"It'sAllie. Allie Donovan, and I'm not here about the merchandise table. I'm here because you haven't signed the contract revision that our attorney sent over last week, correcting the errors in the original contractyoupresented to us. You verbally agreed to the changes with Michael, but we do need your signature. You also need to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement we sent over. We received NDAs from all of your staff, but yours wasn't included." I gave her my most charming smile, which may or may not have disguised the fact that I was gritting my teeth with the effort to be nice to her. What the hell was her problem?
"Look, Annie, I'm incredibly busy and I simply don't have time for this." She opened her mouth to continue speaking, but I cut her off with a raised hand and a shake of my head.
"Jenna, let me assure you, if you don't take five minutes to sign these two documents, you'll have all the time in the world tonight, because there won't be a show," I informed her icily.
"Excuse me?" she sputtered, standing up so quickly that her desk chair rolled back and bounced off the wall behind her.
"I'm quite certain you heard me. If you don't sign the corrected contract and the NDA, the band doesn't play. That won't work out well for you or the venue owner, since this show sold out within minutes of being announced, so I suggest you find the time to pick up your pen and sign your name on both of these. I even brought printed copies in case for some reason you couldn't access the documents we emailed to you." I laid the paperwork on the desk in front of her, then crossed my arms and arched a brow at her. I didn't bother with even a fake smile at this point.
She glared at me, clearing trying to intimidate me. It didn't work. I just arched my brow even higher and returned her glare. Fucking bitch. I noticed that she'd had way too much Botox to be able to arch her brow, or even really move her face much at all, beyond a narrowing of her eyes. Michael had long ago given me carte-blanche to deal with the over-inflated egos in this business. His motto was to kill them with kindness, and if that doesn't work, then just go in for the kill. So, I stood my ground and allowed a small smirk to grace my lips, just to piss her off.
With a huff, she snatched up a pen and scrawled her name on both forms with barely a glance at them, shoving them backtoward me. She sat back down in her seat and turned to face her computer again, clearly dismissing me.
"Thank you so much, Jenna. I'll be sure to let Michael and the band know just how cooperative you've been with me," I said sweetly as I picked up the papers and left the room with my head held high. I'd only taken a couple of steps into the hallway when I heard what sounded like a hand smacking the desk and something small - a pen maybe? - being thrown at the wall. I couldn't help the snicker that escaped my lips, not that I tried very hard, mind you.
I headed back toward the merchandise table and grabbed my purse, shooting a quick wave to Miles on my way out the door. He could handle setting up the last few bits and pieces on his own. I hurried to my car, eager to be on my way. I was going to meet the guys at the venue later since I had to pick Gracie up from preschool and drop her at my parents' house on the way home to get ready. This was my first public outing as Nico's fiancée, and I wanted to take a little extra care with my appearance.
The shirts we'd ordered for tonight had been delivered yesterday. Both shirts were black, and Nico's said"Peace, Love, Equality"in rainbow-colored letters. Mine had a heart, with the phrase"I see your true colors shining through, and that's why I love you,"also in rainbow-colored letters. We wanted the world to know that we supported Tony, even though we hadn't been able to go with the group this morning. I knew that Josh and Matt were planning to wear the shirts they'd worn that morning, and Tony had one made that simply said"Yes, I am. Any other rude questions?"We were definitely making a statement, and I was damned proud of Tony for doing it.
After showering and applying a deep-conditioning treatment to my hair, I dried and styled it, showcasing the curls that Nico loved to wrap around his finger. I applied a bit more make-up than usual, still keeping it fairly natural-looking though. I pulled on my favorite pair of distressed jeans that fit like a glove and my new shirt, liking the way the deep V-neck showed enough cleavage to look sexy, but not enough that my boobs were in danger of falling out. I added a silver studded belt, a pair of high-heeled ankle boots, hoop earrings and a few silver bracelets to hide the worst of the healing scratches on my wrist, then decided that was as close to being a "rocker chick" as I was going to get.
I had arranged for a car to take me to the venue and arrived as the guys were finishing up their sound-check. As they left the stage, Nico saw me and blew me a kiss, then nodded his head back toward the dressing rooms backstage. I nodded and held up a finger to indicate that I'd be there in a minute. I took a few moments to detour up to the front near the lobby to speak with Miles. I wanted to make sure everything was ready and that his friend was still coming to help at the merchandise table. He assured me that Joey was on his way, so I made my way back toward the dressing rooms, stopping to exchange greetings with the head of security along the way. I passed Matt in the hallway, who told me that Nico had gone into the one at the very end of the hall to get ready.
I didn't bother knocking on the door, but had just placed my hand on the door handle when I heard Nico yell, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
I quickly opened it and my mouth fell open asa bare-chested Nico whirled around toward the door, with Jenna's arms wrapped around his neck. I vaguely registered that Nico's handswere raised as if he were being held at gunpoint, and Jenna looked like a rag doll clinging to him like that.
His eyes widened in horror and he scrambled to push her away from him, all the while pleading with me.
"Oh shit, Allie, this isn't what it looks like, I swear," he begged, reaching for me. I noticed her bright red lipstick smeared on his jaw. What is it with women and red lipstick? First, that redheaded hoebag who had accosted him at the Grammy after-party, and now Jenna the WonderBitch?
I let Nico pull me into his arms before I reached up to grab his chin, tilting his head to get a better look at the lipstick mark. Nico was still talking, but I wasn't paying him any attention as I peered around his shoulder to see Jenna standing there with a nasty smirk on her face. She was making a show of arranging her clothes, as if she had been in the middle of stripping, or being stripped.
