Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Cynda…
Rod Dixon was an asshole, or maybe it’s all agents?
I wonder if they give them asshole cards when they got their first job.
Hiding my grin I pushed my hair behind my ears and rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans.
I can’t believe I actually got this job—writing songs for Raining Chaos.
Holy shit. Their first album was huge, and finding out Mr. Warner wanted me to help them with the second one was a big surprise.
He’d said Chaos wasn’t getting ‘it’ this time and it was my job to fix it.
What could I say to that? I didn’t get it, especially after hearing the demos of the songs for the second album.
But it was a job and I had to do what I had to do.
They were leaving on tour in a couple of days so after this meeting I’d be on my own to work on the songs. At least that’s the plan, which is exactly what I wanted to happen. The further I stayed away from self-centered rockers the happier I’d be.
For the millionth time since her death, I wished mom hadn’t made me promise to try to do something with my talent.
She knew how much I resented this world, but I’d promised and I wouldn’t break it.
I could handle this for a while, right? Ugh.
What was dickman saying? Shit, he’s opening the door.
Get a grip girl, they’re only musicians.
Just a group of guys who got lucky, I don’t have to like them, only do the job.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my racing heart.
I really needed to work on this freak out thing if I was going to do this job.
I’d be meeting rock stars all the time. Raining Chaos was just another rock band, so what if every song resonated in me like Chaos was singing about my life.
I couldn’t let it or him affect me, they’re just a bunch of drugged out rockers.
“Hey, guys, I’d like you to meet Cynda Pearson. She’s the songwriter from Symmetry Records.”
I walked around Rod and into a room filled with cigarette smoke and the smell of beer, and looked into the hypnotic hazel eyes of the lead singer and songwriter for Raining Chaos—Chaos.
Oh shit. He’s even more gorgeous in person.
Seeing him this close was like a dream. I should’ve been teaching a kindergarten class right now, not standing in a rock band’s dressing room.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The grey streak in his long black hair was even sexier in person, and I wanted to run my hands through and see if it was as soft as it looked.
No one knew whether the streak was real or dyed.
He’d never answered the question, and I wondered if I’d be able to figure it out if I touched it.
My mind and my insides were fighting with each other.
I loved music, although I usually listened to classical, hating most rock music for what it had done to my mother.
Okay, maybe not the music so much, but the man.
Still, standing in front of the real life version of my fantasies for the last two years almost knocked me over.
My heart raced and I rubbed my now-sweaty palms against my jeans.
Oh God, I had it bad. I’d never been this turned on by just looking at a man.
At that moment I wasn’t sure Chaos was an ordinary man.
Hell, my inner voice was screaming to push him down on the table and climb all over him. What was wrong with me?
He was sitting at one of the tables so I couldn’t see much of his body, but what I did see was hotter than hell.
His black t-shirt strained against his shoulders and chest and I was betting he had a six-pack under there.
Realizing I was staring, my cheeks burned with heat and it was a sure sign I was red as anything.
As I slid my gaze back up to his face our eyes met.
He looked kind of surprised actually, and I wondered why.
I tried to look away but I couldn’t break my gaze.
Blushing, and trying not to puke my breakfast, I gulped down too much air and started choking.
Way to make an entrance, Cyn…good one. Michelle was going to laugh her ass off when I told her about it later.
Mr. Dickman asked me if I was okay. Shit, really.
I shook my head and took a couple of deep breaths, and thank God it helped to stop the coughing.
Of course now my voice was all rough and my cheeks must be practically glowing like Rudolph’s nose by now.
As mortifying as it was, it probably wouldn't matter anyway. I doubted they’d remember me as soon as I walked out the door, and if I was lucky, I’d never see them again except in my music on my iPad.
“Hi, I’m Cynda Pearson.” I lifted my hand to wave while trying to look professional.
Fat chance after practically hacking up a lung two minutes earlier, but hell a girl had to try.
Pushing my glasses back up my nose, I glanced around the room.
But my gaze was drawn back to him, the man of my fantasies and lonely nights with my Hitachi.
Chaos didn’t look happy, none of them did.
I guess they weren't too thrilled to see me. I didn’t blame them, it had to suck to be told your work wasn’t good enough.
A job was a job and I needed this one, besides if I didn’t do it they’d hire someone else.
A chill ran down my spine, and I shivered and was sweaty at the same time.
It was like an omen of things to come and I couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow my life was never going to be the same.
No one said a thing as Rod pushed me further into the room. A knot formed in my stomach the size of a tennis ball and I wondered again why mom thought this would be such a great job. Good thing she couldn’t see me now.
“C’mon, guys. You know how to act better than this,” Rod said as he looked around the room. All of them avoided his eyes like he had the plague except for Chaos who looked like he’d take his head off if he could get away with it. Seeing his expression made my stomach churn more.
“Yeah, right,” Chaos said and waved me over to the table where he was sitting.
I clutched my iPad like it was a life preserver.
Damn. Deep breaths, Cyn. You can handle this.
I loosened my grip and reminded myself I wasn’t some awestruck groupie.
Well maybe I was a little, but I didn’t have to act like one.
He pushed a chair out with his foot and I sat across from him.
The room was eerily quiet and I wondered what they were waiting for.
I placed the iPad on the table and clasped my hands in my lap.
I’d brought some notes I’d made for songs after hearing the demos at the record company, and hoped we’d be able to talk about them today.
From the way it was looking, it didn’t seem like it would be happening.
“Cynda? That’s your name?”
“Yes, it is, and you’re Trent right?”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, I guess he wasn’t used to hearing his ‘real’ name.
“No one calls me Trent anymore.”
“Right, okay then.” I pushed my glasses up my nose as he leaned his chair back, balancing it on two legs.
He was looking at me like I had two heads or something.
Maybe my hair was sticking straight up? Or there were black streaks of mascara running down my face?
I should have looked in the mirror before I came in here.
The tennis ball in my stomach grew a little bigger and rolled around in an acid sea.
I kind of understand why they wouldn’t be happy, I was an intruder into their little world, but they didn’t have to act like asses, especially him. Can’t he see it’s just a job for me?
“What makes you think you’re qualified to write songs for us? You don’t look like you know the first thing about pain, suffering, or love.”
Ouch. That hurt. He might as well have smacked me in the face.
At least he knocked the nervousness right out of me, and even turned on my pissed off anger bunny.
The first time my best friend, Michelle, saw me get totally pissed off she said I looked like an angry bunny.
From that day on whenever I got pissed off I became ‘anger bunny’.
I guess pissed is better than nervous. I could work with pissed.
“You don’t know anything about me and you should definitely know not to judge someone by how they look.
I know your background, about all of you.
" Their looks were priceless. One point for my side. It didn’t last long though, their shocked looks quickly reverted to ones of non-interest as their masks fell into place again.
They didn’t say a word, not one of them.
Fine. I didn’t need this crap, promise or not.
"You know what, fuck you, it doesn’t matter if you think I can write your songs, Symmetry does and that’s what matters.
” I got up so fast the chair scraped across the floor and fell over.
I didn’t need to be treated like this by anyone.
I’d had enough already. Who the hell did he think he was?
I grabbed my iPad and headed for the door.
Rod reached out and held on to my arm, stopping me from leaving.
I was about to make a snide remark when I saw he wasn’t even looking at me, instead he was having a stare down with Chaos.
“Don’t be such an ass, Chaos. You do remember the contract you signed, right?
You agreed to allow Symmetry final approval for all songs. ”
“Yeah, but only if my songs weren’t good enough and they’re fuckin’ fine. What do they know about what our fans want?”