Page 145 of Hard Rock Tease

Deena nodded, encouraging me to continue.

“After I finish my business degree, I want to try getting into the music industry for real. I’d love to do music promotion. The same kind of thing I’m doing now, I guess.”

“What if you don’t have to wait until you’re done with college?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ailey, your work here has been outstanding. You have an excellent understanding of online fandom, and you seem to know exactly the kind of content to post to make fans swoon. Online chatter has been through the roof and all of our concerts have been completely packed. To be honest, when I first thought about hiring an intern, I just needed someone who knew how to work the camera on their phone and post pictures online. You’ve exceeded all my expectations.”

“Th-thank you!” I stuttered. “I’ve just been trying to do the best I can.” Having Deena’s approval meant everything to me. I’d never had such praise heaped upon me before. Sure, a lot of people followed me online, but that never really meant anything to me. Half a million people followed some cat that got famous online for looking grouchy.

“I’ve been thinking that if this is the kind of work you can do while working out of a tour bus with only a phone and tablet, I can’t imagine what you’d be able to do with proper support.” She gave me a considering look. “How would you like to stay on with us after the tour is over and work at Dark Sound Studios?”

I let loose a strangled sound and gaped, mouth wide open.

“Is that a yes?” Deena smiled.

I was still speechless for a few more moments but tried to gather myself.

“I wouldloveto! Oh my god, that would be a dream come true.”

“Glad to hear it. I wanted to get your thoughts before moving forward.”

“Thank you, Deena!” Then I paused, thinking. “I don’t know if I want to just drop out. Getting an education is important to me.”

“Don’t worry about it. A business degree would only make you more useful to us. We’ll work around your schedule. Our work is never nine-to-five anyway.” Deena got up from leaning on the desk and smoothed her shirt.

“We’ll talk more about this later. For now, just keep up the good work.”

“I will, I promise.”

“And keep the conversation just between the two of us, all right? We need to work out the details first.”

As soon as Deena walked out, I clasped my hand over my mouth, trying to stifle the bout of hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble up. My chest hurt with the effort, and my cheeks ached from grinning so widely.

I’d never imagined my big break in the music industry would come so soon! I pulled out my phone to message Neil the good news.

A pang of sadness washed through me. That was right. Things were over between Neil and I. He was the first person I thought of when I wanted to share my good news, but that was over now.

And Jayce. I’d be working at his record label, but he wouldn’t consider that good news. It would just make things more awkward between us. There would be no clean break after summer was over. I’d be seeing him all the time.

I slumped back into my chair and frowned. Things couldn’t go on like this. I needed to fix things between us.

Between all three of us.

***

BEFORE THE INTERNSHIP started, I never would have imagined I’d be torn over two different men. Even more unbelievable was that, despite mutual attraction, I was unable to be with either one of them.

It didn’t help matters that things were back to being tense between Jayce and Neil. It was fine while they were both working, but things always got awkward during down time. They tried to hide it and act professionally, but whenever the two of them were within yards of each other, their hackles came up, like two wolves fighting over a tasty hunk of dead deer.

I didn’t know whether to be amused or exasperated. They were both jealous of the other when neither one of them had me. It was stupid.

The tense atmosphere must have been apparent to more than just me, because Kell took me aside one day and asked me if I knew what was going on with Jayce.

“He’s a lot more subdued than usual,” Kell said, a worried frown on his face. “But then every so often he’ll get tense and irritable.” Kell turned his gaze to me and stared me down with a keen eye. “It only seems to happen when he’s around you and that producer.”

Either the situation was patently obvious to everyone around us or Kell was a lot more perceptive than he let on.