Lark took the card, and Tyler gave us another nod then turned to go.
“Wait,” I called.“That’s it?Aren’t you going to stay for the rest of the show?”
Tyler gave me an enigmatic smile.“I guess you’re going to have to wait to find out.”
Then he turned and walked away.None of us said a word as we watched him go.He walked all the way down the bar and then climbed into a booth in the corner, alone as far as I could see.No Noah.No date.Just Tyler.
“Holy shit,” Bailey squealed.“Tyler fucking Worthington wants to sign us!We gotta thank Noah.”
“Why do you think some guy had anything to do with this?”Lark curled her lip.“We’re a bad ass group.Talented.Write our own music.And we own any stage we stand on.”
“Besides, I don’t think Tyler would all but make an offer to a group he didn’t really want,” I protested.“He might come to listen because the guys asked him to, but he’s not going to waste his time or his money floating insincere offers.”
But still I felt dread knot up my stomach.This was exactly why I didn’t want anyone to know about us.No one would respect our group if they thought we’d climbed our way to the top by getting on our backs.
My own bandmember thought we had my sex life to thank for our potential offer.
Ugh.
I felt sick.
“And just because he offered, doesn’t mean we have to accept.“ Lark pursed her lips.
“What?”Bailey all but shrieked.“Are you crazy?Tyler fucking Worthington wants to sign us, and you want to pass that up?”
“I learned my lesson after the whole Joe Fisher fiasco.It’s not the plan, remember?”Lark grabbed her drink and downed the whole thing in one go.“We were going to cut our own EP and make them come to us.”
“Uh, hello.”Bailey waved her hand in Lark’s face.“That’s happened.And we didn’t even have to pay out of pocket for a freaking EP.Tyler fucking Worthington came to us.He’sasking to representus.We didn’t go to him.”
“It’s still not the plan,” I reiterated.“And we need to talk it over first.If it’s not unanimous, we don’t do it.That’s the rule, remember?”
Bailey huffed and turned back to her drink.“You’re both insane.”
“No, we’re both careful,” Lark retorted.“Regardless of what happened before with Joe Fisher, we’re not signing with the first asshole who comes along.We’re going to do our due diligence and make sure it’s a deal we all want.”
Bailey scowled.“He represents acts bigger than us.Why wouldn’t we want to sign with him?”
“Because we haven’t seen his terms.”I shook my head.“Yes, this is amazing, but we’re not going to jump on command.We’re going to control our destiny.And that includes signing with people who care about what we think and want.”
Bailey huffed and buried her face in her drink.
The second half of the show started out a little stilted.Between the tension with Bailey, knowing that Tyler was still in the audience, and having his potential offer looming over our heads, we played like it was our first show.But halfway through the first song, we all settled into it, and then the whole show just flowed.
Tyler didn’t approach us again, and we were all too into our heads to talk about all the what-ifs as we broke down our equipment.Or at least I was.Because suddenly Lark shoved her phone in my face.
“Did you see this?”she asked.
I took her phone and read throughthe Babblerarticle about the guys playing laser tag.I smiled at the pictures of Noah laughing with the guys and one of him dramatically dying.But as I skimmed the rest of the article, my smile slowly fell away.
“Yeah.”Lark sighed.“I didn’t think you had.”
I shrugged.“It explains why he’s not here tonight.”
“Does it though?Because Tyler was here after hanging out with them.”She sighed when I didn’t offer an explanation.“What’s the deal?Are you two together?”
I groaned.“Kinda?Mostly?Fuck, I don’t even know anymore.”
“Shit, is he making you hide your relationship?”Lark sneered.“Because that’s fucked up.”
