at the very least, keep them from killing each other. I don’t care how as long as it gets you all home in one piece.”
“I’m confused,” I said as my gaze narrowed. “Am I playing for Bound or babysitting Bound?”
“You’re securing your future,” she vehemently shot back. “I know those assholes seemed like a unified front in there, but they’re one bad argument from breaking up, and they’ve all been best friends since their first boner.”
“How is that my problem?”
Sitting back in her seat, she studied me, searching for a weakness. Obviously, she found it because she finally answered, “No Bound, no deal.”
My eyes were mere slits now as I regarded the cutthroat businesswoman lurking underneath that angelic face. “I’m starting to see why they don’t like you.”
I was also getting that it was hard to rattle Oni Sridhar when she shrugged. “It’s this business. It brings out the worst in everyone.” She tipped a head full of dark curls toward me. “Including you.”
My stomach turned as cold dread replaced the warm blood in my veins. God, I hoped not. I’d seen me at my worst, and it wasn’t just ugly. It was catastrophic. The casualties were endless.
I found myself staring a little too closely at Oni’s lips as she bounced her head in time to the music, completely unaware of my focus or interest.
“Anything else?” I demanded curtly. I needed a distraction before I hit on the A&R rep. There was no reason for me to sleep my way to the top. I was already there, and I still didn’t understand how.
“In a few days, you should hear from a man named Xavier Gray.” I didn’t miss the way her lips flattened at the name. Another fan of hers, I supposed. “He’s Bound’s manager, and he won’t like this any more than they do. Luckily, he’s a professional, and he’s good at his job, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble from him.”
I felt my heart quicken. “Why wasn’t he there this afternoon? Couldn’t he have done something?”
“No,” she said as she stood from the stool. I guess our clandestine meeting was over. “And they blame me for that too.” She walked away without saying goodbye, and I watched her disappear before finally exhaling.
Fantastic.
It’s been two weeks since I became Bound’s guitarist and not a peep from Xavier or my new bandmates. I knew Oni had given them my contact information. I also knew they weren’t occupied with anything pressing. Just last night, a blog had reported spotting them walking inside a Las Vegas casino.
I felt like I was in high school again, except instead of waiting for one boy to call, I was waiting for three. Four if I counted the manager who’d despised and discarded me already. I wasn’t even afforded the pleasure of giving them a reason to hate me first.
Bummer.
Oni, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised when she called to check on things. However, in typical Oni fashion, the conversation abruptly ended once I informed her that I hadn’t heard a peep. That was close to forty-eight hours ago, and now she’d disappeared too. I wasn’t sure how much of this was in her job description, but since she was the only one in my corner, I didn’t ask questions.
Pounding on my bedroom door jolted me to the here and now.
“Yo, Brax, let’s go!” Griff demanded. “We’re going to hit traffic.”
“It’s L.A.!” I shouted back even after glancing at the time on my phone and cursing. “There’s always traffic,” I muttered more to myself since she was already gone.
I stood from my bed and began stuffing last-minute shit into my rucksack. My sleeping bag took up most of the space, but my dad had shown me a few tricks since my sister and I spent our summers camping with the church growing up.
This weekend was the Indies in Indio Festival, and my name was on the lineup. I was glad the guys I usually played with talked me into it since I had spent the last two weeks of my spare time rehearsing rather than waiting by the phone.
I’d invited Oni, who only offered a maybe.
Now I was starting to think it would be best if she didn’t show. The crowd wouldn’t be more than I was used to, but somehow, I was more nervous than I’d ever been. What if I floundered tonight and ended up on the internet as a source of ridicule only to later be discovered as Bound’s newest member?