“Don’t worry about it. A business degree would only make you more useful to us. We’ll work around your schedule. Our work is never nine-to-five anyway.” Deena got up from leaning on the desk and smoothed her shirt.
“We’ll talk more about this later. For now, just keep up the good work.”
“I will, I promise.”
“And keep the conversation just between the two of us, all right? We need to work out the details first.”
As soon as Deena walked out, I clasped my hand over my mouth, trying to stifle the bout of hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble up. My chest hurt with the effort, and my cheeks ached from grinning so widely.
I’d never imagined my big break in the music industry would come so soon! I pulled out my phone to message Neil the good news.
A pang of sadness washed through me. That was right. Things were over between Neil and I. He was the first person I thought of when I wanted to share my good news, but that was over now.
And Jayce. I’d be working at his record label, but he wouldn’t consider that good news. It would just make things more awkward between us. There would be no clean break after summer was over. I’d be seeing him all the time.
I slumped back into my chair and frowned. Things couldn’t go on like this. I needed to fix things between us.
Between all three of us.
***
BEFORE THE INTERNSHIP started,I never would have imagined I’d be torn over two different men. Even more unbelievable was that, despite mutual attraction, I was unable to be with either one of them.
It didn’t help matters that things were back to being tense between Jayce and Neil. It was fine while they were both working, but things always got awkward during down time. They tried to hide it and act professionally, but whenever the two of them were within yards of each other, their hackles came up, like two wolves fighting over a tasty hunk of dead deer.
I didn’t know whether to be amused or exasperated. They were both jealous of the other when neither one of them had me. It was stupid.
The tense atmosphere must have been apparent to more than just me, because Kell took me aside one day and asked me if I knew what was going on with Jayce.
“He’s a lot more subdued than usual,” Kell said, a worried frown on his face. “But then every so often he’ll get tense and irritable.” Kell turned his gaze to me and stared me down with a keen eye. “It only seems to happen when he’s around you and that producer.”
Either the situation was patently obvious to everyone around us or Kell was a lot more perceptive than he let on.
“Has everyone noticed?”
“No. I don’t think anyone’s noticed except for me. But if things don’t simmer down, I’m worried those two might end up in a fist fight sometime soon.”
I debated whether or not to come clean. I didn’t want Kell to think I was just some groupie going after anyone who would take me. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about all this, though. My thoughts kept going around in circles. I was unsure of what to do to make things less awkward for everyone.
“Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell anyone else?”
“Of course.” Kell looked at me thoughtfully. “Come on, let’s go somewhere private.”
He took me back to the tour bus and sat me down on the sofa next to him.
“So, what’s going on with Jayce?”
“We… sort of had a… thing,” I confessed, slowly dragging out each word.
Kell raised an eyebrow.
“A thing?”
“We kissed. And some other stuff.” I tried not to blush. Kell’s lips twitched at the corner as if he couldn’t help himself from smirking. “What?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing. Just glad to see my plan worked.”
“Plan?”
