by Green, Maree
She smiled with a confused crease between her brows. “Hi, Jace...uh...well, this is weird. Who are you here to see?”
I laughed, because I was just thinking the same thing. “Uh...Mia.”
She gave me a warm smile, accepting. Well, that was a good sign considering she’d just taken Mia to the doctors to get contraception. “Well, in that case, she’s in the lounge.”
I almost exhaled with relief. “Thanks.”
Heading towards the lounge, I saw Mia adjusting the TV. She turned when she heard my footsteps and smiled, immediately dropping everything to come to me.
We met at the edge of the room, Mia standing on the step, making her almost the same height as me.
“Hi,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around my neck.
I breathed her in, my hands finding her hips as she pressed her body against mine and kissed me. I smiled against her lips. “Hi.” Damn she was adorable.
And sexy. I ran my hands from her waist up her sides, my broad hands covering most of her rib cage. Mia sighed and kissed me again, this time slow and deep.
“Jesus, Mom!” Aiden said from somewhere behind me. “Don’t just stand there. Tell them to cut it out.”
Both Mia and I turned towards Aiden’s voice, watching him stride towards the kitchen with a scowl on his face.
“I was being polite, Aiden,” Lillian said from the kitchen doorway. “They were only kissing.” She smiled at us. “Did you want some lunch, Jace? I was just making some.”
I didn’t move my hands from Mia’s sides. There didn’t seem any point considering she’d already seen us. And she didn’t seem upset by our affections, so that was a positive. “If it’s not too much trouble,” I said.
“Jace, I’ve been feeding you since you were fourteen. I think I’m quite okay with it now,” she said, already disappearing into the kitchen with Aiden.
I gave Mia a sheepish grin when we were left alone. “This is weird.”
She laughed. “I know, but I don’t care. Come and watch a movie with me.” She dragged me over to the lounge and pulled me down with her. “Aiden!” she called out. “Do you want to watch a movie with us?”
Aiden’s voice floated out from the kitchen. “Only if you’re not going to sit there and make out the whole time!”
We both chuckled at that. “I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try!”
I heard Lillian’s soft laugh and couldn’t help but laugh too. Mia grinned and snuggled into my side, remote in hand.
“So, how did you go this morning?” I asked her, curious.
A blush crept onto her cheeks, making me want to kiss her. “I had trouble deciding between the pill and the needle thing.”
I watched her without saying a thing, mainly because I had no fucking idea when it came to female contraception. Condoms were my limit.
“I decided the needle was easier. You only have to have one every three months. I wasn’t sure I could remember to take the pill every day. ”
I nodded. My mind suddenly went to what it would feel like making love to her without a condom. Fuck. I could barely keep my shit together with a condom on. I wasn’t sure if I could make it last going bare.
My dick started stirring to life. Wrong fucking thing to think about when her mom and brother were about to join us.
Mia smirked at me. “You’re thinking about sex, aren’t you?”
“Correction. I’m thinking about sex with you, without a condom.”
Mia’s irises darkened and she licked her lips. I groaned and closed my eyes. “Damn it, Mia. Don’t look at me like that when your mom and Aiden are about thirty seconds from walking in.”
I opened my eyes to see her smile widening. “Sorry. I’ll change the subject then.” She frowned in thought, then looked at me seriously. “So, what do you think the guy from Leighton’s has put on the table?”
I pressed my lips together. I’d actually been trying not to think about that too. “I’m not sure. I’m pretty confident he was impressed by what he saw last night, so hopefully Rich was able to negotiate a good contract for us.”
Mia nodded. “There’s so much to think about, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. It’s hard, especially when you don’t know what’s normal. We just want to play music.”
I watched the emotions roll through her. “I’m going to miss you when you go on tour. You and Aiden.”
I sighed. “I’ve tried not to think about it because I know it’ll only make me fucking crazy. Seriously. Six months is going to kill me.”
She looked at me with her big blue eyes shining. “Being on the road?”
I stared at her, realizing she was asking me if being on the road was the thing that was going to kill me. I laughed humorlessly. “Hardly. Until Aspen, that’s all I was itching to do. Go see as many places as I could, and play to as many people as I could. Now the thought of going anywhere without you makes me want to kill someone.”
She looked down at her hand fiddling with the hem of my shirt before meeting my gaze again. “We’ll make it work. I’ll fly out to see you whenever I can.”
I gently ran my fingers through the hair that framed her face, studying her features intently. I really couldn’t think about it right now. Instead of answering her, I leant forward and kissed her forehead.
“Seriously,” Aiden said as he came back into the lounge room. “No fucking kissing. I mean it. I’m not sitting here if you’re going to be all over each other.”
Mia grinned. “Calm down. We’ll behave.”
Lillian walked in carrying a plate of little pastries. She did these for us all the time when we were rehearsing at Aiden’s. They were fucking awesome.
We all settled in and put the movie on, devouring the lunch in no time. Surprisingly, Lillian stayed to watch the movie with us, but I had a slight suspicion it had more to do with watching her daughter be happy than the movie itself.
Mia snuggled into me during the whole movie. I knew both Aiden and Lillian were sneaking glances at us every now and again, but I found I didn’t really mind. Considering Mia was the first serious girlfriend I’d ever had, I thought I was handling it all quite well. I guess it helped that they already felt like family, but I’d been expecting the transition to be a little more awkward.
When it all came down to it, I think it was just Mia. She made everything easier.
When the movie was done, Lillian excused herself and disappeared. Mia stretched and looked between me and Aiden, her face a picture of contemplation.
“Let’s go to the beach.”
Aiden raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh…why?”
She bounced a little in her seat. “I had fun last time, and the weather’s pretty nice today, so…” She looked at me.
I shrugged. It didn’t matter to me. I’d fucking follow her around like a god damned puppy wherever she went.
Aiden sighed. “I’ll go if Carly agrees to come with me. I need a distraction when you two are together. It’s still fucking weird for me to watch. I don’t know how it’s possible to want to thank someone and fucking hurt them at the same time, but you make me feel that way.”
Mia’s mouth dropped open. “Aiden!”
“What? I’m just being honest. I’m happy he makes you happy, but I don’t like anyone touching you – especially someone I’ve always known to be a manwhore.”
I took it on the chin. He was right. On all accounts.
Aiden pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text off to Carly. Ten seconds later it was all arranged. Apparently we were going to the beach.
***
It was just after seven when Rich walked in the door. Mr. Thomas and the rest of us had already had a private meeting, making sure we were all on the same page and wanted the same thing. If Leighton’s offer was reasonable, we were going to sign.
Rich greeted us all with a hand shake and took a seat. He looked quite pleased with himself, so I hoped that meant good news.
He inhaled deeply and looked around a
t us. “Leighton’s have made an offer, and I have to say I think it’s a pretty damned good one for a new band starting out. They’ve agreed to keep the tour contract in place in lieu of an advance, meaning they will still pay the agreed amount for the tour as well as travel expenses for the duration of the tour. This is a way better opportunity than most musicians get because it means you aren’t starting out in debt with the label from day one, but you’re still getting an income.”
I nodded, liking the sound of that. A lot.
“The recording contract they’re offering is a two album deal over two years, with a five year lock out. They’re happy with the material you had last night, and if you can manage to lay them all down this week, they’ve agreed to a fifty-fifty split on net profits on the sale of any CD’s during the tour.”
“What’s a lock out?” Matt asked. I looked to Rich, wanting to know myself, but it was Mr. Thomas who answered.
“It’s the duration that the label has control over the songs you record with them for. It means you won’t be able to re-record those songs with anyone else until after the lock out period has ended.”
Rich nodded. “Then, after the tour’s done, your contract terms will revert to more conventional terms. You’ll be charged for more things like marketing, advertising and promoting, and the royalty rate will go down to twenty percent to be more in line with their other artists. They may also want you to tour again as headliners if they think it’s worthwhile.”
Dean and Matt grinned. They loved the idea of touring. So did I until Mia dropped her towel in front of me.
Rich sat forward a bit more, his face serious. “All in all, I don’t think you’re going to get any better than that from a big label. You might get better from an indie label, but your name won’t get pushed anywhere near as much. My advice is to get a lawyer, make sure you understand exactly what it is and how much it is, and if you want to do it, sign. But it needs to be done by Monday morning. After that, they’ll take it off the table because they won’t have enough time to press and package before the tour.”
I looked around the room, only half understanding what the fuck Rich had said. I could see the same look on the other guy’s faces, except for maybe Dean. He had more of an understanding of that shit from talking with his dad about it. I glanced over to see Mr. Thomas rubbing his chin in thought.
“I like that they’re offering to keep the tour contract in place,” he said. “I agree that it’d be much better for the boys to have that than an advance. The fifty-fifty split is generous too.” He sat back and sighed. “I’m not sure about the rest. I’ll have to have a look at the details. I’ll call their lawyer and see if I can catch him tomorrow.”
We had a lawyer? Huh, how about that.
Rich rubbed his hands on his jeans and nodded. “Good. Let me know what you decide. I’m not going to tell you which way to go. Ultimately it’s your decision, but I have to tell you. It’s a pretty good deal compared to what’s out there.”
Mr. Thomas nodded and stood with Rich, shaking his hand. “Yeah, and if it does end up not being so great, I like that they’re only tied in for two years. The five year lock out is pretty reasonable too…”
“Exactly.” Turning to glance at us, he gave us each a curt nod. “I’ll talk to you guys soon.”
I watched Mr. Thomas walk Rich out, my head swimming with too much information. Was that a good deal? Were we going to sign or not? I looked at Dean and saw him grinning. I took that as a yes. We were going to have a fucking label. Fuck yeah.
Chapter 37
Mia
I felt a little out of place as I drove to school on my own Monday morning. I wasn’t used to not having Aiden with me. It was weird. The fact that it would be the same for the rest of the week didn’t sit well with me either. I only had until the end of May before they would be off touring. I didn’t want to give up any of my time.
A recording contract though. That was huge. I couldn’t compete with that, even if I wanted to. I knew as soon as Aiden had told me the night before that they’d signed with Leighton’s I’d have to suck it up and deal. They’d been working towards that for a long time. They were finally getting their dream.
I stopped being happy for them though the second the paparazzi descended on my car. I knew they thought I was Aiden, but I still wasn’t happy about having cameras shoved in my face and questions thrown at me first thing in the morning. They even asked me for an official statement regarding Jace and me seeing each other. Not going to happen.
The unhappiness quickly turned to annoyance the instant I became aware of all the looks I was getting from everyone in the halls. It was obvious the news about Jace and me had spread, because that’s all I could hear being whispered as I passed.
Most of them were just curious glances from those who were intrigued, but I did catch a few glares from some girls who I assumed belonged to the ‘skank squad’. Melissa and crew included.
By the time I reached my locker, I’d never been more relieved to see Kaeli in my life. She took one look at me and grinned. “I guess you’re big news huh?”
I huffed. “Looks like it.”
“I hear Melissa’s pissed too. Says she had a chance with him on Friday night and you came and stole him away from her.”
I raised my eyebrows incredulously. “Does she seriously believe that?”
Kaeli shrugged. “Probably. All those girls seem to be deluded when it comes to the guys. It’s like they’re suddenly realizing it’s only three months until we all graduate and they’ll never see the guys again, so they’re all stepping up their game or something.”
“Either that, or they all just want to lay claim to being one of the guy’s high school sweethearts when they’re all rich and famous.”
Kaeli snorted. “Yeah, only you and Lila have that right. And maybe Carly…”
I closed my locker and groaned. “I don’t want to go to class. Kacey’s just going to be sitting there glaring at me the whole time.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Have fun with that.”
“I’m really going to hate this week. The next time I see Jace he’s going to cop a piece of my mind. I feel like I’ve been thrown into the lion’s den or something. I mean, he reveals to a bunch of crazy, fanatical girls that he’s got his first ever girlfriend on Friday, making me one of the most hated girls in school, then he just leaves me to deal with it on Monday.”
Kaeli smirked. “I’m pretty sure recording their first ever album trumps your being leered at.”
“Shut up. I’m allowed to have a sulk. I think I’ve earned it.”
She laughed. “Oh, you’ve definitely earned it. You throw your tantrum and have your rant at him, then he can kiss it all better.”
That did it. The thought of being in Jace’s arms and kissing him instantly erased the annoyance. I sighed and Kaeli grinned.
“See you at lunch?”
“Yeah, see you at lunch,” I said, grumbling about her sarcastic humor.
I decided to take the halls so I could get to class early and choose a seat in the back. Away from Kacey. I was hoping I’d have more of a chance staying out of Kacey’s view that way.
Finding one seat left in the back row, I slid in next to Ryan and sighed.
He smiled at me politely. “Good news about the contract.”
“Yeah, they’re pretty excited I think.”
“They deserve it,” he said, shaking his head in awe. “They’re so good it’s crazy.”
I smiled. “I know. I’m so proud of them.”
I kept a look out on the door, watching for Kacey so I’d be prepared if she started anything.
“So, you and Jace huh…”
I turned my attention back to Ryan. “Oh, uh…yeah, I guess…” Shit. Why was that so hard?
He looked at the door, and I turned to see Kacey and Violet walk in together. “I’ve heard there are more than a few pissed off girls at school today.”
I studied the warning in his e
xpression. “Yeah…” What else could I say?
“Make sure you watch your back.”
He didn’t say anything other than that. He didn’t have to. I watched Kacey shoot me a poisoned stare before taking her seat and leaning in to whisper something to Violet. If all the other members of the skank squad were going to be anything like Melissa and Kacey, I was already aware.
Hearing Mr. Bradbury call the class to attention, I flicked my mind into work mode. There was no way I was losing my GPA because I’d been distracted by the freaking Skank Squad.
Sitting in the back did help to a certain extent, but Kacey still managed to turn around every time Mr. Bradbury wasn’t looking. Between throwing me foul looks, and whispering with Violet, I wasn’t actually sure she completed any of the pop quiz we were set to do. Oh well, I guess that was why she was failing.
Unfortunately, it didn’t all end with first period. English was worse. Mainly because Jace wasn’t there with me, but also because people I’d never met before suddenly thought it was okay to just ask me outright what was going on between us. I wanted to text Kaeli to ask her if that was normal, or was it just because Jace was on his way to stardom that they thought it was appropriate. To me it just felt awkward.
When the bell rang, I grabbed my books and took off before anyone could approach me again.
I’d just put my books away when Corey appeared. What now?!
“Hi, Mia…uh, apparently Coach Anderson wants to see you in the gym?” He looked confused, and to be honest, so was I. I had gym class straight after lunch. Surely if he wanted to tell me something he could do it then. Maybe it had to do with the assessment we had coming up…
“Oh…okay. Thanks I guess,” I said, still feeling awkward. I watched him walk away before closing my locker and heading off to see what Coach wanted.
The gym was devoid of all the usual activity when I got there, which I thought was surely a strange phenomenon during this time of year, but hey, what would I know? Deciding Coach Anderson would most probably be in his office, I let the doors swing shut behind me and started heading that way.