Page 35 of The First Chord

Changing my mind about sitting down, I put my hands to the table, arms straight, and stared at our manager. “What does that mean?”

“It means that if they get rid of Jimmy, his solicitor has threatened to sue her for deformation of character.”

“He’s what?”

“You’re kidding.” Beau groaned. “The fucking arsehole.Hepunchedher.”

“And he’s saying it’s her word against his.” Ali’s eyes were full of sympathy as her gaze raked over my face. “I’m sorry, love, but he’s saying you’ve been having an affair and she’s saying he hit her so that you wouldn’t have to be named in their divorce.”

I blinked slowly. “Who the hell told him she was with me?”

“Chris,” she admitted.

“The one who doesn’t fucking speak?” Joey asked.

“He thought he already knew apparently.”

“Yeah, like fuck he did.” I pushed off the table and grabbed at my hair with both hands. “The absolute wanker.”

“What the hell sort of idiot is he?” Elliot went back to his chair, shaking his head. He looked over at Ali and frowned before glancing at me. “What aren’t you telling us, Ali?”

I snapped my head in her direction. “Ali?”

“I want you to know I argued this until I was hoarse.”

“What?”

She ducked her head and I saw her lips move silently. When she finally looked up, my heart dropped at her expression. Ice flowed through my veins because it was clear I wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.

“Okay,” she sighed. “There are already rumours about Jimmy’s partying and now this. They can’t afford for him to have any bad publicity because he’s Blind Devil’s biggest draw, so they want Amber to go back on tour and act like nothing hap—”

“No,” I yelled. “No fucking way.”

“You have to be joking,” Elliot blasted.

“What?!” Joey cried, slamming his fists down on the table.

Beau jumped out of his chair so fast it toppled over.

“I know and I did argue it. I threatened to resign and go to the press, but they said they would sue me and ruin all of you.” She looked at each of us in turn. “I can’t allow them to do that, boys, I can’t.”

“We can look after ourselves, Ali.” Beau moved around the table to stand next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “She can’t be made to do that.”

“They’re adamant. They’re going to call her today.”

“And if she says no?” I asked.

Ali shrugged. “I have no idea, but I’m guessing it will involve you, love.”

I pushed away from the table. “They can’t. It’s fucking barbaric to ask her to do that.”

“But they will.” Ali sighed and pushed her pad and pen away. Her fingers trembled as she drummed them softly on the table. “Boys, you should know after this tour, I’m resigning. I know you said you want out and have already decided not to tour again, but I’m done.”

Beau dropped to his haunches and grabbed her hand. “You can still work for us,” he begged. “Come withus.”

She shook her head. “Sweetheart, you won’t need me, there are plenty of other good managers out there who can do the job. It’s not like you’re just starting out. You only need someone as a figurehead and to keep things ticking over.” She shrugged. “You could even do it yourselves. And, besides, I’m ready for a break. Ingrid and I want to do some travelling while we still can.”

“And we thought Tenfold were a bunch of cunts,” Joey hissed.

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