Falling Down

Chapter Twelve
Lucy
Still more than a little sore and confused from my weekend with Jesse, Monday brings new challenges. I work hard to push aside the complexity of feelings for Jesse--meaning the fact that I wish it could be more than just a weekend but I know the score. He doesn't do relationships and I've accepted that. Besides, I won't be seeing him again for--well, probably never unless we meet in some unlikely place.
Sera sighs. "Stop pouting."
"I'm not pouting. I'm nervous."
"Uh-huh."
"I am. You should be too with who Cage said was coming for the interview slash auditions."
"Are we really going to have them audition?" Jace asks.
"No, just play a couple songs with us and see if we get a good vibe. If not, then we'll jam with the next one on the list."
Jace yawns and takes a drink of coffee. "I'd die without Starbucks Americano."
"Same," I say and take a sip.
"I could go for a coffee IV on a regular daily basis. I wonder how wired a person would get from that," Sera says looking out the window.
"I think we'd be bouncing off the ceiling like Mario."
"Ha! Likely," she replies.
Frank smirks. "This is the weirdest conversation you've ever had at seven-thirty in the morning."
"Well, it's probably due to the fact that it's seven-thirty in the morning," I scold, giving Sera a pointed look.
"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't set this up."
"He's kinda your boyfriend. You should've influenced him to set this up for late morning."
"I can't control the man and he's not my boyfriend."
"I said kinda."
"Still not."
"Denial: it's not just a river in Egypt," Jace says with a grin.
"What are you grinning about manwhore in training?" Sera says with clear disgust on her face.
"What?" Jace replies, feigning innocence.
"You know what."
"Yeah, Jace," I say, my tone laced with sarcasm. "How many skanks did you screw this weekend?"
He rolls his eyes. "Whatever."
Sera looks at him with a smirk. "Interesting. He's already evading and we aren't even on tour yet."
"What's your problem?" he asks.
"No problem. I'll adjust and not give you shit about it… eventually," I try to reassure him.
He grunts and takes another sip of his coffee, looking out the car window as we head to Cage's studio.
"We really don't care, Jace. Just don't be a prick, cover your dick."
I snort. "No glove, no love!"
Sera giggles. "Don't be silly, cover your willy."
More giggles. "Don't be a chump, cover your stump."
At that one, we burst out laughing.
"What the f*ck?" Jace says, clearly exasperated. "I don't have a stump. Trust me."
"Yeah, yeah, stumpy," Sera says taunting him.
"I suit up every time."
"Good boy."
He smirks at that. "Weirdos."
Max pulls the car around the back of the building as Cage instructed and we all head inside. I don't really think we need Frank and Max to protect us inside Nichols Records but I'm not going to argue the point. Frank's been pretty insistent with all the paparazzi around lately. I sigh inwardly. We need to find a house closer to the city so we don't have such a long drive when we have appointments. I'll talk with Sera and Jace after we finish things up today.
We walk inside the gold mirrored building and I head to reception in the middle of the lobby.
"Good morning--" the woman pauses, her eyes widening.
I smile. "Good morning."
"Miss Russo, Miss Manzini, Mr. Warner. Mr. Nichols is ready for you. If you take the gold elevators up to the fourteenth level, you'll find his assistant, Marta."
"Thank you so much," I pause and look down at her name tag, "Elise. Have a lovely morning."
"You as well, Miss Russo."
We walk toward the elevators. There are three doors: black, silver, and gold. I can't help but wonder what the difference is. Weird. We step into the gold one and the doors close.
"I'm so glad Cage hires professionals," I breathe.
"Me too," Sera says.
"I wonder if it'll leak we're here," Jace ponders.
"I hope not."
Frank and Max don't look too worried about it. Truthfully, I can never be sure anymore.
The elevator doors open on the fourteenth floor and there's Marta, all ready for us. "Miss Russo. Miss Manzini. Mr. Warner. If you'll follow me, Mr. Nichols is expecting you."
The thin, dark-haired woman, dressed in a sexy but professional business suit, leads us to a conference room and Jace looks at me a little confused. "I thought we were doing studio stuff."
I shrug. "Likely we'll end up there. Mr. Meet-Me-At-The-Ass-Crack-Of-Dawn probably doesn't have the musicians coming for another hour."
Jace just grunts.
Cage greets us and we all take seats at the table.
"Was it necessary to have us here before the roosters were crowing?" I ask.
He grins. "It's really not that bad, Lucy."
"For who? I need coffee," I say as I head over to the coffee station. "Awww, you have my creamer. You're forgiven--almost."
Cage chuckles. "As long as it's almost."
"What are we doing here?" Sera asks.
"We need to discuss contracts and as your acting manager I can't advise you on these because I'm also the owner of the company."
"Lovely."
"It's not a big deal. Irene is also representing Jace, correct?"
"Mhmm."
"Good. I sent copies over to Irene and she'll have your attorney look them over."
"Oh, thank God," I whisper as I plop back into my chair. "Trying to decipher legal mumbo-jumbo is a total pain in the ass." Besides, I am not signing anything without Irene's okay.
"I just wanted to review everything with you before we head to the studio."
"Cool," Jace says opening a bottle of cola and taking a drink.
"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Nichols?" Marta asks.
"No, thank you Marta."
She nods and exits the glass doors of the conference room.
We review the contract in detail, Cage explaining all the legalese in terms we can understand. It sounds like a pretty amazing contract, actually.
There are so many perks included in the contract as well as the impressive money. This can't be normal.
"Wow, Cage. This is extremely generous. You have a lot of faith in us."
He shrugs. "If I didn't believe in you I never would have let you think otherwise. I know good talent when I hear it. I'm positive you're going to be topping charts very quickly."
"No pressure or anything," Jace says with a chuckle, running his hand through his hair.
"Absolutely there's pressure. Think of it as incentive."
"Fair enough."
"Are there any questions?"
I look to Sera and Jace who both shake their heads no.
"Looks like that's a 'no' all the way around."
"Alright then, let's head to the studio and find you some band members."
***~~~***
When we enter the studio, we're greeted by another sweet-natured but, again, efficient woman at reception. As we head back through the hallway, I spot a really hot-looking guy. His hair is brown and messy-stylish, he's lean but muscular. His jeans hug well-toned thighs and what I'm sure is a very firm ass. His black t-shirt stretches across his chest and biceps outlining some pretty impressive muscles. Oh my.
"Whoa. Who is that?" I ask Cage.
"Hussy," Jace teases.
Cage chuckles. "Let me introduce you."
"Coffee and hotties, breakfast of champions," Sera says with a snicker.
"Damian, I'd like to introduce you to the members of our newest band, the one I told you about."
"Fantastic. Welcome aboard."
"Damian Black is one of our road managers among other things. Damian, this is Lucy, Sera, and Jace of Blush."
He shakes hands with everyone and I feel a little tingle when his hand clasps mine--it's no Jesse Kingston zing. He gives me a wink and I grin, trying to fight the blush that's starting to stain my cheeks.
"Pleasure to meet you. You're interviewing?"
"We are," I nod, my hand still clasped in his, neither of us move to pull away.
"What is it that road managers do?"
His green eyes hold my gaze steadily.
"We're responsible for checking in with the venues and setting times for setting up, booking hotels, securing cars if needed--usually if we're staying more than a couple days in one city. We also take care of anything and everything that you need on the bus from the absolute necessity to the ridiculous. We also are in charge of the crew. We make sure things are set up correctly and on time as well as packed up. Last but certainly not least, we handle any transactions that are needed at the venue. Generally this is an automatic thing, but some venues prefer the old fashioned methods of payment--especially the smaller venues."
"But Damian isn't just a road manager," Cage tells me and Damian sends him a looks.
"Sounds like you're pretty important."
His grin widens and he flashes amazingly white teeth. Oh boy. "I can be very important."
Jace chuckles and I send him a glare.
"If you're done flirting with the new talent, Damian, we need to get started."
Damian just laughs. "I'm far from finished, but let's go."
"Oh, you're going with us?"
He places a hand on my lower back as we walk further down the hall.
"I am." He leans in and whispers, "I've been assigned to you."
"Oh boy," is all I can think to say and he chuckles again.
We enter a room off to the right and I let out a gasp. There he sits. The man I wasn't expecting to see ever again. My fantasy come to life. My dream come true. The best sex of my life. Jesse Kingston along with Ben, Xander, Ethan, and Kennedy.
"Well, this should be fun, huh?" Sera says.
I let out a sigh. "Fun, fun."
The guys are chatting and laughing when we enter the room but Jesse's smile fades as he notes Damian's hand on my back. I inwardly shrug. No strings. That was the deal so he has no right to be glaring at me like he is right now.
"Damian, you know the guys," Cage says.
They all murmur greetings as we all take our seats.
"What are you doing here?" I ask Jesse.
He flashes his signature half-grin. "Helping, of course."
"Of course. You didn't think to fill me in on this over the weekend?"
He shrugs. "It never came up."
"Oh, it never came up," I mumble under my breath.
"Nope, the only thing that really was up was my cock, if I remember things correctly." He, of course, says this loud enough for Damian to hear.
Sera snickers and I hiss and send her a glare. "What? It was funny."
I roll my eyes. "I think you could have mentioned it, oh, say, when we were saying our goodbyes and you let me believe I wouldn't be seeing you again anytime soon."
"I never said anything of the sort. If you assumed that, it's on you."
Ben's head is zinging back and forth between me and Jesse like he's watching a tennis match.
I sigh.
"Why are you pissed?" Jesse asks.
"I'm not pissed. I'm just… surprised."
"Obviously not in a good way," Ben says before taking a drink of his soda.
"I just wasn't expecting it, is all." After my long ridiculous girlie cry I indulged myself in last night, I started forcing myself to accept the fact I wouldn't see him again and here he is. I flip my hair over my shoulder and look at Damian who winks at me and tugs on a strand of my hair.
I swear I hear Jesse growl and when Ben starts laughing I know for sure he did. I don't look over at him. I can't. I'll get lost again. I'll long for more and I can't want that because it's something I just can't have. I want more than sex and that's all he's capable of. Without the possibility of a relationship, I can't be with him again.
I rest my elbows on the table and drop my face into my hands. Breathe, Lucy. Just breathe.
Sera rubs her hand over my back and I look at her.
"Okay?" she asks.
"Yeah," I whisper.
I note the frowns of the men across the table. Whatever. I don't have time for this now. I've got business to handle.
"We've got a few people lined up today," Cage begins just as there's a knock on the door. "And here's our first one now."
I turn to the door and my jaw drops, Sera gasps, and Jace says, "Are you f*cking with me right now?"
"Pretty sure no one's f*cking with you right now," Ethan says with a laugh, "You'd know it if they were and if you didn't, then you're doing something wrong."
"Holy shit," I murmur and elbow Sera. Her jaw is still dropped and I reach over to wipe the side of her mouth.
"What?"
"You had a little drool right there."
"Well can you blame me? That's Trace f*cking Styx."
"Hell yeah it is," Jace says, getting up and walking over to the amazing drummer. We all murmur our greetings, shake hands, do our fangirling--much to Cage's amusement, and then we get down to business.
Trace is direct and informal, telling us about why he left his last band--drugs. Their use not his--and while he enjoyed drinking and partying, he didn't want to be mixed up in that shit. Who could blame him?
"Let's go jam," Trace says.
We head into the sound room where instruments are already set up for us. Trace picks a Flyleaf song and I smirk at the challenge.
I stand facing away from the window and meeting Trace's gaze. He counts it off and Jace leads us, I add the betrayingly sweet vocals at my cue, and Sera, Jace, and Trace come in as I growl out the lyrics. Trace's eyebrows go up and he smiles as he beats the hell out of the drums.
I turn around and note Cage, Damian, the guys from Falling Down, and another guy working the boards watch with straight faces. Sheesh, hard crowd today. I close my eyes as I reach deep and just lose myself in the music.
When we're done Trace belts out, "Cage, dude, where'd you find these guys?" He fist bumps with Jace.
Cage grins. "I'll let them fill you in on that."
We all walk out of the room and into where they're all standing. Jesse's grinning.
"Crazy vocals," Ben says and smacks my ass. I yelp. My ass is seriously sore from yesterday. Jesse smirks.
I laugh. "Thanks. Seems Trace wasn't the only one being tested today."
Trace shrugs. "If I'm going to sign on with a no-name band, they better be f*cking good and I needed to see it for myself. No offense to Cage or you, X."
"None taken," Cage replies and Xander shrugs.
"Fair enough," I say. "I don't think I'd respect you very much as a musician if you didn't want to see what we were capable of."
He nods. "I'm in if you all are."
"F*cking A," Jace says and Sera and I laugh.
"Sera?" I ask.
"Oh yeah."
I nod. "Absolutely. Let's do this."
Trace grins.
Cage shakes his head. "Somehow I knew that'd be a perfect match. Good suggestion Xander."
Xander shrugs. "Only the best for our friends and that goes both ways."
"Oh Xander, I love you so much right now," I say dramatically and run and jump hug him, wrapping my legs around his waist. He's laughing so hard he nearly drops me and then he smacks my ass(the same cheek as Ben, mind you) and I squeal rubbing my ass.
Jesse smirks again and I narrow my eyes. I point my finger at him and his grin widens. "Don't do it."
He holds his hands up, palm out as if saying, "Hey, I didn't say a thing." He may not have said anything, but his smirk said enough. That man. Everyone's snickering.
"Trace, why don't you stick around and help us pick out the guitarist?"
"Legit."
Cage talks into his Bluetooth headset and tells Marta to cancel the other drummer he had scheduled for this afternoon.
Jesse walks up and slings his arm around my shoulders.
"How are you doing, Cupcake?"
"Pretty damn good. As Sera would say, Trace f*cking Styx. Unbelievable."
Jesse grins. "As I keep telling you, you guys are going to kick serious ass."
I slip my hand into the back pocket of Jesse's jeans. I really, really like his ass. "It doesn't seem real."
Sera shakes her head. "It doesn't. Joey's going to go all girlie when he finds out Trace is joining us."
"Oh my God, I never thought about that. Trace, my little brother is your biggest fan. He's going to go crazy over this."
Trace grins. "It's cool. I'm a fan of his too."
Sera groans. "Don't tell him that. His head is big enough as it is."
"True that," I say.
"I'll be honest," Trace says. "When Cage and Xander came to me and told me about your band needing a drummer then telling me who you were, I was skeptical."
I shrug. "I would be too. An actress, model, and accountant starting up a band? Yeah, there'll be plenty more jumping on that bandwagon and even more who will hate us out of sheer principle."
"F*ck 'em," Jace says.
"That should be our motto," Sera says.
"We'll work that into the logo."
I hear footsteps coming down the hallway and when I turn I want to fangirl all over the place. Sera actually does let out a fangirl squeal and the guys all laugh as Cage greets one of the best guitarists ever.
"Oh my God." I shake my head and rest my forehead against Jesse's shoulder.
"What's wrong, Luce?"
"This can't be real," I whisper. "It feels like the last week has been a dream and I've still not woken up."
Kennedy steps up and pinches my ass.
"Hey!" God damn! My ass is so freaking sore.
He shrugs. "Just letting you know you're not dreaming."
"Did you have to pinch my ass?" I say rubbing the same damn cheek.
"Yeah, I did. Everyone else is spanking it. I felt the need to touch it."
I laugh. "Perv."
"You have no idea," Kennedy wiggles his eyebrows showing us he does have a playful side. I think maybe he's finally comfortable enough to let loose?
Cage steps up. "Alright. Layla Harper, meet Blush." He introduces us individually and for a minute I wonder if Sera's going to hump Layla.
"You hooked up with them already, Styx?" Layla asks Trace.
He nods. She looks at us, probably checking us out and assessing us in her own way.
"Let's jam," Trace says.
We head into the sound room and everyone takes their spot.
"Same song?" I ask.
Same band, different song. He names the song and Layla raises her brows. Trace laughs.
Same as before, Trace counts us off and by the time we're done with the song Layla has a grin so big I think her cheeks must hurt.
"That was kick ass," she says.
Trace nods, "F*cking killer."
She doesn't look at me, Sera, or Jace--only Trace. I'm not sure what I think of Layla. She seems kinda bitchy and judgmental. I'm not as excited about her as I was about Trace, especially when she notices Jesse and they share a kiss on the lips and a hug. They're very familiar with one another and it's no surprise. They toured together years ago when Layla was with Kickz.
Jace isn't as excited about Layla either. Sera's come out of her fangirl trance and doesn't seem all that thrilled. Cage notes our demeanor and nods.
"I'll give you a call and let you know, Layla."
She nods. "Sounds good. Nice meeting you all. Give me a call, Jesse," she all but purrs.
Yeah, I'm not her biggest fan and it's not just because she's hitting on Jesse.
When she's left the building, Ben asks, "Not going with her?"
I shrug. "I just didn't feel it. Her behavior tells me she's going to treat me, Sera, and Jace as less-than-equal and that doesn't work for me."
Sera nods. "Sadly, me either. She didn't feel like she fit in or that she even wanted to. She only gave a shit what Trace thought. There goes the fangirl feeling after seeing the attitude."
Trace is leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed. "Layla's not really a team player."
"Yeah," Sera sneers. "I suppose unless you're famous and have a cock, she's not really into being your pal."
"Noticed that, did you?" Ben laughs.
I nod. "I don't want to have to deal with that shit."
Jace agrees so that's a unanimous "no".
Cage looks at Ben. "I told you."
Ben shrugs. "I didn't think so either, but you never know."
"You knew it wouldn't be a good fit?" Jace asks.
Cage nods. "Her personality is completely different than yours."
"Well, who's next?" I ask.
"That'd be me, bitches."
"Are you shitting me!?" I squeal. I turn around to see the tall, model-beautiful Megan Melody with her multi-colored rocker hair..
"Meggie!" Sera squeals and squeezes her in a hug. Jace and I join in.
"Huh," Kennedy says. "I guess they know each other."
"Oh my f*cking God," Meggie says. "Get the f*ck out of here with these bitches and then Falling Down. I'm going to need a dry pair of panties. For real."
I laugh. "We know Megan from high school."
"No shit?" Jesse asks.
"For real," Jace says. "She was in a rival band two towns over. We fought for gigs."
"How come you're not still with Taunt?" I ask.
"Ugh. Nothing but a bunch of coke heads and manwhores. With me being the only female, it was just too much for me to have to listen to them f*cking their sluts while I was trying to sleep."
"Gross," Sera says with a shudder.
"Huh," I say looking over my shoulder at Jesse and the guys. "That'd be kinda like having to live on the Falling Down bus."
Jesse lets out a laugh and shakes his head. "Tsk, tsk, Lucy. Always so judgmental."
"It's not judgmental if it's fact."
"Valid," Megan says.
"Holy shit, do you read Jay McLean?" Sera asks.
"Yes! Logan f*cking Matthews, bitches."
I let out a laugh. Logan f*cking Matthews.
"Let's jam, bitches," Meggie says with a bounce in her step.
"Yeah, f*ckers, let's go," Jace says with a grin and fist bumps Megan.
As we head into the sound booth I hear Cage mutter, "We've got bitches and f*ckers. This is going to be one hell of a ride."
We don't stop after one song. We go into two and three and then four. I notice Cage on his Bluetooth, likely cancelling the rest of the interviews which is perfect.
With Trace and Megan, Blush is perfect.
We walk back out to where everyone's standing and I hug Cage. "I'm so excited, you just don't know!"
He chuckles. "I can guess from the smile on your face and that weird happy dance you and Sera are doing right now."
"Don't knock the dance," Sera says grinning.
"Alright, business before we head to lunch. You all share the same agent, so this will be easy as far as contracts go. I'm sure Irene's going to want to talk to you all about a group contract with her. Right now you've only got individual and for different purposes. She'll have to modify Trace and Megan's and write one up for Jace." Sera and I nod.
"That's pretty freaking handy."
"Irene is a goddess," Trace says.
"That she is."
"I want you all back here in two weeks to start recording," Cage tells us.
Meggie bounces on her toes.
"We've got a shit ton of songs to choose from between all of us," Jace states. "We can pick the ones we want and modify them to fit our style."
"Wicked cool," Trace says.
"You can use my private studio to practice and there's office space if you want or need room to work through the song choices."
Meggie whispers loudly, "Just how well do you know Cage?" and I smirk.
"Not as well as Sera."
Everyone snickers and Cage winks.
"All right. If you need me, you know how to get a hold of me. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of you."
I look around for Damian and he's nowhere to be found. He must have taken off when we were jamming with Meggie. Bummer. I would have liked for him to come to lunch with us.
"Let's go get some food," Ethan says. Everyone murmurs their agreement and as we're walking out of the building, I shake my head again. I just can't believe this is happening and it's happening so fast.
Jesse puts his arm around my shoulders again. I'm sure it'll hit me later, when I come down from my rocktastic high, how touchy-feely Jesse is with me, but right now I'm just floating on cloud nine.
"It really does feel like a dream, Jesse."
He presses a kiss to my forehead. "It's your dream coming true, Luce. Enjoy every f*cking second of it."
"I intend to."
Ethan reaches out and pinches my ass. "You're not dreaming."
I squeal and give Ethan a look. He laughs and tries to hide behind Jesse. I chase him down the hall.
"You can run, but you can't hide, Ethan!" I yell.
He stops, turns and looks right at me. "I don't want to run from you, Lucy. You can pinch or smack my ass anytime you want." He wiggles his eyebrows.
Jesse frowns. "No pilfering, Ethan."
"Pilfering. Did you get a word-of-the-day app on your phone?" Ethan chuckles.
"Shut the f*ck up."
As they continue their banter, I take a deep breath, rubbing my ass. This is it. This is real. This is our dream, my dream. I can't wait to get started.
We are Blush and we are ready to go.