Page 116 of Your Play to Call

“Mind if we join you?” I ask. Erik’s face is priceless. He’s surprised and not in a good way.

“Did we have a meeting?” Erik looks at his phone. When no one answers him, he tries to smooth things out. “Sure, have a seat. We always have time for you.”

What a snake.

“First, I decided on the Asher Wilde tour. It’s going to be a no for me. I know this will be difficult since you already made the announcement but, what can ya do?” I shrug my shoulders in the most nonchalant way.

“Lo—”

“Don’t you dare call me that and donotinterrupt. Second, I’m not signing a contract extension. As a matter of fact, my lawyer is currently looking into terminating our contract early. But no matter, if I have to wait to put this music out, I will.” I pretend to look at my nails, giving him a break to let that soak in. “I will not do another thing that is tied to you. Third, you should be ashamed of yourself. I know what you did. You took something someone very close to me told me in confidence and you leaked it. To try and get what you wanted from me. You are a disgusting excuse for a human.”

“What are you talking about?” Erik stands and asks, like he has no idea what’s going on.

“If you try to gaslight me right now, I will take every detail of this to the press. I’ll air this whole thing out and sign my name. You know what you did. Don’t make me say it.”

“Maybe I do want you to say it? Maybe you’ve got it wrong?” He fucking baits and gaslights me at the same time.

“Ricky, do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up,” Claire says through gritted teeth.

“You are a walking piece of garbage,” Emilie says in disgust.

Erik’s eyes go from Claire, to Emilie, and back to me. He tries to soften and give me this sweet smile. I wish there was a cornerback here to smoke Erik. Knock that smug look off his face.

“Are you really not going to do the Asher Wilde tour? That seems foolish.”

“No, Ricky. What seems foolish is saying I agreed to do it when I didn’t. Also, I bet if we called his team, we’d hear how this was your idea and how you approached them, right? You are despicable. You knew I was hurting… a hurt you caused and tried to use it to your advantage. Not like I haven’t made this label millions of dollars.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Erik says, almost in a growl, and puts his hands in his pocket. The rest of the people at the table look like they’d rather combust than be in here.

“I do.” And before I can keep going, Seth leans his head in the doorway.

“Remember me?” He waves and smiles at Erik. It’s one of the best mic-drop moments Seth will probably ever have in his life and I’m thankful to witness it.

“Is this true, Erik?” One of the big wigs walks into the conference room. I couldn’t have asked for better timing. I don’t know where she came from, but I am so happy to see her.

“They have no idea what they’re talking about,” he says but it’s no use.

“Quit talking. Get in my office right now.” She points out the doorway.

“I’m in the middle of a meeting,” he tries to reason with her.

“Not anymore you’re not,” she says in a way that reminds me of Claire.

“Willow, let me get to the bottom of this. I’ll call you, personally.” The exec says to me with eyes that plead an apology.

I watch Erik speed walk out of the room, shooting daggers with his eyes the whole way.

“Seth. Claire. Emilie. I need a favor if you’re up for it.”

I have a plan and I’ll need some help pulling it off.

Chapter 64

Tripp

Willow is going ona huge world tour. The news hits me like a punch to the gut. The fact that I heard someone talking about it at practice, asking me about the details, because they thought I knew. While there’s been speculation about our breakup, no one has confirmed anything. It’s not something anyone asked me as soon as I made it back to practice.

I have so many questions. What about the other album she fought for? The small-scale tour she stood her ground for? Is this it? Am I only going to know her through shitty tabloids and hearsay?

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