Page 49 of When We Fell Again
Surprised by his sudden compassion, I gulped. “I, um. Well, I sort of passed out at Joey’s gig.” Holding up my hands, I hastily added, “but it’s fine. I got checked over by the medics at the venue and they gave me the all-clear. I’m waiting on some test results, though.”
Theo shook his head, mouth pursed into a line. He didn’t look at me as he spoke. “I haven’t exactly been fair to you lately. Well, ever since Chris stepped back, really. I’ve relied too heavily on you to take on everything he was doing, not to mention your own bands.”
Stunned at his admission, I sipped some tea. Those words weren’t the ones I had expected to come out of his mouth.
“You’re absolutely right that you need to take some time off. And I’m happy to agree to that, but there is one caveat.”
Here it comes. Theo’s going to insist that I stay away from Jordan. That it’s too much of a risk.
The thought made me sick. Having come to the decision that I wanted us to try again if he still did, to possibly have it all taken away before it had even started again didn’t bear thinking about.
“What’s that?” I tried to play dumb, pretending I didn’t know what was coming next.
“I want you to take The Dicers tour.”
My jaw dropped. The Dicers was one of the biggest bands we’d ever worked with. Chris had done their last European tour around eighteen months ago, and they’d gone from strength to strength ever since. The problem was their lead singer. Arlo Carmichael made Jordan Bowie look like a total angel. Even with what I knew about Jordan from both personal and professional experiences, it was nothing compared to Arlo.
“Why me?” I asked. Not that it wasn’t a good thing to be asked to do it, but there was a hell of a lot of pressure that came with it.
Theo paused before answering. “Because you’re the best person for the job. Chris is still not back full-time, and I can’t do it. You did such a great job with Idol Rev; I know you’ll be able to handle Arlo.” He gave me a tight smile. “So, will you do it?”
The pleading expression on his face almost made me say yes straight away. But I sensed this was my bargaining chip. If Theo wanted me to take on Arlo and The Dicers, I needed something in return. And that something came in the form of a significant break for me.
“How much time did you say I can have off?” I lifted my chin defiantly.
“We didn’t agree to anything.”
“Yet.”
Theo shuffled the papers in front of him, pulling out a tour schedule and passing it across the table to me. “The Dicers tour is arena based, so it’s not long, but it’s huge venues.”
Arena tours always meant more work as there were more people to liaise with. But if it was UK based, then I wouldn’t have to be away for too long. The lure of something this big dangled in front of me like a twenty-four carat-covered reward.
Jordan would hate it, and I’d have to deal with the consequences. But it was worth it. Being back with Jordan was worth it. Lacing my fingers together, I stared across the table at Theo.
“Then let’s talk about my holiday.”
CHAPTER21
Jordan
After gettingthe brush off from Theo, and then seemingly from Lex, I stalked out of the cafe and into the street at a loose end. I could have gone to the studio, but then I’d have to admit to Levi and the others that I’d been lying about being ill. While we’d been sitting there, more lyrics had come to me for a new song, and the idea burned in my brain. The house would be quiet, so it made much more sense to go back there and work on it.
On the journey back, I checked my phone and saw messages from Levi. He’d sent me some clips of the tracks they’d been working on and they sounded fucking awesome.Fuck it, I’d blag that I was feeling better and headed over to the studio.
“All right, mate?” Levi asked when I walked in. “You’re not sick after all?”
“Seems all I needed was a lie-in and a decent breakfast.” I grinned. “Plus, I got the writing bug again. Do you think you can do something with this?” I tossed my phone in his direction, open on the notes app where I’d been jotting down phrases and runs.
Jude and Robbie bounced into the room.
“Jordan! Didn’t think we were going to see you today.”
“Good to see you, buddy. Did you get the stuff Levi sent you?”
I grinned. “Why else do you think I dragged myself out of my sick bed to come and join you?”
The two of them dragged me into the studio to play me the rough cuts of what they already had laid down. Kelvin would love what we’d done and maybe even turn the album launch into a tour.
