Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Harley says the one thing that could tempt me into caving to this stupid idea. “We were like family. Even families have reunions.”
All I ever wanted was a proper family. When I did visit with Mason, his life was so … normal. He might have lost his dad at a young age, but his mom, sister, and he are the definition of close family.
I’ve told myself for years that the bond I had with Mason was pure envy over what he had. That I was somehow confusing admiration for attraction. But I can’t help acknowledging the hole his absence has left in my life and in my chest.
I long for someone who was my best friend even though I haven’t had the balls to contact him since Eleven broke up.
I can’t face him after what I did.
I turn to Harley. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I’m out. I guarantee the others will say the same.” Especially Mason.
Chapter Two
Mason
The deep voice on the other end of the line is soothing yet authoritative, and I find it hard to say no to the man who had been like a father to me for seven years. Cameron Verikas, Eleven’s manager, was the replacement dad for me after having lost mine at ten years old. It was nice having that fatherly figure in my life again after going through my teen years without one, but right now I’m remembering why overbearing parental figures can be annoying.
“Just take a meeting with Harley. It’s one meeting. What have you got to lose?”
My dignity, for one. “I don’t think you can hear me, old man. Have you got your hearing aids in?” I bite my lip to stop from laughing because I know what’s coming.
“I’m fifty-two. I don’t need no damn hearing aids.”
I’d believe his anger more if he wasn’t laughing with me. “I think you do because you clearly can’t hear when I say I’m not going back.”
I breathe in the Montana mountain air and stare out at the vast land before me. There’s a comfort in knowing that while it’s isolating and lonely out here, it’s consistent. Unlike Hollywood and everyone in it.
I remember back to when Eleven broke up, when I couldn’t wait for creative freedom and to take responsibility over my own career. I was a naïve motherfucker.
Apparently, when trying a new sound, surrounding yourself with yes people is a bad idea. Everyone on my team showered me with praise to the point I thought I was doing amazing things, and while I love the album I ended up cutting, seeing it from an industry perspective, it wasn’t a sellable record. It was all over the place with no real theme or genre.
It’s great to have a creative outlet, but I wish I’d hired a manager who could rein me in when I went too far out of the mainstream box. I wish I still had Cameron, but he made it clear when the boy band broke up that he wouldn’t pick sides.
The only person I have to blame for choosing the wrong team of people is myself, but I’m still salty about it anyway.
When everything fell to pieces, it was the first time I realized I was truly alone in the industry, which is why I came running back to Montana with my tail between my legs and why I have absolutely no interest in what Harley has to say to me now that it’s convenient for him.
“Are you going to make me shlep all the way out there again?” Cameron asks.
“Hey, you’re always welcome to visit.”
Cameron’s the only one from my old life I’ve kept in contact with over these last eighteen months since being home, and that’s only because I respect him too much not to return his calls.
He’s come out here twice already trying to convince me to come back—he even offered to be my manager again—but I can’t bring myself to make him break his promise that he wouldn’t choose between us. Why I still have that loyalty, I’m not sure, because the rest of Eleven can go fuck themselves for all I care.
Wow, maybe I’m even more bitter than I realized.
“I’m sure you’ve heard Harley is trying to get Eleven together again. I think it could be the right move for all of you.”
I’ve had a million missed calls from Harley, and all the voicemails about getting back together were deleted immediately. “I can’t go back.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Cameron says.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m done with Hollywood and music. That’s all.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Oh really. I’m not, am I?”
“Nope. Because I know you loved those guys like brothers, so to go from being that close to nothing, something happened, and I want to know what it is. Because if that’s your only roadblock, I’m going to find a way to fix it.”