covertly staring at Georgina while she chats with the guys from Watch Party. Almost certainly, it’s Zach Rosendo—their frontman whom everyone calls Endo—who’s attracted Reed’s eagle eye this time. That dude’s definitely got a reputation as a lady killer.
“I just decided on my dare,” Kendrick declares, his mischievous gaze trained on Reed. He looks at me, smiling wickedly and rubbing his palms together. And, instantly, I know what’s coming.
“Aw, fuck. No,” I mutter.
“You’re not allowed to say no,” Kendrick reminds me.
“I know the rules, motherfucker. Do you?” I’m referring to rule number one of our game. Namely, that the birthday boy can’t pick a dare that’s likely to maim, kill, or send his victim to prison. Rule number two is that the birthday boy is king—a deity whose dare can’t be refused, as long as it complies with rule number one. And, finally, rule number three is that the dare has to be something that can be performed on the spot. In other words, birthday dares can’t be some elaborate prank or hoax that would require weeks of planning.
Kendrick smiles. “Yeah, I know the rules. And I promise no bodily harm will come to you. The only thing that could possibly happen to you, in theory, is that you’d get onto Reed’s shit list. But you’re already there. So, really, there’s no downside.”
He’s right. I’ve been on Reed’s shit list for a while now, despite all the money my band makes him—powered in large part by me, personally. All because, years ago, I hit on his little sister, Violet, at my first Reed Rivers party, without having a clue who she was. This was long before Violet met her husband, Dax, the lead singer of 22 Goats. And, frankly, she seemed pretty receptive to my flirting, as I recall. And yet, Reed’s held it against me, ever since.
“I don’t get it,” Ruby interjects. “What’s the dare, Kendrick?”
Kendrick motions to me, like he’s inviting me to enlighten Ruby.
Rolling my eyes, I say, “I’m assuming he wants me to hit on the hot reporter in front of Reed.”
“Bingo,” Kendrick says. “Let’s test your theory that he’s been sleeping with her, or wants to. I want you to hit on her, really obviously in front of him. With enough fuckboy heat you’ll lure Reed out of his proverbial bush this time. But not with so much heat he lurches at you like a cheetah and smashes your face against a wall.”
I grimace, as everyone else laughs.
“Why on earth would you force me to walk this tightrope?” I say. “You were there when C-Bomb told us that crazy story about what Reed did to the dude who’d fucked his ex.”
“What did Reed do?” Ruby asks, her eyebrows shooting up.
But, unfortunately for Ruby, she’s asking her question as Kendrick is saying, “Reed would never beat the shit out of you, simply for flirting with his woman. Flirting is way less a crime than fucking. Plus, your face makes him way too much money to smash it into a wall, regardless.”
“What the hell did Reed do?” Ruby shouts, this time cutting through the din. She looks at her twin brother, Titus, who’s laughing along with Kendrick and Kai. “You know this story?”
Titus nods. “I heard it from C-Bomb.” He’s referring to the iconic drummer of Red Card Riot—Caleb Baumgarten—who’s a good friend to our band.
“Well, he didn’t tell me,” Ruby says.
“You weren’t there,” Titus replies to his sister.
“Well, tell me the damned story already!” Ruby blurts. “It sounds juicy.”
Without further ado, Kendrick launches into telling the tale, which, in summary, is that, in the earliest days of River Records, Reed went batshit crazy after discovering the lead singer of one of his earliest bands had fucked his unnamed ex. Apparently, upon discovering the news, Reed beelined to a party at C-Bomb’s house, where the lead singer was hanging out, and promptly smashed the guy’s face into a wall. Not content to stop there, however, Reed also dropped the guy’s band from his label the next day and permanently shelved their debut album, which, C-Bomb said, was due to release within weeks. “And Reed did all this,” Kendrick says, “despite the fact that he’d already invested tens of thousands of dollars into developing the band’s music and marketing.”
Ruby explodes with shocked comments and questions, which the guys answer with relish. But since I’ve already heard this story, I let my mind and attention wander. I check out the movie star, Isabel Randolph, for a bit, admittedly feeling