“What are you doing, Amber?” She glared at me.
I shook my head. “Don’t call her right now. Go over, be all sympathetic and blame me. Tell her you knew I was a slut and a dirty stop out, but be there. Don’t pull away from her now. I know you love me and that we are friends, but she needs you right now. No matter what, one of us has to be there for her, because next time, it could be so much worse.”
Tears spilled from my eyes as I told her to side with her sister and her creepy, psycho boyfriend over me. But Ellis needed her. I’d be okay. I had a new job, somewhere to live and some kids to focus on.
“This job is twenty four seven anyway honey, so don’t worry about me. I’ll be around and we can still see each other.” Lexa leaned over and hugged me, pulling me in as my heart threatened to break. In the last fortnight my parents had disowned me, my fiancé dumped me and now my best friend believed her psycho boyfriend over me. Sadness threatened to engulf me as a few tears spilled from my eyes.
Lexa leaned back and wiped them away. “Ssshh honey. It’s okay. She’ll come around and I’ll fill my mom and dad in.” I nodded and laid my head on her shoulder as we sat side by side in silence. After twenty minutes, Lexa sighed and got up. “I better go to the hospital. Thank god my mom and dad are in Antigua.”
I tried to smile as I walked Lexa out, but my heart was breaking. I couldn’t cope anymore. My numbness was becoming harder and harder to maintain. As I walked back up the cream marble staircase, I decided to rip the band aid off and call my parents.
I picked up my cell and decided to text Mase, he hadn’t done anything wrong, but I was a prize cow to him and he didn’t deserve that. He was a nice guy and after I’d text him I felt a little better. I gripped my cell tightly in my shaking hands. I grabbed the light blue comforter off the bed and moved over to the window seat.
As I dialled my dad I wondered what he and my mom had been doing. They didn’t need to work, but my dad did anyway. My mom had probably hit the bottle hard since I’d been disowned. The cell rang and rang and I was about to give up when Becca answered the call.
“Mayor Davis’s cell, Rebecca speaking, can I help you.”
“Becca, it’s Amber, can you put me through please?” There was a pause and I fidgeted with my bracelet. As the pause became uncomfortable, Becca finally spoke. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m under express instructions not to pass any calls through.” Her tone was clipped and professional. Bitch, I’d got her that fucking job and now I wasn’t even allowed to speak to my own father?
“You mean you aren’t allowed to put me through. Never fucking mind. I get it.” I heard her spluttering as I ended the call and I threw my cell across the room in frustration. I stood up and started pacing, walking around and around the hardwood floor, until my fury reached boiling point, if he didn’t want to speak to me, then I’d fucking email him.
From [email protected]
To [email protected]
Dad
I got the cars back. I’m selling both and will put the cash in my savings account, however if you want the cash back, just let me know and it’s yours. I also retrieved my Van Gogh and my graduation vase. If you’d like these back again, let me know.
Just so you know, Ellis’s boyfriend assaulted me today, but I sorted it though I’ve now lost Ellis and Lexa.
I haven’t sold the flat yet, I told Henry he had six months, but you can sell it if you’d rather.
I really have nothing more to say
Amber
When the message was sent I had more nervous energy, so I unpacked everything, trying to make the room look more homely and less like a museum. After two hours, I heard the door open downstairs and I left the room, ready to properly meet the children for the first time. As I got downstairs I saw it was only Helena who’d come back. She was dressed in tight black skinny jeans, a cream coloured top and her light brown hair was rolled up in a chignon.
Her eyes watched me in disdain as I made my way down the stairs and she sneered at me, moving closer as she spoke. “making yourself at home are you?”
I smiled and nodded at her, looking around her to see where her mom and the babies were. “They aren’t coming back until later. I convinced my mom to take the kids to her church group so we could have a little chat, just you and me.”
Her eyes narrowed and I fidgeted with my bracelet, my habit when I was really nervous. I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle today. My temper was about ready to explode, but I nodded at her and she gestured to the sitting room. I walked in slightly ahead of her and sat down on a chair. The room was pale grey, with massive bay windows and a window seat. There were two grey three-seater leather sofas and two darker grey leather chairs. There were bookcases lining the sides of the fireplace and an enormous TV was hung on the wall.
Helena watched me as I looked around the room. She didn’t speak until I glanced over at her, wondering why she was so quiet. “Finished your scan now?” She said with loathing. I just shrugged at her.
“I don’t like you,” were her next words and I shrugged again. No shit Sherlock! I’d gotten that impression within minutes of meeting her. “And I certainly don’t want you around my niece, so whatever Mase is paying you, I’ll double it if you’ll just take off. I’ll give you two months’ pay which should be enough to get you a job somewhere else, but you can’t tell Mase any of this. He’d do his nut if he thought I was interfering.”
I lifted my fingers to my lips and I had to bite them to stop myself from laughing at her. She was serious. “Helena, I’m not going anywhere and the sooner you get that into your head the better it’ll be.” I stood up and moved towards the door. She followed me, grabbing hold of my arm as I reached the door handle.
“He’ll never sleep with you if that’s what you want. And if you so much as think about leaking things to the press, I’ll come after you with everything I have.” Her face was screwed up in disgust and I shook my head at her.
“Helena, why don’t you Google Amber Davis and then you might finally get it into your head that I’m not after your brother or his money. And I certainly don’t need any fame? I just want to work and look after the babies, but I can’t deal with anymore drama today. Let your mom know I’ll be in my room when she gets back and I’ll come downstairs then.”
I snatched my arm away from her and stormed upstairs, leaning on my door and letting the past few weeks overwhelm me. First my sleezeball of a boss touched me up. When I reported it, I was fired because the boss’s best friend wouldn’t do that. My dad, upon hearing of my dismissal, not by me, but by the company director, told me he’d had enough and was locking me out of my accounts. The only account I had, that he hadn’t closed, had a measly four grand in it. When I went home and spoke to Henry about it, he was aghast. At first I thought he was on my side, but he was talking about holidays that he’d planned and how would we afford to live? Then he told me he didn’t love me anymore and asked me to leave.
Most of my friends had been out of town for the last weekend of summer but I’d called Ellis first, since she was my best friend. She’d said of course I could stay with her, but I’d need to sleep on the couch because the spare room was being remodelled. When I went around trying to apply for jobs, I was told by a friend at one of the agencies, that my name had been blacklisted, and I should look for something else. Which led me to here. I was exhausted. I moved towards the bed, slumping down as my cell chirped beside my head.
I glanced over and saw it was a message from Lexa. Ellis was being kept in overnight for observation and Kurt was out on bail so I was to watch my back. I closed my eyes and felt the tears starting. My whole life, in the space of a week, had been turned upside down and I had no idea what was going to happen. Or where I was going now, but I had to give this my all. I couldn’t fail again. I wouldn’t fail again.
I drifted off to sleep and dreamt of Mase, singing to me as I slept well into the afternoon. My dreams of fucking and sucking him made me hot as
hell, but I didn’t have any of my toys. That dick Henry had kept them all.
Mase
As we walked up the one floor to the meeting room, that one we hadn’t used since Jackson had left, I started to feel stirrings of apprehension in my stomach. Quinn was in front of me, texting, and as usual, not paying the slightest bit of attention. But even for him he seemed distracted. I wanted to have a word with him about earlier, so I’d need to grab him at the end of the meeting.
Harris walked beside me, calm and collected while Lewis looked around, everywhere, but at me. We moved as a unit into the oval glass meeting room on the top floor. Dick One and Dick Two were sitting with Jackson. Jackson glanced up nervously at me and picked up his drink, taking a large swallow, the ice clinked on the glass as he set it down with shaking hands. It dawned on me why he looked so nervous.
Shit! I thought, this is all about to come out. I raised my eyebrows at him and he nodded, his chins wobbling spectacularly as we made our way to the seats. I didn’t sit, but walked over to the liquor cabinet. I poured myself a stiff drink, sipping it as I walked back to the table, when all I wanted to do was neck it.
“Sit Mason. Please?” Dick One asked and I narrowed my eyes at him. They owned thirty percent between them. Jackson had owned thirty five percent and I’d owned fifteen percent, with the remainder split between Harris, who owned ten percent, and Quinn and Mark with five percent each. I was now the majority shareholder, but only Harris and Jackson knew. I hadn’t wanted the band to know until we’d finished recording our next album.
I sat down in my chair. Harris glanced sideways at me, writing something on his notepad. He was always the note taker.
I sensed a coup coming.
He wrote everything down, even words we’d rejected. Sometimes our best lyrics had come from his notes. I nodded at him as Dick One started speaking. “Mason, I know you’ve been running the show here since Jackson stepped down, but we feel, as majority shareholders, that the reigns should now be passed over to us.” I glanced around the table and every face was livid, except mine.
The paperwork had been signed, everything was notarised and there was nothing that the Dickwad could do about it. If they didn’t like it, they could leave. Dick One spoke again. “We don’t fully like the direction the company is going in.” He fidgeted with his hands and rolled his wedding ring around and around as he spoke. “The signing of two unknown bands, without consulting us, has us concerned. Especially after hearing their music. We’d like to take over. Effective immediately. And we are going to drop Hard Rain and Six Hero’s at the conclusion of this meeting.”
I sat there stunned; both these bands had more talent in one finger than either of these two dicks had between them. I stood up again. “Now it’s my turn to talk.”
Dick One squirmed and Dick Two rolled his eyes, speaking out, “there really isn’t much more to say. Until Jackson signs over his shares of the company, we have every right to take control. This meeting is just a formality. And while we’re on the subject, when can we expect the finished album on our desk? The samples you have sent over are shit and not worth the CD’s they are printed on.”
My whole body thrummed with anger and my fists shook as I slammed them down on the table, “Actually you’re wrong.” I had to take a deep breath and Jackson sat back, sipping his scotch. He had retained five percent of his shares, but I still held forty five percent. These two dicks could suck my fucking cock if they thought they were undoing any of my hard work.
They both glanced at each other and stood up, shrugging and I slammed my fist down on the table again, beyond enraged. “You two cocksuckers better sit the fuck down until I’m finished, or you’ll be looking for new employment by the end of the day.” I rarely let myself get this angry, but I’d had a hell of a day and these fuckers trying to take my company away from me, threatened to break my grip on my self-control. They both froze and turned to me as I spoke. “What you two dicks don’t know, and you didn’t bother to check, was if Jackson had signed over his shares to anyone. Am I right?”
They both nodded and squirmed as I stared them down, and I glanced at Jackson. “Right you are son.”
I smirked and looked over at them gleefully. “Well boys, I hate to be the one to break this to you, and I wasn’t going to tell my band, but I now own forty five percent shares in this company. Jackson retained his five percent and the boys’ shares haven’t changed at all.” I glanced around at this point and released the dickwad from my glare. When I saw the looks on the boys faces I almost stopped, but I couldn’t. I shook my hands off and continued, pacing about the room as I let rip at these two know-it-all fuckwits.
“Now, there will be no fucking changes and if you have anything else you want to talk about, then you do it in a more professional manner. This company has always been a family and we brought you two fuckers in to try and balance things out, but there is no way in hell, you are staging a coup with the company we’ve worked our asses off for, for the last four years. If you don’t like it, there are others we can sell to. Now get the fuck back to your office and don’t ever try and do that to me again, because next time I’ll have your fucking assess.”
They both scurried from the room. I groaned and sat down, completely exhausted. Jackson burst out laughing and Harris clapped me on the back saying, “that was fucking epic, man.”
I glanced up at both Quinn and Lewis and they glared at me. Lewis breaking first as he pushed his chair back and stormed for the door. Quinn laughed at me. “Man how could you keep this to yourself?”
I shook my head at him, watching as he picked up Harris’s scotch and downed it. “Go get Lewis back, please mate. We need to talk about this.” I glanced round and Jackson regarded me warily. “You old fucker,” I bit out at him, wanting to go for his neck, “you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
He nodded and continued playing with the pen on his desk. “You needed to know if you could trust them. I knew you never liked them when I brought them in, but you went with them for me. But if you can get the guys to agree, buy them out. You need people on your team you can rely on and those two will try to get revenge on you. They thought they had it in the bag.”
The conference room door opened and I turned around to see who it was, when Lewis flew at me, his fist catching my upper eye. I let him get his hit in, and then stood up, grabbing some ice from the dispenser and holding it over my eye. “Feel better now?” I asked him as he stood beside both Quinn and Harris, vibrating like a toy that hadn’t been turned off properly. He nodded stiffly and threw himself into a chair at the table. Jackson moved down to sit across from us. For a moment we all sat in silence, remembering the good old days, when it was just us. When all we did was talk music. Not the politics of running a business. Just us, our guitars and the man who broke us into the industry.
“So what are we gonna do about those two?” Quinn asked, for once sounding serious, “I reckon we should buy them out and bring some new people on board. We need to know who to trust and we obviously can’t trust them.”
I opened my mouth to reply when there was a timid knock at the door and Suzette from Hard Rain poked her head around the door. “Sorry to disturb your meeting Mr Michaels, but we were told to meet Tom and Ron from A&R here today. Have they cancelled?”
I glanced around the room and it was Jackson who spoke. “Well yes and no. Come on in and say tell Six Hero’s to as well.” Within a few minutes they had entered the room. I nodded to each of them in turn. Emily, Amanda, Laura and Kirsten sat across from us while Suzette sat at the top of the table. Lisa, Cris, Geddes, Marty, Peter and Colm all found seats around the table too.
I waved my hand about. All the chatter died instantly with every single eye on me. On stage I could deal with it, but here in such a tight confined space, it made my skin crawl and my palms sweat. But I never showed it.
“Hey all, basically Dick’s One and Two tried to perform a coup today and then tried to let both your bands go. I basically
told them who was boss and shut them down. From now on, nothing goes to them without coming through my office first. Got it?” I glanced around the room and noticed everyone had reacted differently to the news. The guys had their fists clenched, and some of the girls had tears in their eyes, while others were chalk white as they watched me.
“So what we are now talking about is, what we are gonna do about it? The options are buy them out or suffer them? I want them out, but do you? Raise your hands for yes and keep them on the table for no.” I glanced around and every single person had their hand in the air.
“Settled then, next thing we need to decide is, how much we offer for thirty percent shares?”
I glanced at Harris, Mark and Lewis and finally over at Jackson who laughed, pointing at me. “You leave me outa this, Shelby’d have my nuts if I came anywhere near this company again.” I laughed and looked at the boys, waiting on them to speak when Suzette spoke from the other end of the table.
“The current market value of this place is forty three point two million, so thirty percent of that is…”
She paused and Harris answered, “approximately thirteen million.”
I knew the boys had it, so I offered it to them first. “Guys can you put in four-point five mil each?”
But the other side of the table erupted. “Wow, wait a minute.” Suzette shouted.
Cris spoke up. “What about us? Why can’t we all put in?”
I nodded towards my guys and they stood up and walked outside. Harris came in with a piece of paper and handed it to me.
We’ll put forward three mil each. The other two bands can put together one point five each and have one member each on the board.
I skimmed it and smiled, before nodding and speaking, “Okay, how’s this for a deal? Members of Black Mercy will put forward nine mil and both of the other bands can put forward one point five, but only one member of each band is allowed on the board.”
Black Mercy (San Francisco Rock Romance Book 1) Page 7