“I want you to tell me why you fired Justin,” Ken spoke firmly, refusing to look away from the other man’s eyes, refusing to let him escape. “The real reason.”
“I told you already. He was costing us too much money.” Lester met Ken’s eyes, but with an overly firm quality to his gaze that made it very clear that he was forcing himself to do it, that he was trying so hard to seem honest that it was only too obvious that he wasn’t.
“No, I don’t think so. It was because you worried about what he might have seen. Just so you know, though, I don’t think he saw anything. And if you hadn’t tried to fire him, I doubt that we ever would have known.”
There was a sort of uncertainty growing in Lester’s eyes and then the shadowy darkness of fear, too. If Ken hadn’t been sure before, he was now, and what really shocked him was that he wasn’t as furious as he would have expected.
No, the whole thing was so much more depressing than anything else. He had never liked Lester, but he had trusted him, and he knew that the same went for the other members of the band, too.
“I’d watch your back.” Lester rose to his feet, his hands still on the laptop, pinning it shut, as though Ken was interested in tearing it away and opening it. He wasn’t. He already knew what he would find there. “We replaced Darien, and now we’re bigger than ever. We can get rid of you, too, if you think you know more than you should.”
Ken sighed softly and shook his head.
“You might as well come in, guys,” he said, and the door opened again, with Lance, Jamie, and Aaron striding in, along with the head of the record label, a woman with a strict demeanor who was giving Lester a look which Ken was very glad wasn’t directed at him.
“Lara? What’s …” Lester’s voice died down as Lara sighed and shook her head, an expression of sadness on her face.
“You would have been fired either way,” she told him, and she walked over to the desk and picked up the laptop. Lester didn’t quite seem to have the nerve to try to stop her. “But I was trying to decide whether to initiate criminal proceedings against you.”
Ken looked at his bandmates, his friends, and he saw the same expressions on their face. This had been a big betrayal, but at least they still had each other, right? Not that he thought Aaron would admit to something so sappy, but he didn’t have to. It just was, this bond between the four of them, something that no dishonest, crooked manager could ever undo.
“I think she has this,” Ken murmured, and the four of them left because Lara certainly did seem to have everything firmly in hand.
“I think one of us should tell Justin that he probably has his job back,” Jamie pointed out, with a significant look at Ken that showed very clearly just who he thought that should be.
“I’m on it,” Ken said, and despite how much it really did suck to be betrayed like Lester had done, he couldn’t help but smile a little bit. There was a rough road ahead, and he couldn’t even be sure that Justin would be willing to give any of this a try, but he was going to give it his best shot.
But no matter how many times he called, Justin didn’t pick up his phone, and it was then that Ken came face to face with the fact that he really might have lost this forever.
