Page 50 of Rock On

Harley frowned. “I’ll call her back.” She sent the call to voicemail just as my phone rang again.

Z again.

“Maybe I should answer,” I said.

“Go ahead.” She watched me as I lifted the phone to my ear.

“Hey, man. Not a good time.”

“Sorry.” Z sounded genuinely apologetic. “But this couldn’t wait.”

“What’s going on?”

“We need to have a band meeting. Today. There’s an issue with our back catalog.”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t fathom what he might be referring to. Our first two albums had been put out by a record label called Low Rider Records. We’d made so much money on those albums we’d financed the third on our own, as well as every album after that until the most recent one. But our current deal with Pretty Hart Records had been a strategic move that benefited all parties, and I couldn’t imagine it had anything to do with what he was talking about now.

“Did you know that Aurora went to work for Sound of Light Records?” he asked.

Aurora was our old manager. She’d had some sketchy behavior toward the end of Carter’s life, apparently trying to blackmail him with the threat of telling the band about River. I didn’t know the details at the time because we’d promptly fired her, and I honestly hadn’t given her a second thought in over a year.

“No,” I replied. “Why would I care what she’s doing?”

“They just made her President and CEO last week and she brokered a deal to buy Low Rider. She now has total control of the songs from the first two albums.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Harley’s phone rang again, and she answered this time, getting up and walking a few feet away, ostensibly not to disturb me.

“Can we do it via video or do I have to come back to L.A.?”

“I think we can do it via video. And FYI, Harley is going to have to be on the call because she controls Carter’s interests.”

I glanced in her direction. “Yeah, no problem. She’s right here.”

“She’s right…” His voice trailed in confusion. “She’s at the rehab place with you?”

I chuckled. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later. Text me the deets for the meeting and I’ll talk to you then.”

“Assuming Harley’s available, we’re aiming for one o’clock.”

“She’ll be available. Do I need to contact my personal attorney or are we set?”

“I don’t think so. Madeline will be on the call with us.”

“All right. Talk then.” I disconnected just as Harley sat down.

“That was Madeline,” she said. “I don’t really understand what’s happening, but she said I have to be on this call at one o’clock?”

I nodded. “I don’t know if you know what Aurora did.”

She shook her head. “I know Carter had some heated phone calls with her just before he died, but he told me not to worry about it.”

“She was trying to blackmail him.”

“For what?”

“Well, she and Z had an affair. I guess they’d slept together on multiple occasions over the years, after she started managing us. He liked her because she was older, smart, and supposedly had the band’s best interests at heart with no pressure on him. From his perspective, it was the equivalent of safe sex. So to speak.”

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