Grip Trilogy Box Set - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,54

than ample time to secure the guys’ equipment preferences.”

“Well, I was wrong.”

“Did you even try?”

I know she won’t admit that she didn’t try, but she needs to know that I don’t believe she did.

“Elle, I don’t give excuses, and I don’t accept them. Make it happen or you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

“This is ridiculous!” she screeches from the other end.

“What’s ridiculous is that this conversation even needs to happen.” I smack my lips together in disbelief. “You actually think I’ll fall for that? Waiting until the last minute and then shrugging all c’est la vie when you don’t have time to fulfill the terms?”

“No, I—”

“You will find that equipment,” I cut in. “I don’t care if you find it up your ass. Just clean it before you give it to my band.”

I end the call before I threaten to come out there myself. Then I’d have to actually follow through, and after being in hell all week, the last place I want to be is Denver. I got enough snow living in New York most of my life.

“Thanks.” I hand Sarah’s phone back to her.

“You’re so badass,” she whispers with her hand pressed to her stomach.

“Only when I have to be.”

She barely lifts a knowing brow.

“Okay, yeah. Kind of all the time, but you know people make me, right?”

Sarah lets out a low groan and squeezes her eyelids closed.

“What is it?” I walk around the desk and press the back of my hand to her forehead. “You don’t have a fever.”

“No, I have a period,” she responds listlessly.

“Ohhhhhh.” I sit on the edge of the desk, studying her pretty face, which is twisting with discomfort. “Bad month?”

“Do the words ‘red wedding’ mean anything to you?”

I grin at her Game of Thrones reference, and she slits one eye open and offers an anemic smile.

“Go home.” I gesture at the daunting pile of papers that seem to be metastasizing on the desk behind me. “Believe me. I can attest to the fact that the work isn’t going anywhere. I’ve been trying to get rid of it all week with no luck.”

“Really?” She sits up from her slumped position, one hand open on her forehead, the other at her belly. “You sure you’ll be okay without me?”

“Yeah. I’ll probably just follow up with the band and make sure Elle came through.”

I don’t mention the dozen other things I need to do that have made this week hell because she might feel bad.

“Okay.” She stands gingerly and is making her way toward the door. “I’ll just close out this one last email and be out.”

“Sounds good.”

My cell rings, and I glance down to see who it is. Will Silas. A fellow manager.

“Will, hi. What’s up?”

“Bristol, hey. Nothing much. I wanted to talk about tomorrow night.”

“What about it?” I walk back to my desk and sift through a few contracts I printed and started marking up. “The venue is all set. I spoke with them earlier. Sound check is at seven. Everything else is in the email I sent.”

“Yeah, the email you sent at two o’clock this morning.” He chuckles, a note of admiration in his voice. “When do you sleep, girl?”

“When all the work is done.” I give a little laugh and check my impatience. I really need to look at these contracts. “So if we’re all set for tomorrow’s performance, what can I do for you?”

There’s a pause on the other end screaming Will’s reluctance. “Uh, Qwest has a special request,” he says after a few seconds more of screaming quiet.

“Okay. Let’s hear it.”

“I know you have that reporter Meryl scheduled to talk with Qwest and Grip after the show.”

Grip's upcoming album is Prodigy's first release. Even though Grip will be his first solo project, his popularity has grown through features on other artists' singles, all of which went platinum. He built a sterling reputation as a writer and producer over the years, along with hugely popular underground mixtapes. Now an artist in his own right, there’s nothing like him out there. He has it, and brings it to everything he does. His current single “Queen” featuring Qwest, currently sits at number one, and the album hasn’t even dropped.

“Yeah. Legit is doing that in-depth piece on Grip,” I tell Will. “And I agreed to a chat with the two of them before she flies back to New York the next day.”

“Yeah, she has, um, some other things she’d like to do after the show.”

This time the pause is mine. The reluctance is