Page 69 of Songbird: Black Kite
That was a whole pile of assumptions, considering I hadn’t said a thing to him about any of it.
I just stared, wondering how long he’d known about the fact that we needed two songs to complete the album and what part he and Tori may have played in making that a requirement.
The whole thing was starting to smell fishy, and I was just about done with it all.
“You’re right about one thing, Lewis,” I said, and he sat up a bit straighter, his interest piqued. “I am here to tell you what an asshole I’ve been.” He sneered at me, scratching at the sunburn on his chest as he waited for me to finish. “I got with Tori for no other reason than to piss you off. It was shitty of me, and I wish I’d never done it.”
More than anything, I wish I’d never gone anywhere near that viper of a woman. She’d brought me nothing but trouble since the moment I’d laid eyes on her.
“But that’s all I’ve got to say.” He frowned, confused, and that made me certain that Tori had told him to expect me. That bitch; she was doing the same shit to him that she’d done to me all those years ago. “Black Kiteis not desperate to have you back, but that’s mostly because I don’t believe you ever really wanted to be there in the first place. You played with us when we were kids because there were no other options, not where we grew up. But we were neverfriends, Lewis. Not really.” He clenched his jaw, his lip curling in a sneer as I spoke, but he didn’t deny any of it. “You always treated us as your steppingstone. The first stop on your way to a situation where you could be the star. The front man. The one calling the shots.” His fist clenched now, too, the stem of the martini glass likely straining under the pressure. “I came here today to tell you that we are going in a different direction, Alex and Gavin and I. And where we’re going, we won’t be needing you. So go on and chase whatever it is you have going on. Seriously. And I wish you the best. I’m sorry for the part I played in all the shit that happened between us. But this is where it ends, Lewis. You got the girl. I got my freedom. It’s over.”
I stood, ready to leave and never look back, but Lewis wasn’t having it.
“The fuck you mean, it’s over?” he raged, throwing the now empty glass to the side. I flinched slightly as it shattered, feeling bad for the poor girl who was going to have to clean that up. “This isn’t over. Nothing is over. You need me to finish the album. You need me!”
“We need a bassist, Lewis, but it most certainly doesn’t have to be you. Once we finish these final two songs, that will be the last thingCastor Recordscan squeeze out of us. You and Tori can ride off into the sunset like you always dreamed. Where is she, anyway?” I asked. I’d have expected her to have shown her face by now, spewing her bullshit and trying to get under my skin.
“With her tennis coach,” he muttered, petulant, and I wondered if he was aware that she was still terrible at tennis after taking lessons for the last eight years because she was too busy getting dicked by her coach to ever pick up a racket.
From the look on his face, he was well aware.
“Well, you’ll have to give her my regards,” I said sarcastically, heading for the house.
“You know what, Hawk? Fuck you.” Stalking after me, Lewis started shouting, his words echoing off the empty walls of his giant house as he trailed after me. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to come in here and make me the fucking bad guy in all of this. I saw her first, you know? Before you ever even laid eyes on Victoria, I’d seen her. Wanted her. She was mine from the beginning and you had to go and fuck it all up!”
Standing in the foyer of the grand house I knew Victoria had insisted on when they’d gotten married, I finally turned to him, seeing the guy I’d called a friend reduced to a screaming banshee over a woman who was so goddamn fickle, she couldn’t even pick one person to cheat with; she had to have a whole stable of boy toys that she rotated on a weekly basis.
“Lewis,” I said gently, my shoulders slumping. “She’s not worth it, man.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he snarled. “She’s worth everything.”
I could see it then, for the first time. Looking at the man I’d known nearly my whole life, a man I’d grown up with and traveled the world with, I could see that he really believed that. To him, Victoria Castor was worth everything she had cost him.
“I hope it works out for you guys, Lewis. I really do.”
And with that, I turned and left, closing yet another door and at the same time feeling like the whole world was wide fucking open.
Chapter forty
Hawk
Present
“Alright,sothat’saconfirmation on the venue,” Mick said, ending his call and turning from the window to face us in my living room. “The Hollywood Bowl is ours, boys.”
“Fuck, yes!” Alex cheered, his fist pumping. “That’s what I’m talking about, man.”
“Nice,” Gavin agreed, nodding from his spot on the couch.
It was nice. It was also a fuckin’ relief. In the weeks since I’d come up with the idea of a festival, it had developed into something more along the lines of a showcase than anything else. A sort of large-scale battle of the bands, where us and a few of our friends would get together and help introduce some new and upcoming talent. It would feature short sets with quick turnaround, and at the end of the night,Black Kitewould close out the show with a bang.
It was ambitious and more than a little insane, but I had hope that given the window of a couple of months we could pull it off.
“Now, next order of business,” Mick began, returning to his seat and looking over his tablet. The man had taken to the position of VP of Operations forBlack Kite Records—a business that technically didn’t even exist yet—like a duck to water. He’d jumped in with both feet, making list after list and generally becoming a complete pain in the ass, but I was glad he was on board.
I sure as fuck didn’t know what to do next.
Once he’d convinced his wife that working for me wasn’t going to be the huge, career-ending decision she thought it would be, Mick had worked some serious magic, getting us sponsors and arranging for marketing and all the other things that went into putting together a show.
