Page 84 of My UnTrue Love
He couldn’t stand that everyone knew he’d been born John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt. It made him feel exposed and dirty. He was so much bigger than his loser teenage self.
Rosalee refused to do her damn job. “You have been cheating on me!” She railed, only focused on herself.
“Blowjobs aren’t cheating.” Johnny waved that nonsense aside. “They’re just something guys do. It’s not like you and I were exclusive, anyway.”
Several nearby men nodded in solidarity, solidifying the righteousness of Johnny’s cause.
“Of course we were exclusive.” Rosalee hissed. “We were talking aboutmarriage!”
“Well, now we’re talking about my career. Put your personal bitch-list aside for a minute and act like a professional. Stop the texts from getting out.”
“It’s too late. They’re already up on Vulture’s site.”
“How could you let that happen?!” If Tony had ever bothered to get him a drink, Johnny would be throwing it at Rosalee’s smug face. “You’re the worst goddamn manager in Red River Valley!”
“How fortunate that you won’t have to put up with my incompetence any longer, then.” Rosalee’s smile was rich-girl mean. “I quit.”
Something like panic flared in his chest. A sense that everything was falling apart around him. “Don’t be stupid. You love having me as a client. The Yellow Roses is going to be the biggest band in town and everybody…”
She cut him off. “Youweregoing to be the biggest band in town.Were, Johnny. Past tense. Present tense, you’re a cautionary tale. Your reputation is in tatters and the second album isn’t working.”
“Itisworking. I just need more time to refine the new sound.”
“The new sound is shit. There’s no refining shit. It’s always shit.”
“You said you loved it! You said it was sophisticated!”
“I lied. It’s just something managers do.” Her expression was like an assassin’s right before they fired the kill shot. “It’s becoming very clear to me that the real talent on The Yellow Roses was always Pecos Bill. Clementine saw it, too. It’s why she’s just become his muse.”
“No.” Johnny swallowed hard. It felt like his chest had just been hollowed out with an ice cream scoop. “She wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Except shedid. I heard it from the bartender at the Lone Prairie. He does my hair.”
Johnny tried to think through the frantic pounding of his heart. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t need a muse. You’re the one who told me they don’t contribute anything.Iam the star of the band.”
“There is no band, anymore.” Turning on her Herring Box heel, Rosalee walked away forever. “Maybe I was wrong about muses. Maybe some artistsdoneed them. By yourself, you’ve got no music in you.”
Johnny stood there, a bubble of awkward silence surrounding him. No one looked him in the eyes, but they were all staring. It was exactly like going back in time to high school, only suddenly there was no Clementine to cheer him up with her laughter. She’d moved to Pecos Bill’s lunch table.
He couldn’t let this happen.
Hewouldn’t.
He wasn’t weak and ostracized John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt, anymore. He’d become Johnny fucking Jacobs and Johnny fucking Jacobs didn’t lose.
“Tarnation, pal. That was hard to watch.” One of the guys who’d been nodding along with his side of the argument now looked pitying. “Sit down. I’ll buy you a drink. You need it.”
Johnny slowly shook his head. “I’m gonna need something a lot stronger than bourbon.”
Chapter Eighteen
“When cy’otes sing, our lesson imparts,
But our curse won’t bid adieu,
‘Til a partner gives one her whole heart,
And loves that cowboy so true.”
