Page 26 of 4-Ever

Holy fucking shit.

“I’d like to see your full demo. Email it to this address,” he explained as he pulled out a business card. “ASAP, because I’ve got a very long list of bands who would kill for the same opportunity.”

Was this guy for real or was this a prank? Or was I still high from the coke I’d had before showtime?

Brodie looked at us and we nodded like trained seals.

“We’ll do that.” Brodie cleared his throat, as he reached for the card. “But first, I want to check that this is legit.”

What the hell? Was he crazy?

“Go ahead.” Greg shook his head. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours.”

“And then what?” Holloway asked.

“If my exec team likes what we hear, we’ll fly you to our head office in Nashville for a formal meeting.”

“Cool,” Brodie replied, cocky as fuck.

Greg nodded and stalked past us, heading for the dressing rooms.

“Did that just happen?” Ronin asked.

Brodie’s hand shook as he held up the card. “Come on, I need my phone. Let’s do some digging. If that really was Greg Haddley, then fuck me, we have more than just a concert to celebrate.”

We all but ran to our dressing room and as soon as we had our phones in hand, we were googling everything we could about Greg and the label.

“Yup, that’s him all right.” Brodie nodded, his eyes widening. “Fucking Jesus, it’s really happening.”

We emailed Greg our demo not fifteen minutes after we met him. Still sweaty and dehydrated from our performance, we were too stunned to do anything but sit in our dressing room and stare at each other.

The next morning, we had a response. Along with tickets to Nashville.

Brodie hadn’t lied when he said we didn’t have a manager. We had a temporary one when we moved back to the US, but he turned out to be a skeevy perv, not to mention a thief. Stealing our hard-earned dollars to supply his gambling habit.

“They sent a fifth ticket for our rep,” Brodie explained as we sat in our hotel room, eating breakfast. “Even though we don’t have one. If you guys are okay, I’d like to invite my dad. Which sounds really lame, like I’m sixteen again or something. But at least he has experience with contracts.”

“If they offer us one,” Ronin added.

“They wouldn’t be flying us down there unless it’s a done deal,” Holloway offered. “Right?”

“For sure,” I replied. “I mean, I assume so. If we do get an offer, we should have a lawyer review the contract. To make sure we don’t get screwed.”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Holloway shook his head. “Meeting first. Brodie’s dad can give us his initial impression and we go from there.”

Three days later, we flew down to Nashville. First class.

We each had our own hotel room, but it was weird for me to sleep alone. So much so, that an hour after we’d gone our separate ways, I slipped out of my room and knocked on Ronin’s next door.

“I can’t sleep,” I admitted. “I’m too amped up.”

Instead of replying, Ronin gripped my arm and dragged me into his room.

This time, I was the big spoon. But I still couldn’t sleep. And no wonder. Between the prospect of signing a record deal and having my best friend all to myself, I was floating.

“Things aren’t going to change too much, are they?” Ronin whispered in the darkness.

“Between you and me? Never.”

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