Echoes of Us (17 page)

“I’ll keep my shirt buttoned,” I said.

“Next time,” Maggie poked Jade in the chest, “be a little more creative and hide them.”

Jade looked at me like I was a chocolate dessert. My stomach twirled and my skin turned bright red. The ride to the show was pure torture with Jade whispering in my ear all the places he was going to mark me.

I was sporting a semi by the time we got to the venue. I wanted to kill him. Everyone was going to notice, so he offered to jack me off in the car. Maggie almost blew a gasket.

“Two of the biggest record producers are going to be at this show. You two are
not
going to have sex right now. Get it under control, or I’ll cut it off,” Maggie snapped.

My erection died immediately.

The show was fierce. The songs were tight, and we were both feeling the energy. The fans were out in full force, waving signs and singing the lyrics. I swear I saw a sign that said RheartJ. It freaked me out a little bit, but I decided it must have been something else, like the normal I heart Rylan and Jade. There were always tons of those signs.

When the set ended, Dave hustled us off the stage, offering his congratulations. He was sure Andy and Trevor enjoyed the show. With all the excitement, I’d actually been able to put them out of my mind.

Dave shut the door, leaving us alone. Jade pressed me against the wall, unbuttoned my shirt, and sucked on my collarbone like he did after every show. He moved to my lips and kissed me so hard it made my lips tingle.

“That was fucking awesome,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, it was. Do it again,” I panted and licked his ear, shoving my hips forward.

He sighed and kissed me again. We sprang apart when someone banged on the door. A guy in a very expensive gray suit burst in without waiting for an invitation. Another guy dressed in baggy jeans and a white T-shirt followed him into the room.

“Hello, gentlemen,” the gray-suit guy said. His gaze paused on my open shirt. “I’m Andy Tremaine, and this is Trevor Vance.”

Jade ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his shirt collar. I tried to discreetly wipe the spit off my lips and button my shirt. I don’t think it worked.

We all shook hands and chatted about our music and the show. I liked Trevor. Andy projected an icy demeanor that lodged him in a social class above where everyone else in this building stood. Maggie and Kelli bursting into the room didn’t help our social status. Mr. Tremaine frowned and picked imaginary lint off his jacket. Maggie started to introduce herself, but Andy waved her off.

“We’ll be in contact,” Andy Tremaine said.

Maggie stared at the guy’s back as he walked away from her. I couldn’t tell if he liked the show or if he absolutely hated us. Maggie looked like she wanted to pounce on him and scratch his eyes out. Jade frowned and stalked out the back door. The screams started the second the girls caught a glimpse of him.

“Well, that was strange,” I said to Kelli.

“Rylan, you guys were great,” she said. “Andy Tremaine is an asshole if he couldn’t see that.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

She sighed and sat down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. Maggie sat across the room and stared at her phone.

“Twitter is going crazy again,” Maggie said. “The fans loved the show, and there’s pictures of Andy Tremaine watching you perform. I don’t think he cracked one smile during the entire show.”

“Trevor seemed to enjoy it,” Kelli said.

“I’m fucking beat,” I said. “Tell me we have a few days off before the next show.”

“We do,” Maggie said. “I only have one more show booked, but I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to get you more shows. People have started calling me.”

Her phone interrupted our conversation. She didn’t recognize the phone number, but answered it anyway. Her face paled, and she repeated the word yes several times before ending the conversation.

“Maggie,” I said carefully.

She took a deep breath. “We’re going to Los Angeles.”

“What?”

“That was Andy Tremaine. He’s invited us out to LA to talk business. Apparently, he loved you guys.”

I flew across the room and kissed her on the cheek.

“I have to find Jade,” I said, then burst out of the dressing room door and raced down the hall. All I needed to do was follow the screams to find him. Girls surrounded him and took pictures as he signed autographs for them, but when he spotted me, his eyes lit up.

I sidled up next to him and took some pictures with more of our fans. Finally, I waved, and Dave hustled the girls away.

“How do you feel about Los Angeles?”

“What are you talking about, Rylan?” Jade asked.

“We have a meeting with Andy Tremaine in a couple of days. He’s flying us out to Los Angeles.”

He slid his fingers up my face and held my cheeks in his hands. Dave cleared his throat and gave us a shove into an office, then quickly closed the door.

“Are you serious?” Jade asked.

I nodded. “He just called Maggie.”

“Holy fuck, I thought he fucking hated the show,” Jade shouted and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Apparently not,” I said.

The next two days passed in a haze of packing and practicing new songs. We talked to Maggie and told her it was time for her to decide if she was registering for school or working with us.

She left us in midsentence and walked out the back door. An hour later, she came back with Mrs. Morgan in tow. Apparently Mrs. Morgan had convinced her you only live once and school would always be there for her. This opportunity might never come around again. I loved that woman.

Mrs. Morgan made us a celebratory meal. Kelli told me she had to go home for a few days to deal with her own decisions. I told her she was more than welcome to hang with us. She’d done her fair share of shit for Jade and me, and we wanted her along for the ride.

We said our good-byes, made sure Mrs. Morgan was going to watch our mailbox, and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, only to be held up at security. We were the last people to board the plane.

The flight was uneventful, except Jade tried to get me to become a member of the mile high club. I promised him that when we struck it big and got to fly on private jets, I’d make his wish a reality.

“I won’t forget,” he murmured and fell asleep on my shoulder.

There was a dude holding up one of those signs by the luggage carousels. It said the Marin and Blake party. Jade spotted the guy immediately. I sort of forgot I had a last name. In the last few months, I’d just become Rylan.

The limo guy was talkative and welcomed us to sunny LA. Maggie climbed into the front seat so she could pummel the driver with questions about Los Angeles. Between the two of them, I wasn’t sure who talked more.

Jade and I sat leaning against each other in the backseat. I had no idea what to expect, and it made me nervous. Feeling Jade next to me calmed my nerves.

We had to go through all sorts of security checkpoints to get up to Andy Tremaine’s office. It was worse than airport security.

We were down to the last roadblock. A small woman with fire-engine red hair and cat-eye-shaped reading glasses sat at a desk beside a giant set of double doors. She stared at us, giving both of us the once-over. It felt like she was stripping us down to our underwear. She pursed her lips and tapped her nails on her desk before she picked up the phone.

She rose, opened the doors to the office, and pointed at some chairs in front of a giant desk. Andy Tremaine, big-time music producer and creator of stars, had his back turned to us.

When he spun his chair and faced us, he made me feel like I was a slab of meat up for inspection. Maggie squeezed my hand, and Jade hooked his ankle around mine. It comforted and calmed me.

The meeting started with Andy telling us everything his team thought we could achieve in the next year. The amount of money being tossed around was staggering. He had to be exaggerating.

“Because you boys write most of your own music, it will increase your monetary value. In short, I want to sign you gentlemen. I think it will be a lucrative partnership,” Andy said. “If you agree to certain conditions.”

“What sort of conditions?” Maggie asked. She moved to the edge of her seat and stared at him.

“Well, Ms. Stewart, I’m going to be quite blunt. I know Rylan and Jade are together, and I don’t think it’s financially wise for you gentlemen to be out as a couple. I think it will hurt your earnings potential.”

I slid down in my chair just as Jade tucked his leg back under his chair. It was hard to pretend it didn’t hurt when he moved away from me. Plus, this whole thing was stupid. Why was it so stinking important to be fucking dating a girl? Did everyone he signed get interrogated about their sexual orientation? The sad thing was this guy would probably be thrilled if I were fucking every girl in sight.

“Why does it matter that we’re together?” Jade asked.

“I was at your concert, Mr. Marin. Your audience is primarily young female fans. They want to believe they have a chance with you.”

“That’s…,” Jade snapped his mouth shut and crossed his arms over his chest. Tension in the room was thick.

I shifted in my chair and focused on the floor. There was a dark spot on the carpet by my foot. I dragged the sole of my shoe across it and wondered if it was the blood of some other performer who had signed with Andy Tremaine. He seemed to want control over more than my music.

Maggie finally spoke up. “We have a few conditions as well.” I couldn’t wait to hear what our conditions were.

“First, if Rylan and Jade agree, as far as the girl thing goes, I would take on the role as Rylan’s girlfriend and Kelli would take on Jade. The fewer people who know the truth, the better, right?”

“Who’s Kelli?” Andy Tremaine asked.

“My sister,” I piped up. “She was the other girl with us at the show, and she’s been hanging out with us since this all started. The fans in Chicago know who she is.”

“Okay, this might work,” Andy said. “But you girls will have to sign a confidentiality agreement, and we’d pay you, of course. Is Kelli available right now? She should fly out here so I can formally meet her.”

Maggie nodded. “I’ll call her. I’m sure she can be here by Sunday.”

“That would be fine,” Andy said.

“Second, we have a few guys back in Chicago who have been providing security for us. If they agree, we’d like them to stay with us. Rylan and Jade are comfortable with the guys, and it would just make things easier. Since you want to keep everything on the down low, again, the less people who know the better.”

Andy nodded. “Anything else?”

“Third, we want some say in who will be playing in the band. I think there should be some sort of chemistry within the band.”

“Is that all?” Andy asked. He actually seemed impressed with Maggie. I was impressed with Maggie.

“Obviously, since the guys write the songs, they would like a little creative control when it comes to picking the songs on the album. Also, if videos are made, we want input on them as well. And if this doesn’t work out, Jade and Rylan want the rights to the songs to revert back to them immediately.”

“Have you done this before?” Andy asked.

She smirked. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.”

“Take the contracts back to the hotel. Read them over and talk about it. We’ll meet Monday morning, and you can tell me your decision. I’ll have my people draw up something for you and Kelli as well.”

We all nodded and shook hands. Andy handed Maggie a thick envelope as we exited his office. The limo was waiting to take us back to the hotel. I didn’t dare sit next to Jade, so I let Maggie crawl in between us. This was all happening so fast, and I wasn’t sure what to think about all the restrictions being put on us.

Maggie spent the evening poring over the contracts. She sent a copy to an entertainment lawyer she knew. Between the two of them, they changed the wording in several spots, and they decided Maggie should renegotiate the royalty percentage from the sale of the album.

We didn’t even have an album.

“What do you think?” Jade asked as he plopped down next to me on the bed.

“I want to sign,” I said. “But I hate the part about the girls.”

“They call them beards,” Jade said, studying his hands as he talked.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“What for?”

What was I supposed to say to him? Sorry for making your life harder because I was a guy and normal people weren’t supposed to fall in love with members of the same sex? I buried my face in the pillow and fought the tears threatening to spill.

Our dreams were staring us right in the face, but they came with giant ropes attached.

“Rylan,” Jade whispered. “It’s okay. I want to be with you, and if we have to hide it for a little while, then we’ll do it. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I mean, I do want to jump you on stage, but so far, I’ve controlled myself.”

He laughed and poked me in the side.

“You’re not upset about this?” I asked.

“I think it’s stupid he finds it necessary to pretend we’re straight because he thinks it will affect our sales. He doesn’t even know us,” Jade said.

He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed.

We hung out at the hotel the whole day. I didn’t feel like sightseeing. Kelli showed up on Sunday with Dave and Brent. We went out to dinner and explained the entire situation to them. Dave rolled his eyes and Brent shook his head.

“They really want you to have fake girlfriends?” Kelli whispered.

“Beards,” Jade said. “And yes, that’s exactly what they want.”

“Sucks,” Kelli said. “But if it helps you guys, then I’ll do it.”

Monday morning found us all gathered in Andy Tremaine’s office. Dave and Brent leaned against the wall with their arms crossed over their barrel chests while Jade and I stood behind the chairs of our soon-to-be fake girlfriends. Jade’s thigh was pressed against mine.

After we’d gone around the room doing the introductions, Andy brought out the contracts. Maggie pointed out the things she had changed, and they started the negotiations. Dictator Maggie held fast to her wants and got Andy Tremaine to agree with all her demands, but he wouldn’t back off on the girlfriend thing.