“There’s no wiggle room,” Thomas swiftly cut in. “I anticipated this would be your response, so I already dug into it on the call.”
Juliet seethed. She wondered if smoke was actually billowing out of her fucking ears, because at this point, she wouldn’t be shocked if she now embodied a cartoon come to life.
Darcy had been in the industry for about two minutes; Juliet had been at this for almostten goddamn years. She had four albums with the label; Darcy didn’t even have a single one with Copper Canyon, yet! We, The Romantics weren’t making theirCopper Canyon debut until January – and Julietdespisedthe fact that she knew their album release date off the top of her head.
“Look, your collab with Darcy became the summer’s biggest hit–” Thomas started.
“It wasn’t exactly acollab,” she shot back, incredulously.
Darcy had basically posted a diss track about her, and she’d responded. Acollab?! Her manager should freaking know that.
Thomas shrugged. “Look, if we want to get down to the brass tacks: it’s high time to put this whole feud to bed. You’ve had your fun–”
Juliet arched her eyebrows, a scoff falling from her lips before she could help it. Fun? Did he really just say she’d been havingfun?
“But it’s done, now. We have spent years sculpting this image, and the longer this goes on, the pettier it’s going to look. People have enjoyed it for a little while; they eat shit like this up.” Thomas waved his hand dismissively through the air. “That’s why we’ve let it go on for as long as it has. But enough is enough. At the end of the day, this whole Darcy/We, The Romantics craze is going to burn out soon enough. Butyourreputation is still going to matter.”
Harrison tapped his knuckles against the table, the way he often did before he spoke. Like he was announcing his own importance, summoning attention before he opened his mouth. “She’s trash, and she’s going to be out on the curb where all trash ends up.” He narrowed his eyes sharply at her. “You keep giving her this attention, and all you do is devalue yourself. Who are you, if you lower yourself down tothatlevel? Down to trash?”
In spite of all of Juliet’s own issues with Darcy, every time Harrison hissed the wordtrashit made her wince inside. Because she knew Harrison really did mean it; when he looked at Darcy, he genuinely thought she was trash.
Leave it to her fucking stepfather to unintentionally drive her to want todefendDarcy for once. Jesus, she was starting to get a headache.
Thomas looped around back to the point, “Look, ‘Porchlight’ is bound to be a hit. With the drama you two have had, there’s been quite a stir. The label wants to take advantage of it; it’s good business. Actually, it’s great business.”
Essentially, by engaging with Darcy in their media battle, she’d dropped this onto her own lap. She hated it when her problems were from her own making.
“Great,” she echoed, mildly.
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in moments. Was this a record?
“I’ll need your final answer for the label today. Given where the rest of the album is already at, things are going to move at warp speed. If you agree, you’re flying out to Nashville this week.”
Juliet forced a slow, deep inhale, searching for whatever calm she’d experienced earlier today. Not happening.
Because she couldn’t help it; she was still raging inside. How in the world did it make sense that she and Darcy were being put on the same pedestal? All Juliet wanted was for things to make sense, for things to befair.
But nothing in this industry was “fair.”
Would be great if they could sometimes be a little more fair, though.
Her nails bit so hard into her palms, she wasn’t sure she hadn’t broken the skin. She glanced at Harrison once more, meeting his measuring stare.
The last thing she would do was give him any sort of satisfaction of her having some sort of emotional outburst.
In fact, she had to wonder if that was why he was here today.
Harrison didn’t take such an interest in all of her comings-and-goings, certainly not in her recording a single song on a tribute album. He’d flown up from Texas to be here for a reason, though. Perhaps it was because he didn’t want her working with Darcy. Perhaps it was because he thought it would “devalue” Juliet’s brand.
That was just enough to give her something to hold onto, to allow her to focus.
Not only would Harrison likely dislike her doing this, but… it wasShelby Linwood.
If she chose not to do this duet with Darcy, wasn’t that essentially like letting Darcy win? If she allowed Darcy’s presence to push her away from doing something she’d dreamed of – working on anything related to Shelby – since she’d been a child singing on a pageant stage, she was giving Darcy far too much power over her.
Wait –
She turned to arch Thomas a look. “JustDarcy? Or We, The Romantics?”
