Authors: Sarah Dosher
“It’s okay, Lucifer.” I told her and she meowed back. I scooped her up in my arms, trying my best to calm her, but she kept meowing loudly. “Shh, Luci, you’re okay.” I said, soothing my hand up and down her dark fur. “Where’s dad?” I asked, like she would be able to answer.
She jumped out of my arms and ran toward the living room. I followed close behind her and saw my dad lying on the couch. He was stretched out, filling it from one end to the other. His head was propped up on a huge pillow. Calm instantly washed over me. I’d been so scared, and every inch of my body had felt like something was wrong, but the instant I saw my dad, I knew everything would be okay.
“There you are, Dad.” I said with a relieved snicker.
He didn’t move, though. His arm was dangling over the edge of the couch with something sticking out of it. I finally got close enough to see it was a needle like the doctors used when I was sick.
Luci jumped onto my dad’s stomach and started nudging him with her nose. He still didn’t move.
“Dad?” I pressed, but he didn’t answer.
I timidly reached out to touch his face, and my whole body went numb when my fingers touched his ice-cold skin.
“Dad, wake up, you’re scaring me. Daddy?”
I shook his shoulder and his head fell to the side. White, foamy liquid spilled from the corner of his mouth and I instantly knew my life would never be the same.
Chapter Six
Eli Blue
Unable to get my mind to slow down long enough to relax at home, I arrived at work hours before I normally would. Which gave me time to research Unforgiven before I met with them later in the day. I’d spent the last couple of hours learning everything the internet could tell me about the band members. Well, except for Deacon; I couldn’t bring myself to even type his name in the Google search box. My fingers had hovered over the letters in his sexy name numerous times, but I’d never found the strength to actually press the keys. I was deathly afraid of what I’d find out about him, and even more worried about what seeing images of him would do to me. Luckily, the research distracted me from the crystal-clear blue eyes that have haunted me since I gazed into them.
I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t get them out of my head. Every single time I closed my eyes that’s all I could see – his eyes. Looking into them was the most beautiful and heart-breaking experience I’ve ever had. The raw pain that was alive and pouring from them would be something I’d never forget.
My cell phone vibrated on my desk. I looked at my screen and it was my mother, again. The voicemail she’d left this morning was her normal routine, “This is your mother, you answer when I call.” Then she hung up. I didn’t bother to call her back, and had hoped I’d make it until at least this evening before the calls started again, but obviously, I wasn’t that lucky. I picked up the phone and hit accept.
“What do you want mother, I’m busy?” I said with no reservations about my bitchy tone.
“Is that how you’re going to speak to your mother?” She demanded.
“I don’t have time for your games. Just tell me what you want so I can be done with you for today.”
“You ungrateful little bitch! You think you’re something special now that you’ve taken over my business, don’t ya?”
“It was never yours; nothing was ever yours, mother.” I snapped at her, hearing her breath shriek with a quick inhale at my continued petulance. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I usually knew better than to make her angry – she was much easier to deal with when she was happy. “Mother, I’m sorry. I’m very busy. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m expecting a band any minute, and I’m trying to prepare. What can I do for you?”
“Nothing, you pitiful excuse for a daughter, nothing.” She said in an eerily calm voice then hung up.
I groaned loudly then slammed my head down on my desk.
“Ms. Savage, your next appointment is here. I’ve placed them in the large conference room for you,” Mrs. Kline said over the office speakerphone, bringing me back to the task at hand.
“Thank you, Mrs. Kline. Can I get some coffee before I head that way?” I needed a small part of my happy place before I faced Deacon again.
I headed down the long hallway flanked with award winning albums that were part of the Savage Man family. My dad had worked hard for this company. He’d been in the prime of his career, yet he willingly took time away from it to start his own management company. His goal was to help unknown artists find some of the same success he’d been blessed with. He’d accomplished that goal, time, and time again, and I hoped I was able to carry on his passion.
There was a trusty mug of coffee clenched firmly in my grasp. Stopping at the large wooden doors with intricate carving that led into the conference room, I took a deep breath that did nothing to calm my nerves.
I had to pull it together, no one made me this nervous - ever. I hadn’t felt these kinds of knots in my stomach since the time I’d played spin the bottle when I was thirteen and Nicky Jenkins landed on me. I had the biggest crush on him back then, but it was a terrible first kiss. I ran the pads of my fingers across my lips remembering how he sucked and bit at them – and not in a good, kinky kind of way. A shudder ran down my spine thinking about it. After that, I had wondered why anyone ever wanted to be kissed.
I forced one last breath to fill my lungs and swung the door open. My eyes frantically searched the room, but I didn’t see him. Where was he? My gaze finally landed on Willow, who was sitting in Duke’s lap.
“Hey girl.” She said with a little finger wave.
“Hey, Will. You look awfully happy today.” I teased.
She nipped at Duke’s nose with her teeth, “I’m not the only person in this room happy today.”
She was in a playful mood, but none of the guys joined her. Duke was looking at Willow like she’d lost her mind, and the other guys were staring straight ahead like they’d been warned to behave. I made my way to the head of the table while Duke moved Willow off his lap and into the chair next to him, causing her signature frowny face to appear.
“Umm, hi guys. I’m Eli Blue, but feel free to call me whatever. I answer to almost any variation of Elizabeth Blue Savage you can come up with.” I said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood – no one laughed, no one even looked at me.
I looked to Willow, opening my eyes wide, asking for some help. She merely shrugged her shoulders and started caressing Duke’s hand that was resting on the table.
“Duke, I’ve already been introduced to you, thanks to Willow.” I started again, and he finally turned to look at me. He nodded, but didn’t say anything. “And you must be Johnny and Blaine.” I added, even though I knew damn well who they were because I’d just been staring at their pictures on my computer screen.
Still, no one opened their mouth to grace me with their voices.
“Willow, can you go ask Mrs. Kline to bring some refreshments into the room please?”
“Uhh, sure. I’ll be right back.” She said as she stood and headed toward the door.
“No rush. Why don’t you stay there and help her carry it all down here.” I smiled at her and she nodded at me, which hopefully meant she knew I wanted some time with the guys alone.
“Okay, what gives? Why are you acting like you don’t want to be here? I was under the impression working with Savage Man was something you were heavily interested in.” I said sternly.
“We do want to be here, probably more than we should.” Duke admitted. “But we’ve also been in this type of situation before, and we’ve been turned down, so I think we might be wondering why we’re even wasting our afternoon. Ya know what I mean?”
“Well, shit guys, if you’re worried about whether I’m going to sign you, then let me clear the air. I
am
going to offer you a contract with Savage Man; I’ve got it right here.” I pulled the papers out of the folder on the table and slid them to Duke. “It’s our standard management contract; I had legal draw it up this morning. Simply put, it outlines what resources Savage Man will put into Unforgiven initially, and what compensation is required down the road. It’s a standard management and PR contract, but feel free to take it with you and have your lawyers look it over. No rush, just keep me updated on any questions or concerns you might have.” I looked toward Duke because he seemed to be the business man of the group. “Seriously, feel free to call me anytime.”
That got their attention—every head whipped around to me. They each had a look of wonderment on their faces, and their eyes were about to bug out of their head. Johnny jumped from his chair and wrapped his big, burly arms around me.
“Are you serious?” Duke asked softly.
“Yes.” I grunted as Johnny’s arms grew tighter around me. “Umm, can’t breathe.”
“Johnny put her down, man.” Duke said with a laugh.
Johnny immediately let go of me. His eyes were filled with gratitude, and it made my heart smile to see how happy this made them. It also made me wonder what rejections they’d been through in the past.
“Hi, Johnny,” I said to him as he stared down at me.
“Hi, Eli,” he whispered back.
I peeked around Johnny, “Hey, Blaine,” I said with a huge smile.
“Hiya, Eli Blue,” he replied, returning my smile with an enormous grin of his own.
“Why?” Duke asked, sincerely. “Why would you offer this to us so easily?”
“I know talent when I see it, Duke, and you boys have talent. That’s all I’m concerned about right now; the rest of the pieces will fall into place. But I have done my homework, too. I know you’ve put in the work to make it this far, so it was just a matter of time before you were scooped up. I’ll be working with you guys, personally, as I build my client base. You’re only the second band I’ve personally signed; the first being Willow’s. I’d like to play off the similar styles in your music, but also the difference in genders—put you out there together and see what size crowd we can draw in.”
“You want us to go on tour together?” Duke asked.
“That’s exactly what I want.” I told him. “I’ve already got the booking department working on a tentative schedule of locations within driving distance. Once we get the contract back from you guys, we can get the dates set in stone. If those shows go well, we will expand our focus to other areas.”
Duke reached in his pocket and pulled out a pen. He flipped to the last page of the lengthy contract and scribbled on the paper.
“I’m definitely in, no need to wait ‘cause nothing will change my mind.” He said, and as he looked back up at me, I saw sheer determination in his eyes, and I liked it.
“Me, too, I’m ready to sign.” Johnny said.
Duke slid the contract and pen to Johnny and he quickly signed his name.
“Blaine?” Duke asked.
“Yup,” was all he said as he, too, signed his name to the contract.
“Are you sure? Because you can take it with you and come back later, if you want to review it with legal. You haven’t even read the thing yourself.” I pointed out.
“Don’t need to.” Duke said with conviction. “I can’t think of a company we’d trust more than Savage Man to rep us, and right now my gut tells me to follow that trust wherever you’re willing to lead us.”
“I hope I can do that trust justice.” I admitted.
Willow and Mrs. Kline brought enough snacks to the conference room to feed an army, and we spent the next couple of hours hashing out a viable plan for our new venture. We decided the bands would alternate the opening slots for the time being, and I had final say on when, or if, that changed. I knew the only way it would change was if one band gained massive popularity more quickly than the other.
I also didn’t know how things were going to play out with Deacon. Even though he wasn’t here, I could feel him hovering over us like a black cloud. What would he say about the plans; would he even sign the contract?
“Well, I think that’s about all we can do today,” I said as we exited the conference room.
Duke was the last to make his way to the door.
“Why didn’t he come?” I finally forced myself to ask.
“Deacon?” He asked like he didn’t know this question was coming.
“Yeah. We aren’t going to be able to do anything until he’s on board.”
“Oh, I’m willing to bet he’s even more on board than we are, but I also promise he’ll have questions – he always does. Just don’t let him scare you off, his bark is much bigger than his bite.” He smiled at me. “He isn’t here because he spends all his free time doing studio work for other bands. He was already scheduled to be there today; that’s the only reason he couldn’t come.”
“I see,” I said, and felt like a dumbass for thinking it ever had anything to do with me.
Duke nodded and then we walked into the hall where Willow was waiting for us.
“Are The Elle’s still on for practice this weekend?” I asked her.
“Always.”
Chapter Seven
Eli Blue
It had been almost a week since I’d seen Deacon backstage at his show, and not an hour went by that I didn’t think about him. It made no sense; the crushes I’d had as a teenager weren’t even this bad. Every time my mind wandered, it went to him. He appeared in my dreams every night; usually he was just there, not really doing anything, just present. He was starting to feel like an old friend, dropping by to hang out every night – but in a very weird, obsessive way.
Willow said Duke and Deacon had discussed the contract, but Deacon hadn’t given him any indication of what he thought. So we were all just waiting for him to make up his mind. I pictured him sitting around, twiddling his thumbs waiting for me to crack. Although I felt like I knew him, I really only knew the person I’d created in my mind over the past week. I truly didn’t have a clue who he was, or what he might be thinking.
The working day had ended for everyone in the office but me. I hadn’t realized it was so late until I heard nothing but total silence and the click of my heels pounding rhythmically on the marble floor. I was on my way to my office when I felt the hair on the back of neck stand up and a chill run down my spine.