Wicked (Somerset University #2) - Ruby Vincent Page 0,79
I don’t want crazed fans getting their hands on her.”
“They won’t. Not while she’s under this label.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said. “Was that all?”
Dad didn’t answer right away. He veered down a row, looking around at the open drawers and the stacks I had scattered all over the room. “This all he has you doing?”
“I also fetch coffee.”
He nodded. “And you haven’t complained or tried to pass off the job.”
“No.”
“Are you trying to prove something, J?”
I pulled a face. “To Meyer?”
“To me.” Dad finally faced me. “Because you don’t have to. I know you can do this job, son.”
“I know I can too. But the point of this internship wasn’t to prove it to me or you. It was to prove it to everyone else. I won’t get far if my employees side-eye me, openly thinking this was handed to me. They had to see me work for it. Know that I understand what makes this label great and that I appreciate what they do. And now... Daniel Meyer has to see me punished for nearly destroying it.”
Levi lifted his chin, peering at me over our shared nose. “I didn’t raise you to be this perceptive. Must be Valentina’s influence.”
“I can back that up. A few years with her wiped away most of your parenting flaws.”
Dad grabbed my neck, snapping my forehead to his chest. “You don’t have flaws, J. I made a lot of mistakes. You weren’t one of them.”
“I know, Dad.”
Clearing his throat, he let me go. “Finish up in here. I’m taking you out to lunch. Eve and I have something to talk to you about.”
“Yes,” I said. “You have my blessing. Also yes to being your best man.”
“Slow down.” Levi laughed. “We’re just moving in together. Act like it’s the first you’re hearing of it at lunch. Eve wanted to tell you together.”
I put two fingers to my temple. “Bet you’re glad I didn’t move back home now.”
Dad smiled. “No.”
He patted my shoulder and walked out. That’s about as mushy as we got.
I bent to pick a folder off the stack and heard creaking hinges.
“Dad?”
“Jaxson.”
My fist curled on the files. “Meyer.”
“It’s Mr. Meyer—as I’ve told you repeatedly.”
“Need me to do another coffee run?” I skated past his correction.
He stopped in front of me. Hands folded behind his back. Shoulders square. Eyes glittering.
“You gave your father a nice speech. Do you truly believe you learned your lesson? That one year of doing actual work and at twenty years old, you know all you need to know to run the label we built?”
“Seems like I was right about you listening through the walls,” I said, hiding a smirk at his purpling face. “I’m not taking over the top floor tomorrow. But yes. When Dad’s ready to hand over the reins, I’ll be ready to take them.”
His lips curled. “Levi overindulges you. He always has. Swallowing your half-assed apologies and excusing your behavior because he wants to be your friend more than your father.”
“Or maybe, just maybe, the man who raised me knows me better than you do.”
Meyer stepped forward, getting in my face. “I know you, Jaxson. All too well. Let me make something clear,” he hissed. “As long as I’m a partner in this label, you will never take over.”
I held his gaze unflinchingly. “Take it down, Meyer. Choose your words carefully. Don’t say something that you’ll regret.”
His eyes flared. “Are you threatening me?”
“Nope. I’m telling you that I will take over this label. I’ll do right by my staff and my artists. You can accept that or not. We can work together or you can get yourself fired working against me. But there is no future where Jaxson Van Zandt isn’t synonymous with Interstellar Records.”
“We’ll see about that.” Meyer pushed past me, stalking to the other side of the room. “Empty this cabinet and refile it. Today. You don’t leave until it’s done.”
He swept out, leaving me to imagine all the ways I could crush his head like a grape.
Drop one of these file cabinets on him. Speed bump over him with my new car.
The increasingly graphic fantasies cooled my temper. Daniel Meyer hated me for the precise reason that he knew he was stuck with me. He could mess around with most people in the building. He could even mess around with me. But he couldn’t mess around with Levi Van Zandt.
I emptied out the cabinet, flipping through the files to see what the documents were about and where to file them. The