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ONE

Kale

“If you’re late, there isn’t anything in the world who can save your ass from me”

I knew better than to roll h the phone The ink wasn’t even dry on the contract I had signed with hts, and E our lives It was asos for the band Still, she scared the hell out of me

“Yes, h to be called “randrave if I didn’t Grand else

“What time will you be there, Kale?”

I blew out a frustrated breath She treated ”

“Right And where will you be?”

“Fifth floor of your office building,” I repeated the address she had told me “For a photo shoot”

“Good See you then” She hung up, and I breathed a sigh of relief

If soo if I would ju—as ourseen her at work uys had lasted so long with her breaking their balls for so est naends Gods Bands that had made their way to the top of the business with the help of a little redhead who I still wasn’t sure was an angel or the anti-Christ

Shaking ht, I tossed my phone on the bed beside me and pulled one of the pillows over et a second job to go along with our weekly gig at First Bass just to ned the one with Eotten us a killer deal with a record label that had made all that extra orth every h that I could buy my own place, a new car, and still have plenty left over to invest and live comfortably for years

That sahta house yet, because we had a tour to get through first Tainted Knights’ first tour started in a week, but first we had a photo shoot to do for all the publicity that ith it Pictures for posters, T-shirts, and other merchandise Our faces plastered everywhere as we toured the country for nine weeks I had never thought about that side of the business My head had only been on playing the dru fun I probably should have If we hadn’t had Emmie to help us, ould have all fallen on our faces in the rocker industry

It still wasn’t going to be easy Emmie had preached that repeatedly, especially with this upco tour Nine weeks Sixty-three days Fifty-six shows She said it sounded like a headache to her, but it sounded like heaven to me From the time I was four and had picked up my first pair of drumsticks, I’d knohat I wanted to do with my life It wasn’t just my passion; et where I was, and I wasn’t going to screw that up now

Whatwith us A little thing,that I’d actually ju room couch She had an entire staff that could do that for her, and she was entrusting her newest band to one of them

I had uy, a little uptight h Emmie said he was one of her best, and I expected that he was if he met her strict standards

Pushing the pillow off roaned I had to get up in eight hours to be on time Otherwise, Emmie would put some voodoo curse on me, I was sure

Setting the alarht and tried to sleep

I was up before the alaret the day over with, but that I was excited to drive my car In the week that I’d had it, I had found every opportunity to drive the ZO6 For a boy who had grown up wearing hand- into a car dealership and driving off with a brand-new corvette that was paid for was a dream come true

If only my momma could see me now

Thinking ofMaybe if I’d had the money I had now, my mother would still be alive Maybe There were sothat she would have been proud of me, I tried to put the bad ood ones

I found a parking spot across the street from Emmie’s office and quicklyI’d planned to show her so she could see I could be trusted to shohen expected That didn’t h

There was a wait for the elevators Emmie and her two partners owned four out of the thirty floor building One was used for office space, while another was a recording studio where we had worked with Shane Stevenson to record a few deotten us noticed by the record label we’d just signed with Since I hadn’t been to the other two floors, I had no idea as there, but I was about to find out since I was heading to one of them now

“She bitch at you, too?”

I turned at the sound of Sin’s voice and grinned