“What day is Hearthead being interviewed byRolling Stone Magazinenext week?” Addi asked with a smile.
“Tuesday. 11 am.”
“And who is booked into the number three studio tomorrow morning?” Neo asked.
“Anatomical Hourglass. But they have it booked for the entire day, not just the morning, and it’s a closed set, so we only have one sound engineer in there with them.”
“And how many public appearances did Alchemy Myth fail to turn up for last month?” he asked again.
“Twenty-one. Well, they failed to turn up for the fifteen, and the rest they were late for.”
“The fuckers,” Neo hissed, pulling out his phone and frantically typing a message.
“Fern, you know everything. We couldn’t manage without you and we want you to be a bigger part of what we have here. What will it take for you to say yes?” Addi asked.
“You had me at ‘my own assistant’,” I chuckled, and she leaned forward, throwing her arms around me.
“I’ll have the contract drawn up tomorrow and we will announce it at the label’s party tomorrow night.”
“Thank you… both of you.” I sucked in a deep breath and let it out again, wishing I could call my sister to tell her the news, but then remembering who was a part of my family these days.
Charlie
The hammering on my door matched the hammering in my head. “Fuck off,” I mumbled, burying my head in the pillow.
“Charlie, it’s eleven and we need to be at the label by twelve,” Archer yelled.
“What?”
My door flew open. “Remember? Neo emailed last night demanding we be at the office by midday.”
“Why?” I groaned.
“I don’t fucking know, dickhead. Get up, get in the shower, and let’s go find out.”
“He can wait.”
“He specifically said he couldn’t wait. The bloke is scary as shit. Don’t make us go there without you and have to incur his wrath.”
“I’m still drunk. What time did I go to bed?”
“About five when we dragged you in there. You were on a mission to get off your face, which was why we had to stay here to babysit you.”
I let out a long moan as I tried to sit up. “Cancel. I can’t. I’m too ill.”
Suddenly Fox appeared in the doorway next to Archer, with his hands on his hips. “You’re not ill, you’re hungover. Get in the shower, now. This shit is getting out of hand.”
He didn’t wait for me to answer or move, walking over and dragging me to the en suite. Dumping me down under the freezing jet of water that made me scream.
“Fucker! What are you doing?” I cried as I stood, my head spinning and my now soaking boxers sticking to me as I shivered violently.
“Sobering you up before you get us sacked.”
“They can’t sack us. We are the highest performing band they have. They need us,” I muttered, pushing the water from my face and adjusting the temperature.
Fox shook his head. “Yeap, I’m sure that’s why they are calling us into the office out of the blue. To tell us how much they need us. God, you’re a dick sometimes. You have ten minutes before I drag you back out and throw you in the car naked.”
“You’re late.”
