Be My Bad Boy

I turned up to the meeting wearing a red shift dress. I figured red is the colour of power and I needed power. They would never know about the pile of about 50 outfits I'd tried on before I left home. Not that I was nervous or anything. I wasn't even sure if they'd turn up. I'd probably be stuck waiting for them for an hour and then give up and go home.

To add to the stress, I'd stupidly arranged to meet them at Sorrento Inc. headquarters. The office building that had been the site of Dad's now ex-company. Hopefully they wouldn't notice the empty spots on the signboard or the lack of people around. I really, really didn't want to run into people I knew. As much as it'd been kept out of the news, people there would know all about the scandal. They probably knew more than I did. Of course, most of the business had been wound down now but that didn't mean I'd not run into anyone.

As a safety measure, I donned my massive sunglasses.
The only reason I'd picked this café was that I knew they'd know it. I'd had to think of something off the top of my head when I gave Andy Biersack a meeting place and this was the only place I could think of at the time.

My eyes swept around the café, checking if the band were there but not expecting to see them. I almost jumped to see them sitting in the corner, with guitar cases blocking the walkway between the tables. At this time of day, there were only a few other people there. They sat in their suits on the other side of the café as though wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the band as possible.
Andy lounged back in his low chair, his leg over the arm. He looked up as I walked toward them but didn't acknowledge me. He just kept talking to the other four as though I were a random person walking in off the street.
They all sat squished between one another.
I walked over and stood by them.
The drummer, CC, gave me a smile.
"You must be CC," I said and smiled back. "And you are Ashley, Jake, and Jinxx..”
"Andy too." Ashley grunted.
Then he and Andy continued talking about amplifiers and distortion pedals, whatever they were. What was the point of them even turning up to this meeting if they were going to ignore me anyway? They might as well have not come.
I ordered a glass of wine and cleared my throat then launched into my spiel.
"Okay, I guess you want to know what this meeting is all about?”
Jake brushed his long fringe out of his eyes then fumbled in the bag at his feet and pulled out a clip to pin it back. That would look effeminate on most guys but not on him.
"The guy from Mega came to a few gigs then got us all excited about a contract. So we signed, then nothing. We barely heard from him again. I called him a few times and he said he was talking to A&R people and had a few big things lined up but never came through with anything."
"Well, I'm not…"
Andy adjusted himself in his seat. I turned to see his crotch pointed directly towards my face. With the outline of his cock pressing against those tight leather pants. He knew exactly what he was doing; he was doing it to fluster me. The look in his eyes held a direct challenge. I took a deep breath and refused to play his stupid game even though my heartbeat did all kinds of crazy things. I looked him square in the eye, determined my gaze would not move any lower.
"I'm not your old manager," I said. "Now you have two options. Either do as I say or buy out the management contract yourselves.”
I stared back at Andy, determined to let him know I wasn't shaken by him. His mouth twitched at the edges then he rumbled into laughter.
"Oh, that's clever, babes, trying to make us pay for something we already have. You appear out of nowhere and think you can be our manager, then want us to pay you not to do it?"
The laughter didn't extend to his eyes, still dark and cold and locked onto mine.
I pulled a copy of the contract out of my bag.
"You signed here." I stabbed at the paper with my finger. "This is a legal document. I am the legal owner of Megastar Management. I have legal authority to represent you. I can make bookings in your name. I can sign contracts in your name.”
Andy shrugged.
"What can I say, babes? We were young, starry-eyed musos back then. We thought that guy was going to make us the next big thing."
He gave Ashley a look and they both laughed. Seriously, if he didn't stop calling me babe, I'd punch him in the stomach.
I leaned towards him.
"Excuse me. One of here is studying law at a prestigious university and the other… well…" I gave him a look letting him know I meant business. "You don’t want to mess with me."
"So, if we did buy out the contract, how much would that be?"
I smiled at Jinxx. At least he had some common decency and manners. Then I named a figure and all five of them laughed. “You really think we are worth that?"
"We're worth it but we aren't paying."
"We don't have any money anyway, do we, Andy," added CC.
I'd been expecting this but I'd hoped they would play along. It'd have been the perfect solution to everything if they'd just agreed. Of course, Angie had said they had no money. Jinxx was the only one with a job but she'd told me something else too. A few years ago, Andy had been up on assault charges. Shit had gone down at a gig, was how Angie put it. It looked like Andy would go to jail. Then, suddenly, he'd been released and nothing more was said about it. It took serious money to do that kind of thing. There had to be a money trail somehow.
Frank had said they wouldn’t pay up that easily. It looked like I'd have to move onto Plan B – make the idea of getting rid of me a helluva lot more attractive.
"Make them think you're a dingbat," Frank had told me. "No one wants a dingbat as a manager."
I looked at the three of them, still laughing, and I sipped my wine.
"Okay, I gave you the option. Remember that, because it will cost you a ton of money if you want to get out of this contract later on."
I got the three files out of my bag and handed them around. Jake, Jinnx, and CC took theirs but Andy and Ashley continued to stare at me until the back of my neck prickled. I sat the folder on the coffee table in front of him.
"Why do we need a manager anyway? We turn up, we play our music and that's it. Managers are for pretty boy bands who need someone to tell them what to do."
I twisted the ring on my finger and looked out the window. I figured he'd try to undermine me.
“Pretty boy bands make a lot of money. If you look at One Direction, for example –"
"What? That proves it." He rolled his eyes. "You know nothing about what we do. Nothing."
I would not lose my temper. I would not say anything stupid. I would stay cool and business-like. Even with the blood pumping hard in my temples.
"What about all the administration? You need someone to do that so you can concentrate on the music.”
Andy leaned forward, his face so close to mine, I could feel his breath on my skin. I wanted to back away before my stomach flip-flopped out of my body but I refused to move.
"Understand this, babe." He said the "babe" as though hurling an insult. "There is no administration. There is no anything. Jinxx makes a few calls and we play. No one needs to take a cut of that."
"There's no administration because you aren't going anywhere." I took a swig of my wine. "Don't you have any ambition? Don't you want to play festivals?" I took the sheet of paper Angie had given me from my bag and straightened it against my knee. "What about the Metropolis? Don't you want to play somewhere like that?"
He rolled his eyes again.
"We've tried to get gigs at the Metropolis before," said Jake, "and well…"
"Well, listen, babe, if you can book us a gig at the Metropolis by the end of the week, we'll go along with this shit. Otherwise, you can tear that stupid contract into bits.”

Notes

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