Rock Gods: Baden

by Brandy Munroe

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” I wondered if Theo knew about the family ties that she had mentioned before he made the offer.

  “Thank you for the offer but it’s taken care of.” She seemed bashful at her admission. It was the most vulnerable I’d seen her since our first meeting. For a moment, she appeared much younger, unguarded. “Wow, you certainly gave me a lot to think about.” She tapped her long, red, well-manicured fingers on the contract Theo had previously given her. “I should get back and set up a meeting with the girls.” She stood and straightened her skirt that had ridden up when she sat. It was hard not to notice her toned, mile-long legs.

  She held out her hand, “Baden, a pleasure.” I stood and gave her hand a good firm handshake. Her eyes widened and flared. The contact gave me a jolt. Had she felt it? I stared into her heated gaze. I made a mental note to do research on the internet on what would cause someone to have no pigment in their irises.

  She slowly pulled her hand away and offered it to Theo. I felt the loss of heat the moment she released mine.

  “I look forward to working with both of you.” Her sultry, smoky voice was once again full of confidence and innuendo.

  I watched her walk out the door. The douche that was here earlier was waiting for her with a tall take-out cup. The venti mocha latte she sent him for would have gone cold by now. The way he was escorting her out the door with his hand on the small of her back spoke of familiarity. Was he hoping for a second chance with her?

  From his performance the first time out, I doubt she was going to allow him the opportunity to redeem himself. Then again, I didn’t know her well enough to guess as to what she may or may not do.

  I focused my attention on Theo. “Do you think it’s possible to put six women in a band and not see some catfights?” I was genuinely concerned. It was something we had seen on the road with our previous label.

  Guys had a problem, we beat the shit out of each other and worked it out. Women handled their shit with a different attitude. I didn’t even want to try to begin to know how their minds worked when they were pissed.

  We recently went through all that with Maddox’s girlfriend, Kitt. Her cousin spiked her drink and put her in a dangerous situation to prove Kitt couldn’t be faithful. It resulted in Kitt having to go to the hospital. We were still trying to filter through the bullshit that occurred afterward. I did not want to experience that kind of behavior on this tour.

  “Nothing to worry about, Baden.” Theo stretched his long legs in front of him as he took up residence on the large leather armchair in his office. “I’ve already got a deal with both Emerald and Sapphire to join Divine Chrysalis.” He smirked with satisfaction.

  I was shocked. It wasn’t like Theo to play games, especially when it came to business. What did he have to gain by taunting Crystal the way he had?

  “You’re wondering if this was a test,” Theo stated. My expression had him reading my mind. Then again, spending six years working and playing with someone day and night gave you insight into what that person may or may not be thinking. Still, I had no idea what was on Theo’s mind.

  “I’m not fucking with her,” Theo laughed. “Ruby Red’s ego tore her band apart, not her busting her vocals. If she had not been afraid to share some of the limelight, Ruby would have taken the time off she needed. She could have played lead guitar and let one of the other girls take center stage. Instead, she pushed herself, and now, there is no band.” He looked me square in the eye. Did he think I would pass judgment on his methods?

  “It was important for me to know that Crystal could put her ego aside. Do what’s best for the band and not what’s best for her.”

  He stood and made his way to his desk.

  “So, it was a test?” I pushed myself off the couch. “If you’re concerned about Crystal’s attitude, why take them on in the first place?” And why saddle me with them went unspoken.

  “I knew about Jade,” he confessed with a sinister grin. “She called me out of professional courtesy; drummer to drummer. She wanted to confirm the deal Crystal presented was legit. She also gave me the real story about what happened with Ruby Red; not the PR crap spun to the media.” He leaned back in his chair. “She’s also the one who recommended I call Emerald and Sapphire about their unpublished work that Ruby refused to use.”

  He was full of secrets today, wasn’t he?

  “You wanted to see how forthcoming Crystal was going to be about the change,” I chuckled. “Did you think she would embellish the situation to cover for her drummer?” If this were my brother Maddox, I sure as hell would have lied to cover his ass. I would have also got him the help he needed, the same way Crystal had for her former drummer.

  “Nothing like that. There’s some history there that is not mine to tell. When you start working with the girls, if they feel comfortable enough to tell you their story, that’s up to them.” He said the girls, not Crystal as a singular, but the band as a whole.

  I was not too fond of secrets. They replayed over and over in your memory; festering and clinging to your soul.

  “I saw them play live, Baden. They’re the real deal. I’d like you to help add a little polish to their live performances. I have them booked in a few clubs in and around New York and Boston. We’ve got six weeks to prepare for the festival that is going to kick off the tour.” Theo handed me an itinerary with dates and places he booked Divine Chrysalis to play.

  As up and comers, we’d played some of these venues. They were small, clean, and safe. They would be good places for the girls to get their feet wet.

  “Do you honestly think Divine Chrysalis is going to be ready to open for us in such a short amount of time?” I didn’t want to question Theo’s authority. After all, he owned Bentley Records. I was just another artist in his list of clients. Friends aside, in essence, he was the boss.

  The bold, husky laugh that escaped him set me back. “They’re not opening for the tour. I’m sandwiching them between Brackish and ReInVented.” Theo crossed his arms and lifted his chin, challenging me.

  Was he fucking nuts? Not only was he putting an unknown amateur band on tour with us, but he also wanted me to get them ready to perform before the headliners, us, ReInVented.

  What the hell did I know about polish?

  Fuck all, that’s what.

  Shit, up until a few weeks ago, all I was interested in was playing gigs, getting the album released and preparing for the tour.

  Theo giving the band the summer off to pursue other interests surprised us all. Our old label never gave us time off. We barely had time to visit our families in between the hectic schedule we’d had the past couple of years.

  I was happy to take the opportunity to shadow Theo and learn how the industry worked from the other side of the desk.

  Was part of this mentoring keeping them in check? I was all too familiar with rowdy rock stars.

  Did I want to do it with a lead singer whose attitude and sexual escapades rivaled my own?

  Was I ready for that kind of responsibility?

  Chapter 4

  Crystal

  Ready or not, here I come.

  That was what it felt like unpacking the U-Haul my father parked in front of the address Baden had texted me last week. It was a beautiful older Victorian home. Red brick with a wrap-around veranda. Shutters the color of clay to blend in with the block on the windows. Flower boxes with blue forget-me-nots and beautiful pansies perched over the railing. Roses of Sharon lined the freshly painted wooden stairs.

  I was walking into a fucking Norman Rockwell painting.

  I reached into the pocket of my Daisy Dukes for my phone. The code to unlock the door was texted to me two days after Theo confirmed our signed contract was in his hands.

  An informative call from Jade had me second-guessing Theo’s intentions. Had he set me up? If I had refused to work with the two remaining members of Ruby Red, would he have continued negotiations? Jade was very forthcoming with what she had disc
ussed with Theo.

  I made sure the contract was assessed by a great lawyer. There were no hidden agendas or false promises. Divine Chrysalis was offered a one year, one album deal. It included promoting the albums via our upcoming tour. That was nothing new in the music industry. Tours were an intricate part of promoting music.

  It was going to come as a shock to some fans of ReInVented that an unknown band was on the roster for their introductory tour. To others, the fans who had been following me for years, they would say it was finally time I got the recognition I deserved.

  I’d been at Bentley Records laying down vocal tracks for months already. Ashley and Amber had come in a few times to add instrumentals. The only one who we had not been able to get over there was our former drummer. Now that we took care of that opportunity, we were ready to proceed full speed ahead.

  We had been working with Jade, and she took to our songs with ease. It was like she had been there all along. It was going to be hard not having my Fender to hide behind. I was going to have to up my game on my stage presence.

  I had abso-fucking-lutely no doubts where my vocals were concerned. I had a raw, smoky edge to my voice. My range bordered on ridiculous and my lungs were made for screaming.

  That didn’t mean I was going to hog center stage and not allow Sapphire the opportunity to showcase her smooth, sultry sound. That was one of the main contentions with Ruby. She did not know how to share anything. The stage, the royalties, the credit.

  During the middle of the last tour when Ruby’s vocals started cracking and some of the tour dates were canceled. It was revealed that Ruby was taking an extra ten percent of the cut on all the royalties.

  The girls hired a lawyer of their own but were disappointed to find out there was nothing that could be challenged until the end of their current contract. At that time they could renegotiate. As Jade put it, the best thing that happened to them was Ruby’s ego.

  The new Divine Chrysalis was going into the studio as a cohesive group. It helped that everyone lived in New York and, with my father as a mediator, we worked out all the bugs before sending the contract back to Theo for his approval.

  Jade had been working with Emerald and Sapphire and bringing them up to speed on our sound. Everything was falling into place.

  Today we were all moving forward. That included moving to Tranquility.

  I was the first to arrive at the house.

  The entry was wide, with a closet to the right and stairs on the left. I followed the narrow hallway. On my right was a doorway leading into a large family room. A beautiful leather couch, loveseat, and armchair filled the spacious room. Mounted against the back wall was a flat-screen television with an entertainment center sitting underneath. The loveseat sat under the bay window that gave a great view of the driveway and street.

  I continued my search down the hall to find a country kitchen. Modern appliances, a new one-cup coffee maker and a toaster sat on the counter. I opened the pantry; it was fully stocked. I saw the same thing with the fridge.

  The kitchen space was large enough for a square wooden table with enough seating for twelve people. Guess Theo planned on us entertaining.

  I turned around and noticed a door at the end of the kitchen. I opened it to find a bathroom: a toilet and a sink. Put there for convenience to keep anyone from having to travel upstairs to take care of business. Some hand towels and liquid hand soap sat on top of the vanity. I picked up the bottle and scrunched my nose, Vanilla. I was partial to strawberry-scented products, but, oh well. I opened drawers to find new pink towels. I snickered, wondering if somehow whoever put them there knew pink was my favorite color. If they did, the hand soap would have been strawberry, right?

  My father had begun bringing in the boxes that had been carefully packed and labeled. I didn’t need much. Baden made it clear that the house was fully stocked. Dishes, pots and pans, even new bedding. We were welcome to bring any personal items we wanted to make this place feel more like home—a favorite blanket or mug.

  That made the unpacking easy. I did, however, insist on bringing my bed. It belonged to my grandmother, and I was not going to leave it behind in my New York apartment for some stranger to damage or try to sell it on eBay.

  It was an old-world wrought iron. I had it sandblasted to refurbish the original finish. I’d purchased a new mattress and had the spring frame reinforced. Where I went, it went, including the 1800 thread count microfiber sheets in princess pink. Along with the matching comforter, sham and throw pillows.

  Yup, my room looked like the daddy’s girl I was at heart. No rule saying the kick-ass rocker chick couldn’t be a daddy’s girl. Who do you think bought me my first and currently well-used Strat in neon pink?

  You got it, my father.

  Once we got all the boxes into the house, the two of us headed upstairs to see which room was not currently filled with furniture. That would be where I would set up my bed. The house had four bedrooms. That meant four people were going to have to share.

  My cousins Ashley and Amber volunteered if they could have the master bedroom that boosted its own bathroom. The twins Emerald and Sapphire put dibs on the same room. We did the only reasonable thing. We played rock, paper, scissors, and the twins won.

  Ashley and Amber were still willing to share if they could have the next most substantial bedroom. Jade and I had no problems with that agreement.

  The doors to the bedrooms were wide open. Each one was completely furnished. My stomach fell. Baden knew I was bringing my bed. Now I was going to have to take one of these apart and find a place to store it.

  The master bedroom was a decent size. A queen-size bed sat on one wall. A highboy and a long dresser filled up the other. Curiosity had me wandering into the bathroom to check it out. It contained a lovely fully-encased bathtub/shower combination, a sink, vanity, and a built-in linen closet.

  On the same side of the hallway was the main bathroom. Simple but functional. A toilet, and encased bathtub/shower combo. A linen closet loaded with new bedding and towels. A large double sink vanity with enough shelving for our junk.

  Each of the other three bedrooms was similar in size. They each contained a queen-size bed, a modest-sized dresser, and a decently sized closet. It didn’t look like my cousins were going to be comfortable with any of these rooms. They were not going to be pleased with having to share a bed. I didn’t imagine the twins were going to be any more delighted about that, either.

  Maybe I should get my father to bring my bed back with him and store it until I could find a place of my own. That way, Ashley and Amber wouldn't have to share, and I could take up residence on the couch. I’d done enough couch surfing in my days of playing in shitholes to know that there were far worse places to lay your head at night.

  If we kicked ass on this tour and stuck with Theo, those days would be gone forever.

  Not wanting to alert my father on how I planned to handle the situation, I decided to change tactics. “How about you and I bring my bed down to the basement, and I’ll get Baden to send some of the roadies to help me set it up when the rest of the girls get here and it’s decided who is going to take which room?”

  Baden was not only assigned our mentor: he had become the go-between with us and Bentley Records. Most of our dealing had been with Baden rather than Theo.

  “Are you sure, princess?” My father frowned as we headed back outside. I knew he was going to have words with Baden before this day was over.

  Speak of the devil.

  “You made excellent time getting here.” Baden approached my father and held out his hand. My father looked down at it cautiously before taking it and giving Baden a perfect man to man handshake.

  “Looks like there’s been some miscommunication, Mr. Dogger.” I rolled my eyes behind my father’s back. Good god, he was going to make an issue out of the bedrooms. I loved my father, but sometimes he could be overprotective. Not that I hadn’t given him reasons to in the past.

  My father poi
nted to my bed sitting in the back of the U-Haul I rented to get it here. “Chrissy doesn’t have an empty room to set up her bed.”

  “That’s why I was hoping to beat you here.” Baden entered the house without waiting to be invited. Then again, the house belonged to Bentley Records. Did Baden need an invitation? It was something that was going to have to be discussed. It didn’t seem right that he should be able to come and go as he pleased.

  “Follow me,” Baden waved over his shoulder. I shrugged at my father and followed him into the house. Under the stairs was a door I hadn't noticed. Baden flicked on a switch and began to descend a flight of lit stairs. When we reached the bottom, my jaw dropped.

  The basement was a beautifully finished rec room. A pool table sat off to one side. A huge entertainment center with video game console, a multi DVD player and a massive big screen TV took up an entire wall. The place looked more like a movie theatre than a rec room.

  I wanted to smack the shit-eating grin off Baden’s face. He knew this was never mentioned in the features when we decided to take up residence in this house. Now my father was impressed. I guess I could always crash down here instead of sleeping on the couch in the living room.

  When I finally took my jaw off the floor, Baden gestured for me to open a door that led to a different room in the basement. I knew the place ReInVented called the McMansion had a recording studio in theirs. Did we have one in ours as well?

  I opened the door to find a mostly empty room. Two tall dressers were pushed against one wall. A couple of bookcases took up space on the adjacent one. There was a door that definitely looked like a closet, and then another. How many rooms were in this house?

  Baden pointed to the door in question. “That leads to a full bathroom like the one upstairs. On the other side is another room like this one for Jade. You’ll have to share the bathroom.” He leaned in to whisper so my father couldn’t hear. “You’ll only have to share a bedroom if you want to.” His innuendo did not go unnoticed.