“Cool. Coffee first.” He waved me off.
I leaned against the counter beside him with my arms crossed over my chest, and thankfully, the coffee finished brewing enough for Dave. He poured a cup for himself, then poured the heavenly brew into mine. It smelled rich like caramel and nuts. “Yum.” I took the first sip. “This is good.”
After a few sips, Dave’s eyes actually looked more focused. “It’s an amazing blend I found when we were in Cally. It’s from some small town called Foggy Basin. Fucking great blend. Now I’m ordering it from their website.”
“Nice. I’ll pay you to order me some too.”
“Deal.”
We hadn’t finished our first cups when Wolf, Harrison, Jinx, and Miami walked in. Jinx immediately jumped on the coffee bandwagon. “That smells incredible.”
I handed him a mug and Dave poured. Harrison and Wolf had some as well, but then the pot was nearly empty, so Dave set it to brew another. “Might want to think about getting a second coffee maker in here or something.”
“Eh.” Miami put a kettle on the small cooktop they’d installed so he always had tea available without using the microwave, but a second coffee maker was out?
“Maybe we should bring one, Dave?” I asked. He nodded. It might not be our building, but we were here as much as Midnight Hunt these days.
“So…” Jinx said between sips. “Before we get started recording, we want to talk about some things.”
“Does this have to do with Pierce?” Dave rubbed his eyes, obviously needing another cup.
“Yes, but that’s only part of it. But let’s wait until everyone else gets here.” Jinx put his mug in the sink and rinsed it.
Within the next twenty minutes, the rest of Bramble Punk started arriving. Apparently, I hadn’t arrived early enough to actually get anything done. But that only meant I’d implore the guys to help out with the song. I liked collaborations better anyway. Soon enough, we were all assembled with the exception of Pierce.
Wolf moved us into the conference room, and that meant this was all about business. We found seats and waited. Jinx stood at the head of the table. “First, Pierce. He’s agreed to join the band if you still want him. We need that ironed out before we record anything else.” We all agreed we wanted him, but that wasn’t the end of it. “Second, you need contracts. This is to protect you guys as much as Pierce. Trust me on this. I have Harrison and Donavan working on that now.”
Don hadn’t told me anything about it. I had to assume he found out this morning. This was the type of thing that could be a conflict of interest, but I’d let them figure that out. “That makes sense.”
“Prior contracts were for you guys, minus Kay, for studio time and the first tour. Kay had separate contracts for all that. It’s time to amend it, though. This is a solid band now, and you’re going to be headlining soon. This is most likely your last tour opening for us. That also means you need a manager. A team.”
I scratched my head. “Thought we had a team.” I nodded to him and Wolf. The rest of the Bramble guys made noises of affirmation. We didn’t want to work with anyone else.
“We’ve been thinking about that,” Miami said, tapping the table with his fingers. “We’re about to tell you something that doesn’t leave this room.” He pointed around the room, and when we all agreed, he nodded as if assuring himself that we were trustworthy. “This is probably Midnight Hunt’s last tour. Wemight do shows here and there and record, willy nilly, but this isn’t our future.”
I stood, knocking my chair behind me. “What? How?” We’d all expected this to happen eventually. Our moving up was inevitable but hearing it all now was a reality check. No more Midnight Hunt? I wasn’t ready for that—not that my opinion mattered.
“Settle down, Kay. Guys.” Wolf patted the air, encouraging us to calm. “Like it or not, we’re getting fucking old, and touring is becoming a chore. As much as we like to perform, we think it’s time to move on. We’re going out on completely different terms this time, and this involves you.”
“Us?” Joe asked, looking very uncertain. Well, I was confused too.
“Yes,” Miami said. “You need a manager.”
Jinx jumped in, “We want that to be us. We’re making a management company. Kind of like Mastersons.”
The light bulbs went on. They wanted to manage us, produce us, all of it. “I’m in.” I turned to look at the guys. They seemed happy, but I needed to be sure. “If you all are? Joe? Dave?”
But it was Randy who answered. “I, for one, love it. Ziggy has been a great mentor, and the back brace. I mean, come on, who does that? You’re the best. You’ve already done so much for us. Hell, we weren’t even a band until Jinx stuck us together. My loyalty is here.” He touched his index finger to the tabletop. Everyone agreed.
“Great.” Jinx looked at each of us. “I’ll get a proposal set up along with contracts. Remember, Harrison’s team doesn’t represent you; they represent us. You may want to get a lawyer to review all the paperwork before signing.”
I was going to trust Don. The other guys could do what they wanted.
Wolf clapped his hands. “Great. And now that you have agreed to Pierce joining. We’ll work out the details. He’ll be here in about ten minutes, so let’s get busy.”
As we walked out the door, Joe barked a laugh. “You should call your company the Miami Sound Machine.” A few of us laughed at that, but Miami scowled, of course.
Jinx clapped him on the shoulder. “Not a bad name, but I think MH Management will do.”
