Page 135 of Talk Nerdy To Me
My eyes come up as my brow furrows, while he just grins.
Mom comes back in with some more tea, and Vince shoots her a charming expression.
“I was just about to ask if you’d made more.”
She fucking giggles as she pours him a cup, and he gestures for her to join us. She sits down with a foot of space between them, so I drop my eyes back to the paper.
“I’m not going to be your damn manager, so I’ll get you one I personally trust to manage you. You do your part not to make their life a living hell,” Vince adds as I resume reading.
“This is the part where you boys say ‘yes, sir,’” Mom chimes in.
“Yes, sir,” we state in unison.
“Yes, sssir,” Randy says from the ground, groaning as he rouses from his faint.
“Well, then. So much easier than expected. I think it’s the effect of your presence, Honey Bee. Maybe you should join them on the road,” Vince carries on as I flip the page and continue.
“Artists are fun and exciting on the highs, but I’d rather not be around for the lows,” Mom says on a long sigh, eyes going to mine. “I try too hard to fix them.”
“Do you want a hammer to finish driving in the nail? It’s been a really rough day,” I tell her.
Her expression changes when she studies me, and she clears her throat as she busies herself with the tea again.
“Studio time will happen on the road. Fortunately for you, my own Sterling Shore based studio will be finished by the time you return, and we can capitalize on this scandal. In fact, we’ll fan the flames to spread the smoke as far and wide as we can,” he goes on.
“Scandal?” Mom asks, sounding a little wary.
I finish reading and finally start signing again.
“Ralphy is the nephew of a rock legend. Said rock legend was accused, more than once, of stealing songs—one of which was one of my own when I was just starting out. It’s just the sort of buzz we need, because these boys make those look like amateurs. And that legend is a drunken has-been, whereas I am a very powerful businessman,” he explains, eyes solely on my mother as she turns into a bit of a puddle. “I know how to deal with this now.”
She nods like she has all the trust in the world, and he turns his attention back to us.
“This scandal will be what the public will think drew me to you—not Britt Sterling. Meanwhile, I get to vicariously seize a victory once stolen from me. You’ll have to owe Britt and my daughter in private, because it’s too easy to fade quickly in the sea of clichés with something people will confuse with a sell-out start,” Vince says as Sticks plucks the pen from my hand. “You need to punch your way into this world to really stand out,” he adds. “This happens to create the perfect punch.”
It’s obvious none of us have it in us to turn down a mentorship from the Vince Jaggons. I don’t have enough pride left to even fucking bother counting the ways this makes me a hypocrite.
“How did you get us a spot so quickly on this tour?” Sticks asks as Randy scrambles to sign.
Vince stands, shrugging a shoulder. “I took the spot from someone else,” he answers with a pointed look.
Taylor just remains silent as he gawks at Vince, signing on the proverbial dotted-line. Vince, the diabolical man before us, has officially schooled us in our own living room.
“Choir boys have a problem with that sort of thing, which is why they sing different music,” he adds with a smirk. “Congratulations. Now that you’re part of the business, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
He levels me with a look.
“The music is always yours, no matter if you’re the only one who likes it. The faith in your music doesn’t need to waver just because it doesn’t sell. You have to really fucking love it to push through the rough times and stay relevant. The only time this business truly steals your soul…is when you forget that it’s a fucking business.”
With that, a random man comes running in out of no-damn-where, and signs the blanks for a notary, before picking it all up and running out.
“See you boys tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do. I need to make a few calls to ensure they don’t play their new most requested song in Sterling Shore, because it belongs to my artists. Make sure you look pretty when you leave, since I plan to stage a paparazzi mob. Your faces will be your best assets for a while,” he adds before turning and walking out, his leather pants creaking as he goes.
The room goes completely silent until Sticks releases a long breath and drops back.
“That just happened, right? I mean, things like that don’t happen, but that still happened,” Sticks says like he’s uncertain and needs someone else to agree with him.
I sit all the way back, staring at the tea cup the rock legend left behind.
