Shelly shook his head. “That man. He’s still going hard.”
“Every day God send. I arrive at my desk in the mornings, he’s in that office working his life away. I leave for home atnight, he’s still working his life away in that office. Does the man ever even date?”
Shelly ignored that question. He didn’t get to be Hawk Webster’s best friend by telling Hawk Webster’s business. “But why is he going so hard now? I can understand when an A-level talent is on the market and we’re going all out for it. But why now?”
“We had major success last quarter. Now everybody’s getting bold, believing they’re the reason for the success. Renegotiating contracts is the new black. And their demands are getting crazier and crazier. And since you haven’t been here for the past two months as the gatekeeper that kept them in check, their bold butts are going over senior management’s heads and straight to The Hawk.”
“I told them to never disturb the boss. They know better than that.”
“But you told them two months ago, before you were hospitalized. They stay so stoned they can’t remember two days ago.”
Shelly laughed. He knew it too. “How are negotiations?”
“Brutal. They want what they want, but Hawk won’t budge. Not even for our biggest talent. Not even for Kemberly.”
That surprised Shelly. He figured Hawk had a thing for her. He figured he wasn’t ever letting her go.
“What I don’t understand,” said Greta, “is why is he playing hardball like that? Why would he risk losing such major recording artists?”
“That man made this company, over twenty grueling years, into the largest independently owned and operated record label in the entire country. Bigger than Arista. Bigger than Columbia. Bigger than RCA, Interscope, Def Jam, and Atlantic combined. Mainly because all those companies are subsidiaries of Sony and other billion-dollar conglomerates. They havebackup. But we’re completely independent. And the way he got ahead was by bucking the system. He’s the biggest and those artists have to pay to play to stay at Eagle. They can get more money elsewhere, that’s a fact. But they can’t get more prestige.”
“And Hawk knows it,” said Greta.
Shelly nodded. “He knows it,” he agreed as he began leaving Greta’s desk.
But Greta stopped him. “Oh, Boss?”
Shelly turned around.
“What happened here last month? Nobody will give us a straight answer, and none of us have the nerve to ask Hawk.”
“What did you hear happened?”
“They said some kid was shot by the guards and the whole front window was shattered. When I came to work that day it happened, the window was getting repaired. But that’s all I saw.”
“And now you can’t even see that. It’s as if nothing ever happened.”
“But what happened?”
“A boy band was trying out for contract consideration something like four or more months ago. I decided against signing them, so one of the bandmates, months later, decided to shoot up the place. Unfortunately for him, the guards had to shoot back.”
Greta exhaled. “We need more security.”
“And we shall have it,” Shelly said as he made his way into the double doors of the office that hadCHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDwritten just above its ten-foot doors.
But as soon as he walked in, Hawk was standing up to head out.
But Hawk stood still when he saw his best friend. “What are you doing here? I thought I told your ass to take the rest of the year off whenever they checked you out of that hospital.”
“And I told your ass that was a ridiculous suggestion even when I was still in traction. What are you doing is the question? Greta says you won’t give an inch, not even to Kem.”
Hawk stared at Shelly. Although he always made the final decision, he valued his opinion. “You disagree?”
“Hell nall. Playing hardball got you where you are today.”
Hawk smiled and grabbed his suit coat off of the back of his highbacked chair. He could always count on Shelly.
“I heard there was some action last month while I was gone. Sorry about that. He was a member of a boy band called Blood that I declined to contract.”
