Page 96 of Fallen Princess: Shadow Stalker

Haze and Jagger continue waffling on as if we’re supposed to read their bloody minds.

“No idea what you’re on about,” Asher beats me to it.

“They’re an indie record label,” Jagger clarifies, but I still can’t connect the dots.

“We live-streamed the performance earlier this evening,” Haze explains, and now I understand what he meant by numbers. “I also posted that we were looking for a new manager and wanted to go down the indie route. We had over a hundred thousand downloads by the third set we played and a ton of DMs asking to manage us. I askedSierra to rummage through all the messages we were sent to pull out the legit ones.”

“Quantum is small compared to EchoSphere, but they’re one of the best within the indie playing field and artist-friendly.” Jagger takes over. “We want to retain our own creativity, and going indie would be the best route to venture into. They like our sound and are impressed with the numbers we achieved with just the one gig we gave out of the blue. They are offering us a seventy-forty royalty and a five-year contract deal. They want to sign us on as fast as possible.”

“In that case, I think we can get a fifty-fifty deal with a three-year contract,” Haze retorts.

“Hold on,” I interrupt and look at Asher and Eden, “Did you two know about this?”

They both shake their head.

“Why are you two operating on your own?”

“It was a spur-of-the-moment idea,” Haze explains. “I mentioned it to Jagger just minutes before we were set to take the stage. It wasn’t the right moment, and I didn’t want to make Eden nervous. Out of all of us, she suffered the worst with online bullying and mobbing. If this idea went south, she wouldn’t need to know.”

“Hmph!” Eden huffs a sigh of frustration, which catches our attention. A sly grin works up my face, knowing she’s about to tear him apart.

“I’m a big girl, you know. I can take a punch as good as I can give one.”

“No one would dare lay a hand on you,” my brother mutters, his face contorting into a deathly volatile expression that would send a shiver down a perpetrator's spine.

“Hmm,” she purrs.” “I find that sexy and disturbing. But getting back to the case at hand. I can take care of myself. And I can’t be affected by online bullying if I’ve disassociated myself from social media.”

“She has a point.” There’s an intense, heated gaze Asher holds as he smiles at Eden. “For the record, you punching Oliver earlier today was flipping hot.” The subtle curl of his lips silently hints at the longing he craves and his attraction for her.

How much longer can I endure this? Eden is like a cat in heat, aware of her effect on the toms, reveling in the power of her natural charm, and the males surround her with an instinctual desire to respond to the call of nature. My mind feels like it's on the verge ofself-combustion.

“We need a group vote,” I throw in fast before these three blokes unleash their heated desires on Eden.

“Well, I want to talk it over with all of you. As the leader of this band, I can act as our manager throughout the negotiations if we decide to go with Quantum or whichever label we sign with, but we’ll eventually need to hire someone.”

“And we’ll need to decide on the label as we need the capital to produce this single, let alone an entire album,” Haze adds.

“Also, there’s the other thing we need to talk about,” Jagger says as our attention focuses on Eden, knowing this is about her. “Living arrangements.”

Fuck. No.

I can’t do this.

“We were thinking about Terra Sands,” my brother blurts out.

“My home?” Eden looks at Haze, perplexed. “Why?”

“We think you should move back,” I say, wishing she would just hop in her truck and drive back to her desert.

“And move in with you,” Haze adds.

A heavy lump is lodged inside my chest as I sigh with frustration because I never agreed to this. The three of them are in this obvious relationship, and I’m the odd one out.

Living in Haze’s home with Eden is one thing. Moving into hers is something entirely different from where I intended to go when I agreed to this music venture.

“All of you?” Her voice seems a notch higher, probably because she’s surprised by this sudden suggestion.

We never talked about living together back when we all happily dated her, so this feels like a significant escalation in such a short span. I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't ready to open her private sanctuary to us. It seems these daft mugs haven't even considered the possibility that she moved there to get away from us.

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