Page 70 of Follow the Rhythm
“I don’t think you being alone and drunk on a rooftop is better for anyone. If you just come down, talk to Kieran and Grace and grovel a little, they’ll probably forgive you.”
Would I be groveling for the rest of my life? Stuck in a cycle of hurting people and then begging for forgiveness until they finally left for good? “Do you want to know what I said to Kieran? Why he did this?” I tongued my split lip. The woundopened up again, but I didn’t care; I already had blood on my shirt.
Jess eyed me. “Not really, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“I reminded him of his old habits. A few years ago, there would have been a new girl on the bus after every show. You’ll notice none of them are still hanging around.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you truly think he’s changed so much?”
Jess paled and then shook her head. “You’re deflecting.”
“Of course I am. It’s what I’m best at, darling,” I said, looking out over the skyline. “And I will not grovel to anyone. It’s probably best for everyone to move on. Make a clean break and stop dragging things out.”
“So that’s it? You’re just going to disappear again?”
I shrugged.
Silence stretched between us. I wouldn’t look at her; I couldn’t, or my heart would truly shatter.
“Nice to know where I stand. I’ll let Charlie know you’re not dead.”
She left. I didn’t watch her go.
Chapter 21 - Jess
As soon as we landed in Fairview, Echelon Records demanded I come to the office and sign an NDA.
Kieran, Grace, and Ellis were there too, along with Johnny. Ellis sat at the far end of the table, studiously ignoring everyone else, like he was voluntarily quarantining himself. The cut on his lip hadn’t fully healed, but he’d found the time to style his hair perfectly. Johnny, whom I hadn’t seen in weeks, kept trying to get them to talk to each other, but it didn’t work.
Charlie and Stevie rounded out the group.
Karen Carlson, the head of the label, arrived a few minutes later and walked into complete silence.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said, not sounding sorry at all, and sat at the opposite end of the table from Ellis. “Let’s cut to the chase. We’re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue on this tour, and I don’t think it’ll surprise anyone that I’m not thrilled about that.”
“Right, but if you’ll just let me talk to-” Johnny said. Karen raised her hand to cut him off.
“If my sources are correct, you haven’t even been in attendance for the vast majority of the show dates. Which is interesting, since we’ve been paying you a stipend for travelexpenses. But we’ll come back to that.” Johnny’s face turned purplish-white.
Karen sighed. “Fortunately for me, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to cut our losses and pivot. You’re all here today to sign NDAs about what happened. No selling your stories to the press, no tell-all videos, no goddamn podcast interviews, nothing. I’ve already had the crew sign them, but I wanted to impress the importance of this on each of you specifically. The official story is that Ellis needs vocal cord surgery. If I see you saying anything else publicly, Iwillbring the full weight of the Echelon legal department down on you. Understand?”
I nodded along with everyone else.
“I need verbal confirmation.”
I murmured a “yes.” Grace met my eyes with a bewildered expression.
Karen gestured to the door, and a harried-looking young man carried in a stack of papers. We each signed the document under Karen’s beady eye.
“Wonderful. Thank you all so much for your valuable time,” she said sarcastically. “Johnny? With me, please.”
She swept from the conference room, Johnny trailing her like a kicked dog.
“What the hell was that?” Grace asked Kieran and me.
I watched Ellis for a moment, who seemed completely unsurprised by the news that he was getting fake vocal cord surgery as he strolled out without a word.
“I think they’re hoping he can still be their golden boy, so they don’t want us to completely ruin his reputation,” I said.
“But that’s crazy. He’s a fucking lunatic.”
