Page 59 of Hard Rock Temptation
“Chris, what do you think?” Finn asked, turning to our rhythm guitarist.
Chris raised both hands and shook his head.
“I don’t want to get in the middle of this,” he said. “It’s not my place to butt in.”
Chris was a pretty chill guy, so he usually stayed quiet during band discussions, preferring to let the rest of us hash things out.
“You’re a member of this band, too,” I said. “We need your opinion.”
His expression turned surprised, before a pleased smile tugged at the corner of his lips, despite the tension in the room.
“Well…” Chris hesitated, looking thoughtful. ”Is it letting the fans down to show them a different side of ourselves?” he said. “I think it’s more about us opening up to them, by showing them our true selves, by showing them our growth.”
He’d said it wasn’t his place to butt in, but he clearly had his own thoughts. I wondered why he hadn’t spoken up without being prompted.
“We can debate about what the fans do and don’t want all day,” Micah cut in. “But in the end, it’s the label who makes the decision whether to release and promote this next album or not.” Micah gave us each a pointed stare. “That’swho we need to please first. The label, not the fans.”
A spark of indignation lit up in my chest, but Zain spoke up before I could.
“Micah, seriously?” he snorted loudly. “You sound like such a sell-out right now.”
I winced. There was a sharp inhale from Anya. Finn blew out a surprised huff. Chris’s expression turned unreadable. Micah’s eyes went wide and his jaw clenched.
“Selling out?” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m doing what’s best for the band. You want this album to actually be released, right?”
“Of course I do—” Zain began.
“Then this conversation is over,” Micah said. “Because we all know what the right thing to do is.”
“No, we don’t,” I said.
Micah whipped around to look at me, stunned.
“We don’t know for sure what the label will think.” I stood up from my stool. “We don’t know for sure how they’ll react.” I picked up a drumstick and pointed it at Micah. “We haven’t even tried.”
“You don’t know them like I do,” Micah insisted.
“That’s because you’re the only one who talks to them!” Zain argued. “Whenever it’s time to talk to the suits, you’re always the one who takes point. You’re always the one making the decisions. We never get a say.”
“I do it to protect you guys!” Micah protested. “Those ‘suits’ are a bunch of assholes, we don’t all need to be on the receiving end of their bullshit.”
“So you’re taking one for the team, is that it?” Zain said snidely.
“Shut up, Zain,” Finn snapped. “You don’t want to talk to the execs at the label any more than I do. You’re just getting upset for the sake of being upset.”
“And why aren’tyouupset about all this?” Zain rounded on Finn. “Before you met Corinna, you would have been the first one to want to try something new, but now?—”
“How thefuckis my girlfriend relevant to this conversation?” Finn said, outraged.
“Because now you’re all okay with playing it safe,” Zain fumed. “That’s not who you are.”
“Fuck you man, you have no idea who I am,” Finn snapped.
“Apparently I don’t,” Zain retorted. “Not anymore.”
Finn looked like someone had slapped him across the face.
“Finn’s right, Zain,” Anya said, and that surprised me even more than Chris. Anya avoided confrontation at all costs. “You’re upset. This isn’t even about the music anymore, this is you being defiant.”
