“You want to put three bands with animus toward each other on the same stage?” His voice carried disbelief, and I don’t blame him. When I first heard the idea, I wasn’t keen on it either. This proposition carried a high risk. All it took was one more scene like the other day, and whatever venue we hired would cancel out. And the insurance too. No one wants to back an event that carried a risk for violence.
“Yes, and do promotional spots with each other.”
Tobias’s face showed me just what he thought of the idea, which was not encouraging.
“Ms. Alexander,” said my father’s secretary, Nadine, “Mr. Kane is here.”
“How about Mr. Dys, and Mr. Holmes?” I asked
“Not—sorry. They just got off the elevator.”
“Show them in.”
“Okay, Unc- I mean Tobias. Game face on. We’ve got a concert to sell.”
I gave Tobias my best “this is business, no-nonsense” glance and he sat taller in his seat and put on his lawyer’s face. It was the expression that said, “I’m not going to tell you how serious it is so as not to scare you, but I think we are all fucked, so straighten up.” I smirked because Tobias and my father would try the same shit on me when I was a teen and acting up.
There may have been a totaled car involved.
Nadine opened the door, and the rockers swaggered in, and when I say strutted it was just that. They strolled in like rock gods, which they were, and their attitude showed it. Oh, they may dress inde rigueurdesigner jeans and tee shirts looking like ordinary schlubs, but they pranced as if they wore Armani instead of JCrew. Blond haired Cole walked in first and slid his sunglasses down his nose and stared at me.
“Who are you? Where is Frank?” he grated with a voice filled with last night’s drinking binge.
“That,” said Jersey Dys, “is the big man’s daughter.” He didn’t add the word “dick” at the end of his sentence, but it sounds like he could have. “Jacine,” he said smoothly. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
He moved forward and gave me a very un-LA kiss on the cheek. It was a little too friendly and lingered too long. But the way his cologne slipped up my nose, and how he angled his hips toward me with the slightest touch of his hands on my hips made me want him to slide those lips toward mine.
“It’s lovely to see you too, Jersey,” I said in my best ‘this is business’ voice.
“Shot down!” said Cole too enthusiastically.
“What are you, twelve?” said Rory as he found a place on the sofa.
“Jack-ass,” snapped Cole.
Rory scoffed.
“Gentlemen,” I said. “This meeting is just about this kind of shit.”
The cuss word shouldn’t have shocked them, but it did. In an instant, all three rock gods gave me their rapt attention.
“And,” I continued, “the nonsense that happened the other night. Do you not realize how this affects your sales? How your fans reacted?”
“Don’t you worry about our fans, Jacine,” said Cole dismissively. “They like to see a little dust-up.”
“Do I have to remind you that if not for your lawyers, you’d be in jail right now?”
“Jacine,” said Jersey, “last I looked you aren’t my mother.”
“No, Jersey, I’m in charge of your PR.”
“What about Mr. Alexander?” said Rory.
“He’s in the hospital—from a heart attack—due tostress.”
I gave these rockers my legendary death stare, and all shifted in their seats like the adult toddlers they were. Tobias watched the scene with amusement in his eyes.
“You can’t—” started Cole.
