Fox: FUCK. He’ll be there and trust me, we’re as angry with him as you are.
Me: I’m not angry, Fox. Just disappointed.
And with that, I threw my phone onto the bed and went to shower off my hangover before I fired a group I really liked… well, I liked two of them, and dropping them from the label would break my heart.
I sat in the boardroom next to Neo like the united front we were, and across from us sat the three members of Alchemy Myth next to Dawson, who seemed as fucking pissed with them as we were. Archer and Fox looked like they’d dressed for a job interview, obviously realizing the severity of this conversation, while Charlie looked like he’d dragged himself out of the gutter.
Low hung black sweats, a white tee with a stain on the front that looked like coffee, his hair messy, eyes sunken, and his skin almost gray. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I couldn’t find it in me. In all the time I’d known him, Charlie had been standoffish, seemingly unable to put anyone else first. And this was just another example of that, but unfortunately, with a career-destroying outcome.
Neo took a sip of the coffee I’d picked up for him on the way in, still feeling like the assistant I’d been for the last three years.
“Fern, when do you have to leave to go to your parents?” Neo whispered.
“Tomorrow… Christmas Eve and then I need to be there until New Year’s Eve.” My heart ached at the thought of how many hours were in a week and how long each of those hours would last having to spend them with James.
“Trust me?” he questioned, and I nodded because I did. With my life.
“Boys, I gave you a chance, and this is how you repay me?” He spoke, his loud voice dominating the room as he threw copies of the news stories from around the world in front of them. Fox’s eyes blazed and Charlie physically recoiled.
“Is it over?” Archer asked, sounding pained.
Fox dropped his head, pressing his fingers to his temples.
“Dawson, we have another band for you to manage because, as of 3 pm today, Alchemy Myth’s contract with the Gods of Melody record label is null and void after repeatedly breaking the clauses of your original contract and then again for breakingthe morality clause we added to the new contract you signed yesterday,” Neo informed them. The pain on all of their faces was too much to bear, so I dropped my eyes, staring at my hands and not them.
“Neo,” Charlie whispered, the word on his lips sounding almost desperate.
“No point. I’ve made up my mind. You’re done. I gave you a chance, Charlie, and you went out and got fucked, so you’re now all over the news. Your PR team has been up since the crack of dawn, despite being at the same party you were at last night and wanting to go home today to spend time with their families. Do you think that’s fair? Do you think you’re a good advert for the label?”
Charlie sighed. “No. And it’s no excuse, but I got into an argument with my dad. He’s a lot. I was heading home, but he started texting some stuff. I lost my mind, drank more, took some…well, to be honest, I don’t remember.”
“Not really an excuse. We all have our shit. Do you know I was in so much pain last night that my husband had to carry me to the bathroom? Do you know that Addi didn’t sleep as she’s so worried something will screw up their adoption? No. Because we don’t bring that crap to work. We find other, healthier ways to battle our demons. We keep them out of the press. We show up to work and we do our jobs. You’re not doing that.”
“We can do that,” Fox reassured him, but it was too little too late. “We would do anything to make this better. Wouldn’t we, boys?” He nudged his friends in the ribs until they nodded enthusiastically.
Neo placed his hands on the table, thrumming his fingers over the glass surface again and again until the silence got too much to bear. “Well, there might be one thing.”
“Anything,” Charlie croaked, sounding as hung over as he looked.
“Go with Fern to her parents. Pretend to be her boyfriend. Make her family believe you are planning to spend a lifetime with her.”
“I’m in,” Fox offered.
“Nope. It has to be Charlie.”
“Why me?” he spluttered.
“Well, the world thinks Archer is with Ionee and has no idea she’s missing. And they know about Fox’s love of fucking… well, everyone, so no one will believe he’s choosing to settle down with one girl. That leaves you, and also, you’re the reason your band is in this shit. So, here’s my offer and just so you know, Fern had nothing to do with this. She knows nothing about it and will kill me for it after you leave.”
Charlie grunted, tilting his head upward and letting out a long sigh. “Get on with it,” he replied eventually.
“This afternoon you have an interview withMTV. They will ask you what you’re doing for Christmas and you’ll tell them you’re looking forward to spending the week with your girlfriend’s family. Then, once the interview is done so is your contract. If you manage to protect our girl for the week; make her family believe you’re together and happy. If you bring her back safe I will reinstate your contract on the condition that you behave like choir boys until further notice. What do you say?”
Chapter 4
Charlie
“What am I? Some band whore?” I spat out angrily. “Yes, I fucked up, but you can’t expect me to play the part of the perfect boyfriend for a week, to save the little princess here from what? Her big, bad, scary family?” I added a baby voice to the last sentence to make them see how stupid it was.
