Chapter 19
July
The message box popped up on my laptop, drawing my attention from scouring online message boards. I was doing some research for an article James had assigned me on how the pandemic was affecting the indie music scene.
James M
Hey, you used to work for Pisces Recording studios, right?
Sunlight poured in through my window, not yet high enough to shine across my laptop, open on my desk.
The sudden question broke through my concentration, throwing me back more than eight months to when I’d been employed by Pisces.
I rapidly blinked to clear the memories, bringing myself back into the present.
I replied, typing quickly.
Kaiya T
Yes. Why?
His response was a link to a tabloid article.
Resident hit-maker Trevor Kyle formally ends contract with industry behemoth, Pisces.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, briefly scanning the article. It didn’t go into a lot of detail. The majority of it was emphasising the years-long relationship with the studio, the vast number of big-name artists he’d worked with, and the record-breaking tracks he was credited for.
What it did linger over, however, was that the studio had broken ties with him in March, so why was this information only coming to light now, in July? More importantly, it asked the question: where was he now?
James M
Perhaps this is something we can look into? Can I leave it with you?
I laughed, nervously before I hit ‘reply’.
Kaiya T
Investigative journalism is a bit out of my wheelhouse.
James M
It was a joke, kid. I’ll put it in a throwaway. Our readers don’t give a shit about what goes on behind the curtain.
I breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back in my chair.
Becka and I had spoken about TK a handful of times since he’d been formally removed from Pisces in March. Honestly, he’d sort of slipped from my mind, because good riddance.
Becka was still adamant he hadn’t leaked the footage of Jihoon and I, reasoning very simply: why would he have done it? As much as I hated to admit it, I had come to agree. He had turned the cameras on, but that was very different from taking the footage and doing anything with it.
It was a universally agreed upon fact that that Trevor ‘Grabby Hands’ Kyle was a grade-A asshole, but he wasn’t a stupid asshole. Leaking the footage outside of Pisces would have had zero benefit for him.
He’d had his ‘gotcha’ moment. He’d filmed us, cost me my job, and effectively chased me out of the country.
But that begged the question: If it wasn’t TK who’d leaked the footage, who had?
I sent a message to Becka, forwarding her the link, but I didn’t hear back from her for hours, not until I was settling down for the evening.
I decided to video call her, knowing that she’d already be at her desk from where she worked from home.
“Hey babes!”
Becka waved at me, looking as put together at her small desk in the living room, as she did in the Pisces admin office. But I knew she was probably hiding her pyjamas and fluffy slippers under the desk.
“Hey, are you busy?” I asked, checking the clock widget on my desktop to see it was only noon in LA.
Becka snorted. “There’s only so many times I can repost memes during the work day, so, no. Not busy..”
I grimaced. Becka was the social media manager for Pisces, which usually involved managing the image of the studio, but she also doubled up in the admin team as client relations.
Since the studio was currently unable to operate due to covid restrictions, there were no clients to manage relations for, which meant no updates to provide on social media. Becka did not handle being idle well.
“At least you still have a job,” I said, giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up.
She returned the gesture with her middle finger.
“What’s up, Ky?” Becka sighed.
“Doesn’t it strike you as weird that it’s only now public knowledge that TK left Pisces?”
“That’s not the weirdest thing that’s happened this week.
” Becka massaged the space between her brows, suddenly looking for all the world like she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in days.
“We were all called into a meeting on Monday,” she said, and huffed out a laugh.
“Most awkward conference call I’ve ever witnessed.
Fenway looked like he was chewing glass the whole time,” she said, referring to the chief operating officer.
He was also the man who had tried to fire me, and would have succeeded, had my manager not been able to talk him down.
“What happened?” I leaned closer to my phone.
Becka shook her head. “I swear, I have no idea, but we were all told that if anyone contacted the studio about him, all we’re allowed to say is that Pisces formally severed ties with him in March. Nothing else.”
“Whoa,” I breathed.
“It gets weirder,” Becka scoffed, leaning closer to the screen and lowering her voice. “He specifically told us that if anyone asked anything other than what our relationship to him is, to say ‘no comment’, no matter what the question is.”
My eyebrows flew up. “What sort of questions is he expecting, and who’s ‘anyone’?”
Becka shrugged. “I truly do not know. But wait, there’s more.”
“No way!”
“Yes, way. Mid-way through the meeting, Celine started crying.”
I felt my whole face screw up as I said, “What, why?” Celine was head of Bookings, but was broadly thought of as the head of the admin team. She had also been with Trevor Kyle that day he’d busted in on me and Jihoon.
Huh. That was an angle I’d never considered before.
“Becka, was Celine… y’know, with TK?”
Becka sighed. “What?”
“Celine? With TK?”
“No, I don’t know where he is, but she’s still here, why?” Becka frowned at me, not catching my meaning.
“No, I don’t mean geographically, jeez. I mean, were they… an item?”
Becka choked on an inhale, coughing and spluttering for a few moments before finally wheezing out, “What? No! I mean, maybe she wanted to be, she was always complimenting him. But no, I am one hundred percent sure they were not sleeping with each other.”
“You sound very certain. How could you know for sure?”
Becka rolled her eyes.
“For one,” she ticked off on her finger, “she is about ten years older than his preference.”
“Ew.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Agreed. Secondly… no, on reflection, the first point is enough.”
We shared a laugh at his expense.
“Okay, fine, so why was she crying?” I asked, bringing us back on track.
“Honestly babes, I have no good, goddamn idea and I kind of don’t care what her current problem is.”
“Wow, say how you feel, Becka, don’t hold it in.”
“I’m so serious, Ky. She has been making my life harder for weeks.
The amount of work she’s pushed off on me is unreal.
I don’t know what her problem is, but I need her to deal with it.
Ah shit, I’m getting another call. Look, I’ll see what I can dig up about TK, maybe Celine, because something is going on and I’m mad, and it’s either do something productive, or die mad about it. Speak soon, babes!”
“Oka-”
She was gone before I could even finish the word.
I sighed, flopping backwards onto my bed to stare up at the ceiling. What on earth was going on? Something must have occurred for Pisces to be issuing ‘no comment’ responses regarding TK, something they didn’t want to be associated with. Something I’d bet money on Celine knowing.
I blew out a breath and dragged a hand down my face. I was so ready for the Trevor Kyle portion of my life to be over. I was moving forward, so why did it seem like the past kept trying to drag me back?