“What?No.We’re not going out.He just wanted some help with something.And he’s not the band’s gigolo.I don’t even think he wants to do the whole Win-A-Date thing.”
Grady raised his eyebrows.“You’ve been on the road.You know it’s not that innocent.”
“Who cares?He’s a consenting adult, and so is whoever he’ll pick.What business is it of yours what he wants to do in his personal life?”
“I just don’t want to see you fall under his spell of his wholesome sobriety bullshit.Noah is as innocent as a fucking mafia kingpin.”
I stared at Grady, genuinely confused.This was coming out of left field.I’d always thought he got along with everyone.I didn’t think I’d ever seen him have an issue with anyone—even when we were on the road.And when you’re on the road, everyone got annoying after a hot minute.Literally.
I shook my head and gave him a concerned look.“Is everything okay, Grady?”
“Just—”
“Who’s ready for church?”Chase’s shout was loud and slightly jarring.
I looked back at Grady and found him staring at me with an expression I couldn’t label.“Just don’t fall for his bullshit, okay?Stay wary.”
I gave him a wide-eyed look then turned back to the stage to watch church as the guys got underway.I didn’t know what to think.
That was definitely weird.Especially for Grady.
* * *
The next day we had Monarchs rehearsal, and before I could even utter a greeting, Lark burst through the door like a tornado.
“Oh my god.Oh my god, you guys!You’ll never guess what happened!”
If it wasn’t for her obvious glee, I would’ve asked if she was okay.Her hair was all staticky and poufy and her eyeliner was smudged under her eyes like she just woke up or had a crying jag.“What’s going on?”
She squealed.“I lined up a manager to come to our show tonight!”
I sighed.“I thought we were going to wait.”
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed.“We’re hardly making any money.We only have a few hundred followers on social media.We haven’t uploaded any songs anywhere.Why would anyone want to sign us?”
“Because we’re hot shit.”Lark cocked her hip and fisted her hands on her hips.“Come on, guys.We deserve this.We’re a legitimate band who’s going places.Why wouldn’t Joe Fisher want to sign us?”
Bailey tossed me a questioning look, and I shook my head.“Who?”
“Joe Fisher,” Lark said, like that meant something to us.When we just stared at her in confusion, she scoffed.“He’s only the manager for Kind Justice and Those 3 Guys.”
Bailey blinked a few times then shook her head.“Who?”
“Come on!You knowwho.This is a big deal!Why aren’t you guys more excited?”Lark wailed.
“Because this isn’t the next step we wanted to take, Lark.”I stared at her for a moment, waiting for my words to sink in.“We talked about this weeks ago and agreed to the plan.Right now, we need to work on our sound.Get a few songs recorded and upload them.Build a following and make the bigwigs come to us.That was the plan, remember?”
Lark groaned and stomped over to her keyboard.She pushed at a few buttons then turned to face me.“Yeah, but it’s already working.The bigwigs are already coming to us.I mean,Joe Fisherwants to sign us.Why shouldn’t we do it?”
“Maybe because none of us recognize his big-name clients, let alone him.”Bailey pushed her hair out of her face.“Maybe because this isn’t what we want?You’re always trying to push us to go harder and faster than we’re comfortable with.You’re jumping like three steps ahead.What’s the rush?”
“Because you guys would be happy if we just played a few bars and scraped together funds to afford some back-alley studio to record our music.”
Bailey shook her head.“What’s wrong with that?”
“I want more!”Lark wailed.“I want stadiums filled with our fans.I want our songs at the top of the charts!Don’t we deserve that?”
“And we want to get there, too.”I held up my hands.“But we want to do it on our terms.Our way.All for one.Remember?”
