Page 37 of Perfect Assumption
There’s a loud round of applause before I hear David grumble, “Thank God. Maybe we can shove something into Becks’s mouth to keep his panic under control.”
Everyone begins talking over one another, all while I’m still frozen in place, holding a cup of coffee I didn’t order picked up by a woman who apparently is beginning to pick up on the feelings I have for her. She’s not completely wrong about any of them. I’m struggling with trying to identify them myself, with the harmful knowledge of my past that leaves me feeling that no matter what I do, I may not be good enough for her.
There’s only one thing she’s wrong about. I’m not feeling a drastic temperature shift in the way I’m beginning to feel about her. The tepidness I feel is about myself.
Fourteen
Ward
Prodigy DJ Kensington brought down the house at Redemption last night. If you’re smart—and if you have the connections to get in—go listen to her. Holy @^%$ She’s a game changer!
@PRyanPOfficial
“Hold on.” I slam my cup of coffee down so hard on the conference room table, I’m in danger of crushing the cup. I point a finger in Carys’s direction. “Let me sum up this cockamamie plan. You want Angie to go to Redemption—tonight—to hear this miracle-sent DJ Kensington because Becks thinks we should get her under an NDA, why? To potentially sign her as a client?”
“That about sums it up,” Carys agrees with a straight face.
“And this is an emergency, why?” I run my fingers through my hair as I pace back and forth.
“Does it really matter at this juncture?” Angie breaks in. She and Becks exchange a complicated glance. There’s been more cast around the room since I walked in, causing something unpleasant in me to shift. What exactly was discussed when I was shut out earlier? While I was at lunch? But I ignore those questions for the moment and focus on the immediate why.
“It does, Angela.”
Becks shoves his way in. “Well, that’s just too damn bad. Because that’s what you’re going to get.”
Frustration eats at me. “Why? I’m a partner in this firm. If anyone should be going to negotiate something legal and it can’t be Carys, it should be me. You know, an actual attorney.”
Becks scoffs. “I think not.”
Ignoring him, I direct my comment to my sister. “Before I agree to this…”
Becks talks right over me. “Because I don’t trust you the same way I do them. And it’s my right as a client to determine who I discuss my business with.” He flings his arm out to encompass the other occupants of the room.
Everyone except for me.
“Wow. Never saw that one coming.” I shove my hand through my hair to hide its shaking.
“Christ, Ward. It’s just…” But I hold a hand to cut off Beckett. I can’t listen to someone scrape my insides any more raw than they are.
But I do have a few questions. “What the hell is the purpose of all this? Why all the secrecy?”Including from me.
“The same purpose we built this firm on. We represent quality clients, Ward. If I wanted to continue to represent flash-in-the-pan acts, I could have stayed on at Goathead. Instead, I went to Wildcard.”
I open my mouth to argue her point, but she plows on. “As in-house counsel for Goathead—hell, even at Wildcard—I’d often be in a position to meet our artists before I’d be directed to approach them. I could never understand why until I realized it was about brand—the companies I was representing. When I struck out on my own, I kept with the same practice, but there was no one to do that legwork except me and David. I’d have Angie research the hell out of them before we went. Then I’d…why am I going into this? You know the drill. Both of you had to step up to do this when I was out on leave. I made it part of this firm’s practice doing what I was taught—to represent solid individuals who have a quality reputation. I want, and wanted, to legally represent people who will change the music industry for decades. What I didn’t ask for were constant scandals.”
“And yet you brought on Becks.”
“And you!” Carys fires back. “Christ, I need to give Angie a raise just for monitoring both your feeds on social media. So, fine. Go if you have to stick your nose in. But taking Angie with you is nonnegotiable. Consider it uptraining her, if you so object to having her there. See? All issues solved.”
Angie rolls her eyes when I sigh hugely. “Should I bring my copy ofBlack’s Law Dictionaryfor her to study from?”
“Only if you want it shoved somewhere…” Angie starts to threaten.
“Stow it, both of you. Work together. The two of you can determine if this Kensington is the kind of quality I want to represent.” Carys shoots Angie another look that has the redhead nodding.
And me fuming.
“Since when do we require an NDA for a simple conversation? And for the record, the specialty of this firm has always been recording artists,” I remind Carys, not bothering to address anyone else in the room since they’re not letting me in on the silent messages being passed.
