Chapter 36 Micah
THIRTY-SIX
MICAH
“Zain, can you please put your phone on silent?” Anya begged. “All those dings are driving me crazy.”
“I can’t help it if the fans are going crazy tagging us in their posts,” Zain said, a smug look on his face. Then he shrugged. “Besides, it’s a good thing, yeah? It means people are raving about us.”
“I guess if people are talking about us, it keeps the label happy at least,” Anya conceded with a sigh.
“If that’s all the label’s looking for, I can get us as much attention as they could possibly want,” Finn spoke up with a snicker.
“NO,” we all shouted. We’d all just come from a meeting with some of the execs at the label, a meeting that had gone surprisingly well, all things considered, and we didn’t need Finn getting any ideas.
“I was kinda looking forward to going indie,” Finn said, unfazed as he stretched his arms lazily over his head. “Finally get the label off my back.”
“I thought you were a reformed man,” I said.
“Doesn’t mean I want a bunch of suits breathing down my neck until I die,” he retorted.
“Those suits are the ones who agreed to release our album,” I pointed out. “They’re the ones sending us limos to drive us back home.” I jutted my chin to the shiny black vehicle waiting outside the building. “We should be grateful to them.”
“Grateful to them?” Finn scoffed. “We’re the ones making them a fuck ton of money, they should be down on their knees and thanking us.”
“The fans are the ones making this album a success,” Anya countered. “We owe everything to them.”
“If only they would show their love and appreciation in a slightly less obsessive way,” Chris said ruefully. “It’s kind of a lot to deal with.”
“Fame and fortune, my friend,” Kaylee said, attempting to sling her arm around his broad shoulders, and failing due to the vast difference in height. “One usually comes with the other.”
“I suppose it’s too late to pull off the ‘reclusive, secretive artiste’ thing, huh?” Chris joked with a chuckle.
“Our faces have been plastered on every magazine, we’re all over social media, and we’ve been on every talk show,” I replied. “Can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
Everyone groaned.
“Stoooop with the clichés,” Finn moaned.
“I don’t know, I’m kind of growing fond of them,” Kaylee said with a cheeky grin. “I’ve learned to accept my loved one’s foibles and flaws.”
“What, you’re not the ‘I can fix him’ type?” Zain jumped in with a snort and a laugh.
“There’s nothing to fix,” Kaylee said, looking up at me with adoring eyes, the kind that made me want to squeeze her to my chest, and also rip off all her clothes. Speaking of clothes…
“Hey Kaylee,” Anya said in a light, breezy tone. A suspiciously light and breezy tone. “Isn’t that Micah’s old t-shirt you’re wearing?” she continued loudly, drawing the attention of the group. “It was all worn out, wasn’t it? Seems like you’ve found a use for it.”
Kaylee’s cheeks turned pink, but she lifted her chin smugly.
“Thank you for noticing, Anya,” she said, just as loudly. “Yes, I took that ratty old thing and made this minidress. Cute, right?” She did a little spin, showing off her new outfit.
“Super cute,” Anya replied. “Boys, don’t you think Kaylee’s new dress is cute?”
Zain, Finn and Chris got that deer-in-the-headlights look.
“Uh. Yeah?” Zain said, sounding hesitant. Then he lowered his voice and tilted his head toward me. “I’m allowed to comment on your girl’s appearance, right? You won’t kill me, right?”
“She’s her own person,” I reminded him. “I don’t own her. But if you perv on Kay, I will end you,” I added.
“You made it yourself, yeah?” Chris interjected. “That’s pretty cool.” His look of pride was the same look I knew I had on my face. Good. The others should recognize her many talents just as much as I did.
Kaylee beamed, expression glowing. Then her gaze shifted to the distance, and her smile dipped. I turned my head to the direction she was staring at and saw a familiar car turning into the parking lot.
“Here she comes,” Kay said with a quiet sigh. She took my hand in hers and turned to the others. “Do you guys mind going on ahead? Micah and I need some time alone.”
Finn got a mischievous look on his face as he opened his mouth, no doubt about to make some sort of innuendo or comment about what we were going to get up to alone together. Anya covered his face with her palm and gave him a little push backwards.
“Sure thing,” Anya said. “We’ll see you back at the mansion later.
” She hooked her arms in the crook of Finn and Zain’s elbows and dragged them into the waiting limo.
Chris followed easily, folding his large body into an empty seat with a knowing smile aimed at the two of us, and then they were off.
“Are you ready?” I murmured to Kay as we watched her mom step out of her car, close the door with a slam, and stomp over.
Kay paused, giving herself time to think over the question instead of giving me an automatic answer.
“Yes,” she finally said. “I’m ready.” She straightened her back, her shoulders squaring. “I can do this,” she continued, voice steady. In fact, from her furrowed brow I could tell she was working herself up, steeling herself for a fight.
“You’ve been a hard one to track down,” Susan snarked as she approached, looking directly at Kaylee and ignoring me completely, not even throwing a dirty look my way.
“What, have you been staking out the building or something?” Kay said, equally snarky, and not a little impatiently. “I thought you would have gotten the hint. I told you, I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear from you. I want you out of my life, for good.”
I’d known Kay had told her mother off before, but seeing it myself brought me more joy than was probably reasonable. After all the years of watching Kay just accept her mother’s awful behavior toward her, it was a relief and a pleasure to watch this confrontation.
“I thought you knew better than that,” her mom said in an angry huff. “Don’t forget, I know what you did.”
“If you were going to tell anyone, you would have done it before now,” Kay threw back at her mother as she narrowed her eyes. “But you don’t want to lose your cash cow, isn’t that right?”
Her mother’s face twisted in ire.
“But unfortunately for you, I’ve solved that little problem,” Kay said confidently. “You can’t threaten me anymore.”
“So you don’t care if I tell your company that you forged my signature?” her mom scoffed. “You don’t care if you lose that contract of yours?”
“You mean this contract?” Kay said sweetly, pulling up a digital file on her phone and showing her mom. “This contract right here that has my own name on it?”
Now it was Susan’s turn to narrow her eyes, squinting at the tiny words on the glowing screen.
“You see, after our songs leaked and the public loved it, we had a lot of leverage with the label,” Kay continued, a triumphant note rising in her voice with every word.
“We told them we wanted to renegotiate our contract. With the whole world clamoring for our new album, they were under a lot of pressure to get things moving, so they agreed. A new contract means new signatures,” she added.
“And now that I’m nineteen, I signed for myself. ”
The sour, pinched expression on Susan’s face was delicious.
“You’ve got nothing on me now,” Kay said with a note of finality. “In fact, I’m the one who has something on you. All those messages you sent? I’ve got more than enough evidence to get you charged with harassment, and even blackmail.”
Susan’s indignant expression soon morphed into fury, the anger evident in the rising red flush on her cheeks.
“I suggest you get into your car, drive away, and never bother me again,” Kay said firmly. “Or else I’ll be the one ruining your life, not the other way around.”
“You little bitch,” Susan hissed, clutching her designer bag in her fists. “You think I care about your threats?”
“You should have been a little more careful,” Kay replied with an imperious tilt of her chin, clearly enjoying every word she was saying.
“You told me, out loud, over voicemail, that if I didn’t give you money you would ruin my life.
That was a dumb move. I saved those calls. It’s proof of your blackmail.”
Susan’s fists shook and she made a move to lunge forward. I stepped in front of Kay, facing off against her mother. Susan’s rage-filled eyes met mine, the first time she had acknowledged my presence.
“I suggest you do exactly what Kay said,” I told Susan. “Get into that car, drive away, and stay out of our lives for good.”
The wrath on Susan’s face might have been worrying, before, but now that Kay had her cornered, there was nothing she could do.
“You’ve always been a whining little brat,” Susan seethed.
“And all that whining has made me a lot of money,” Kay agreed. “Money that you will never see again,” she added with a sickly sweet smile.
Susan’s expression twisted as she opened her mouth one last time, but she knew there was nothing she could do. With a scathing look, she yanked open her car door and threw herself into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind her.
Kay waited until she peeled out of the parking lot with screeching tires before speaking.
“Thank you for letting me handle this,” she said. “You’re a shit liar. You might have given away my plan.”
“I enjoyed watching you tell off your mom,” I said. “I didn’t want to interrupt such an entertaining sight. But a new contract?” I added, shaking my head with a laugh. “I don’t know what document you showed her on your phone, but you know it doesn’t happen as easily as that.”
“I know,” Kay said. “It was a Word doc from the label outlining our marketing plan. Because I kept her at such arm’s length, she has no idea how the industry works. I showed her some jargon, that’s all.”
“And she fell for it…” I started.
“…hook, line and sinker,” Kay finished with a smirk.
I let out a whistle, making my eyes go comically wide.
“A cliché, from the mouth of Kaylee Richter?” I said. “I must be a bad influence.”
She fell into peals of laughter, eyes tearing up with mirth. Then the laughter changed, her breath beginning to hitch. Her eyes continued tearing up until they fell down her pink cheeks.
I immediately took her into my arms, holding her to me. She let out a shuddering breath. I started running my fingers through her curls soothingly.
“It’s okay,” I whispered into her ear. “You’re okay.”
She sniffled and rubbed her face against my chest, as if being pressed against each other wasn’t enough, as if she wanted to get even closer, skin to skin.
“I’m okay,” she repeated.
Kaylee looked up at me, green eyes shining, red-rimmed but tears beginning to dry. Her smile wavered, but it was a smile of relief, of delight. When she spoke again, the satisfaction in her voice, the triumph, made my own eyes sting.
“I’m finally okay.”