Page 41 of Revel
His cold eyes narrow. “If this is how you want to go about getting the respect of a new genre, there are easier ways of going about it.”
“Is there? Maybe I should ask Hensley. I bet she has some awesome pointers for me.” I’m no good at being vindictive. In fact, I’m awful at it, but it seems the more I hang around Revel, the more I stand up for myself and the more my words twist and become malevolently awesome. I should totally thank him. But then he’d probably tease me about it.
As though I lit a fuse, anger sparks in Dad’s eyes, and then he closes them, as if to sever the lies before they’re seen. “You have no right to talk to me that way.”
“Does Mom know?”
A hushed curse falls from his mouth. “I’m not having this conversation with you. As your label, I strongly suggest you think about who you’re exposing yourself to.”
Sipping on my coffee, I lean into the countertop with my hip. “Actually, I’m thinking of suggesting a duet with him.” Ha. Take that. Can you see the smirk on my face? I’m rather enjoying this new Taylan Ash that’s emerged. She’s kind of a badass.
“The fuck you are!” Dad interrupts vehemently, slamming his palm to the table. “I will never let your name under my label be attached to Revved.”
I stand my ground. “I am. And I find it entertaining that you don’t want your label attached to him, when you drooled over their band for years before they were signed. The only reason you don’t want anything to do with Revved, or Revel, haseverythingto do with them refusing to sign.” I think about the high I had once he came on stage with me last night, and the rush of confidence I had just being near him. And I’m reminded of who saved me last night. Who stood up when the crowd turned. “And you know.” I pause, smiling at the man I’m not sure I know anymore. As my record label, yeah, he’s doing his job, but as a father, he lacked in that area more than he could ever understand. “You could have stepped in last night. Anyone could have, but it was Revel who stood up for me in front of thousands and risked his reputation coming to my aide.”
He wavers, measuring my intentions, then gives me a narrowing glinting side-eye. “You know why he did?”
“Because he cares.”
“No, he doesn’t. He thinks fucking my daughter is a status for him. That’s all you will ever be to him. Another notch on his way to the top.”
A sense of inadequacy sweeps over me. That nagging truth I fear in the back of my mind surfaces, but I refuse to believe it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t?” His voice is colored in neutral shades, something he’s really good at doing with clients. “Why is it he’s avoided you until now? Is that why he took every opportunity he could to talk crap about you in front of the media?”
I chew on my lower lip, uncertainty creeping into my thoughts. “I want you to present a duet to their manager.”
Dad looks up at me, regarding me quizzically for a moment and then shakes his head in disappointment, his eyes drifting to the iPad on the table. “It’s career suicide.”
“I don’t agree with you.”
With a huffed motion, my dad stands. When he’s at the door, he looks back at me. “You need to think about the decisions you’re making. He may seem like the perfect opportunity for this little rebellion thing you’ve got going on, but he’s only using you. I didn’t raise my daughter to give up everything over a boy.”
And then the door slams behind him.
Over a boy? How could he give up everything over a girl? I want so badly to ask my dad about the rumors, but then again, once I hear the truth from his lips, there’s no going back. I’m not sure I want to know for real. My entire life I looked up to him in awe of what he accomplished. What I hadn’t considered was that to get there, he used everyone in his path, indifferent to the consequences of his actions and who he hurt in the process.
We leave for Los Angeles that afternoon. Ben was right. Bella was sound asleep in my bed. She doesn’t wake up for three more hours and knows nothing about last night, other than she “thinks” she slept with Cruz. Turns out I’m not the only one with a foggy memory from last night.
“In my bed?” I gasp, scowling at her.
With her hair in a stack on top of her head, she brings the bottle of water she’s holding to her lips and shrugs her petite shoulder. “I don’t know. But he sent me a text asking if I wanted my panties back.”
I stifle a giggle in my hand. “Did you say yes?”
“I haven’t replied yet.”
“Playing hard to get?”
Her eyes cloud with unease. “I don’t know what I did last night, but I think maybe I need to back off a little. I don’t want him thinking I’m easy.”
“Might be a little late for that one, sister.”
Bella slaps at my arm, rolling her eyes. “You’re one to talk.”
I gasp. “I didn’t sleep with Revel.”
Her brow furrows. “You didn’t?”
