Page 16 of The Rocker

“Thanks,” I muttered. “Oh, hey, Pen.” She spun on her heel and faced me. “I ordered you one of those salads that you like for lunch. It should be here soon.”

The guys laughed and called me pussywhipped under their breaths, but I wasn’t sure how you could be pussywhipped when you weren’t getting any.

“Thank you, Walker. That’s so sweet. I thought I’d missed out on lunch and was going to have to wait for dinner.” She hugged her MacBook close to her chest. “When I get back, I have something to show you guys.”

“What is it?” We all shouted in unison.

She shook her laptop and walked backward. “You’ll just have to wait and see. First, I need to see what’s going on in the control room.”

We might not have been able to hear what was going on in the control room, but we could watch. I moved to sit on the couch opposite of Cross and pretended like I could read lips and understand what was being said in there. I had no clue, but I did know that Pen wasn’t happy. After ten minutes of back and forth, she stormed out. By the time she reached us, we were all standing, waiting to hear what she had to say.

She looked around the room, and I swore she looked like she wanted to stomp her foot. Her face was red with her lips pursed. “The rest of the day is canceled. Tomorrow you will have someone new producing in the control room. This whole bullshit—” she pointed to the other room. “Has tainted what I wanted to show you. Do you want to get out of here?”

“What about our lunch?” Kenton asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Right, right,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s go outside and wait for it to arrive. We can eat out there. It’s nice outside, and you boys need your vitamin D.”

“I think you need some vitamin D,” Kenton chuckled, following behind Pen. I slapped him on the back of the head and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear you back there,” Pen called out. “And you’re not wrong. I do need some D, but first, I need to find the right man for the job.”

My steps faltered for a moment. I was the right man for her, even if she didn’t realize it. At least not yet. But I wasn’t going to push her. I was going to let Pen figure it out on her own, or at least hope she did.

Kenton ran up on Pen and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Can I apply for the job?”

Laughing, Pen pushed him away. “In your dreams, Kenny Boy. Find someone your own age.”

Pen mentioned age a lot, and it made me wonder if that was what she really was concerned about. Did she think she was too old for me? Because I didn’t care how old she was, which was something she had yet to divulge.

By the time we got to the front of Titan Records, our lunch was sitting at the front desk waiting for us. Pen stopped in front of the bags and spoke to one of the receptionists.

“We’re going to be outside having lunch, and we are not to be disturbed.” She gave the poor woman a look that let her know there would be hell to pay if we were bothered.

“Damn, Pen. You’re one badass bitch when you want to be,” Cross hooted, taking the bags from her.

She raised a brow, giving Cross a pointed look. “You just wait until it’s turned on you.”

“Oh, that’s never going to happen. I’m always going to be on your good side.” Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew Cross had a wicked smile on his face. “I’m always a good boy. The best behaved out of all of us.”

I scoffed at his comment. None of us were out getting arrested on the daily, but we weren’t angels either.

Pen turned to walk backward with her golden-brown eyes narrowed at all of us. “I don’t believe that for a second. Now let’s sit down and eat, so my blood pressure can lower just a little bit.” She sat down at one of the tables and closed her eyes. I didn’t like not being able to see what she was thinking. It was almost like I willed her eyes to open when they popped open and landed on me. “Why didn’t you call or message me to let me know he was being difficult?”

“I didn’t think there was anything you could do about it.” I sat down across from her and watched as Cross unpacked our lunch. “I thought it was part of the process.”

“I had him play me the last one, and it sounded good. No, strike that. It was great, and Wallace had no right to keep asking for more from you, especially if they all sounded like that. I requested that Ernie work with you from now on.”

Cross stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It’s my job.” She opened her salad and looked up at us. “Besides today, how are you guys? I’m sorry I’ve been a little MIA this week, but I had to finish up a few other things before I’m officially your manager.”

“That’s badass,” Kenton hooted before he sat down at the table.

Pen reached across the table and patted his hand. “It really is. I can assure you I’ve been a manager before, just not with Titan.”

Pulling my lunch order in front of me, I cocked my head to the side as I took in her words. “So, you haven’t always been with Titan?”

Stabbing at her food, Pen nodded. “I was at a smaller company and realized they were never going to use me to my true potential. So essentially, I had to start over here and prove myself.”

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