Letting out a loud and prolonged sigh, I could see the disappointment on Reed’s face just as clearly as I could imagine the dimples he had when he smiled. “I believe you, but that’s exactly what you did, Alistair.”
“I know.” I nodded to the empty space around me, standing up from the chair and resuming my earlier pacing in front of the large studio windows. “And that sucks. But I’m really sorry, and I’ll make whatever statement about the breakup that you want.”
“Right, we haven’t pubically broken up.” Reed chuckled, which put my mind at ease, if only a little. “I’ll text you something and we’ll figure it out. Together, like we planned, okay? Despite everything, you know I still have love for you.”
I nodded, feeling the prickly cactus-like tears prodding at the rims of my eyes. I really hated that Reed and I weren’t able to make things work because at the end of the day, he was a great guy. He just wasn’t the right guy for me, and vice versa.
“Together,” I agreed, again nodding for no one. “I still have love for you too. Just send me what you think regarding the breakup plan to get started.”
“Will do.” I could picture that dimpled smile even better now that I was hearing it in Reed’s voice. “I’ll talk to you soon. Goodbye, Alistair.”
“Sounds good. Goodbye, Reed.”
Ending the call felt like much more than that as I placed my phone back in my pocket. We’d broken up what felt like ages ago, but having to relive and revisit everything again now that everything was poised to hit the public was agonizing.
I didn’t want to focus on that, not right now. I mentally shook myself and headed back to the room I’d booked with Blue. Once I closed the door back behind me, Blue’s silver head careened in my direction.
“Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” I sighed, letting a minuscule smile tickle my features. I sat back down in the chair next to him, crossing my legs and staring at him knowingly. “Now, back to tour.”
“Sounds serious.” Blue chuckled under his breath, finishing his typing across the keyboard before the mixing board as he ended what he’d been doing in my absence and turning his chair toward me. “What’s going on?”
“Well, now that I’m doing my first headlining tour, I have to think about who the hell I’m going to have out there every night with me, opening the show for me.” I rolled my shoulders, suddenly very nervous to say these words to him. Which was dumb, because I trusted Blue with my life. He was the second most important person in my life. Fourth if I counted the lives of my cats. “Well, I’m bringing it up because I know you’ve been toying with the idea of releasing your own music, with you as the artist, and I think opening up for me on tour is a great opportunity to do that.” Blue’s eyes flared in response, soaking in the intention of my words, but I kept going. “I want you to open the Cutting Diamonds Tour, Blue. I hope you’ll say yes.”
Watching Blue struggle with his words was both adorable and aggravating. As his friend, it was really sweet to see him at such a loss for words. But as his business partner, I kind of needed an answer. Reminding myself of my tendency to rush things through, especially after my call with Reed, Alistair the friend won over Alistair the boss.
“Alistair, I can’t. There’s got to be a better business opportunity for you, other artists to consider that could keep boosting your career and—”
“And I don’t want those artists,” I shook my head, a lazy smirk on my lips. “And I don’t need the boost. I wantyou.”
He stammered again, but managed to get out, “I don’t even have cuts of the solo songs I’ve been working on, they’re not ready.”
“So get them ready.” I shrugged. “Tour doesn’t start until January, you have plenty of time.” Reaching over, I placed a hand on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have any of this without you, Blue. There’s no one else I’d rather share this with than you. As much as I love having you as my producer, you’re so fucking talented and the world deserves to be as obsessed with you as I am.” Blue rolled his eyes at that, but the smile on his face let me know he still appreciated the praise. “I can see it now. Blue Metal and Alistair Finn,” I extended my hand out in front of us, spreading out my fingers to gesture to my invisible vision. “Tearing up the stage every single night together and the crowd losing their shit.”
“Well, I don’t know about that.” He patted my hand where it still resided on his shoulder. “Maybe they’ll lose their shit for you.”
“Only until they get to experience how fucking incredible you are.” I said sternly, my determination to get him to accept evident. “You’ll get to feel out whether or not you want to be Blue Metal the artist or if you prefer being Blue Metal the producer. Either way, you’ll know exactly what you want.”
I let my pleas simmer around him, releasing him of the physical contact as I retracted my hand. Even though I really wanted Blue to do this, I would completely respect his decision to turn it down. I had always wanted to be at the forefront, always wanted to be on stage. Blue was used to being by the mixing board, not behind the booth. I could imagine how hard it was to separate one’s self from that, especially when you weren’t sure if that version of yourself that had only ever occupied your mind could find the same life in the real world.
“Alright,” Blue finally said, sighing but leaning back in his chair and giving me a goofy grin. “If you want me to ruin your tour, who am I to not let you?”
“For fuck’s sake,” I sputtered with laughter, taking the arms of his chair and swirling him in place. His own laughter cut through the air as he spun around. He stopped himself, righting his movement to stare back at me. “You’ll be amazing, Blue. And I’ll feel more comfortable with you with me on this journey.”
“Well,you’llbe great.” Blue assured me, patting my thigh. “You deserve the world, Alistair. It’s time you get a chance to see the fans prove that to you.”
At a loss at that sentiment, I just smiled back at Blue before pulling him into a heartfelt hug. As we came out of the embrace, I felt a bit better knowing that Blue was going to be with me on tour.
The next step? Making sure I could get a bodyguard to properly secure my safety.
Chapter 4
After the conversationwith both Reed and Blue, I'd decided to not surprise drop the music video forBirthstone Baby. Which meant I was slightly delaying the official announcement for tour, but I was more focused on finding a halfway decent bodyguard.
I hadn't had an incident with a fan being too much, but I wasn't going to wait for it to happen. Priyanka had woken me up the next morning, telling me that interviews were happening down at the studio within the hour. So after rushing my shower and feeding my cats, I was catching a Lyft down to the studio.
The first couple interviews didn't go so well. It was, unfortunately, clear that they were massive fans and only there to see me. Which was a nice sentiment, but this was business. I loved meeting with fans but this wasn't the place for that.
