Epilogue
ANGUS
We spend three wonderful days in New York, falling in love and finding our footing again before Ryleigh flies home to Minneapolis to give her two-week notice at the restaurant while I fly to Vegas for a band meeting. That’s where Sasha lives, and apparently, she’s flying us all in to talk about what’s next for us. That’s code for talking about touring with Karnal Death.
I don’t want to.
Mick doesn’t want to.
Tate is on the fence.
Jonny thinks it’s the obvious next step for us.
Sam is leaning toward doing it, but he’s always open to negotiation.
From a business perspective, I get it. It’s a great opportunity for us, so we don’t lose momentum. We’d do the gig with Nobody’s Fool on New Year’s Eve—with Kirsten instead of Lexi since she’ll probably be a week postpartum—and then meet up with Karnal Death wherever they are.
But it’s not that easy.
None of us like Callum.
Their music is more like death metal than what we play, so the audiences may not mesh.
And we’re probably a little spoiled touring with Nobody’s Fool because they always treated us as equals, even though they were the headliners.
We know it will be different with Karnal Death.
So there’s tension in the air as Sasha lays it all out for us
Casey’s here via video chat, and we all have a copy of the tentative contract in front of us.
There’s a lot of money to be made, which I know is pushing both Tate and Sam into the yes column.
Mick is still a firm no, and I don’t know where I stand anymore.
“They even caved on sharing their merch areas with us, so people don’t have to go to two separate places for each band. If they want T-shirts from both, they only have to wait in line once. That’s huge.” Sasha’s doing her best to convince us.
“And what happens when Callum inevitably says or does something stupid,” Mick asks, “and I have to beat his face in?”
“I spoke with the band’s manager, and with Dusty, and they both promise to keep Callum in check. If you don’t want to spend time with them, they can make it so that you barely cross paths. Separate tour buses, separate sound check times, separate everything.” Dusty Raine is Karnal Death’s bass player, and he’s the only guy in the band I can stand.
Mick grunts.
“Guys, we can’t make you do this,” Casey speaks up, “but I think it’s a good idea. I reached out to everyone I could think of—and no one else needs an opening act right now. I honestly don’t think flying solo is the way to go. We can put together a club tour, but you’re in a weird position where you’re too big for that but not quite big enough to headline an arena tour. This is the perfect short-term solution. And the money is excellent. More than you’d get anywhere else.”
We all look at each other.
“We need a few minutes,” Sam says quietly. “Just the band.”
“Understood. I’ll sign off and Sasha will update me when you’re done. Take care, boys.” Casey disconnects and Sasha closes the laptop before getting up.
“All right. Take whatever time you need. I’ll be down the hall.” She leaves the conference room and closes the door behind her.
Then we all look at each other.
“Karnal Death? Really?” Mick shakes his head. “This feels more like a punishment than a reward for going platinum.”
“Look at the money.” Tate points to the numbers in front of us. “That’s a huge payday for us.”
“I think it’s going to be tough to tour with them,” I say diplomatically. “Personalities, musicality, all of it. It’s not going to be fun like it was with Nobody’s Fool. And my question is, why are they being so accommodating to us? If I had to guess, I would say either there’s something going on internally within the band, or ticket sales are down.”
“So they’re using us but we’re getting the benefit,” Jonny says. “I think it’s win-win.”
My gut tells me I’m going to lose this battle, but I’m not going to pretend I’m okay with it either.
No more lies, no more secrets.
That’s my new mantra.
“I would prefer if we did a club tour,” I admit, “but if I’m outvoted, I’ll do whatever you guys want.”
“Ditto for the club tour.” Mick nods.
“Karnal Death,” Jonny says firmly. “Too much money to walk away from.”
“I have to go with Karnal Death,” Sam says quietly.
Tate sighs as we all look at him.
“I’m sorry, bro.” He looks to me. “I’m voting yes but with a qualification—if there are any hiccups, we walk away. I’m serious. Like, we put it in the contract, that if they do X, Y, or Z, we can walk. We have to come up with what those limitations are, but I think we need a way out because while I agree that the money is too good to walk away from, I also believe touring with them will be difficult.”
“I agree with that,” Sam says, nodding.
“Yeah,” Jonny nods. “That’s a fair assessment.” He looks at me. “You good with this?”
“I already told you I’d go with the vote.”
“Mick?” Jonny looks at him.
“I don’t want to, but I’m outnumbered so whatever.” He gets up. “You guys work out the details. I need a beer.”
“There’s bad blood between him and Callum,” I say as Mick leaves the room without looking back. “And if Callum continues to treat Taryn the way he has been—I think Mick’s gonna lose it.”
“Then our goal is to keep him and Callum as far away from each other as possible,” Sam says.
We talk logistics for another twenty minutes before calling Sasha back into the room.
Once everything is done, we say our goodbyes because I’m flying back to Minneapolis tonight. I don’t want to be away from Ryleigh any longer than necessary. She’s moving into my place on Sunday, so we have a lot to do between now and then.
I call her when I get to my gate at the airport.
“Hi!” She sounds breathless.
“You at work?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay. I have a few minutes. How did it go?”
“Well, it looks like we’re touring with Karnal Death starting the second week of January.”
“You okay with that?”
“I’m not thrilled, but I’ll deal with it. Mick’s the one I’m worried about. He left the meeting and headed for the airport. He wasn’t happy at all.”
“I think he has feelings for Taryn.”
“That’s obvious.”
“I talked to her yesterday and she’s really unhappy, but she evades the question when I ask why she doesn’t leave.”
“That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, a little, but I guess I’ll have time to figure it out once we’re on tour together.”
“Honestly, I don’t want to think about the tour,” I say. “I’m focused on us being together. Moving in together, starting our life, and enjoying our first holiday season as a couple.”
“Fair warning—I love the holidays. You’re going to have to keep me on a tight leash if you don’t want your house covered in Christmas decorations, top to bottom.”
“I don’t own any leashes, babe. You can decorate to your heart’s content.”
“I think I love you, Mr. Jeffries.”
“You think… or you know?”
“I knew the first time you kissed me. That’s what made it so scary.”
“You don’t ever have to be scared again, baby—I’ll always be here to take care of you.”
And I mean every word.
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