Page 35 of My Five Daddies

I sit out on the steps next to Ethan. He leans up against my shoulder. “This is how it can be sometimes,” he sayssoftly.

“What do youmean?”

“Working with talent.” He waves his hand back toward the church. Dustin is inside somewhere, probably on hisphone.

“Are they always such…assholes?”

“No,” he says, grinning at me. “This one is particularlybad.”

I spend the rest of the day alternating between listening to Dustin try and record a song and trying to calm him down. Ethan eventually got a professional guitarist in the studio with Dustin, which took a little convincing, but the whole thing sounds so much better with someone that can actuallyplay.

But that only makes things worse. It probably just reminds Dustin that he can’t really play the guitar, not well at least. Even I can see that, and I’m not a professional. So all day I have to stamp out his tantrums. Ethan is patient about it, but I can tell even he’s starting to get sick of thiskid.

Eventually, we finish the recordings and I walk out with Dustin, leaving Ethan behind to work on cleaning itup.

“That was good today,” I say tohim.

“Fuck that,” he answers. “Is that how it’s always going tobe?’

I shake my head. “No, to atall.”

“Because that fucking blows. I just want to sing, you know. Expressmyself.”

“Sure,” I say, resisting the urge to roll myeyes.

“That Ethan guy, he doesn’t getme.”

“He’s very good,” I say, trying to be as neutral as I can. I don’t want to alienate Dustin, but I don’t want to talk shit onEthan.

“He’s anidiot.”

We stop at the car that Will and Hunter arranged. It drives him back home every day after the recording, mostly because the guys don’t trust Dustin not to get himself in fucking trouble if they don’t tightly controlhim.

“Listen, Ethan is going to take care of you. He’s the best wehave.”

Dustin watches me for a second. “Yeah, sure,” he says finally. “Whatever you say.” He gets into the car without another word and it pulls out intotraffic.

I stand there, feeling fucking exhausted. I check my watch and it’s after seven at night already. I flag a cab and it drives me back to theoffice.

Every step is like moving through quicksand, but I need to drop my notes off before I can head back home. I’m keeping tabs on Dustin and giving it all to Will and Hunter, so I have to pop into the office at the end of eachsession.

I find Will and Hunter in the conference room. They’re usually working together, although they both have their own offices. I guess they just prefer to work together, which makes sense. They’re both owners of this company, so they both have to speak up and be on the same page. Doing this stuff together probably just makes thateasier.

Will looks up as I step into the room. “Got a second?” Iask.

He grins at me. “Absolutely.”

Hunter watches me as I step into the room. For a second, it occurs to me how strange this is. I never would have imagined that I’d be walking into the conference room where the two owners of the company I work for are sitting, let alone feel like I actually belong there. Well, things are still so fresh and odd that I don’t know how I feel about it, but at least I’m not totallyuncomfortable.

I sit down with a sigh. I’m exhausted and more than a little frustrated. “It’s aboutDustin.”

“What did he do?” Hunterasks.

“We’ll kill him for you if you want,” Jonny adds,grinning.

I crack a little smile at him. “You’d kill forme?”

“Of course,” he says lightly. “A little casual murder is my favoritething.”

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