Toad

by Cambria Hebert

  Becca opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. I could tell she was surprised. Surprised I’d opened my mouth and nothing stupid or benign came out. Surprised I didn’t make a wisecrack or buckle under her she-devil attitude.

  I might be a goofball, but that wasn’t all I was.

  “We need to get in there.” She gestured ahead.

  “Lead the way.”

  On the way to Rolland’s office, we passed by his personal assistant who motioned us forward. “He’s expecting you.”

  “Thank you,” Becca replied and kept walking.

  Before she could pull open the large wooden door, I caught her hand. “I’m assuming they don’t know you’re here digging for info for Time Track?”

  Her gaze sharpened. “I’m a talent manager. I don’t work for any certain label or company.”

  “Except the one who employs your highest-paid client. And the one who offered you a fat check for intel.”

  “That would be unethical.” She countered.

  I smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell.”

  “You’re a lot smarter than you let on.”

  I pulled open the door and motioned for her to go ahead.

  Aerie

  I did not want to be here.

  At all.

  I tried to get out of it.

  When a major record label calls your manager for a meeting—and that label happens to be the one spreading rumors about you signing with them—there isn’t a “getting out of it” option.

  At least my manager was here. And my security.

  Frankly, I’d be glad if the janitor were in the meeting with me. So long as I wasn’t alone with Will.

  He scared me.

  For lots of reasons I didn’t care to think about right then. Or like ever.

  There wasn’t a “getting out of it” option for that either.

  My manager was waiting outside Rolland’s office when I walked up. “Aerie,” he said, standing from the chair he was in.

  “Seth,” I said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “Do you have any idea what this is about?”

  “Judging from the rumors all over the papers…”

  “Which rumors?” I said, sarcastic.

  He barely blinked at the remark, then carried on. “I’m thinking they’re going to come at you with a contract and a hell of a lot of money to dump Time Track and sign with them.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “I can’t just dump my record label. I have a contract.”

  “You can go in now,” Rolland’s assistant said, approaching.

  Seth nodded and started forward. I grabbed his arm, and he turned back. “Just to be clear. I am not changing labels. And the marriage to Will isn’t valid. My lawyers are working on the annulment as we speak.”

  “My office has been getting a lot of calls,” he murmured.

  “He’s going to try and use this marriage as a way to get me signed here. I won’t do it.”

  Seth frowned, nodding slowly. “Gotcha.”

  I knew he wanted to ask for details about my sham of a marriage. Everyone wanted details. So far, I’d been putting it all off. Avoiding it. I didn’t want to tell anyone anything. I just wanted out.

  I just wanted to stop feeling ashamed.

  The door to Rolland’s office opened, and a man in his fifties stood dressed a pair of dark dress pants, sneakers, a white V-neck T-shirt, and an open blazer. His hair was an ashy blond, the kind I was sure he got from a bottle. The grayer he got, the more silvery-blond his hair became. It worked on him, though, giving him an on-trend look suitable for the head of a record label.

  “Ah, good. You’re here.”

  “Mr. Solberg.” Seth went forward and shook his hand with gusto.

  “Good to see you, Seth,” the man returned. He called everyone by their first name, but few called him by his (to his face, anyway).

  “There’s my beautiful daughter-in-law,” he said when he saw me, holding out his arms.

  My skin crawled. His affection for me was as fake as his hair. As I moved closer, I braced for the hug and tried not to recoil from the wiry-looking chest hair sticking out from the edge of his too-low V-neck.

  “Lovely to see you, Mr. Solberg.” I lied.

  He began to shut the door before my two guards could enter, and I nearly panicked. “They’re with me,” I said quickly.

  “You’ll be perfectly safe in my office.”

  I was saved from having to argue because Mac and Ben slipped into the room while Rolland was tsking at me. When he turned back to, no doubt, order them away, the pair were already positioned at the back of the room, folded hands in front of them, and staring ahead.

  “Dad, is she here?” The familiar voice on the other side of the threshold made my stomach lurch.

  Will.

  “Of course, son,” Rolland replied and stepped aside so Will could enter.

  “My beautiful wife,” he announced, sweeping over to me. His palm slid around my waist, and he leaned in for a kiss. I turned my head so his mouth grazed my cheek. “I prefer you in blue,” he whispered in my ear.

  I drew back, meeting his gaze. “That’s why I wore pink.”

  “I’m intrigued,” Seth announced, drawing everyone’s attention. “What is this meeting all about?”

  “Surely it’s not that much of a mystery, what with the recent rumors and the marriage of my son to your biggest client,” Rolland retorted, stepping around his huge walnut desk and taking a seat.

  “I know you are aware of her current contract.” Seth slid a glance at me.

  “A contract that is up for renewal.”

  I gasped. “How do you know that?” I swung around on Seth and shot daggers out of my eyes. For real, if looks could kill, he’d be a dead man on this carpet.

  “I would never divulge private contract information.” He assured me.

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out. I have the information. And since you are recently wed to my son, it seems only natural that you would change labels and join us here.”

  I arched a brow at him. “You do know I’m getting an annulment?”

  “Now why on earth would you want to go and do something like that?” he puzzled.

  Like he didn’t know. Yeah right. I was sure he knew every last detail of Will’s life, right down to the color of the boxers he wore today.

  “I like my label just fine. But thank you for the offer.” I stood from the couch, ready to leave.

  Will caught my hand, lacing our fingers as if we were an actual couple, then gave me a warning squeeze. I tried to tug free, but his grip only tightened.

  “I’m sure you are very happy with them.” Rolland went on. “But what are you going to do when they don’t offer you a renewal?”

  My head whipped around. “What?”

  “I know you are well aware of your… reputation in the press as of late.”

  I bristled. “Most of which is untrue.”

  “Yes, well, unfortunately for you, the general public doesn’t know that. Record sales and downloads prove it. There’s been quite a decline in the past six months.”

  I glanced at Seth. He looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. He shot up from his seat as well. “I have no idea where you are getting this information, but it is unequivocally false.”

  Rolland turned his full, direct gaze to my manager. “Don’t insult me by lying.”

  The room swam a little in front of me. The shapes and people started to blur together and look like big lumps.

  Will’s previous words echoed through the back of my mind. When I’m done with you, all you’ll have left is me.

  The office door opened with a great whoosh. I swear with it, oxygen—which had sorely been lacking—flooded the room. I sucked in a deep breath and blinked my vision back into focus.

  “Becca,” Rolland said abrupt. “I assume you brought your client?”

  The woman in a fierce-looking pantsuit stepped farther into the room, and then right behi
nd her followed her “client.”

  “You,” I intoned, zeroing in on the red-haired, green-eyed troublemaker.

  “You know him?” Will demanded.

  “We go way back,” the guy from the hallway replied.

  Will gave my hand an impatient squeeze.

  I slid him a glance. “We met out in the hall.”

  “Good, then you’ve already been introduced.” Rolland cut in.

  “Not really,” I said, but he ignored me.

  “I like the work you’ve done recently. You have a knack for being on trend yet somehow original,” Rolland said, gesturing for the candy stealer to take a seat.

  “It’s the red hair. Gives me an edge,” he replied, not missing a beat.

  “Funny,” Rolland said in a way that guaranteed he was not amused. “I want you to work with Aerie, our newest country music sensation. Write her a song or two that will be a surefire hit. I want this song to get stuck in the head of every person who hears it.”

  “What!” I interjected, shocked.

  “I want it done ASAP. Get it written. We’ll move into production and have everything ready to go this summer.”

  “I haven’t agreed to anything,” I demanded. “I’m staying with Time Track.”

  “And when that’s not an option?”

  “With all due respect, I have heard no indication that Aerie’s contract will not be renewed.” Seth put in.

  I nodded, adamant.

  “This is all very premature,” Seth added.

  “It’s business,” Rolland barked. “If you don’t understand that, then what the hell are you in this office for?”

  “Should I just come back later?” the guy with red hair wondered aloud.

  I stifled a sudden laugh that bubbled up inside me. I was going delusional. Guy whose name I didn’t know turned his green-eyed stare on me, and I was hit with the same zing I’d felt (and ignored) before when I’d fallen on top of him and he’d palmed the sides of my waist.

  For some reason, I felt a little less suffocated, a little less on the verge of a massive panic attack, as I looked at him. He was dressed totally unprofessionally in a pair of green board shorts and a T-shirt with a palm tree on the chest. He told me I smelled like cereal.

  He was weird.

  Yet his eyes looked like uncut emeralds and his hair like the dying ember of a fire, which to me was the strongest part of a flame. It was the part that went out last. The part that hung on, stayed hot the longest, until the fire inexplicably burned out.

  “I’ll give you half a million dollars to get me a hit song in two weeks.” Rolland dropped the words like a bomb.

  “What?” everyone in the room except Will and his father exclaimed.

  I felt the loss of the calm I’d found when my eyes left the redhead. When he was no longer focused on me.

  “Did you just offer me five hundred G’s?” emerald eyes asked.

  “Do you take it or not?” Rolland demanded.

  Becca stepped up beside emerald eyes and put a restraining hand on his chest. “You know my client can’t verbally agree to anything. I’ll need to see it in writing, with a signature attached. And there better be something in there regarding royalties.”

  Will pulled out a stack of papers from the folder he had tucked under his arm and extended them toward Becca. “The contract.”

  Becca flipped through it while he leaned over her shoulder and watched.

  Seth cleared his throat. “Even if he signs that, Aerie isn’t obligated to any of this.”

  “I won’t do it,” I announced, on the edge of hysteria. “I’m not signing with Solberg and I’m not writing a song for them!”

  “Aerie,” Will said, a note of warning in his voice.

  “We’re done here.” I concluded and stormed toward the door. “Seth! Let’s go.”

  Mac had the door open when I got there, and I shot him a grateful look as I strode past.

  “We aren’t done here!” Will trilled from behind.

  “Let her go, son,” Rolland interjected.

  Yeah. Let me go.

  Once the door was closed and my team was out in the hall, I spun toward Seth. “What the hell was that?” I hissed. “How did he know so much about my contract and sales?”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned. “He must have someone over at TT that he pays for information.”

  “Is my future at my label on solid ground?” I could feel the ground shifting and shaking beneath me.

  “I—” Seth opened his mouth, but the office door opened and closed again. This time it was Becca and her client.

  On impulse, I marched across the tile, my Converse heels clapping. “Don’t waste your time signing that useless piece of paper,” I told him. “It’s not going to happen.”

  I expected him to come back with something sharp. Some kind of rebuttal that would make my blood boil more.

  He didn’t.

  Instead, he gave me a lopsided smile and stuck his hand between us. “I’m Nate.”

  My belly dipped a little.

  He shook his still-waiting hand around, reminding me it was there. I smacked it away. “I’m not working with you, Nate.”

  Damn. I liked the way that sounded on my lips.

  The color of his eyes deepened a shade, reminding me of a secret forest of thick moss. My goodness, what was with me? Every time I looked at him, I thought of moss, or flame embers… calmness washing over me.

  Maybe I needed to go to the doctor.

  Becca stepped up to our little group. She was still holding the copy of Nate’s contract.

  Funny how his contract somehow signaled the end of the world as I knew it.

  Becca leaned in and whispered, “My office. Now.”

  Nate

  Five hundred grand.

  For one song.

  Can you hear the Nate Train whistle blowing? I sure as hell could.

  Ten was at the curb, you know, in his no-parking zone parking spot.

  I slid into the buttery soft leather seat and smiled. “A guy could get used to riding in style like this.”

  “I take it the meeting went well?” Ten mused, pulling out into L.A. traffic.

  “Dude, Solberg offered me five hundred G’s to write that song.”

  Ten’s eyes left the road to gape at me, then went back to the windshield. “Are you shitting me?”

  “Nope.”

  “That’s a lot of cash up front, man. Songwriters can make some serious bank, but for a rookie and for only one song?” He whistled. “What about royalties?”

  “Not sure. Becca seemed adamant they be in the contract.”

  Ten seemed surprised. “You didn’t sign?”

  “No. It was a bunch of drama up in there. Like Real Housewives shit, but with men. Aerie seemed kinda blindsided, and not in a good way. She flat out refused to do the song or sign with them. She stormed out with her entourage. Then Becca went all Darth Vader in the hallway.” I lowered my voice to mock Becca. “My office. Now.”

  “You’re supposed to go to Becca’s office?”

  “I didn’t already say that?”

  His curse filled the interior, and he swerved abruptly into the nearby lane and took the exit just before we passed. “What’s Becca want to meet for? To go over the contract?”

  “I don’t think so, considering Aerie and her manager are supposed to be there, too.”

  “All this drama is taking time that I could be spending with my girl. In bed,” Ten growled.

  “Just drop me off and go home. I’ll catch a cab back to your place.”

  Violet was totally onboard with Ten’s career, but it wasn’t her favorite thing about him. She usually stayed away from all business stuff, unless she was at a concert or some event.

  He made a noise. “I’m coming in. I want to know what the hell is going on.”

  I shrugged and settled back into the seat. My mind instantly turned to Aerie, her red skirt and long legs. I liked pressing her buttons. It seemed pretty
easy to do. She definitely was uptight, standoffish, and probably hella high maintenance.

  There was something else, though, something beyond how it felt to have her wiggling around on top of me. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about her, but I anticipated seeing her again. I wanted to know if the air would crackle, if my body automatically rotated toward her when she walked into a room.

  A few minutes later, Ten turned into a parking garage and then into a spot with his name on it.

  “So Aerie seemed pretty pissed about the offer?” he asked as we walked through the garage.

  “Oh yeah, I got the feeling there was a lot more going on than I realized.”

  “She has a rep for being a handful.”

  A sour flavor coated my tongue. Abruptly, I stopped walking, at the same time grabbing Ten by the shoulder, jerking him to a halt, too. “You actually putting stock in a bunch of shit the media’s saying about her?”

  His eyes rounded and he held up one hand, surrendering. “Who peed in your Fruity Pebbles?”

  I felt my eyes narrow. “Seriously, man. You of all people know it isn’t always what it seems.”

  “I do know.” He agreed. “I wasn’t insulting her. I was just saying the rumor mill has been working overtime lately.”

  “You know her?” I started walking again. I felt my cousin’s eyes, but I didn’t bother to look at him.

  “I’ve met her a few times.”

  “And?”

  “Why you want to know about Aerie Boone?”

  I pushed a hand through my hair. “‘Cause I’m supposed to work with her.”

  “You sure that’s all it is?” Ten pressed.

  “What else would there be?” I countered.

  “She’s pretty hot,”

  I spun and shoved him. His back hit the wall of the elevator we’d just boarded. We stared at each other for long moments, neither saying a word.

  “So that’s how it is,” Ten finally said.

  “You shouldn’t be looking at other women. Not when you’ve got Vi.”

  A low growl rumbled in his throat. He hated when I called her Vi. That was his nickname for her and no one else’s. I knew it.