Page 32 of Strike A Chord
“I thought you lived in Vegas?” Should I have asked? Not knowing my place, I guessed I’d learn the hard way. Either he’d answer or tell me to fuck off.
“Yeah. My sister and I have a house together. Jeremiah and I split our time between Vegas and Seattle. We’d been staying with D & E, but I think it’s time to look for a place of our own here.”
I should consider that myself, but I needed to see what we were making first. We’d be in the headlines and all over social media by the end of the day and in no time, jackasses with Robin Hood complexes would find out where we lived. Little did they know, I wasn’t one of the rich they wished to rob. A fragmented memory of a conversation with Reagan about us living together that I know we didn’t have popped into my head.
Or did we?
“Okay, back to business.” The room silenced as Sal reined the group in. “If any of you hear of venues with open slots, reach out to Jeremiah. He has taken Embrace from Easton so my son can focus on his new family and as announced on Sunday, he’ll be managing Chaotic as well. I feel the two bands mirror each other perfectly and will work well together. Maiden and Embrace, you’re free to log off or sit in on the social media portion. River has just arrived and will begin his presentation shortly.”
Maiden said their goodbyes and their screens went black, but I was happy to see Embrace stay on. Since we’d be working with them, I was interested in any input they might have.
“Hello, everyone, I’m River. Social media guru and the one who keeps Mickey in line.” He winked at Mickey and the heated look returned nearly had me leaving the room. Their intense chemistry was off the charts. River plugged his computer into the monitor and minimized the Embrace faces. “Chaotic has the bones set up for their socials and a fair following but today we are blasting out the contract signing. So, gentlemen, prepare to be amazed because you’re about to launch into rock ‘n roll outer space.
“Gentlemen, please remove the contracts from the packet Mickey gave you earlier.” I hadn’t dug that far into it yet, too enthralled with everything going on around me. “Those are exclusive contracts to Masterson. We pay a fair percentage, and those contracts are the same used with Maiden, Embrace, and Social. Each has an out clause to where if any member of a band causes problems that result in jail time or worse, they are immediately relieved of their contract. This is not pointing fingers at any one individual, this is to protect the Masterson family as a whole.” Made total sense and I was glad there were no Josh-specific additions.
With a quick read through, and the inability to hire a lawyer to read it over, I grabbed the pen provided.
“Gentlemen, if you’re in agreement, pick up your pens and pose for pictures, please.” As we did, River snapped away. “Go ahead and sign.” When all were signed, they asked we stand as a group while River took more pictures. “Excellent. I’m sure Jeremiah and River have flooded your inboxes with enough reading material to keep you busy throughout the weekend. Welcome to the Masterson family.” Sal shook our hands and posed for a picture. “Keep in constant contact with Jeremiah, especially with any scheduling conflicts. Fill out the auto deposit forms before you leave today and we’ll have your advances deposited in your accounts in the next twenty-four hours.”
Advances?
Holy shit. This just got real!
On our way out, Stoli stopped me. “Is there a day you and your special someone have off together?”
I wasn’t about to tell him I didn’t have a regular job, not that he probably couldn’t have guessed that. “Reagan has Sundays off.”
“Perfect. Joey and I would like to invite you to dinner at our place on Sunday. I’ll text you the address.” Without another word, he walked off. I suppose he wasn’t used to people telling him no. Not that I would have, but…yeah.
Chapter Fourteen
Reagan
“Are you sure he said it’s okay for me to come with you?” Why was I so freaking nervous? I didn’t do that. I was normally a chill guy. But this was kind of huge. Not only was I meeting two rockstars I idolized, but they could make or break Josh’s career before it even took off. What if I did something stupid?
“Babe, he specifically asked me what day we both had off. So yeah, I’m sure. Do you not want to go?” Josh’s face fell and I saw the hurt reflected in his eyes. If I canceled, it would devastate him and that wasn’t an option for me.
“Hell yeah I want to go, but this is like, major.” Did I say that right? Was that the correct lingo? Oh my god, where was Reagan and what have you done with him?
We hopped into Josh’s Charger and headed north on I-5, battling the usual traffic through Seattle. You’d think for a Sunday it would be lighter, but you’d be wrong. “Must be a game or something,” Josh said as we sat idling on the freeway.
“Even at midnight it’s the same and there’s always an accident.”
“True.”
Once we got through that mess, it took no time to get to our exit. Shortly after we reached the Highlands where their house was. “Do all the bands live in the Highlands?” This was a plush, gated community on large lots.
“I think all the guys from Social do. Ryder, Derek, and Jaxson from Maiden live in Arizona and Shadow lives in Cali. Rhone, David, and Chase live in Vegas and Seltzer splits his time between Vegas and Seattle since he’s dating Diamond’s brother and our band manager, Jeremiah.”
“Okay, run through the list of who’s connected to whom one more time for me, please.” Josh sighed. We had been over this twice already, but the bands and management team’s lives were intertwined, and I didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing and risk offending one of them. “I know who’s in which band and what their roles are.” He did a quick run through of the rest and I did my best to ingrain it to memory. “Good god, this is like a rock and roll soap opera.”
“Welcome to the Masterson family.”
Josh gave our names at the guard shack, and they opened the gates. “Wow.”
“Wow is right. These houses are freaking huge.”
We pulled into their driveway which curved around to the front of the house. I could barely see one side their home from the main road that I assumed looped around the gated complex. The landscaping was rich, full-grown trees had started to lose their leaves due to the fall but were still beautiful just the same. The houses on the outer loop had a gorgeous view of the sound.