do us the courtesy of sending a text to see if we’re available.”
“Who appointed you leader?” she says to Crew. “You’re rehearsing here for free. When I need to talk to you, I’ll come in. There’s nothing to discuss.”
I brush past her. “Unless you want to get dirty, I suggest you steer clear. Either that or help us. We still have a lot to unload.”
She follows me into the hall and steps close. “I may want to get dirty, but not unloading your gear.” She gives me her fuck-me eyes.
It takes me two seconds to realize what a colossal fool I was to sleep with her. She’s nothing like Ella. Nobody I’ve slept with is like Ella. “Not gonna happen, Ronni.”
“That’s what you said after the first time.”
“Whatever.” I leave her inside and head out to the van. I do a double take when I think I see Ella standing on the sidewalk talking to Bria. It is her.
Crazy shit happens to my body. It hits me like a gut-punch how much I’ve missed her. Suddenly I feel like a real dick for not calling. I join them, tail between my legs.
“I’m not here for you,” she says shyly. “Bria and I are going to lunch.”
Bria thumbs to the door. “I have to get my purse. Be right back.”
Ella and I are alone on the sidewalk.
“I should have called,” I say. “I promised we’d keep running.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I owe you a lot. You helped me compose again.”
She looks at the ground. “You’d have done it with or without me.”
“On that we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
“What are we disagreeing about?” someone says behind me. My nostrils flare. It’s Dirk. He looks Ella up and down. “And who do we have here?”
When I don’t introduce him, she says, “Ella Campbell.”
Dirk’s eyebrows shoot up as his gaze darts between Ella and me.
“No relation,” she hastily adds.
He offers his hand. “Dirk Campbell. Nice to meet you, Ella. I apologize for the rudeness of my nephew.” I step towards him and he holds up a hand. “Easy, boy. I came around to see how the new rehearsal space is shaping up.”
“In case you didn’t notice, we moved out of the barn to get away from you.”
“Yet you moved into another building I own. If you recall, I own the entire company, so in a way you could say I own you.”
“Fuck off, Dirk.”
I start to walk away, and he grabs my elbow. “Is that any way to talk to your boss?” He turns to Ella. “Again, you’ll have to excuse Liam. If he were younger, I’d give him a good knock on the ass to teach him some manners.”
I look down with a mutinous glare. “Want to get your goddamn hand off me?”
“You don’t like it there?”
It takes me half a second to pin him to the wall. Fury burns deep inside me. “I could ruin you.”
He laughs in my face.
“Remember Lance Holloway?” He looks at me blankly. “Of course you don’t, because you don’t give a shit about the people you employ. He was part of your security team for ten years. You really fucked the pooch, Dirk, because right after you fired Lance, he slipped me a flash drive with footage from your house that I’ll bet would be interesting to a lot of people.”
“You’re lying,” he says. “You’d have done something before.”
“I was waiting for the right moment. Guess what? That moment is coming.” I clench my jaw. “Now leave.”
“Everything okay out here?” Garrett says.
I let Dirk go and glance at Ella, who is put off by what just happened.
Dirk brushes himself off ceremoniously. “I’ll see you inside then. Have to make sure everything is running properly. I didn’t get rich by accident, you know.” He scowls at me. “With wealth comes lots of important connections. Don’t forget that.”
Crew and Bria come out, passing Dirk. “What’d we miss?” Crew says.
“Same old shit.” I kick the side of the building. “Maybe moving here was a mistake.”
“He won’t be around much,” Crew says. “He’s got way more to do than babysit us. He’s only here to rile you up.”
I go over to Ella. “I’m sorry you had to see that. My uncle and me … it’s complicated.”
“I can see that. He owns the record label?”
I snort. “He bought it after we signed with them. He thinks he can control me.”
“Oh, God.” Her eyes say it all. She thinks he’s like my dad.