Page 81 of The Deviation
His face falls. “Oh, shit.” The words burst out of him in barely a whisper before he pulls himself up to his full height. “Right, here it is. I’m in love with Hannah, and I’m not about to hurt her by screwing over her brother. I vote no new manager.” He stares each of us down, with crossed arms and an intense glare we’ve never seen before on our youngest and quietest member. “Any of you have a problem with that?”
We all sit there stunned into silence, until Toni pipes up, “Damn. That was hot.”
Oz’s eyes widen as the rest of us dissolve into laughter.
“It’s unanimous,” Charmaine declares. “We fight for Calum.”
* * *
On Friday morning, we arrive at the Rush offices right on time. Each of us is wrapped in thick layers of rock star confidence, with the hope no one looks close enough to see the nerves lurking beneath. Thankfully, we have Charmaine’s genuine confidence to help us sell the facade. She’s managed to wrangle the morning off work to be here with us. While she’s not a contract lawyer, she knows enough to help us pull this off. We hope.
We’re ushered into a boardroom upon arrival, with assurances someone will be with us momentarily. Fifteen minutes later, we’re still waiting.
“How much longer do you think they’ll make us sit here?” Ned grumbles. His legs are bouncing lightly under the table, and he can’t keep his fingers off the pendant around his neck.
Charmaine’s pen pauses on her notepad, where I’m pretty sure she’s churning through her own work while we wait. “However long they think it will take to unnerve you.” She looks up at him. “Are you unnerved?”
Ned clears his throat. “No, ma’am.”
“Good.” She winks at him before returning to her work.
Another minute passes.
Oz is tapping away on his phone. Probably providing updates to Hannah. Gavin is sitting beside Charmaine, studying the details of the room as he slouches in his chair. Of the four of us, he’s definitely the most chill about this whole situation.
Sighing heavily, I stand and walk over to a large window at the other end of the room, but I barely register the sprawling streets of the city far below. I miss Calum. We haven’t spoken since I left his apartment all of thirty-six hours ago. It feels like a year. I’ve sent multiple texts, to tell him I love him, that we’ll get through this, and I’m not going anywhere. He hasn’t responded.
Every cell in my body has screamed at me to rush to his side, to break down the damned door if I have to, but I’m determined to give him the space he seems to want. I’ve done enough harm without forcing myself on him when he’s asked me to stay away.
All that ends today, though. Whichever way this meeting goes, we’ll be together soon.
“Everything okay?” Ned’s voice comes from beside me and I turn my head to see concern in his eyes. “You’re sure about this, yeah?”
I give him a questioning look. “About our strategy?” He nods. “Of course.”
His lips press together, as if he has more to say and I frown. “Ned, if you’re having second thoughts—”
“No,” he says, cutting me off. “Not at all. It’s just… I remember how excited you were when we signed with Rush. About moving forwards and making all our high school dreams come true. Since then, you’ve been so focused and driven to make it happen.” He gestures to the room behind us. “We’re about to put it all at risk. At best it’ll be a setback, at worst… we could miss our shot at the big time.” He hesitates for another moment before going on. “I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
That’s what he’s worried about? That if things go pear-shaped, I’ll regret not being famous? My shoulders relax and a laugh escapes me as I put a hand on his shoulder. “Mate, it wasn’t the thought of fame or money keeping me focused this past year. It was Calum.” At the lift of his eyebrows, I grin. “The way he looked at me every time we hit another one of his targets. Like he wanted to strip me naked and cover me with gold stars.” My eyes roll back in my head as Ned bursts out laughing. “I’m telling you, it was like a drug.”
Ned lets out another peal of laughter before he leans over to murmur in my ear. “Who knew, all these years, you’ve been dying to be somebody’s good boy.”
My face goes up in flames as I glance at the other people in the room. Thankfully, they’re used to our shit and haven’t even bothered to look up. “I never said that,” I whisper to Ned, “but… maybe a little.”
“I understand,” he says, his own cheeks rosier than they were before. “I understand completely.”
By the time our laughter fades the air between us is clearer. It’s good to know we’re still on the same page.
“The truth is,” I go on, “all I truly need to be happy is my guitar, a stage, and Cal. Even if we do end up playing beer gardens and small pubs again, it won’t bother me.” If I have to go back to working at a pharmacy to make it work, so be it.
Ned flashes me a wicked grin. “If you don’t add abutto the end of your sentence, I’ll do it for you.”
“But,” I drawl, turning to face the fancy boardroom we’ve been dumped in, “if we can manage to cut this lot loose, keep Cal,andgo on to smash more of those targets he loves so much, it would be exceptional. For us and for him.”
“Gold stars all around?” Ned asks, waggling his eyebrows at me.
“No.” My gaze narrows. “The gold stars are mine.”