Chapter 11 Keeley #2
Still, I’m going to stay professional when I see her at dinner tonight, because it’s not like I’m going to put Jane on the spot in front of the rest of the band.
After dinner, though, all bets are off. Maybe I can ask if she wants to go get a drink, or dessert, or skip all the pleasantries and come back to my place for more than just TV and chill…
No. With Jane, that doesn’t feel right. Of course I’d be thrilled to be with her like that, but our relationship is too important for it to be just sex. No, with her I’ll take it slow, even if I want to go full speed ahead.
If I come on too strong, it could ruin everything.
I got dangerously close to finding out if that was true last night.
So I decide I’ll be the consummate professional.
I even grab an oversized blazer to throw over my vintage Levi’s and striped crop top, pairing it all with white Jordans and a fresh coat of my lucky aquamarine nail polish before I head out the door.
Blessedly, traffic is light, and I get there a good half hour before we’re supposed to meet.
We’re gathering at a trendy restaurant, an old-Hollywood tribute place that used to attract climbers until Valerie was seen here with her piece-of-trash ex Theo last year.
The buzz from his big fantasy movie and the general cacophony surrounding her love life was enough to get the place photographed, and now it has a wait list as long as any other hot spot in this city.
I never understood the whole crooner thing, but even I can admit Sinatra had pipes. “Fly Me to the Moon” plays over the loudspeakers, and there’s a jazz band setting up over on the stage. It’s definitely a vibe.
It’s a strange place for a working dinner, but we’ve had stranger.
When we first got into the industry, Wade knew we were on a tight budget, so he turned as many meetings as possible into meals someone could write off for tax purposes.
The tradition stuck, and now nearly every Glitter Bats business decision is made over food, whether one of us chooses to cook or we go out.
I catch a whiff of something warm and buttery, and I decide this was a good pick on Wade’s part. The ma?tre d’ leads me through the glamorous dining area to a private room reserved just for us.
But I’m not the first person to show. Jane is sitting alone with a glass of white wine, the menu forgotten on the table while she scrolls on her phone.
She’s dressed in one of those tantalizingly short Stevie Nicks–esque minidresses she loves, this one in a green cotton that makes her hair glow copper in the contrast. Her curls are down, for once, soft and flowing past her shoulders.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi!” she says, and it’s almost a little too perky.
I bite my lip. “Thanks for the cookies.”
She ducks her head shyly. “Of course. It’s the least I could do, given how much you’ve saved my butt recently.”
I laugh and change the subject to keep my mind from lingering on her butt for much longer. “So…how’s the house?” I ask.
She grimaces. “It’s cleaned up, but I’m starting to determine what to replace.
Once I got back, I spent the afternoon trying to figure out which plants I can salvage.
Most of them seem like they’ll bounce back, but I’m afraid a few are lost causes.
And, well…my music room is ruined. A lot of the Glitter Bats stuff is framed, so it should be okay…
” Her face falls. “But my Korg was down there, and it wasn’t in a case. ”
Jane played the same Korg keyboard at every Glitter Bats show.
Instruments, even electric ones, can last for decades if you take care of them properly.
Jane takes so much care she should be studied.
I can tell by the shadow in her gaze that she’s feeling guilt about all of this.
Still, this wasn’t her fault. “Is insurance taking care of it?”
She nods, folding her shaking hands together on top of the table. “Yeah, but it was sentimental, you know? They don’t make that model of my keyboard anymore, and I know I’ll be able to track one down if I look long enough, but I can’t believe it’s gone.”
I reach my hand across the table to place it on hers. “I’m sorry, Jane,” I say.
Our gazes lock. “Keeley, I—”
“Hello, friends!” Riker’s voice announces him before he fully enters the room, and we snatch our hands away in unison. He pokes his grinning face inside once the server opens the door, and Wade follows, with Valerie and Caleb slipping in after.
“Whatcha talking about?” Riker asks, his light brown hair pulled back in a bun that rivals every hipster in the valley.
He glances from Jane to me, no doubt seeing the flush on my cheeks.
“Jane’s poor house.”
Riker frowns, moving over to give Jane a tight squeeze, whispering something in her ear. My jaw tightens at the soft smile she flashes at him. Maybe I was wrong.
Maybe this was all in my head. Riker is, well, Riker Maddox. He’s charming and kind and whoever he ends up partnering with—if he decides he wants that—is going to be super lucky. If I were Jane, I’d pick him over me any day.
Resigned, I grab a menu as the small talk starts up.
When our server stops in to get drink orders, I ask for a whiskey sour and hide myself behind the heavy menu.
After the drink orders arrive, Wade clears his throat and folds his hands on the table.
Today, like all days, he’s wearing one of his trademark suits—this one in a fun, brighter-than-navy blue pinstripe.
The rest of us are more casual in comparison, but that’s just Wade.
After he quit playing major league ball, he transitioned to talent management, and he said he started with suits so everyone would take him seriously.
Now I just think he wears them because his wife, Michelle, loves them. But who am I to judge?
“I have some news about your back catalog,” Wade says. “I didn’t want to send this over text or email, just in case anything could leak. I know none of you would share the information, but with the recent hacks of Holly Harper’s cloud storage, we’re taking extra precautions with sensitive details.”
Valerie’s jaw drops as she bolts upright in the lavish dining chair. “Is it really that serious?” She’s had her fair share of private information sold to the media, so I know her phone and computer are locked down to an almost governmental degree.
It’s not like the rest of us are careless either. Caleb grabs Valerie’s hand, threading their fingers together. Valerie sags a little, but her eyes don’t leave Wade.
He nods. “Label is officially opening up negotiations about purchasing your masters.”
It’s the news we’ve been waiting for, but my shoulders rise. After Landon’s power trip the other day, something isn’t right about this. There’s no way he just changed his mind out of generosity.
But determination flashes in Riker’s eyes. “That’s good, right? We can pool our money together and get our music back.”
Caleb’s face tightens. “Hang on, we haven’t talked numbers yet.
” He’s always struggled with money in a way the rest of us never had to think about because of his family situation.
We still get a few royalty checks, but we’re not seeing the returns we should thanks to that impressively shady language Valerie’s mom slipped into our contract.
Caleb’s teaching just part-time now that he’s down in California, and I know it makes him happy, but it doesn’t bring in the same kind of money the rest of us get from working in the industry.
The contrast certainly can’t help his financial anxiety or trauma, that’s for sure.
“Caleb’s on the right track. There’s at least one other interested party, and Label is proposing an auction. They want to know our best and highest bid,” Wade says.
And there it fucking is.
Is one of Landon’s buddies trying to break into the industry, and so he thinks he can just sell our entire catalog to them? It’s got to be something like that. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.
Fuck it. It doesn’t matter. I’m not about to go down without a fight. We all glance around at one another, and I try not to think about my earlier conversation with my parents, my fear that we’re playing a rigged game.
There’s so much at stake. We’re so close to getting our music back, but I wish we had more time to figure out what we can afford.
What if we bid too low and lose?
“So what do we do? How do we come up with a number?” I ask.
Wade folds his hands, a resigned look passing over his face. “I’ve been in touch with your accountant, and he gave me the exact figure in your band account. It’s not nearly enough to bring to the table. That being said, how you move forward is up to you.”
“Hell, I can put up some personal cash,” Riker says. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”
Caleb and Valerie exchange a glance. “We can come up with a number to contribute,” Valerie says hesitantly, and Caleb just nods, jaw twitching.
“I can add to the pot,” I say. Despite my mom’s misgivings about my financial situation, I’m more than solid.
I hired a badass financial advisor after I got my second Glitter Bats check, and I’ve been having him manage my funds ever since.
Even with my monthly expenses, I can contribute a big chunk of my savings and investments for this fight.
“I have some money set aside I could move for this,” Jane says softly, but her expression doesn’t betray more.
Wade nods, glancing around at each of us with a determined expression. “Okay, well, would you rather all just say out loud how much you’re willing to put up, or would you prefer to do it privately?”
“Out loud,” Riker and I say in unison, just as Jane and Caleb answer, “Privately.”
Riker laughs. Jane and I exchange a smile. Caleb clears his throat, and I don’t miss Valerie squeezing his hand under the table. She was noticeably quiet just now.
Wade nods. “Privately then. Why don’t you all text me the amounts, and we’ll get to eating. I’ll send the total to our contracts department so they can draw up an initial offer. They’ll put in overtime tonight to get this on the table first thing tomorrow.”
“And then we wait,” Valerie says, staring at her hand intertwined with Caleb’s.
“And then we wait,” Wade agrees. We all fire off our texts, and Wade sends an email as the server comes in to get our dinner orders. Soon enough, we’re laughing again.
Wade steps out to make a call.
Riker stands, raising his glass of rosé, which has become a bit of a Glitter Bats joke, but I think he genuinely likes his juice.
“So we’ve got solid dates for the band retreat, and it’s not going to cost us much.
I think the best thing we can do now is focus on what we can control, and that’s making new music…
eventually, I know,” he says before anyone can protest. “I say we move forward with this retreat to distract us from the fight for our masters, and keep hoping for the best when it comes to that. We’d just have to travel there. ”
“I can cover that,” Jane says. “I have a ton of air miles because I never pay for my own flights for work, so it wouldn’t cost us anything to get there. I could use a break.”
I wink at her. “I might have to get you to try horseback riding, if we’re in Montana,” I say.
She flushes, but her voice is light and breezy. “I just might let you convince me, to get in the spirit of things.”
My neck warms, and I glance away, my gaze bouncing across the table to Valerie. She’s smirking at me.
Don’t say it, I mouth at her.
I didn’t say anything, Valerie mouths back.
“I have a four-day weekend for staff training I can get out of, so if we can still make it happen in two weeks, I’m in,” Caleb says.
“Yeah, at least we can all cry together if we don’t get the contract,” Valerie says sarcastically. “But I’m in. I like horses.”
“Yes!” Riker says. “Now, if we lose our masters, at least we get a fun trip.”
It doesn’t feel as lighthearted as Riker’s tone implies, but I guess we can only hope it’s a celebration and not a wake. And four days in the Montana wilderness with Jane, well…at least we’ll have the buffer of the rest of the band.