by Laura Benson
After about ten minutes, the alarm went off, and the baggage carousel started moving. I grabbed my suitcase and started following Matthew as he made his way to the parking garage.
“I thought we could go there after lunch. Then we have a thing that we need discuss. Over drinks?” he finally said after an interminable bit of silence.
I twitched my lips, figuring what he wanted to discuss was how we were going to break it to Joey that I would be his right-hand woman for the foreseeable future. I gulped when I realized exactly what we’d be discussing. My heart fell into my stomach, and I could feel the butterflies wending their way through. I might have even started sweating.
“Sure,” I tried to say brightly. “Drinks sound great.”
He looked sideways at me with a sly grin on his face, which in turn made me wonder what he was up to. It took a few minutes to get to the car. I was surprised when the car he brought today was a Jeep Wrangler. I shot him a look of confusion, to which he responded with a slight shrug of his toned muscles. It was then I realized he probably only brought out the big guns (i.e., the Fisker Karma) to throw around his success. I’d have to give it to him, I guess. He did become successful without the advantage of a four-year degree. He was making million-dollar deals on Joey’s behalf, and he seemed to be good at it. We rode in companionable silence to the radio station.
After a few minutes of dead silence, we pulled into the parking lot of the radio station. Matthew put the car into park and leaned his right arm against my headrest. Turning toward me. “Jason Ealey is the program director for the station. He’s the one we have to go through to get Joey on. I don’t see an issue.” Matthew’s eyes drifted down toward my lips. Weird. “Joey’s hot and relevant right now. Getting him on the morning show might be a harder sell as they book talent weeks in advance, and we’re basically dumping a celebrity on them. Again, I don’t think it’s an issue, but we need to be prepared to get what we want.”
All I could do was nod. He’d probably done this plenty of times, and here I was a complete newbie. I mean I listened to my dad talk about various meetings during our dinners while growing up, and I knew that sometimes he’d have to grease a few palms to get what he wanted for whichever client. I just never thought I’d be on this end of the business. It wasn’t exactly something that I wanted to ‘grow up’ to be. Princess was always my number one job as a kid. It was a harsh blow of reality at about the age of eight when I realized that would never happen. I thought wryly.
I checked myself once more in the passenger mirror as Matthew exited. I was surprised when he came over to my door and helped me out. Matthew’s brows shot up as one leg left the truck then the other. Had I been wearing a skirt, he’d get a good look at my long legs. I shivered at the thought of Matthew starting at my legs, but I said nothing.
The radio station was in a non-descript, square warehouse located in the heart of L.A. Most of the cars in the parking lot looked like they should’ve been in an expensive showroom somewhere.
Once we entered the lobby, I was amazed at what I saw. There was a wall that probably had thousands of autographs, handprints, and even a few kiss prints of the stars that had come through these doors. A few security guards manned a station near the receptionist. Matthew walked right up to the young girl at the desk, flashed his dazzling smile, and I swore she just about came in her panties. Within seconds, we were being led to an elevator. I found myself having a hard time keeping up with Matthew’s long strides.
Marilyn Taylor who was Jason’s assistant, ushered us into Jason Ealey’s office. From the moment we sat down, Matthew lost the fun aspect of himself and became all business. It was quite fascinating watching him shut off that part of him.
“Jason, this is Charlie Banks.” Matthew nodded at me. “She’ll be working closely with Joey for the time being, and I was hoping that you would accord her the same respect that you would Joe or myself.”
Jason was an older guy with a bit of a beer gut and balding on top, but he seemed friendly enough. I didn’t think I’d have a problem with respect.
“Of course, of course, Matthew,” he replied warmly. “I’m not a tyrant, you know.” He focused on the two of us. “However, we book talent in advance, and trying to move things around can mess up the dynamic of the studio.” Jason folded his hands on his desk as if he was done speaking. However, I wasn’t done with what I wanted.
Clearing my throat, I stepped forward and tried to sound professional. “Mr. Ealey, I understand this is short notice, and I normally wouldn’t ask for any favors, but it’s in our client’s best interest to get him on this station during the morning drive. We’d prefer to have him on the morning of his sold-out concert in Hollywood. We’re offering a prize package to your listeners for each DJ’s time slot, and we’ll throw in a few free tickets for staff who want to attend.” At that, Matthew’s head shot up to me with a look of confusion.
Jason leaned back in his seat, folding his hands across the back of his neck. There was a gleam in his eye that said he was about to barter with us. I could tell he was chewing on what I just offered. Out of the corner of my eye, Matthew’s head shook slightly. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing or annoyed with me. He kept those emotions close to the vest. “So you’re willing to buy his way onto our most popular and busiest slot. Um, I also know damn well that his show is far from sold out.” Jason gave me a pointed look, but I brushed it off.
I pressed forward, slightly calmer, showing him my brightest ‘you bet your ass’ smile. “That would be ideal, and it would get the word out that this is the concert to attend this year.”
Jason raised his eyebrows and shifted his gaze. “Matthew, what are your thoughts? How come you’ve never come to me with this proposal before?”
Matthew nervously cleared his throat. “As you know, Joey does very minimal press work. However, this is all Ms. Banks’s doing. She’s doing this to try to clean up his negative press as of late.” With a sly look at me, he continued. “To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure if Joey will agree to this.”
What. The. Fuck?
My eyebrows shot up into my forehead as I twisted in my seat to glare at him. Jason grinned at the two of us. He found it funny that we weren’t on the same page. I thought this was only going to be hard on the studio front. I hadn’t even considered Matthew might put the kibosh on my work. I felt heat creeping into my cheeks. I was pissed…no, that wasn’t the right word. Furious, that’s more like it. I felt like I’d been duped by Matthew, and here Jason was watching the two of us silently communicate, and he was laughing it up.
I turned my steely eyes back to Jason. There was a false hope to my tone, but I couldn’t help it. “Mr. Ealey, what Matthew is not telling you, is that I have every expectation that Joey Carino will be here for his interview, and he will be stone-cold sober. I will personally deliver him to you in his goddamn pajamas if I have to,” I said a bit more angrily than I should’ve.
Jason turned to Matthew with a chuckle. “You’ve got a ferocious little tiger on your hands here.”
Matthew glanced at me, surprised and a little of something else that I couldn’t decipher. I just sat straighter in my chair and looked straight ahead. Ignoring him and his fucking asshole attitude.
“So Mr. Ealey,” I forced a smile, “do we get Joey on your show, or am I wasting everyone’s time here?” He wanted a tiger? Well, the claws were coming out.
When Jason opened his laptop and brought up a calendar program, I tried not to leap out of my seat with a celebratory dance. Instead, I pressed a sweaty hand down my jeans and lifted my chin. We’d given him a few dates prior to our meeting, and I was hoping for the final day in our dates. That would be the morning of the show. Perfect buzz for Joey.
“We have Kitty Sullivan scheduled on August tenth, but we’ve just found out that her movie is being delayed by a few weeks. Some post-production issues.” He glanced up at me. “We can get him in then. But he needs to show up, and he needs to be cooperative.” He p
ointed a long finger at me.
A giant smile of victory played at the edge of my lips as I silently gave myself a fist pump. “You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Ealey. He will be here with bells on.” Then I stood up, effectively ending the meeting. After shaking Jason’s hand, I rushed out of the office, pumping my fist victoriously as I headed toward the elevator.
I made it to the lobby without anyone following me, which for Matthew was a good thing, because on top of being excited, I was so beyond pissed at him. If he thought I was going to lay down and just accept things as they were, well he had another thing coming. There was no way in hell I would allow him to treat me the way he did in that meeting. I pushed my way out the front doors without even a goodbye to the receptionist.
After a few minutes of standing by Matthew’s car and debating calling a cab and being done with him, I saw the idiot jogging toward me. I turned my back toward him letting him know damn well I was pissed.
“Charlie!” he shouted when he was a few yards away.
I spun around on my heel, dreaming of viciously slapping him. “What the hell were you doing in there! You undermined everything I’ve been trying to do!” I stalked closer to him and shoved at his chest with both my hands. He barely moved. Damn it!
He ran his right hand through his hair, messing it up. “I’ve dealt with Ealey before. I knew that he would play that cat and mouse game with you for another twenty minutes. If I moved my pawn when I did, I could block his shot. You got what you wanted, and you’re right, it was underhanded, but it’s done, and there’s nothing to do about it now. You got him on the show.” He wasn’t mad, but he definitely wasn’t happy with my outburst. “I know you can take care of yourself, now. But I didn’t know how you’d react.” He started to move away from me.
“You don’t undermine how I do my work,” I made it a point of poking his chest as I said every word. Breathing hard. “And make me look like an incompetent fool. Don’t forget that I went through four years of college to do what I’m doing.” I saw him flinch at my remark, but I was too angry to think of anything else to say.
Matthew stared at me, his face bright red with the fury I felt a few minutes ago. He was millimeters from my face as he growled, “Don’t you dare throw that education crap at me. I’ve made more money in the four years you’ve been in school making nothing and spending Daddy’s money. I work hard for Joey, and it pays off. I may not have a goddamn degree, but I’m successful in my own right. And if I’m not mistaken, he is your first fucking client. So don’t you go all ‘holier than thou’ on me.” I knew he was hurt, but I couldn’t allow him to railroad me with my client. I didn’t give a shit if he had dealt with Ealey before.
He started to stalk away from me, but I grabbed his arm and spun him around. “You don’t get to be an arrogant asshole to me either. I’m doing my job, and I know what the fuck,” I growled at him, “I’m doing.” I fought off a gulp. I couldn’t let him know that I doubted myself. Now was not the time to show weakness. “If you don’t like how I handle myself, then I’ll just go about this alone.”
Matthew was breathing hard and staring down at me, then glancing at my hand that was still on his arm. I quickly dropped my hand and retreated back, softening my stance a bit. We weren’t getting anywhere by fighting, and we were on the same team. It was time to start acting like it. “We need to work together.” Trying to sound like I meant it. “Fighting is going to get us nowhere.”
Matthew looked down at the ground, kicking a pebble on the concrete. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going through his head, but I stood by what I said. If I wanted to be able to deal with Joey, we had to be on the same page.
“Fine,” he mumbled, defeated. “We still have the record store. Hop in the truck.”
I frowned at him. That’s it? No questions, no arguments, no stunts? Matthew loved his stunts. I crossed my arms against my chest just staring at him.
“What?” he said with a bitter attitude. “Get in the fucking truck.”
Rolling my eyes, I jumped up into the seat before he threw me in. At the idea of him touching me, though, I felt heat in my cheeks. Not again.
“What’s your face all red for?” he asked as he started the engine.
“Nothing,” I huffed, shoving away those weird thoughts. That was the last thing I needed. Thinking that Matthew was sexy. What the hell was that?
Thankfully Clara, the manager of the record store, was expecting us, and she was much more accommodating. I told her exactly what I wanted to do and how we could set up the store to have Joey come in and do few songs, then sign some posters and CD covers. She was hesitant about the cost, but I assured that we’d pay for everything, even the extra stock of CDs so we knew there were enough in the store. Matthew and I walked around the store, checking everything out. I liked the retro feel of it. They still carried a lot of vinyl and even had a few old record players so new people could hear the greatness on vinyl. My parents had a record player when I was younger, but with the advent of mp3s and CDs, they ended up selling it at a garage sale.
After our initial chat with Clara, I walked around the store looking for space that would work for us. I really enjoyed the way the store was set up. She had listening stations for customers to listen to the latest bands and even some indie bands that she really liked to focus on. Luckily, I found a spot that was spacious enough and would be perfect for Joey to set up for an acoustic set. We could get a few chairs in for the early-comers and have a standing-room-only event. I was excited when I got back to Clara. She explained how they’d set the shop up. She also pointed to an area to the side that we could have him sit and meet with fans. I turned to Matthew, who just shrugged.
I found myself liking Clara a lot. She was your typical record store manager with multi-colored hair, piercings, and tattoos that ran the length of both arms. She was tiny, but had a big personality that made everyone smile. She was extremely friendly and seemed to know a lot of her customers on a first name basis.
She explained how the store was losing money when she first came aboard seven years ago, but with the addition of a coffee shop, including vinyl records, and selling concert tickets, the store bounced back and was still extremely successful. She worked hard to get the extras in, but it all worked out for the best. Just talking to her with her high-pitched voice, made me smile and giggle. She had a great belly laugh that you wouldn’t have imagined by the looks of her. Even Matthew seemed to enjoy talking to her. And she was definitely checking him out, but I honestly didn’t think they were each other’s types. She seemed a bit more out there, and he was a bit more sedate. I actually thought Joey might be a good fit for her.
Then I gasped when that thought crossed my mind. Since when did I start thinking of things like that?
“Are you okay, Charlie?” Matthew asked.
Clara was in the middle of showing me the coffee shop when I’d stopped suddenly. I shook it off. “Yeah, I’m fine. My brain is working overtime today.” I turned back toward Clara. “I’ll be in touch with you to finalize all the details.” I handed her my business card with all my information. “Call, text, or email me if you have any questions.”
She smiled brightly, her eyes crinkling in amusement. “No problem, Charlie. I’m excited we’re doing this here. I think we’ll have a great time, and I’ll call a few friends to come by and help if we need it.” She surprised me by giving me a big hug, then turned to Matthew to do the same. He was taken by surprise, but he walked into her outstretched arms.
The rest of the day went by normally. There were no more hiccups in our quest to redeem Joey’s reputation. We had lunch at a local deli that wasn’t too far from Matthew’s office, then worked a few more hours back at Matthew’s office.
Around five thirty, Matthew stuck his head into the office he set aside for me. “Wanna hit up the bar?” he asked hopefully.
I took a deep cleansing breath, then sighed. “A drink sounds perfect right now. Let me just finish up this email to my dad
and Andrew, and I’ll meet you at the front desk.”
He nodded and left.
I purposely didn’t tell Dad about the meeting with the program director of the radio station. I didn’t need his lecture, which he was sure to give. He was only looking out for me, but I had to learn the ropes. Dealing with all sorts of people, striking the deals, and working under pressure were all part of it.
Matthew was leaning against the desk when I turned the corner. Debbi must’ve left earlier because the place was weirdly quiet. I watched him as he picked at his finger, waiting for me. It wasn’t that I kept him waiting for a long time, but he looked a bit bored. His feet were crossed, and his hair was flopping into his face. The whole look made me smile. He looked really cute and vulnerable that way.
Stop it! Stop that right now. He does not look cute. He’s Matthew, the annoying kid who tortured me all through high school. Don’t forget that.
Okay, maybe my internal speech was overkill, but I couldn’t think this way. He was Joey’s best friend, and we were working together. However, seeing the change in Matthew from just a few years was staggering. He was considered a good-looking kid in school, but he was insanely sexy now. Just as my eyes raked over his body, he looked up and stared right at me. I was embarrassed to be caught studying him, but how could I not?
A smirk graced his lips. He knew exactly what I’d been doing. “Like what you see, Charlie?”
“As if,” I said with a snotty snort. Seems not much has changed in five years after all.
He snickered and ushered me out the door.
The bar wasn’t busy yet, but as people started getting out of work, I could tell that it would become packed. Matthew let me know that this was the place to be seen and to see other ‘high profile’ names. I just went with it. The front of the bar was a line of open windows that extended to a patio-like area. The long bar in the far back was backlit with blue colored lights. It looked a bit highbrow for a simple drink. I followed Matthew as he made his way toward the back by the bar. He then picked a high-top table for us where we could talk in peace until the masses descended and music made us go deaf. We both ordered beers and drank in silence for a moment. I expected Matthew to bring up the Joey discussion at any moment, but he kept glancing around nervously. I half-wondered if he was going to bolt as he kept checking his watch.