made us all laugh.
Jesse put the tray down on the sideboard and handed drinks around. Charlie nursed his in both hands, sipping it
every so often.
“I hear Live and Learn went multi-platinum,” Jesse said as he sat on one of the armchairs. “Congratulations.”
Isaac was sitting on the other with Jasper.
“I think Flannigan was shocked it did,” Charlie said.
“Why?”
“Because he was convinced my sales would drop if Austin and I went public with our relationship.” He shrugged
and tapped the sides of his glass. “My solicitor is working on getting me out of my contract.”
Jesse’s jaw dropped. “What? Why?”
“I’m done with working for people who treat me like sh—” Charlie winced. “Who don’t treat me very well and don’t
believe in me.”
“Good for you,” Isaac said.
“But you’ve always been with Phoenix Records,” Jesse said.
“And you’d only ever been signed to Impulse until you weren’t,” Charlie pointed out. “Impulse is the worst, but
trust me, Phoenix isn’t much better.”
“What about your music?” Jesse asked.
Charlie shrugged. “Phoenix owns the masters. They’re not willing to sell them to me, so there’s not a lot I can do.
”
I squeezed Charlie’s knee before going back to entertaining Colby by tickling his toes. “I told Charlie about your
idea; I hope you don’t mind.”
“About creating my own record label?” Jesse asked.
I nodded.
“I don’t mind, but right now, it’s just a pie-in-the-sky idea. I’m happy singing and performing.”
Isaac looked between us all. “What if there was someone else to run the business side?”
“Do you mean you?” Jesse asked. “That’s a great idea, but you’re tied up with the Arches.”
Isaac chuckled. “Dwight has things under control at the Arches. I think I’m going to feel pretty redundant by the
time I go back to work. But no, not me. I meant Austin.”
My eyebrows practically crawled up into my hairline. “Me?”
“Yes, why not? You know the music industry just as well as these two, if not better. You’ve seen it at its absolute
worst not once but three times now. If anyone is going to be able to create a record label that doesn’t exploit its
singers, it’s you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have that kind of money. And I’m Jesse’s manager.”
Jesse tilted his head. “I could fire you if that would help?”
I gave him a stern look.
“Isaac’s right,” Charlie said. “A record label run by you would be a breath of fresh air. I’d put money into that.” He
grinned, which was the most relaxed I’d seen him since we’d arrived. “And with the biggest divo in pop as your
first signing, you’ll have more inquiries than you can handle in no time.”
Colby made an irritated noise. Somewhere during the conversation, I’d stopped tickling his toes. I started again,
and he burbled happily.
“It’s your dream, Jesse, not mine. I wouldn’t want to take it from you.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Jesse said. “I’ll finance it.” He glanced at Charlie. “We’ll finance it. We’ll be silent partners until
we want to take a more active role.”
“I’m happy to stay a silent partner,” Charlie said, holding his hands up. “I’m not very business-minded.”
“Maybe not now,” Isaac said. “But you might be more interested later.”
Charlie stared at his cup. “Now I feel like I’m intruding on your dream, Jesse. I’m sorry.”
Jesse blinked. “Did I just hear Charlie Faire apologise?”
Charlie wrinkled his nose. “It happens occasionally.”
“I’ve heard him apologise twice,” I said, backing him up. Sort of anyway.
Charlie nudged me with his elbow. “You’re all making it out like I’m a total jerk.”
I kissed his temple. “You’re not a jerk in the slightest. You’re amazing, and I love you.”
“No one’s intruding on my pie-in-the-sky dream.” Jesse’s eyes lit up. “Wow. This could actually happen, couldn’t
it? Not far off in the future, but now?”
“I think we’d all need to sit down with a business lawyer,” I said, not wanting Jesse to get too carried away.
“We can do that. With you and Charlie on board, it’s gonna be amazing.”
“Your record label would need a name,” Isaac said.
Jesse rolled his eyes. “We all know how good I am at coming up with names for businesses. Song titles—easy-
peasy. Business names? Forget it.”
“Freedom,” Charlie said.
“Freedom Records?” Isaac smiled. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“It does,” Jesse agreed. “But why Freedom?”
“It’s what we all want, isn’t it?” Charlie asked. “The ability to express ourselves musically without having what we
can and can’t do with our lives dictated by a record label?”
“Yes,” Jesse whispered. “More than anything.”
A lump formed in my throat as tears gathered in my eyes. Looking
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