Chapter 3
Chapter three
Drake - Miami
We were in Miami for a few weeks to check out places to stay and sign the final contracts.
Donny had sent them over for us to look at.
I liked our terms. It was incredibly generous, but not so much that I felt like we were taking advantage.
For some reason, Jinx and his boys wanted to give us the whole fucking world, but if they didn’t get anything out of it but expenses, it wasn’t going to work long term.
I agreed to a two-year deal with options to extend and renegotiate.
But we needed to actually be in Miami before we started recording.
Jinx and Miami met us at a nice little Mexican restaurant. We ate like pigs, but otherwise, we were on our best behavior. After dinner, we passed the paper around and signed it.
“Shots, shots, shots!” Finn looked around at all of our straight faces. “Surely, they serve tequila here? This is a celebration, right?”
Gonzo rubbed his hands over his face, and I refrained from rolling my eyes, barely. Tank snorted. I held up my index finger. “One shot.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Finn mocked. I flipped him off in response, and we ordered a shot. Jinx and Miami joined in. They were good sports, and we all fell into ribbing Jinx about how wasted he got when they’d visited us in Vegas the first time. Then the fun we had at the club show where Matty worked.
“Speaking of Matty, how is he?” Jinx asked.
“Good. Works a lot.” I hadn’t called him before we left for Miami, and it’d pissed him off. We still hadn’t agreed to an exclusive relationship, but I knew damn well he wasn’t fucking around with anyone else. Admittedly, neither was I.
“Does he like working there?” Miami’s concern was unexpected.
“No, but he loves dancing, and they let him.”
Finn grabbed another chip. “He dominates the pole, dude.” Then shoved the chip in his mouth.
That wasn’t wrong, but I knew it also bothered him, though he didn’t talk much about it. He’d been destined for much greater things. A real dance career on a big stage like the ones we were about to be performing on. Which was one more thing bothering me. Would he come to resent me?
“Anyway…” Jinx called for the check. “It’s time for us to get going.
Miriam will meet you in the hotel lobby at ten to talk about places she’s found.
Pick what works best for you. I mean it.
” He scowled at me, probably knowing I was the hardest sell.
We needed something that would work, but it needed to be at least reasonably affordable.
I wasn’t taking advantage of their generosity.
We all called it a night, since the meeting was early. For us, anyway. And I wanted to call Matty. If we figured this out, maybe I could have him come out. Midnight Hunt and Bramble Punk were finished with their tour, so perhaps we could have a playdate.
Miriam was nice and took us around to check out nearly a dozen houses, two of which were huge. Afterward, we met in the hotel lobby to discuss them.
“What are we doing?” I dropped the listings on the coffee table. “We have individual houses, which aren’t terrible and reasonably priced, but getting four of them is a lot.”
“We could split up two and two.” Tank flipped through, pulling out a couple of the bigger houses with three rooms and two baths. “I like this one.” He handed me a four-bedroom that had two en-suites.
“That’s still a lot.” It was nearly a million dollars. I handed the listing to Finn.
He tossed it back on the table. “All of these are way better than I’d thought.”
Tank grunted. “Way more expensive, too.”
“We could get one of these.” I shuffled through the papers until I found the two giant places.
One was listed at just under a million, but the other was in the upper eight hundreds.
It was gorgeous, and I remembered loving the kitchen when we walked through it.
It would probably go for a lot more than that price, but it could work for us.
“If we picked one of these and all stayed there, it would be less expensive than buying two for nearly as much.”
“The cheaper one.” Finn tapped the top of the paper.
“Either. Let’s just pick.” Tank growled.
Gonzo shrugged. “As long as I have space.”
“There’s plenty of space in this one.” It was two stories with everything basically on the ground floor, while a huge open living room area dominated the second floor. It also came with a pool. While in Miami, swim with the Miamians. Was that a word? “I’ll call Mirriam.”
Everyone agreed and then took off. We still had nearly a week left to play around and see the sights. And I immediately wanted to see Matty in a skimpy bathing suit strutting down South Beach.
We were set to start recording in September, now that everything was finalized with the contracts. And if we could lock up this place, everything would be perfect.
Except Matty.
Mirriam agreed to contact Jinx and put in an offer, and I went upstairs to call my boy.
“Daddy!” he answered right away.
“Do you have to work tonight?”
“Yeah, but I have time to talk. How’s it going out there?” He sounded a lot less angry than he had earlier, so I ran with it.
“Locked up contracts. Looks like we have a place to live. They’re putting in an offer on the place.”
“Fuuck!”
“Language.”
“Sorry, Daddy. I just still can’t believe they’re buying you guys houses.”
“We decided not to get individual houses. We’re going to share one.”
Matty huffed, “No way. That’s ridiculous. You’re all going to be so sick of each other.”
“Nah, this house is more like a McMansion. It’s huge. And it’s super nice. Can’t wait for you to see it.”
There was silence. Had I overstepped? Did he want to be here with me?
“Uh…will I? See it, I mean?”
“Fuck yeah.” Before I could say anything else, a text popped up. “Hang on, baby-boy. Jinx is texting me.”
“Matty, want to come out now? Can you get off work?”
“Yes. Yes.”
“Hold on.”
So much for not taking advantage. This wasn’t anything that was covered in the contract.
When I told Matty, he squealed and got off the phone so he could call work and take off.
I was torn on this. I wanted him with me, but I didn’t think he’d be able to live with us all in one house.
What would the guys think? And hell, we hadn’t even made it official.
Maybe it was time for that, but I was so unsure.