Page 124 of Syncopation
A chuckle from the phone. “But one that gives us quite a bit of leverage. I believe we’ll be able to negotiate with the labelin a very beneficial way.”
They went over those details again, and both Mish and Dom agreed.
“What about Mr. Demos?”
This time Ray stood. “Well, Zav’s not here at the moment...and he’s technically a session musician with a separate contract with the label.” He paused. “But he’s joining the band. Has joined, for all practical purposes.”
“I see.” The sound of pen scratches. “That’sgood, since I suspect now that you’re not touring, Mr. Demos would have found himself cut loose from the label.”
Ray stopped moving. “I don’t care about the legal tangles. He’s part of Twisted Wishes.”
“Understood. But I will need to speak with him about his contract and how he wishes to deal with that.”
Made sense. “Okay. I’ll ask him to call you when he’s back.”
A few more scribblingnoises. “Good.”
They wrapped up a few more items, including drafting several simple social media statements for Dom to post, which he did.
“Hey, is that stuff about Carl in a police report?” Dom asked.
“Yes,” Ms. Gonfaus said.
“I want to see it,” Ray said. “As soon as possible.”
Dom made a sour face. “Bet they’ll be on some website, soon.”
“That’ll be a media field day.”Mish poured herself the remaining coffee.
So they drafted a statement about that, too, so Dom could post it later.
When they finished the call, Ray didn’t really want to think about Carl, but he couldn’t stop doing exactly that. “Fuck. That asshole.”
“Fuck the label to hell.” Mish stood. “And they smiled at us and praised us and got on our case for stepping one foot out of line.”
Yeah, that was the short and long of it. Ray scratched his head and dropped his gaze to his ankle, to that little strip of leather. He took a breath and straightened. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I mean, itdoes—but we gotta look forward. This is an opportunity.”
To decide their own fate. To be wiser about partnering with labels.
Mish chuckled, came over, and wrapped her arms around him.“Hey, hon, when did you get to be the levelheaded one?”
He laughed. “I had help.”
Over Mish’s shoulder, Ray caught Dom rolling his eyes. “Hey, he’s a good man!”
Dom held up his hands. “No argument with me. He’s good for you, but you’re way the hell sappy for him.”
Mish pressed a kiss to Ray’s forehead. “Let him be. Zavier knocked some sense into him. I’ll take that with sappy anyday.”
Heat rose to Ray’s cheeks. “I’m standing in the room with you guys.”
“But drummer boy isn’t.” She stepped back. “Where is he, anyway?”
There was a tightness in Ray’s chest, half from the unknown, and half from anticipation. “I don’t know. I think his walk turned into a drive.”
“He was pretty strung out about the whole hospitalization thing.” Dom picked up the book he’d beenreading and flopped onto the bed. “You really need to add him to all the power of attorney stuff, I mean, if you two are gonna keep...” Color touched Dom’s face.
“Fucking.” Mish’s smile was wide. “If you and that boy are gonna keep fucking so damn hard as to wake the neighbors, and if you’re gonna run through life together like nothing in the world can stop the two of you...you really shouldlook into the paperwork.”
