to get right the fuck up and leave, right then, but I didn’t.
“So, it’s nice to see you again,” Trey said, to Taylor. And it hit me…
“You’ve met before?”
“Just once,” Taylor said. “At a party.”
“Xander’s place, right? You were there with…” Trey snapped his figures like he was trying to recall it. “Danica? Ashley’s girl.”
“Yes. She’s my best friend.”
“You know Courteney, too. Am I right?”
“Wait. You’re Larissa’s brother! I just put that together.”
Trey laughed. “Yup. That’s me. Hope she didn’t say anything bad about me.”
“I’ve just met her a couple of times through Courteney. I totally forgot she had such a cool older brother.”
“Taylor is my assistant now,” I interjected, “and I’m training her to work with me in the studio, more like a studio manager.”
Taylor’s eyes went wide. Maybe she thought I was kidding about that protégé thing.
“Very cool,” Trey said. “That’s quite the gig you’ve landed, Taylor.” Then he gave me the slightest congratulatory smirk, like, You’re fucking her, aren’t you?
Perceptive.
“So what have you been working on over here, Trey?” I baited him. Might as well get his self-congratulatory sales pitch out of the way. I knew it was coming. “I’m sure Taylor would like to hear about your artists. She’s a big music fan.”
“Oh, yeah? What kind of music do you listen to, Taylor?”
“Anything good,” she said, and he laughed.
I sat back and watched as he casually bragged to all of us, under the pretense of bragging to her, about the other artists he’d signed recently, a couple of singles his artists had on Billboard right now, the Grammy nomination. He looped Brody into it several times, riffing with him about the local music scene, how diverse it was and how it had blossomed in recent years—thanks to him and Brody, of course. Trey definitely acted like a man who had all morning to explain his business to my assistant, maybe because she was my assistant, and maybe because she was hot, but either way, I knew none of us had that kind of idle time.
As for Taylor, I wasn’t sure why she said she was nervous in the elevator. She didn’t seem nervous. She had natural instincts, she was articulate and quick with words, and clearly she was used to working with VIPs, executives. If she was intimidated by Trey or Brody, or the conversation, she didn’t show it.
I was so focused on her, it kinda took the pressure off me. Just like back in the days when I’d gone pretty much everywhere with Gabe, I functioned better with her at my side.
Besides that, she was the best kind of distraction. All I had to do was focus on her deep-sea eyes, her easy smile, and I felt better.
Trey was still talking, and while his credentials were impressive enough to get us all in the room, I didn’t really listen. I already knew more about him and his business than he was willing to offer up. Like the fact that there was no way his artists generated enough bank to carry this office, which meant that Brick House Records’ fancy, sky-scraping digs with the killer view were at least partially funded by Trey’s other endeavors, and that meant they were for show. This was show biz, right? And guys like Trey always wanted you to feel like you needed them more than they needed you.
But that was bullshit.
And Brody knew it, too.
If the Players were allowed to do what they were capable of, and they stuck with Trey over the course of their career, they’d put Brick House Records on the map. Secure them a serious presence in music and, more importantly, in rock music, which was where Trey started out, and likely it was where his heart still beat.
He wanted us here as much as we wanted to be here.
“I’m always looking to spread our wings here at Brick House. Diversify.” He was still going on with his sales pitch when I tuned back in, but I’d had all I could take of the let’s-jerk-each-other-off small talk. “We’re excited as hell about having our first hard rock album on the label—”
“It might not be a hard rock album,” I cut in.
They all looked at me.
“What?” Trey said.
“It might not be a hard rock album,” I repeated. “It might not even be a rock album.”
Trey smiled his charming smile, like maybe I was joking. “The Players are a rock band, are they not?”
“Presumably. They just formed. I guess we’ll see.”
“I’ve been promised a rock album, brother.”
“Well,