Page 129 of Jace
“No worries,” Ava says in a soft voice, seeing my worry. “I made it so Ty’s unrecognizable.”
“Yeah, you only see the back of oneverytall and muscular dude who carries you to your den.” Wolf snickers. “Kinda hot, actually.”
Rubbing my face, I groan, this is goingsowell. “I’m sorry. I haven’t even seen the video yet. It’s probably pretty indecent.”
“Indecent?Does it look like we care about a bit of indecency?” Wolf asks with a, well, wolfish grin, gesturing at his friends and shared girlfriend. “I was actually hoping you’d maybe have arecording of what happens inside that room after the video ends. For research purposes, of course.”
Madden and Bryson both punch him in the shoulder, and Wolf scoffs at them. Evan just laughs.
“Back to the real stuff,” Madden states, handing the toddler over to Wolf, who’s immediately totally distracted by the kid, blowing raspberries and shit.
Madden rolls his eyes, but plucks a stack of papers from the lower plank of the coffee table, which was out of view for us. He slams them on the table, putting one finger on it. “This is a once in a lifetime offer. It’s not an offer from us, because as you might be aware, we went Indie. But it’s an offer from some dear friends of ours. And it’s a good one. They wanted us to vet you first, since they’re currently on the other side of the country and couldn’t fit meeting you into their agenda.”
Guess we passed the test then. I eye the stack of papers, swallowing thickly. It’s dead silent, and I practically feel the nerves coming off of my friends who sit beside me.
“If we had an offer like this when we first started out?” Madden goes on. “It would’ve saved us alotof trouble. This is your ticket in.”
“I say take it. But discuss it first among yourselves,” Bryson adds in his soft voice. “And no hard feelings if you say no.”
“But if you do say yes?” Madden again. “Then you have to make some hard choices, real quick. So get home, grab a couple of beers, read it over, and really think about it. We want to hear an answer in two days.”
Missy’s hand finds my knee, and I look up at my friend. My best friend. My oldest friend.
And her dark eyes are full of excitement, but sorrow as well.
Because I know what this means. She knows what this means.
It means that we have to decide.
Our boyfriends or our careers.
I can’t make that choice.
Iwon’tmake that choice.
But I’m afraid I’ll have to choose anyway.
THIRTY-ONE
Jace has been a mess ever since the band came back from their meeting with 4A the day before yesterday. I get it. I’m a mess too. Because shit, they’re going to leave.Ifthey accept the contract that is. Which I’m pretty sure they will.
Because yes, 4A offered them a contract. For fronting a tour. A rock tour through all of the states. A tour that’s already underway. Because Mick Heart, the frontman of the very popular rock band ‘Six of Hearts’, saw the video as well.
And apparently Mick fucking Heart called his close friends 4A when he found out Encore is located close to Los Angeles, since he himself is on the east coast right now. Just starting week three of their four-month tour through North America.
And their opening band was a bust. So they fired them.
So now they want Encore.
I still can’t fucking believe it.
I glance up, catching the football that Jace was aiming my way with ease. I smile at him, knowing we’ll figure it out somehow.
“That was better!” I yell to where he’s situated at the other side of our front yard, the warm sun beating down on our heads.
“I know!” he yells back, ever the arrogant one, plucking his phone out of his pocket to check something. The last couple of weeks, he wanted to learn what the hell was so fun about football, so I’m teaching him all kinds of throws.
And maybe it’s good that we’re outside for a bit. They have to give their answer to 4A by the end of the day. And Jace is getting quieter and quieter by the hour.
