Page 80 of The Deviation
There’s only one way to prove my loyalty and my love. With my actions.
Knocking on the open back door, I make my way through the house. Gavin and Charmaine are in the dining room with Ned and Toni.
“This is such bullshit,” Ned mutters as I approach the doorway.
“Maybe so,” Charmaine replies from her place at the head of the table. She has a highlighter in hand as she studies what I assume is a copy of our contract with Rush. “But we need toknow more about the brand of bullshit before we decide how to deal with it.”
Gavin is seated to her left, his back to me. Ned is opposite him, pale-faced and jaw locked tight. Toni is by his side, one arm around Ned’s shoulders and his chair pulled so close the two of them might as well be glued together.
Ned is the first to see me. “Johnny,” he says, straightening in his chair. “What’s going on? Was Calum fired?”
There’s movement as all eyes turn in my direction and I swallow hard. “Yeah. One of his colleagues saw us together at the festival. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“I don’t know,” Gavin grumbles. “I thought you were very circumspect.” His ability to remain clueless about my relationship with Calum when the others either knew or suspected has continued to irk him. Which the rest of us have found hilarious. Such levity escapes me now.
“Where’s Oz?” I ask as I make my way to the foot of the eight-seater table and sit down.
“On his way,” Ned says. “He’d just picked Hannah up from uni when I called him. He said he’d drop her home and then head over.”
I grimace. “How did Hannah take the news?”
“Not well if the non-stop swearing was any indication.”
I’m not surprised. For how protective Calum is of his younger sister, she is every bit as protective of him. I’m glad she’ll be with him when I can’t be.
“What about Calum?” Toni asks. “Is he okay?”
“He’s trying to hide it, but he’s devastated.” I shake my head with a rueful smile. “Still, all he could talk about was the band and how we should negotiate our next move with Rush.” As if we’d want to stay tied to those arseholes. “You know, they told him he could keep his job, despite breaking the rules, if heconvinced me to go public about my sexuality. Something about it being good for our branding.”
My words cause a stir of surprise and outrage from the three men, while Charmaine grabs a nearby pen and starts writing in a notebook. “He turned them down?” she asks.
I nod. “Of course, he did. Even after I told him I’d go along with it, happily. My parents know now anyway.” A few curious eyebrows lift, but it’s a story for another time. “He still refused. Because he’s stubborn and proud and too fucking honourable for his own good.” Sighing my frustration, I look at Charmaine. “What can we do?”
“In terms of getting Calum his job back, probably not much,” she says with sympathetic eyes. “Fifth Circle does have options, though, thanks to the clauses added by both Ned and Rush when the contract was first signed.” She flips back to another page in the document. “If you decide you want to stay with Rush, you can make a unanimous decision to choose a new manager. If you want to leave Rush, the clause Ned added will go a long way towards getting you out.” She glances around the table at each of us. “Thoughts?”
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the crumpled ball of paper Calum pressed into my hand and toss it down the length of the table. Gavin catches it before it bounces off the far end. “What’s this?” he asks, opening it up.
“Calum fully expects us to sail off into the sunset without him. Not only did he encourage me to go,” I nod to Gavin’s hand, “he provided recommendations for which Rush managers we should work with.” My gaze turns to Ned. “He told me not to let Arthur get anywhere near you in particular.”
Toni visibly bristles at my words, a soft but somehow menacing sound emanating from his throat.
Swallowing, Ned holds his hand out towards Gavin. “Can I take a look?”
Gavin hands the paper to Ned, who flattens it out on the table before reading over the list of names. “These are Calum’s possible replacements?”
I hold my breath, my body rigid, as I nod.
“Sweet.” Picking up the paper, Ned slowly begins to shred it. My chest aches with relief as the pieces flutter down onto the table. “I vote we choose none of them. Who’s with me?”
Gavin lets out a hearty guffaw. “Yeah, fuck it. Calum is one of us now. We’re not letting him get shafted when he makes our boy over here,” he jabs a thumb in my direction, “so stupidly happy.”
They turn to me with matching grins. “Agreed?” Ned says, lifting his eyebrows at me.
My smile is wide enough to hurt my cheeks. “Yeah, one hundred percent.” I wasn’t looking forward to fighting them on this if they wanted to stay with Rush. I’m glad to know I don’t have to.
Oz comes barrelling through the door at that moment. “What did I miss?”
Charmaine looks up at him with a cheery smile. “Everyone is casting their vote on whether to accept a new manager from Rush.”