hand as we headed out of the room but she walked ahead of me quickly. It was a funny sight to see because it seemed like she could bolt off any second if it meant that someone would see us together but everyone seemed to be turning a blind eye. We finally reached our destination and Audrey pushed open the double door, quickly ducking inside and waiting for me to follow.
Their recording studio was beautiful and I couldn’t help but look around in awe. I looked around for a moment while Audrey took a seat on the chair and watched me as I did. I nodded at the recording booth and she motioned her hand that I could go in. I didn’t even hesitate for a second and then picked up a guitar and tuned it.