Page 65 of Edge of Heaven

“You gonna leave us for your modeling career?” Tate teases me.

“No, but I’m never going to turn down money. If they think my ugly mug is good for their products, I’m in.”

Everyone nods in agreement because money is something they understand.

“Speaking of money.” She thumbs through some papers. “I have numbers for you. Deposits will be disbursed June fifteenth.” She tells us how much we made and while it’s a little less than I’d hoped, it’s still a lot of money. Ninety thousand dollars will go a long way in my life.

It’ll also allow me to help Taryn, if she’ll let me.

I respect the fact that she’s proud and wants to do this on her own without being beholden to yet another man—it makes sense—but there won’t be any strings attached if she takes money from me.

I just have to find a way to convince her of that.

“Speaking of money,” Sasha continues. “Rock Vibe has reached out. They want to license ‘Rough Around the Edges’ as part of their next marketing campaign. They’re going to do commercials, print, and social media—they don’t have details yet—but they want to work with us. The money isn’t as much as it should be for something like this, but it puts you guys fully in the black and allows us a cushion to talk about what’s next.”

“What’s next?” Jonny asks.

“Whether or not we continue on the Karnal Death tour.”

Everyone is quiet.

We knew this was coming because things haven’t been great, but she’s been struggling to find another band for us to open for that will be a good fit. Both bands we’ve worked with in the past are on hiatus, so it’s been tough to find us a slot on an existing tour.

“We knew it was a gamble to tour with them, but we didn’t anticipate the success of your album. Now we have to pivot and to be honest, there’s no one touring that has an opening.”

“Club tour?” Angus asks.

She nods. “I think it’s a step backward, but we don’t have much choice. I’ve run some preliminary numbers, and if we use the money Rock Vibe is offering to get you started, and we can book through the summer, Nobody’s Fool is going to do a three-month European stint starting in September, and they’re happy to have you.”

It seems like we all let out a collective sigh of relief.

We toured with Nobody’s Fool last fall, until their lead singer, Lexi, had to go on maternity leave. She gave birth at the end of December, and, based on Sasha’s announcement, she’s not even taking a year off.

“Yes,” Sasha says, chuckling, “Lexi is chomping at the bit to get back out there. She’s going to bring the baby and a nanny, and it’s just for three months. It’s a trial run to see how it feels to tour with an infant. If it doesn’t work out, they’ll take more time off.”

“So when would we break off on our own?” I ask quietly.

“The first date that’s penciled in, assuming I can fill the calendar through the beginning of September, is June eighth.”

“That’s more than a month,” Angus says. “Have you told Karnal Death yet?”

She shakes her head. “No. And we’re not going to until we know for sure we can pull off an entire summer tour of club dates. It will mean playing almost every night if we’re going to make a profit, and that will be hard on Jonny’s voice.”

“I’m good,” he says firmly. “I’ll do whatever I have to so my voice stays healthy.”

“We’re ready,” Angus adds. “Whatever we need to do, because this has become a toxic environment. The crowds in the Midwest were happy to see us but since we came west it’s been different.”

“They’re from Texas,” Sasha says, nodding, “so it makes sense that this is where their diehard fans are. Plus, I think they’re jealous. They’ve been talking a little shit behind the scenes. They think we don’t know but I have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“They’re talking shit?” Tate asks, his eyes narrowing. “What the fuck?”

“Yes, but we’ve made enough money for you to be debt-free and getting nice paychecks next month. So shut your mouth and suck it up.” She pauses. “I know they’re not great to work with but they’ve been good for our bottom line. You’ve only got a few weeks left, so play nice. I mean it.”

“Easier said than done,” I mutter.

“We have a lot of good things happening, a platinum album, a potential deal with a clothing line, and even though we’re giving him shit about it—Mick’s face in clothing ads can only help us. Adding your music to the mix? That could be huge, mainstream exposure. So keep your heads down, play the music, and let me work my magic behind the scenes. Three weeks, tops, and you’re out of there. But that’s when we get our cut of the merch, so don’t fuck it up. That’s going to be tens of thousands of dollars in addition to the numbers we already talked about.”

Essentially, a lot of money for us.

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