I said it on purpose.
I waited for him to get pissed and issue some warning for suggesting he was anything other than one million percent faithful to his girl.
He did issue a warning. But it wasn’t about Violet.
“All I’m saying is be careful. I don’t think Aerie’s a bad person, but fame does something to you. And all those stories and rumors I mentioned? I know firsthand that the avalanche of it all started with a little snow.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked.
“A lot of the shit in the tabloids about me? It all started with a grain of truth. She’s not going to be any different.”
I didn’t answer, and we rode the rest of the way in silence.
Aerie was already in Becca’s office when we arrived, her two security guards outside the door. I thought it was very interesting that they weren’t inside the office, like back at Solberg.
I nodded to Mac, the one who’d yanked me off her earlier, and went ahead of Ten into the office.
Everyone looked up when we walked in.
I learned something.
My body did in fact rotate toward Aerie. My eyes went right to her, my upper body angled so my chest was open to the space between us.
The first thing about her I noted was the tightness in her shoulders. The way they were pulled up toward her ears. She was gonna have a hella sore neck later if she kept holding herself like that.
Almost the instant we walked in, she jolted in her seat, teetering on the edge as she spun around. Our eyes collided, and the tension in her shoulders went down.
Not a lot, but enough that I noticed.
I felt.
I winked at her. For no other reason than to acknowledge her presence, to somehow show that she was the first person I sought out in this room.
Not the deal. Not the money.
Her.
I had no idea why that suddenly seemed so important. No girl had ever been before.
There’d been tons of them, too. Tons. Women everywhere.
It’s true.
Fine. It’s not true.
Truth was women thought I was a giant goof.
Maybe I was. But I didn’t want to be just that to her.
Aerie’s cheeks flushed a little, and she rolled her eyes. But then she glanced back at me, and the tiniest of smiles curved her lips.
“What took so long?” Becca admonished.
“My driver was slow,” I told her and hitched my thumb toward Ten as he shut the door.
“Ten! I didn’t know you were coming,” Becca exclaimed.
“Like I wouldn’t sit in on my cousin’s deal.”
“Cousin?” Aerie wondered.
“We’re related,” I told her, motioning between me and Ten. “He’s totally jealous I got the good looks in the family.”
“How ya doing, Aerie?” Ten said, nodding, then dropping onto a nearby black leather couch.
“You know how it is,” she said, and I sensed with that reply, she told him a lot more than the rest of us.
“That I do.”
“You’re Nate Roth?” Aerie’s agent, Seth, asked, recognition coming over him. “The one who wrote some songs for Ten and another for an artist over at KJ Studios.”
I nodded. The extra song I’d sold was actually one I’d written for Ten, but it didn’t fit with the rest of the album. But the producer liked it enough that he sent it over to another artist, who liked it, too.
Bam. Sold.
“So you got the job because of who you’re related to,” Aerie quipped, turning back in her seat.
“Yeah, but I’ll keep getting jobs because I’m good at what I do.” I countered.
“This is fun and all,” Becca said in a voice that pretty much proved this wasn’t any fun. “But we have actual business to discuss. And I’d rather not have an office full of sniveling children when the head of TT walks in here.”
“Byron Ryan’s coming here?” Ten perked up.
“I told you. We have business,” Becca snapped. “Now let’s all get on the same page before it happens.”
Quickly, Becca pointed to me. “Nate, meet Aerie Boone, mega country star. You two will be working together on a song. If all goes well, maybe more.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Aerie snapped.
I’d been on my way over to Aerie to, you know, be formally introduced, when she glanced over her shoulder and spoke with a look and a tone meant to freeze me in place.
I wasn’t the kind of guy to get the hint very easily, so I kept walking. Without hesitation, I laid my palms on her overly tense shoulders and gently pushed them down, beginning to knead the stony muscles. “You will,” I intoned as I used my thumbs to work a knot in her shoulder.
She lifted her hand to smack me away, and I increased the pressure. She melted back into the chair and dropped her hand.
Did I mention I was good with my hands?
Behind me, the office door sprang open again, and Byron Ryan strode in. He was a tall, wide man with dark, smooth skin and close-cropped hair. He was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a tucked-in dress shirt in a silvery shade. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and there was a silver Rolex around his wrist.
Byron was a cool guy. I’d met him once before when I was working with Ten.
I stepped back from Aerie and offered my hand as he entered.
“Good to see you again, Mr. Roth,” he greeted and accepted the shake.
I turned and gave Aerie a look as if to say, See, I’m legit, and the head of your label knows my name.
She wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she was looking at him and then away, as if she were nervous.
“Ten!” Byron said and grinned a blinding white smile. “Didn’t expect to see you, man.”
“Hey, B. Had to come out to support my fam.”
“How’s your girl? She in L.A.?”
Ten smiled at the mention of Violet. “Yep, flew out with Nate.”
“Sweet. Tell her I said hi. I like that girl.”
“Will do.”
After he greeted Seth and Becca, he turned to Aerie. “Quite the mess we got here, Ms. Boone.”
“I know.”
He shifted his gaze to Becca. “Fill me in.”
“Little Miss Country here went and got herself married to Will Solberg, and now Rolland thinks he has the rights to her career. Basically, he brought in Nate, who recently just had a number-one hit with Ten.” She motioned to Ten. “Because you know Rolland. If Time Track has it, then he wants it, too.”
Byron made a sound and motioned for Becca to continue.
I thought it was interesting how Aerie, who seemed to be the loud, outspoken type, was sitting here allowing Becca to call her Little Miss Country. If anything, she appeared subdued.
“He seems to think he can poach your top-selling country artist, match her up with your newly discovered songwriter, and pair them together for the song of the summer.”
Byron turned to Aerie and her manager. “And where do you stand in all this?”
Seth cleared his throat. “I’d heard the rumors up until today, but I thought it was just tabloid gossip. I had no idea Solberg was actually trying to sign Aerie. He never reached out with a contract or anything until today.”
“Aerie?”
She lifted her chin, squaring her shoulders. “Will mentioned it to me, and I told him no. I do not want to sign with Solberg.” Her eyes slid to me. “And I had no idea they called in a songwriter.”
Byron seemed skeptical. “Why would they do that if you were clear with your refusal? Don’t you talk to your husband?”
She shot up out of her chair. Anger and something else vibrated off her. “He is not my husband! I’m getting an annulment.”
Byron pressed. “Annulments happen fast. You’ve been married a couple weeks.”
Her face tightened and her shoulders inched their way back up toward her ears. “He’s fighting it.”
“Why?” Byron asked,
bold. He didn’t even seem to feel bad about it.
“I’d rather not talk about my personal life in front of people I don’t know.”
I felt my eyes narrow, all my attention condensed only on her. She was afraid of him. Of Will. She tried to hide it, and she did a good job.
But I knew.
“Seth needs to be privy to everything that’s happening, like it or not. He’s your manager, and as such, it’s his job to issue statements, etcetera, on your behalf. It keeps things like this from happening.”
“I don’t know how any of this happened,” she muttered and sank back into the chair. The edge of her skirt draped over the side, and I wanted to go over and tuck it beneath her.
This girl was fierier than me, and I had red hair. Still, she incited in me a need to shelter. A need to shield and protect. It wasn’t a feeling I was very familiar with. At most, I’d only ever felt it with Violet, in a brotherly way. This? There was nothing brotherly about it at all.
“Rolland knew about her slipping sales,” Seth interjected. Aerie rubbed a hand across her forehead. “He also knows her contract with your label is up for renewal.”
“And he thinks she’s ripe for the picking,” Byron mused.
“Do you have plans to not renew my contract?” Aerie said abruptly.
“This is not a contract meeting.” Byron countered smoothly.
She stood, drawing up to her full height, which couldn’t have been more than five feet five (without heels). After she brushed the glossy dark strands of hair away from her face, she regarded Byron as though he wasn’t the one in charge in this room.
“With all due respect, why are we here? I haven’t put out an album for a year, no new one is in development, and the press has literally been eating me alive for at least six months. My last live appearance, I got hit with rumors of lip-syncing. Everyone thinks I’m jealous of Becky Lane, and we have a fierce rival, something she’s happy to not deny.
“Then there’s Will… and this farce of a marriage. I’m done being controlled by a bunch of men. Rolland and Will act like I’m some toy they just purchased, and you called us in here for what? To belittle me before booting me off the label? I’m tired. I’m done. If you’re firing me, I’d rather know now than in a few months.”
You could have heard a pin drop when she was done. Everyone stared, sort of in shock, which, if you asked me, was probably a hard thing to do. Shutting up the egos in this room was practically impossible.
I glanced at Ten, and he lifted an eyebrow at me. Then he glanced at Aerie, and a look of recognition slammed onto his face. She was falling apart, heading down the same path he did.
In the stillness her words left behind, I pushed off the wall and went over to her chair, flipped open her bag, and stuck my hand in.
She glanced around at me, her hands hitting her hips. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for your Lifesavers. I figure I should at least get something out of this meeting, because clearly, I’m not going to be getting a job.”
She made a rude sound and looked at Ten. “Is he seriously always like this?”
“Pretty much,” Ten remarked. “Sometimes he’s worse.”
Aerie came forward and smacked my arm so I would stop digging. “It is so rude to just go rooting around in someone else’s private bag.”
“I want some candy.”
She pulled out the roll of Lifesavers in two seconds flat. Like she knew exactly where everything was in that black hole of a bag.
“Here.” She handed it over. “And do not throw the green ones back in my bag. Eat them.”
How did she know I was going to do that? “Green ones are gross.”
She snatched the candy back. “Do you want this?”
I sighed, forlorn. “Fine. I’ll eat the green ones, too.”
Her lips tugged upward, the darkness of her eyes sparking with humor.
It was a far better look on her than the one she’d been wearing just moments ago.
She watched me unwrap the candy and pop one in my mouth. I grinned, holding it between my teeth. “Thanks.”
The silence in the room pressed in. I glanced up. Everyone was staring at us.
“Candy anyone?” I offered.
Ten was looking at me like I was insane. I shrugged.
“I’m not dropping you,” Byron said, pursing his lips. His eyes went back and forth between us, a shrewd glint coming into them.
“You’re not?” Aerie asked, surprised.
He chuckled, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “No. That would be bad business, and I’m not in the habit.”
“But my sales are down.”
“As you pointed out, you haven’t had any new music for a year. A decline in sales is natural at this point. That’s partly the label’s fault. We should have had you in the studio already. At least had a couple singles out.”
“You seriously want to keep me with all the bad press going around?”
Byron laughed. “Any press is good press. You should know that. It actually works to our advantage that you’ve been fairly quiet on your personal life. We can use that as a way to promote the new album. Everything Aerie has to say is in the music.”
“It’s good marketing,” Becca mused. “The press will eat it up. Dissect every song, every line, and try to speculate who it’s about.”
“You want me to use my personal life to sell records?” Aerie wondered.
“It works.” Ten cut in.
I nodded sagely and popped another Lifesaver in my mouth.
Byron pointed at Ten and nodded. “It does. We can apply the same style of marketing we used for Ten’s to your next album. Go underground for a while, stay out of the press, work on some new music. An entire album. By the time we start releasing some promo, people will be frothing at the mouth.”
“I’m not going to be able to stay out of the press. Will is going to make it impossible.”
Byron shrugged. “Let him say what he will. Let the media report what they will. You give no comment. Perhaps get out of town. You have a house that isn’t in L.A., right?”
“I could go home.”
Oh, the wistfulness in her tone caught me like a right hook in the gut.
Seth cleared his throat. “I’m assuming this is all going to be put in writing. With a number attached to it.”
Byron waved his hand. “Of course. I’ll have something to you by the end of the day.” He walked over to stand directly in front of Aerie, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You. You need to sit down with Seth and let him know where you’ll be and the details you don’t seem to want to give anyone.”
She hesitated.
“What is it?” he asked.
She ducked her head for a moment, then looked back up at him. “Will and his father… they aren’t going to let this go. Will can be very… demanding.”
“That means he’s a giant dick,” I put in.
Aerie burst out laughing, then slapped her hand over her mouth.
“You leave Rolland and his son to me.” Byron patted her on the shoulder. “They’ll drop the idea you’re signing with Solberg the second we announce you’ve resigned and are going underground to work on the new album.”
Aerie clasped her hands in front of her and nodded once. I think I was the only one who noticed the way her fingers trembled.
There was more to this. So much more.
Byron turned to me. “How much did Solberg offer you to write for him?”
“Five hundred grand.”
Byron’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Becca.
“It’s true.” She held up the contract she’d been given.
“He must really want this,” he mused.
“Nate’s good at what he does,” Ten put in.
“I’ll give you five hundred grand to help Aerie write her new album. Then I’ll pay you another five hundred once the album is wrapped.”
“What?” she shrieked.
I nearly choked
on the Lifesaver. “What?” I croaked. “An entire album?”
“Yeah. That’ll teach Rolland to try and poach my artists.” Then he pointed at me. “But you can’t sign any deals with Solberg.”
I shrugged. I didn’t like that guy anyway.
“I thought I was supposed to go underground to work,” Aerie rushed to say.
“You are.”
“But I was going to go home. I can’t do that if I have to work with him.”
“Take him home with you.”
Aerie gasped. “I don’t even know him!”
“I’m a peach.” I assured her.
“Absolutely not! No.”
Byron pinned her with a stare. “You wanted to know if I was going to drop you. I made the decision. This is it. These are the conditions. Make it work.”
With that, he checked the fancy watch on his wrist and strode from the room.
Aerie
What was worse: being alone or being surrounded by people who were paid to be there?
Everything I was, everything I had—it was all wrapped up in Aerie Boone the star, the musician. It was as if who I was before I was famous was completely gone. Everything I was came down to my music career. Without it, I would be completely alone.
Will definitely helped isolate me further. I could blame him for a lot of this. The reality, though? I was the biggest one at fault. I made a mess of everything.
A mess I didn’t even know how to clean up.
All I knew was exhaustion. I was tired and afraid. I was a strong woman, but even the strong could become weak.
After Byron dropped his little bomb and left, I followed suit. I couldn’t sit there any longer. I had to think. To really ask myself what it was I wanted.
How bad did I really want my career?
That was the question.
The answer?
I wanted to go home. To be away from Will, Los Angeles, and all the tabloid bullshit.
I loved my job, though. Creating music and watching a crowd light up when I performed. Right now, I had a unique opportunity to go home and work on some new music. I could have both.
There was a catch, though. Wasn’t there always?
Nate Roth.
Actually, he wasn’t a catch. He was a freaking headache. A headache that would likely turn into a raging migraine. The fact that Byron ordered me to work with him, knowing it was what Solberg wanted, put me in a very awkward position. As if it hadn’t been precarious enough to start.
Toad Page 6