regular basis, but most companies ignored anything that wasn’t sweetly romantic…and that was when they didn’t just blindly ban it.
“Yes.” He seemed just as excited as I was. “It seems like Austin’s performance helped turn the tide. It was already moving in that direction, but he definitely gave it a push. And honestly, all those companies care about in the long run is money. Before, it was in their best interest to keep anything like that hidden away, and now, they need to appear supportive and open-minded.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s all insane.”
Since Tristan actually seemed to know what he was doing, I focused on that and not his looks. Of course, that meant looking over his shoulder instead of at him directly, but it helped my brain function. “The…the fun side of my business will never be as profitable as the mysteries. I know that. But it's an outlet I need and I enjoy it. What I don’t enjoy or have time for is everything else.”
He nodded, still looking professional. “Most artistic types don’t do well on the business side of things. Some learn and some just ignore it completely and hire someone.”
I chuckled. “Bradley forced me to learn some of it and I don’t do too badly, but I’m running out of hours in the day to get everything done.”
“Yeah, with the books and the club starting to open, time is a precious commodity for you.” His expression said he understood what I was dealing with and it had me relaxing even more.
The fact that he knew about everything, including the club, made it easier as well.
Easier and creepier.
“You really figured out the connection between the two sides by the name?” That just seemed so far-fetched.
Tristan chuckled. “He’s the same person. You just highlighted two sides of his personality. One where he’s the sweet guy who helps little old ladies and the other, more private side. It’s no one’s business in town who he sleeps with, so there was no need to mention sex in the mystery books. It would be like a cop walking up to a crime scene and announcing he was a beta who had a thing for lace. It would be weird.”
No, what was weird was having this conversation.
“How do you know all this?” I shook my head, trying to clear it. “I mean, not my stuff, but the book world in general. In your emails and on your resume you talked about wanting to focus on the business side, but it didn’t have enough on it for this level of detail.”
At least, I didn’t think it had.
It was vague in my head, but the slim work history was why I’d thought he was the short younger guy.
Was this a second career?
No, he looked like he was probably in his thirties but I was bad with ages, so he honestly could have been anywhere between twenty and forty.
He shrugged, looking slightly guilty. “I might have left a few things off my resume.”
And this was where I found out he was going to abduct me and lock me in his basement so I could only write books for him.
“Why?”
He looked a bit chagrined at having to explain it. “Because it makes me look overqualified for what I want to do. My parents are both authors. My mother focuses on science fiction and my father writes romance.”
Ah, that explained a lot.
I’d have been disappointed if he was a serial killer.
He chuckled at my expression. “I grew up around writers and have been managing a lot of their stuff since I was a teenager. I worked part time for them in high school and college, and lately even a few hours here and there as I’ve been doing other things. The stuff you saw on my resume. But they’re going to be traveling for the next year and writing minimally and I was ready for a change.”
He shrugged. “So it works out well for all of us.”
It made sense. “Were you planning on telling me this?”
Tristan snorted. “I asked for a face-to-face meeting in our last email. You know, the one you forgot to reply to.”
Oh, that was right.
“I’ve been busy.”
It wasn’t a lie, but he rolled his eyes. “Have you even been remembering to pay your bills?”
He really had grown up with writers. “Bradley’s assistant manages all that for me.”
He didn’t even trust me to pay the newspaper subscription Jonah had wanted for the coupons.
“Good.” He nodded like that was one more thing off his plate.