My thoughts went to Ivy and how maybe my reaction to her meant I needed to start getting out there again. Clearly, I had some pent-up energy to work off. “I’m leaning toward atheism.”
That earned me an honest-to-god laugh, and I grinned. “What about you? You seeing anyone new now?”
Fox stopped laughing and leveled me with a dark look. “Might be. But that’s not something I’m about to discuss with you, so we better move to a different topic.”
Couldn’t blame him for that. “Fair enough.” I popped another fry in my mouth and leaned back against the backrest. “So how are you doing overall?”
He shrugged. “Fine. I’m running an auto shop not far from here. Business has been good. Clientele’s steady. A bunch of fancy types, actors and producers and all that LA shit. I’m saving up so that I can open another location in a few years. Then I’ll open a few more and hire someone to manage it all. That’s my path to early retirement.”
“You still going after that, huh?” Before Fox had even graduated from high school, he was already making business plans for how he’d retire before forty.
“Hell yeah,” he said, finally picking up one of his cold fries. “I don’t wanna work for the rest of my life. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor. You know how it is. You’re living it now.”
I looked down at my burger. “You’d be surprised.”
“What do you mean? Ten-year career, all those platinum albums, and you still ain’t got enough?”
Did I want to go there with him? I hadn’t talked about the lawsuit with anyone but my lawyers and Nial, but maybe if Fox knew, he’d start to understand where I was coming from.
“I made money, but probably not nearly as much as you think,” I said, lifting my gaze back to him and taking a sip of my soda. “I had a shit contract. In short, I got screwed.”
His eyes widened. “For real? How the hell did that happen?”
“You remember how I was when it all started. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was an awkward nineteen-year-old in community college when I met Oliver. He gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, or at least, that’s what it seemed like back then. I would have signed anything he put in front of me.”
Fox stroked his chin. “So Oliver gave you a bad deal?”
“Him and his father. We were signed to his dad’s label the entire time. They wrote the contracts, and I didn’t have the money or knowledge to hire a lawyer.”
He whistled. “Holy shit. You know, something about that guy always seemed off to me.”
“Oliver?”
“Yeah. I can’t explain it, but whenever we’d talk, I’d feel like he was…scheming. Do you know what I mean?”
Did I fucking ever. Unlike Fox, it had taken me a long time to see it.
“So that’s it?” Fox asked. “There’s nothing you can do to get your money?”
“I’m fighting him in court now, but it’s too early to say who’ll win.”
“Well, fuck that. You deserve your due.” He pursed his lips. “I liked your music. Your second album was my favorite. After the shit with Iris went down, I stopped listening to it, but that was because of the association with you, not because the music was bad.”
Fox was two years older than me, and I’d looked up to him growing up. When things with Ritual Disruption first started taking off, he’d been so happy for me. Before I betrayed his trust, he’d been one of my biggest supporters. Even when I was already drinking more than I should have, he’d always made a point to call and check in. When the calls finally stopped, I was too far gone to even notice.
“Is it true that Oliver wrote everything?” he asked suddenly. “You know, I remember always thinking those lyrics sounded like something you’d write. They reminded me of that poetry you showed me back in high school.”
I winced, and Fox narrowed his eyes. Now we were really wading into the muck.
“Did I hit on something there?”
I ran a hand over my mouth. “It’s a long story, Fox. It’s literally the story of my life. I don’t know how much time you have, and I don’t want to start telling you something I won’t be able to finish.”
The corners of his lips turned up, and he leaned across the table. “I’ve got time, cousin. Maybe hearing the full story will help me understand how you got to such a bad place, and how you managed to get out.”
I lifted the burger, cold now, and looked at Fox. “Let’s eat. Then I’ll tell you everything.”
We sat in that In-N-Out for two more hours while I told him everything from the very beginning.
