Page 45 of Feral Touch
When we arrived, Ren nodded to the pretty receptionist at the front desk of the building and led me to the elevators.
“Good, the guys aren't waiting for us. I told them I'd bring you around to say hi, so I guess they've decided not to overwhelm you all at once. You've already met Ailey, but I want to introduce you to Deena Malik, our manager.”
The music company sprawled across a few floors of the tall office tower, but didn't own the whole thing. If Ren's company was rich enough to buy an entire high-rise downtown, I would have been too intimidated to walk into the place. As it was, I knew they were still considered an indie label even though their artists were becoming well known worldwide.
Ren popped his head into an office where a well-dressed woman in a power suit was working on a tablet. Her dark hair was tied back in a bun, but it didn’t make her face look severe, just calm and no-nonsense.
“Hey, Deena. Sorry for interrupting, I wanted to introduce you to Ivy.”
He didn't say ‘my friend Ivy’ or ‘my girlfriend Ivy’. Just Ivy. Was I that infamous around here? How much did these people know about me?
I blushed when I thought about the ‘g’ word. We hadn't even had the ‘what exactly are we’ talk yet. Was Ren my boyfriend?
“It's nice to finally meet you, Ivy.”
Ren's manager held out her perfectly manicured hand. I took it firmly, not wanting to give a limp handshake. I felt like I needed to impress this woman. She was someone important.
“Ren tells me you're going to be working together to compose a classical version of a Feral Silence song?”
“That's right.”
“Have you chosen a song?”
“Uh.” I couldn't even name a single Feral Silence song. “We haven't decided yet.”
Deena just nodded. “Jayce's acoustic versions sell very well. From what I've heard, two artists as talented as you and Ren should be able to pull off something great.”
As if I didn't put enough pressure on myself, now I had to worry about letting down Ren's manager. What if our song flopped? Would she be upset that I'd wasted his time?
“We're going to show Jayce how it's really done.” Ren grinned and squeezed my hand. I forced a smile. I didn't want him to know how nervous I was. “C'mon, let's go meet the guys.”
The rest of Feral Silence was in a rehearsal room sitting around and chatting. Well, their lead singer was chatting. The other two were listening to him with expressions of long-suffering patience, sprawled out comfortably on sofas and armchairs. The whole setup looked like a comfy living room, aside from the drum set and guitars everywhere. Morris was playing with a pair of drumsticks, spinning them around his fingers, flinging them up in the air and catching them, and all sorts of fancy tricks I’d expect from Feral Silence’s accomplished drummer.
“…'Cause I really think if we're going to pull it off, we'll need to be more active online, you know? Ailey can only do so much, and now that she's also working on PR and communications, she has less time for all that social stuff. I mean, we could always hire another intern, but—” Kell wiggled his eyebrows at his band members. “—we all remember what happened the last time that happened. Hey Morris, you're single. What do you think about hiring another impressionable young woman? You could use a girl in your life.”
“I'm not a cradle robber like Jayce.”
Jayce gave Morris a sardonic look. “You shut your mouth. She's only a couple years younger than Ren.”
“And he was naive and impressionable at her age.” Morris' voice was flat, but I caught a hint of amusement underneath his words.
“We managed to corrupt him pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.” Kell craned his head around to face the door and grinned, as if he knew we were standing there the whole time. “Speak of the devil.”
“If anyone's corrupt, it's you, you heathen.” Ren shook his head and laughed. “I promised I'd bring her around, so here's Ivy.”
Jayce and Morris nodded their heads in greeting, Jayce lifting a hand to wave. Morris gave me a considering stare. His impressive bulk should have made it intimidating, like he was staring me down. I almost wanted to shrink back, but then the corner of one lip tilted up slightly and I relaxed.
“I hear you and Ren are going to try and one-up my acoustic songs.” Jayce threw a smirk my way. “Good luck.”
“It'll be skill, not luck.” Ren shot back.
Kell got up from his spot on the sofa and stalked over with a wicked grin. “Ah, yes. The infamous Ivy.” He scanned me up and down, deep blue eyes oddly piercing when combined with such an impish smile. I felt strangely exposed by that gaze, like he was staring at me with x-ray vision, examining me all the way down to my bones. It sent a shiver down my spine, and not in a good way. “Ren's told us surprisingly little about you, considering how much he talks about you.” He reached out and tugged on a strand of my hair.
Ren punched Kell on the shoulder. “Quit it. I'm just showing Ivy around before we get to work.”
“Ren's skipping out on us to do this side project, you know.” Kell's hands were in his pockets, deceptively casual, and his voice was easygoing, but I sensed a weight behind his words. “He never misses rehearsal.”
“Unlike a certain someone who thinks the world revolves around him,” Morris drawled.
