“What the hell are you doing here?” I greet him with a tight hug. His muscular body envelops my entire body, and I feel cherished.
“Well, Jax asked me to have dinner with you two, and I couldn’t say no. Should we go inside, it’s freezing out here! I don’t understand how people live where it gets this cold during the winter.”
Jax raises his brow. “You grew up in Omaha.”
“The last ten-plus years in LA have made me a fan of much warmer weather.”
We laugh and walk inside. Angel goes first and talks to the host. I’m still a bit lost about why we are here with him.
“I can see the wheels turning in that pretty head of yours. Trust me, it’ll be okay,” Jax whispers as we stand there.
I turn so that my mouth is closer to his ear. “What the heck have you done, Jax?”
“Wait a moment, and you’ll see.” He winks and follows the host, who leads us to our table in a secluded area of the restaurant. It feels weird to be treated like a celebrity because I’m just a regular girl from Brooklyn.
Sitting down, Angel nods to the chair opposite him, next to Jax. “Please, sit down. There’s a lot to talk about, and we don’t have much time.”
I sit down and look at the guys with an expectant look. It’s Angel who speaks first. “Okay, Soph, look, the thing is that I want to offer you a record deal.”
You can hear a pin drop in the silence around us. I don’t know what to say. He notices my hesitation. “I know I should have warmed you up before stating that, but I like to go straight to the business. The fact is that a wider audience needs to hear your voice. My executive team agreed when I introduced you to them this weekend. So, what do you think, would you be interested in discussing what a record deal with Wing Records would entail?”
“A record deal?” I ask quietly as I look around for a hidden camera and Ashton Kutcher. It’s a classicPunk’dmoment if there ever was one. With my hands shaking and my palms sweating, I pour myself some wine from the bottle that was already on our table and take a long gulp to calm my nerves.
“Yes, we would like to offer you a deal for one album first and then see how it goes before doing anything else. But if you’reanything like the videos showed, you can expect to have a multi-record deal in no time,” Angel explains.
“What videos?”
Jax speaks for the first time since we sat down. “I sent Angel the videos of you singing at the bar and King Tattoo’s birthday party, and he liked what he saw.”
My eyes start filling with tears. This is what I have dreamed of since I was a little kid. A freaking record deal. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Oh, darling, I hope those are happy tears. Come here,” Jax says and opens his arms. I hug him tightly, letting a few tears fall before getting myself back together.
I wipe under my eyes with the napkin and chuckle, a little embarrassed. “I bet you weren’t expecting that.”
Angel smiles. “You aren’t the first or last to cry after hearing the news. So, are you ready to talk business?”
I nod and carefully listen to what he’s saying. When Angel mentions an advanced payment that would cover what I owe Jax for the bills and also my da’s medication for at least a year and a half, I almost start crying again. Jax reaches for my hand under the table, and I smile because it’s at that moment I know this is his way of showing how much I mean to him. There are no words, just actions. He’s saying sorry by making my dreams come true.
29
SOPH
Currently playing: Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding
The cab ride from the restaurant to Jax’s place takes ages. When we get stuck at the lights, I turn to Jax. In a blink of an eye, he grabs my face and brings his lips to mine. There’s nothing subtle about the way he explores my mouth. And I let him. It’s like I’m the oxygen keeping him alive.
The driver clears their throat when the taxi finally stops in front of his building, and we keep going until they honk. “You aren’t damn teenagers. Get out of my taxi, and continue that trip to a pound town somewhere else.”
We laugh and thank the driver. Walking to the front door of his building, Jax takes his keys out of his pocket and opens the door, motioning me to walk in first. I feel his hand on my ass when I do, as he slaps me lightly.
“Jax, if you keep doing that, I won’t be able to wait any longer.”
“What if we didn’t have to wait?”
“What do you have in mind?”
He grins and grabs my hand, tugging me behind him to the stairwell. We go up one floor before Jax presses me against the wall near the stairs leading to the second floor. His hands roam across my body while he kisses my neck. He grabs hold of my ass and gives it a hard squeeze.
