“Omg, you need to get onlinenow!” It sounded like Priyanka was either passing by some weird sounding construction or she was on public transportation. There was no telling what she was up to this morning. Aside from being the best publicist ever, she was also my unofficial assistant. The woman was a working powerhouse and always seemed to be doing something for her clients, even if it wasn’t something for me. “You’ve already almost surpassed the sales of your first album, Alistair.”
I shot up in bed. That was impossible. My first album took two years to sell over a million copies. No fucking way had I been able to sell that much so quickly.
“How close is almost?”
“The album’s already at a quarter mill units.”
I breathed a little easier, shaking my head. Priyanka always massively rounded up. Not that two hundred thousand copies of my album selling wasn’t absolutely bonkers. It was. But thinkingthat I was actually selling that much, that quickly, made me feel a lot more unlike myself. So knowing that the numbers weren’t unheard of grounded me a bit.
“Okay, that’s awesome.” I said, swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and making my way toward my bathroom. I needed to get ready for the day and I knew that Priyanka was probably going to update me about numbers and things of that nature, so I could definitely get mostly ready during that time. I sat down my phone on the sizable marble counter and put Priyanka on speakerphone to free my hands. “Has the label called?”
“I’ll call them after we get off here,” I ran a hand through my hair, seeing the action reflected back to my in the mirror. Grabbing my hairbrush off the counter, I started to tame the unruly strands of blond hair that had been ruffled by my sleep as she went on. “But everything is looking really fucking good, Alistair. The album is moving more than we thought and your getting a lot of great attention from the Fox Jennings interview.”
“Yeah, I caught most of it last night.” I nodded, putting down the hairbrush so that I could focus on the next part of my daily routine. “I didn’t like Fox’s mention of Reed, though. Especially after we told them that I wasn’t going to talk about anything concerning Reed.”
Priyanka’s sigh was a steel barrel, heavy and falling fast. “I know, I’ve already spoken to the producer about it. But you handled it incredibly, as usual.”
I preened at the praise, turning on the faucet and covering my hands in water before lightly splashing my face. “I just wanted to talk to Reed before there was any mention of us again on TV.”
“He still hasn’t returned your call from before the taping?”
“No.” I’d tried reaching out to him, to warn him about some of the subject matters on the album, but he’d yet to get back tome. I knew he was off shooting a movie in Indonesia, but it had been three days and now the time to warn him had come and gone.
The truth was, Reed and I had split months ago. The public, however, did not know that. Rumors of our separation had started circulating a couple weeks ago, but nothing substantial had been uttered from the online vultures wishing on our downfall. We’d promised each other when we’d broken up that we’d be open and honest about how we would handle the public announcement of the breakup. But now, with the Fox Jennings interview and the content of the album out there in the world for all to see and hear…well, it wasn’t going to take a genius to piece shit together.
“I’ll see if I can reach out to his agent or something.” Priyanka’s helpful suggestion pulled me out of my thoughts. I shook my head. I could worry about Reed later. “But right now, we need to talk about when you want to start tour rehearsals now that the tour’s been mentioned.”
Right, so much to do. “We’ll announce tour after the music video forBirthstone Babysurprise drops tonight. I’ve got the posts ready and scheduled for the tour announcement.”
“Amazing! Okay, so first is the BB MV release and then tour will be officially announced, so then we can talk tour rehearsals next week?”
I pumped a dollop of my moisturizer on my hand, pausing at her words. “Weren’t we supposed to be interviewing bodyguards?” My newfound fame had warranted someone going with me everywhere I went. Once I’d experienced a few fans getting a little too grabby, tearing my clothes in one instance, I’d brought up the idea of needing a bodyguard. Luckily, the label was all for funding it.
“Right!” I heard the sound of Priyanka rustling through something, likely her purse to pull out the iPad mini she wroteeverything in. I took the opportunity to finish washing my face while she got situated. “Okay, yes, we have those interviews happening tomorrow actually, I just momentarily overlooked it.”
A scoff rumbled my lips. If Priyanka would ever release a memoir, it would be called ‘Momentarily Overlooked’. “Sounds good. Just message me later where we’re doing the interviews.”
“Oh, it’ll be at the studio. I forgot to mention that earlier.”
I just let a smirk glaze my features. “Alright, cool. Well, let me hop off here, I was going to get ready to head over to the studio to check on the mix of those new songs I was working out with Blue.”
“Alrighty, keep your phone nearby and I’ll talk to you soon!” Priyanka’s cheery voice rang loudly throughout the bathroom.
“Later, Pri.” I ended the call, still wearing my incredulous mask with the upturning of my lips.
I’d meander through social media after I went into the studio, to really see evidence of Priyanka’s claims that everyone was loving the album as much as the numbers seemed to suggest.
A meow sounded off from the floor next to me, seeing Thiessen curling herself through my legs as she kept meowing. I shook my head.
“Alright, alright. Come on.”
I sauntered out of my bathroom, watching both my cats leading the way toward the kitchen where they knew their bowls resided. Before I could continue being Alistair Finn the music star, I had to be Alistair Finn the cat dad.
Chapter 3
Headbanging,I threw a smile at my music producer. The latest mix of a song I’d been working on for a couple weeks was fucking sick. Even though my second album had just come out just less than twelve hours ago, I was already working on new music.
The abrupt end of the song played, descending both of us into silence. I gave him a thick smile. “This is fucking incredible, Blue.”
