Raven just stared at Eric, waiting for him to answer.
“Yes, it was a setup, but Mom didn’t know. I…well…I…well.”
Pierce thundered into the suite with Raven and Eric in pursuit.
“Shoes off!” Raven and Pierce ordered at the same time. Eric froze, ran back to the door, slipped off his shoes, and placed them near the others.
Pierce glanced at Raven, who almost withered under his angry glare. Eric’s brown suit looked as though he had slept in it all night. Pierce’s eyes widened at Eric. “I should have known it was a little too convenient for you to have her books ‘just waiting’ at your desk.”
“Why, Eric?” Raven questioned, her voice thick with hurt emotion. “And why him?”
“Hey, I’ll ask the questions ‘round here,” Pierce interrupted, then stiffened. “What do you mean why him? I’m beginning to feel a little insulted here.”
Eric followed them into the living room, breezily ignoring his mother’s and Pierce’s annoyance. “Nice spread!”
“Eric, get to the point!” Raven commanded as only a mother could. “You’d better tell us what’s going on here.”
The young man lowered his head and swallowed hard. “Remember that day when we were watching that reality show on the music channel?”
“I remember,” she replied testily.
“And I said, ‘Wow, Simeon really has a lot of power!’ “
Raven’s hand inched toward her hips. “Okay and…”
“And you said, ‘No, look at him.’ “ Eric turned to a stone-faced Pierce. “She meant you.” He looked back at his mother. “You said, ‘He has the power. Every time something goes wrong, Simeon yells for that man: Where’s Pierce? Get Pierce! I need Pierce! What did Pierce say? Did you check with Pierce?’
“Then you said, ‘He’s the person to admire. He has strength and wisdom, and unlike Simeon, he’s ethical and reliable.’ “
Pierce’s broad shoulders relaxed. Raven sighed. “But that didn’t mean I wanted you to set me up with––”
“It’s the only time I’ve ever heard you say a kind word about any man.”
Raven paled considerably. She felt sick.
Pierce turned to her, searching her eyes as he asked, “You said all that about me?”
Silence. She stared openly at Eric. Did her son really think she had a thing against men?
Pierce moved toward her, brow furrowed with worry. “You saw all that just from watching a reality show? And I wasn’t even on that much.”
“You can tell when a person has character,” she whispered as she blinked back tears of embarrassment. She inched away from Pierce, bracing herself on the counter.
“Then why didn’t that character work in my favor when we first met?”
Raven swallowed hard, trying to catch her bearings, focusing on the question instead. “You interrupted my flow. I was writing. I wasn’t there looking for love or, well,” she stole a quick glance at her son before adding, “you know.” Then she turned to Eric, whose smirk slipped away under her hard glare. “And that didn’t mean, young man, that I wanted you to travel to New York to get me a date. It makes me seem desperate and…and…”
“Very much loved,” Pierce answered as he leaned in to silence her with a soft kiss.
She blushed, and out of the corner of her eyes saw Eric pump his fist in the air. The faint sound of, “Yesssssssss” echoed around them. His ear-to-ear grin was infectious and made Pierce laugh.
Raven glowered at her son. “You’re grounded.”
Eric’s smile disappeared faster than ice on a Hawaiian beach. “Awwww, Mom!”
“Just kidding.” She smiled as she went to him, ran her hand through his wavy hair. “But no more trying to hook me up with your boss, your teacher, your doctor, the fathers of your fans, Tom, Dick, and Harry, Devon, James, or Raheem. You can’t do this anymore.”
Pierce grabbed her hand. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have to.”
Raven’s jaw dropped. She looked deeply in his eyes and became lost.
Pierce said to Eric, “Now, what brings you to Maui with just a briefcase and a smile?”
Eric scratched his head. “Well, a funny thing happened after you left the office…”
❤ ❤ ❤
An hour later, after the magnitude of the two young men’s actions had kicked in, Pierce stomped to the phone, punched the speaker button, and dialed. The moment someone answered, Pierce roared, “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
Eric and Raven both winced.
“And good morning to you, too, Pierce,” Steve Iken shot back calmly, which only served to further irritate Pierce.
“Did it occur to you that I could’ve handled things when I got back?”
“Eric overheard Simeon talking to Vlad about cutting you out. Did it occur to you that by the time you got back, there would be nothing you could handle—”
“That’s not the point!” Pierce roared. “Your actions—and Eric’s,” he pointed a finger in the direction of the young man inching closer to his mother, “make it look like I planned something underhanded all along.”
“It could actually be interpreted by someone with a brain and common sense, that some people—like Eric and me for instance—are on your side,” Steve reasoned.
Pierce sighed, then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We could put it all back if you like,” Steve said dryly. “I just took you for a man who was ready to come out from the shadows.”
Ouch! Even Raven covered her eyes as she flinched at that one.
Pierce asked, “With you as my vice president?”
“But of course,” Steve replied, every bit of his natural arrogance coming through. “I’m not trying to save the world, but I would like to work for someone who’s fair, focused, and in this business for all the right reasons.”
Eric nodded vigorously, sliding the rest of the folders to Pierce.
“And you, too?” Pierce asked Eric, flipping to the first set of documents.
“Vice president of Artists & Repertoire works for me.”
Steve might have the drive, but after learning of Eric’s role in the setup with Raven, Pierce knew for certain that this plan had Eric written all over it. Twenty-five-year-old and seventeen-year-old VPs? Those two working together would be nothing but trouble. But he had to admit, in twenty-four hours they had made some major moves. He himself couldn’t––no, make that wouldn’t––have done it quite so fast. But they had done everything just right. With the exception of leaving him out of things.
“Can I say something?” Raven ventured with a raised hand.
“You stay out of this,” he snapped. “Let Eric take his own heat.”
Pierce continued to pace, then suddenly stopped. “I appreciate what you did, but I would have appreciated it more if you had consulted me before doing all of this.”
“Someone wasn’t answering his phone.”
“I just hope you have thought all this through,” Pierce said, rubbing a hand over his bare head.”
“There’s nothing up there,” Eric quipped.
“Issues like these make it stay way!” Pierce shook his head. “Sim is going to make this ugly.”
“He won’t know anything for a few days,” Eric said, with a grin as wide as the Mississippi River.
“We made sure you had everything relating to your artists and their contracts,” Steve continued.
“And we shipped your personal things,” Eric chimed in. “They arrived at your house yesterday. Your housekeeper came in early to receive them.”
Pierce shook his head, still angry that they had taken on so much without his permission, yet amazed at the efficiency of their feat. He scoffed at Eric, “Two regular masterminds. Or two master criminals. I could strangle both of you!”
One determined look from Eric let Pierce know that he didn’t have an apologetic bone in his body. At least he had the presence of mind to hide his grin behind a yawn. “So, Stev
e,” Pierce began, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. “What’s next on my agenda?”
“You need to sell your MEG shares, pronto! There’s a rumor floating around that you’ve jumped ship, which means that the stock will plummet.”
Eric leaned forward. “You may want to do it before Simeon makes any kind of announcement or does something stupid that will send it downhill.”
“What about your shares?” Pierce asked Steve.
“Sold it the day you left.”
“Convenient.”
“Smart,” Steve offered. “Didn’t want it to appear suspicious if we did it at the same time. Don’t need the Securities Exchange Commissionon on our asses, too.”
“But it’s okay if everyone else is on our asses?” Pierce remarked evenly, still pacing the living room. “Finally get away for a little vacation—”
“And something else?” Eric questioned with a wide grin full of mischief.
Raven elbowed him—hard.
Pierce was seeing red. “—and everyone loses their damn minds.” He ran his fingers over his bare head, looked at Eric and halted his movement. “This should’ve taken more planning, more consideration. I’m not ready for this.”
“You were born ready,” Eric said, his serious tone forcing Pierce to turn back and look at him. “And from some of your files, it looks like you’ve been planning this, too.”
“I was only thinking putting this in place for a later date,” Pierce retorted after a moment. Eric had truly peeped his game. “I wanted the contracts with Raven in place to produce the movies and do the soundtracks. I wanted to try new acts until I found the right fit for a new label. Businesses take time to create.”
“They take guts,” Eric said with a lift of his chin, “opportunity and preparedness. You’ve got the guts. We might’ve thrust you into the preparedness thing and all, but this, right now, is the prime opportunity.”
Pierce studied Eric for a moment. The kid had heart. And balls. Big ones!
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Eric challenged as he met and held Pierce’s steady gaze.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be helping me here?” Pierce asked Raven.
“Remember, you told me to stay out of it,” she snapped, biting her bottom lip as she tried to mask her anger.
“That’s when you were trying to cover for Eric—”
“Oh, so it’s only fine when it’s to cover for you?” she shot back.
Eric grinned, looking from Raven to Pierce and back to Raven. “A love spat. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the two of you.”
Pierce took a long breath, and then laughed in spite of himself, noting that Eric, more confident now than before, had moved an inch or so away from his mother. Caught between being a teenager and an adult. What a place to be.
“He’s right, Pierce,” Steve said solemnly. “I’ve noticed a lot since I started working at MEG. You were the reason MEG produced hit after hit with top artists. When you left, they barely broke the top one hundred. You are the heart and soul of everything that once was Manhattan Entertainment Group, and truthfully, as long as Simeon continues just using it as a tax write-off for his other companies, it’ll never get back to that status. He just doesn’t care.”
Pierce slipped into the chair across from Raven and Eric. “The kind of projects I’m thinking of taking on will take a lot more than chump change.”
Steve didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll put in what I have.”
“If my mom, my lawyer, and my accountant say it’s okay,” Eric began, “I’ll invest something, too, since I am part of the reason you might lose money on your shares and stuff.”
Pierce guffawed snidely. “Nice try. I have the money, Eric. And we’re not talking just a few thousand here.”
Eric reared back, gaze fixed on Pierce. “Neither am I.”
Pierce looked at Raven and then both stared at Eric.
The young man shrugged. “I can spare about four million or so. Nothing major.”
“Nothing major?” Pierce retorted, with another quick look at Raven, then back at Eric. “I can’t take money from you. But damn, book sales are that good?”
“I’ve been published since I was eleven and have a great agent, broker, and an accountant. Some of my novels are with a major publishing house, the others are with an independent publisher, which benefits from all the promotion the major house does. Getting it from both ends really pays off.”
“I need to talk with your publisher and find out his secret.”
“Her secret,” Eric corrected.
Raven tensed, her gaze flitting across the room.
Pierce’s eyebrows drew in as he noticed the exchange. “A woman runs Macro?”
“Yep, and you know her, too,” Eric replied, despite the warning grip Raven had placed on his arm.
“I’ve never met—”
Eric grinned, turned to look at his mother, then at Pierce, and winked.
“Raven?”
Eric didn’t answer, but Steve did. “Makes sense. Mainstream author and independent publisher.”
“The woman wears many hats,” Eric said, grinning, despite his mother’s thunderous expression.
Raven’s color had returned full force and her eyes narrowed to slits. “Are you men finished with your little powwow? I need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with my son.”
Pierce looked at Eric and Raven and kicked himself for not noticing the family resemblance. Same bright eyes, nose, sensuously curved lips. All the signs and hints were there. He recalled snippets of conversation with each of them: We have the same agent. She inspired me to write my first novel. My son stood me up; he’s taking my lawyer to lunch. How could he have been so dense?
“That meeting can wait,” Pierce said with a pointed look. Then, affecting a thick Ricky Ricardo Spanish accent, he added, “ ‘Cause Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.”
Hastily, Pierce ended the call with Steve, telling him to keep his cell close by.
“Raven, let’s not start things off by keeping secrets between us,” Pierce said, crossing the distance between them. “All that bull Ava gave me about ‘we can’t commit to anything right now, we have to talk to her publisher’ was just that—bull. You all were playing both sides against the middle.”
“That’s not it,” she protested upon seeing his frown. “Some of my books are with a major house, too. But I’m a behind-the-scenes kind of woman. It goes back to my self-published days. I found that if my readers and the media thought someone else was publishing me, I earned a higher level of respect. Thanks to some print-on-demand houses, self-publishing became synonymous with poor quality, so I tried to distance myself from being just another one hitting the bricks. I went to a lot of trouble to make my company imitate the quality and style of major houses. I just haven’t publicly claimed ownership.” Then she tossed an exasperated look at Eric. “No one was supposed to know.”
“I can understand that, but no more secrets, okay?” Pierce took her hand in his.
“Okay.” She moved forward for his kiss, then abruptly turned to face her grinning son, who instantly lost his smile.
Now their conversation started with, “Mom, see, what had happened was…” and ended with Raven’s personal threat to do bodily harm if he ever tried to interfere in her love life again.
“But you like him, right?” Eric asked, hopeful.
Damn, she did. And to tell the truth, like was too soft a word. She practically wanted to inhale the man.
“Mom?”
She bit the inside of her cheek and simply nodded.
“So you can’t be too mad at me, right?” Then he gave her an unapologetic, end-justifies-the-means grin and simply said, “I love you, Mom.”
Aw hell! Now why did he have to say that?
Pierce’s frown lifted into a wry smile as Raven melted with those four simple words. Then he checked his watch. “We have to get a move on.
Eric rose from the sofa. “But you have to sign these.”
<
br /> “Not before I read them.” Pierce plucked the folders from Eric’s thin fingers.
“But Aunt Avie said––”
Raven gripped his shoulder and spun him around. “What? You got Ava involved in this, too?”
Eric dipped his head. “Well…um…Steve said, um…see, what had happened was—”
“Don’t pull that crap with me, mister!”
“Well Steve called her, I didn’t.” Eric’s eyes implored her to understand, then turned to Pierce to appeal to him instead. “After I overheard Simeon and Vlad, Steve called Ava to help pull this together before they could get a leg up and step all over you.”
Eric waited, hoping that Pierce would back his actions. He had done the right thing, right? “Ava had your back just like she has my mom’s––and mine.”
Pierce’s only comment was, “Come on, let’s go.”
“But the––”
“We’ll take them with us.” Pierce snatched up the folders. “Come on.”
Raven shook her head as she tried to keep up with him. “How are you going to read those while we’re at the luau?”
“It’s called multi-tasking, Ms. Publisher, Author, Mother––”
“All right, all right, I get it,” she said, waving him off, still miffed that Eric had revealed her self-publishing secret—and along with that, a bit of Ava’s negotiating power.
“And you,” Pierce pointed to Eric, who had now splayed out on the sofa for a nap, “are coming with us.”
“But I’m not dressed for the occasion.” The brown suit and slightly wrinkled white shirt did look a little worse for wear.
“When has that ever stopped you?” Pierce asked as he ushered Eric out. “I want to know every single thing you and that blond-haired minion did while I was gone.”
Eric gulped as Pierce ushered them out the door.
Twenty-One
The show started almost as soon as they’d filled their plates with grilled chicken, roasted vegetables, and island rice. Pierce had added teriyaki beef to his plate. Raven and Eric had stayed clear of the roast pork––possibly because its unfortunate relatives were still turning over the fire four feet away.
The Pleasure's All Mine Page 16