Page 52 of A Billionaire Rebel

“I can’t.” Kalini’s voice was soft. “I can’t get back on stage again. Any time I think about singing, I see the accident. The car skidding, flip–” The word broke off, and Hawk put his arm around her, pulling her close.

“We’re not doing it,” he said. “Not even a farewell concert. I’m sorry. We’ve loved every minute of being a part of Holden, and if things had been different, who knows how long we would’ve kept going.”

“But we can’t change anything,” Otis said. “We can only go forward from here.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want,” Banks said from between gritted teeth. “You have a contract. A legally binding agreement that says you have a certain number of concerts and a certain number of albums that you are required to produce for the label. Let me remind you that there are penalties–”

I’d had enough from Mr. Banks. Z and Haje looked annoyed, but they were still trying to be diplomatic to everyone. If they weren’t going to put a stop to this, I would.

“I think you need to be reminded of something, Mr. Banks.” I leaned forward. “I created Holden, and this band means a lot to me, but it’s not who I am. Who I am is someone who can take whatever legal bullshit you try to throw at me, or my friends, and bury you in it. You don’t have the resources to beat the army of lawyers I can hire. And I won’t just countersue the label and you personally. I’ll also ruin you in the press. I’ll make sureeveryoneknows that you’re the one who threatened to destroy people who just wanted to move on after a tragedy.”

Color flooded his face, but he didn’t say anything.

I looked at Z and Haje. “I appreciate what you’ve done for us, but if the label is going to follow this asshole’s legal advice, then this won’t end as peacefully as I’d hoped.”

“No worries,” Z said. “We won’t be pursuing legal action against Holden.” He glared at Banks. “And if members of our legal department can’t get behind that, then they can look for another job.”

“Understood.” Banks looked mutinous, but he didn’t argue. He slumped in his seat like a petulant child.

“We’re sorry to see Holden go,” Haje said, “but we understand. This isn’t a typical circumstance. We can’t treat it like one.”

Z nodded. “We’ll have the paperwork drawn up before the end of the week.”

“I’d like for us to put out a press release at the end of the week,” Haje said. “We can send it to all of you before we make it public.”

“That sounds good,” I said, looking to the others for their agreement.

“If any of you are considering maybe doing some solo work, we’d like you to come to us first, whether it’s next week or next year.” Haje looked straight at me when she said it, and I wondered if maybe she – and Kalini and Jae – were right, and a solo career was something I should seriously consider.

But not right now.

Right now, I was going to help my friends through this. Then I’d focus on what came next for me.

Twenty-Nine

Jae

I’d assumedthat once word got out that Damon wasn’t at the store, our customer traffic flow would return to normal. So far, it hadn’t. Granted, we didn’t have people lingering as long, but very few had simply walked in, looked around, and then walked out. It wasn’t until partway through my shift that I realized people wanted to talk to me because I had been seen with Damon.

Starla had laughed at me when I’d told her, saying she’d wondered how long it would take me to figure it out.

I was just getting ready to take my lunch when I got a text alert. Damon wanted me to call him whenever I was able. One of the few things I didn’t like about texts was the lack of inflection. It was impossible to tell from his brief message how the meeting had gone.

“I’m going to call Damon during lunch,” I told Starla. “But if you need me, come get me.”

“Tell him I said hi,” she said, waving me away.

All around the store were signs saying that Damon Holden had used certain instruments or complimented other ones. Considering how much attention they were getting, Damon was going to be on her good list for a long time.

I closed the break room door to block out the noise and took a moment to get my lunch before settling at the table. Damon answered on the second ring.

“I’m not going to get you in trouble with Starla, am I?” he asked almost immediately.

“I’m pretty sure you could do anything you want right now, and Starla would still love you.” I laughed. “Sign a guitar, and she might let you have her firstborn.”

“I’m not sure if my autograph will be worth more or less by the end of the week.”

My smile faded. I couldn’t even imagine how hard today had been for him. He’d lost his friend and his dream in such a short period of time. “It’s official then?”

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