Did she say garters… or garners?
Shit, now I imagined her wearing garters and nothing else but those hot-as-fuck heels.
I knew I should’ve been paying attention to what she was saying, but I was too busy trying to act like I was paying attention. The long list of distractions made it nearly impossible.
It was all too much to process. Success handed to me on a silver platter, with LRV Media and Lori Banzini representing me. Shit… I could finally dare to believe my dream was right around the corner.
I was way too close to my funds running dry and having to make a life-altering decision. A year earlier, my mother had sent me off with a nice little chunk of change that should’ve helped me focus on my art without having to take a minimum-wage job just to make ends meet. But LA cost a fucking fortune to exist in, and I lived pretty damn modestly.
Shit, there was this gorgeous redhead dangling a golden carrot before my hungry mouth… well, what guy wouldn’t be distracted by all that?
“So, basically, you have a lot to consider over the next week,” she said with a smile. I had nothing to consider. I’d sign right there if she had the contracts. “This may seem like it’s happening fast, but that’s how LRV operates.”
Truth was, she could’ve been trying to scam me into becoming a sex slave in an impoverished country and I’d gladly sign just to get to know her… to see if those green eyes blazed when she was angry… to hear what her moans sounded like when pleasured… to see if she was a natural redhead.
Suddenly, I realized she’d stopped speaking and had leveled me with those hypnotic eyes. “Do you have any questions?” she asked with one perfectly sculpted brow lifting in challenge.
Playing it cool, I asked, “Where do I sign?”
A quick smile flashed, revealing a set of perfect teeth. “Then I take it you’re okay with my forty percent fee?” Folding her arms beneath her breasts, my eyes tracked the motion as I processed her second question.
“If that’s what it takes,” I responded without missing a beat. “I’m sure you’re worth it.” Little did she know that I’d pay that and more for her to represent me.
“I am… but my fee isn’t forty percent.” She calmly took a sip of her water before resuming her position with both arms folded across her chest. “Were you paying attention to anything I said?”
Fuck. So she was on to me.
“Sure. The dude who owns the label is from Texas.” I quirked up a half smile while shrugging. “Listening isn’t one of my strong suits,” I admitted. Why pretend? I predicted this would be happening a lot during our partnership… the zoning-out thing.
“Apparently not.” She dragged in a sigh and shook her head. “Have you been contacted by any other agents since arriving to Los Angeles?”
“A few. Most didn’t get past the phone call when I quickly realized they were shady. I met with one but wasn’t feeling it.”
“And you’re feeling it with me?”
You have no idea how much. But all I was willing to give was a nod. She must have sensed my thoughts because she clasped her hands on the table and said, “Look… you need to be smart in this business, Cannon. Even though LRV is one of the biggest labels in the industry, you still need to protect yourself. Young talent like you is ripe for the picking.”
“I’m not as dumb as I look,” I said, staring her down over the neck of my beer bottle.
“I’m not insinuating you are. However, you have no résumé to speak of. Even though the label came to you, they’ll still use your inexperience to their advantage, as they should.” Our eyes connected like two magnets, and I could feel the current it created in every part of my body. “My paycheck may read LRV Media, but my loyalty will always be to you. You can trust me.”
Loyal to me… I liked the sound of that but kept my comments to myself.
“There will be times I’ll insist on something you may not agree with, but in the long run it’s all for you to reach the ultimate goal.”
“And what goal is that?” I asked. I knew what mine was but was curious if she imagined the same.
“To turn Cannon Davis into a household name.”
Bingo.
She dug into her bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper as well as a business card. “Although, you should have done your homework after I called you…” Based on her smirk I guessed she had done just that in regard to me. “Here are my credentials along with references other than executives at LRV. I always feel it helps to get unbiased opinions from those who know a person outside of the realm of their profession. Feel free to call any of them, or my boss Jennifer Baxter, or even me if you have any questions.”
“Will do.” With my gaze fixated on her face I reached for the paper, purposely touching her fingertips as I did.
There was a slight tilt of her brows; otherwise it was hard to decipher what ran through her mind. She then lifted her phone and asked, “What’s your email address?” I rambled it off, watching her slim fingers tap at the screen. “I’ll email you a copy of the contract so you can review it and speak to a lawyer. That way you’re prepared when we meet with LRV on the twelfth.” That gave me a little over two weeks to get ready before my world blew up.
“Sounds good.” I slipped the folded paper and business card into my leather jacket. “Now that business is done, can I buy you a drink to celebrate our union?”
Those cool eyes held mine for a beat before she said, “I’ll buy you one.”
Distracted by a slim beam of light that slowly filtered through the blinds and spread across the edge of my bed, morning arriving did little to bring on sleep. I was too excited, too wired. There were too many possibilities now dangling within reach.
I flipped the embossed business card between my fingers, thinking of the woman it belonged to.
It was hard to ignore the excitement that pulsed in my gut. I was always afraid to believe greatness would happen for me. Realistic dreams left little room for heartbreak. Living in California while playing my music was all I dared to hope for some day, but my mom had drilled into me that only the biggest dreams were worth fighting for. Yet, in her next breath, she’d forced me to get a degree before I entertained a music career… just in case.
So, to make her happy, I’d attended Arizona State. She had sacrificed so much for us kids; it was the least I could do. Besides, I was a realist and that degree could come in handy someday.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned on meeting Holly Nolan my sophomore year.
Despite our differences, we fell hard and fast. Things were great, as long as I ignored the red flags… like how I hadn’t met her family in the three years we were together. Or like how she always found an excuse not to meet mine. Or like when a few weeks before graduation she became distant.
If I had paid attention to all that, it wouldn’t have been a surprise the night she broke up with me.
Three years of my life wasted on a girl who never intended for it to go further than our college years. Her life had been mapped out, and looking back, I was nothing more than a distraction, a midlife crisis come before the prudish future she was expected to face.
Harboring a broken heart, shortly after I graduated, I took off for California to chase my dream. Home may have been about three hundred miles east in a place called Surprise, Arizona, but heaven was living in LA.
Since arriving, I had never looked back. Sure, I missed my mom and sisters, but being in California completed me. I networked my ass off, secured myself a bunch of steady gigs, traveled on my free time up and down the state, getting myself seen as much as possible, and waited for a lucky break.
One year and twenty-three days after arriving, it had come when Miss Lori Banzini contacted me out of the blue. The day she’d called I’d taken it all with a grain of salt. Like I admitted to her earlier, there had been other “agents” who apparently wanted to talk. I wasn’t lying when I said ten minutes into the conversation tipped me off that they weren’t legit.
Ob
viously I had assumed the same when Lori called. She’d caught me as I ran out the door, forcing me to scribble down the label she worked for. Life happened, and it was days later before I remembered that call. Having forgotten where I’d put that damn scrap of paper, I’d also forgotten she’d planned to come see me play at Hops and Soul the night she appeared.
It didn’t take long for me to believe that this one was the real deal. I could feel it in my bones. This redhead was my gateway to greatness.
Well, bring it… because once I snatched those opportunities there would be no way I’d be letting go.
As the beam of sunlight grew, now covering most of my room, I gave up trying and reached for the laptop sitting on my nightstand. A few seconds later, my fingers tapped out the name Lori Banzini in the search bar.
“Let’s see who you are, Miss Banzini,” I said before pressing “Enter.”
Chapter 3
Cannon
As I stared out my window at the courtyard below, my apartment door swung open and slammed shut with a bang. Knowing just who it was, I mumbled from behind my coffee cup, “I’m beginning to regret giving you a key.”
I turned to watch Liam reopen the door, glance around it, and shut it for the second time. “No rubber band means no woman,” he said with an annoyed huff. “Or did I stop you from the date you had with your hand again?”
“Fuck off. No rubber band also doesn’t mean it’s okay to barge in without knocking.”
“Since the hell when?” He looked at me like I had two heads. “I see we woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
Woke up would insinuate sleep, which hadn’t happened for me last night. But he was right that something had me out of sorts. I had spent hours reading up anything I could find on Lori. There wasn’t a whole lot out there professionally, but the gossip snippets I found had led to a labyrinth of information.
What stuck in my mind were the two very public relationships my new agent had had with two rockers. One I had never heard of. It seemed this Matt Rizzo dude was the lead singer for Cliffhangers, a band she’d managed. Their breakup had happened as the band broke up, and whether one caused the other was unknown.
But before Matt, the brief affair she’d had with Trey Taylor, a rock god with a colorful history, pissed me off more than it should have. The man was infamous because of his tragic upbringing—and beloved for the way he had climbed out of tragedy to achieve fame.
Most recently, he had been in a motorcycle accident that had claimed his wife’s life. Even though he’d survived, the catastrophe over losing her had sent him into a tailspin with drugs and alcohol that had almost killed him. As of now, he was missing from the music scene. Some claim he was in rehab; others wondered if he’d quit altogether. Either way, his band, Devil’s Lair, were silent on the entire subject.
As a musician, I was in awe of the man’s talent. And discovering his connection to Lori had me feeling insecure while killing my confidence.
“I’m starving.” Without invite, Liam headed right for the kitchen table, snatched my half-eaten bagel, and took a healthy bite. “Bleh, veggie… you know I like plain cream cheese.”
“Give me that.” Snapping what was left of my breakfast out of his hand before tossing it back on the plate only prompted him to laugh at me. “Dickhead.”
“Yeah, yeah. I love you too.” Undeterred, he grabbed a mug out of my cabinet and helped himself to a cup of coffee. “The sun is shining. The birds are singing. It’s a beautiful day.”
My responding grunt caused him to laugh harder. Liam Moore had moved into the building a few weeks before I had. For the most part we were polar opposites of each other in looks and personality. Liam was a take-the-bull-by-the-horns kind of guy, where I was more chill.
Funny thing, Liam often teetered between being a success and a fuckup. People were usually fooled by his wholesome blue-eyed vibe, until they discovered that deep down he was trouble. To be specific, Liam was a promiscuous daredevil addicted to adrenaline. I had learned fairly quickly whenever he said, Dude, I have a great idea, I needed to hide and bolt my door. More times than not, I was forced to don the responsibility hat even though he had a few years on me in age.
Despite all that, we had hit it off from day one, forging an instant friendship.
Our reasons for moving to California were also very different. He grew up in New York, became a real estate agent, and relocated, never wanting to experience another winter. His favorite thing was a surfboard, where mine was my guitar. He loved blondes, where I preferred brunettes. The perfect date for Liam would be driving up the PCH in a convertible, where I would spend a quiet night at home eating good takeout and listening to music.
Even with our long list of differences, it helped to have a sidekick in a new city. His boring day job enabled him to tag along with me when I performed. My lack of a day job meant I could walk his dog when he was at work… a win-win for both of us.
But it was times like now, as he opened and closed cabinets in search for food, that reminded me the man had no inhibitions… or manners.
Oblivious to my annoyance, my second grunt stopped him from the racket he had created. He ran a hand over his shaggy blond hair and threw me a scowl. “Seriously, what crawled up your ass?”
“Nothing. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Before I even finished my statement, Liam had lifted Lori’s résumé off the counter and smirked.
“Is this the chick that called you a few days ago?”
“She is.”
“She came?”
“She did.”
“She managed Cliffhangers?” His pale eyes focused on me. “Who are they?”
“I don’t know them. They really didn’t last long. They were connected to Devil’s Lair. This label, LRV Media, also represents them.”
That caught his attention. “Wait… she knows DL?”
“Apparently.” Quite personally, I might add.
“Cool. Maybe she can hook us up.” Like a squirrel, he resumed his task and finally spotted something that enticed his taste buds. After grabbing a bowl, a box of cereal, and milk from the fridge, he plopped down at the table to assemble his breakfast and asked, “Back to the agent. So?”
Wasn’t that a loaded question? Those two little letters just unleashed a barrage of possible responses.
So she’s spectacular.
So she’s who I need to get me fame.
So I want in her pants.
So I can’t have in her pants.
So…
“Dude?” My eyes cut to where Liam sat with a spoon hovering near his mouth. “Did she piss on your talent?”
“Just the opposite. It went really well. They’re interested and want me.”
“The way you said that seems like it’s a bad thing.”
Admitting it had nothing to do with the offer, and all to do with the messenger, I shook my head and scoffed, “I’m stoked. It’s just a lot to process, and I’m trying not to get my hopes up.”
“Seriously, you’re very talented. It wasn’t a matter of if you’d get discovered; it was a matter of when.”
“Thanks, dude.”
“Truth.” He studied me long and hard. “Now that you’re close, don’t pussy out. This is what you’ve been waiting for.”
“I’m not pussying out.” I poured my now-cold coffee down the drain and refilled my mug. “Until I get my first check, I’m going to try and keep my head out of the clouds.”
“Fuck that,” he said with a full mouth. “I’d be test-driving a Jaguar as we speak.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his statement. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that. You’d also be broke before your first album hit. You have no self-control.”
“Life’s too short to hem and haw.” He finished off the rest of his cereal and gave me his trademark grin. “Which leads to the real reason I’m here.”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard what it is yet.” Ignoring my eye roll, he rushed on to say, “I got an
invite to a party in Santa Monica from one of my clients. Hopefully it’ll lead to more business for me. Real Hollywood royalty expected, and that could be good for you too.”
“I’ll pass. I have some shit to get done.” I really wanted to review the contract Lori had emailed me. “Plus I’m playing tonight.”
“Come on, man. You’ll be back in time.” He looked at me like a puppy waiting for a bone. “We’ll stay for a few hours, I’ll make some connections, and we’ll leave.”
“Is this event on land?” My question stemmed from the time he’d dragged me to a party on what he claimed would be a yacht. It turned out to be nothing more than a fishing boat people could charter. The fucking thing died at sea, leaving us stranded for hours. By the time we were rescued, I had missed my gig that night while he’d lost his phone and one shoe.
“Yes, wiseass. It’s on land.” Waving toward my room, he said, “Go get dressed. And try for something country club–like. We’re about to hobnob with the rich and famous.”
“You’re a pain in my ass. I don’t own anything country club–like.”
If this shindig was going to be as “lit” as Liam claimed, I had no objection to getting lit myself. Therefore Liam and I decided to take a cab to the party.
During the thirty-minute drive, he filled me in on the client who had invited him. Blake Steiner was just starting out in the film industry with borrowed money from his famous producer dad. Liam had met Blake at a club and admitted to me he wasn’t sure if the dude was drunk or not when he’d hired him as his real estate agent. Not taking any chances, Liam had all the paperwork for putting Blake’s old beach house on the market couriered over to his office the next day. Liam had made a small fortune on that sale and had blown most of it on his new sports car.
As our driver recited Liam’s name to the guard and pulled through the gate, I understood why we needed to be there. I whistled through my teeth and said, “Damn, how much money does this dude have?”
Liam nodded with a grin. “Tons. He had bought that other house I sold as an investment. The place was miniscule compared to this, run-down. After a few improvements, he flipped it and netted a cool mil above what he paid.”
Liner Notes Page 2