“Don’t you think that’s what I am trying to do?” Avery shouts. But it’s not a commanding shout. It’s whiney. Like he always is. Like he always has been.
“I think what you’re trying to do has always been obvious,” I state. “You want to run the company but don’t know the first thing about running it. You like the perks. The name. The benefits.”
“Says the man who never takes a risk. Never pulls the trigger. And never so much as considered marriage until our dad said–”
“Both of you shut up and let me say what I am going to say!” Hiram’s voice booms and we stop. Avery looks like he’s introuble, but I put my hands on my hips and look down, biting my tongue so hard I think it might bleed.
“I don’t care what either of you are up to. But if it costs me money, if it makes us look bad, you can forget about running Hardin Records all together.”
Avery laughs, wiping his hand down his face.
But I lock eyes on my dad. “Nothing matters more than the face of Hardin.”
I’m not sure that he believes me, but it doesn’t really matter.
Hardin will not fall while I am still standing inside it.
The stakes are high.
And that means one thing–
I have to up my game.
Chapter 18
Amanda
Iwant to touch the Martin.
I am aware that I probably shouldn’t. Although it’s in the Hardin studio. And the Hardin studio is basically my office. Which more or less says I am allowed access to it right? Still. I don’t think the higher ups would want me taking a fifty-thousand-dollar guitar off their display wall. I mean the room is humidified for fuck’s sake. That’s the level of bougie we are talking about here.
Still.
It’s right there. A guitar that price has to sound good. The fact that it’s been held and played by the biggest names in music aren’t the only reasons it’s worth that much. I’m thinking Brazilian rosewood, mother-of-pearl-ebony.
I just want to brush my fingers across the gloss…
“Amanda.”
Callum’s voice rattles me so hard I think my heart stops beating.
I whip around, my cheeks flushed, my hair spinning, my face panicked.
“Callum. Hi.”
He narrows his eyes, a small smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “You alright?”
“Oh yeah, totally fine. Yeah. I’m great. You just…scared me is all.”
He studies me and swallows, smiling and brushing my hair from my face. His eyes watch my hand, then trail down my arm across my breasts and the rest of my body. I’m wearing a green maxi-dress today with black boots and fish-nets. He’s wearing what he always does– a fitted suit, navy this time, with a white button up underneath.
He notices that I am looking at him, the same way I noticed him looking at me.
And I swear it just got hot in here.
But it’s not from the humidifier.
“Alright well. I was thinking we should grab dinner tonight.” Callum says before turning to walk back out.
