Cadence

by J. M. Nevins

  Giselle spotted Remo passed out on one of the sofas and grabbed his ear, pinching it hard. Remo screamed out and opened his eyes. He noticed Giselle and let out a low grumble. “Ok, ok, I’m coming.”

  Giselle looked at him. “I’m missing Sully and Tony. Do you know where they are?”

  Remo shrugged his shoulders, his hair and clothes completely disheveled. “Hell if I know. Is the limo downstairs?”

  Giselle sighed. “Yes. Go down there and wait in the car.”

  Hearing commotion downstairs, Maxine roused in her bed and gasped when she noticed the naked man next to her.

  She winced from her hangover and pushed him. “Tony, wake the fuck up. I hear Giselle downstairs.” She raised her voice through clenched teeth. “Tony!”

  He started stirring and then rolled over, squinting. “Huh?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Get the fuck up! Your manager is here.” She hastily got out of bed, throwing on clothes and collecting his, throwing them at him.

  She headed down the hallway to her guest bedroom and opened it a crack. She noticed Sully fully clothed, sprawled out in the middle of the bed, completely passed out.

  She walked into the room and nudged him. “Sull. Sully, hey. Sull!”

  “Huh?” His voice sounded muffled in the pillow.

  She jumped on the bed and yelled into his ear. “Wake the fuck up now!”

  Startled, he sat up, squinting and then put his hand to his head. “Fuck. I feel like shit.” He glared at her. “Why did you have to wake me up? I was sleeping so…”

  She gave him a hard shove. “Because your manager is downstairs looking for your crazy ass. You gotta head out to Portland, you mofo. Get the fuck up, c’mon!”

  He snickered and held his arms out. “I love you, Maxi.”

  She chuckled and hugged him. She pulled back. “Ok, ok. Get your ass up, slacker!”

  He stood up and shook his head. He then turned to her. “Can you give me something for the road?”

  She met his eyes and a slow grin formed on her face. “Yes. Our secret.” She motioned with her head. “My bathroom. C’mon.”

  They passed Tony in the hallway as he was heading downstairs. Sully frowned having noticed Tony leaving Maxine’s bedroom. “Did you and Tony…?”

  She led him into her master bedroom and shrugged her shoulders. “So what if we did?” She laid out several lines of cocaine.

  Sully shook his head. “Ok.”

  She handed him a straw. “Go ahead. It was just a one-night thing. We were both drunk and high. Seemed like a good idea at the time. This morning? Maybe not so much.”

  Sully proceeded to do three lines before Maxine shoved him. “Hey, don’t hog it. I mean you’re one of my best friends, but that doesn’t entitle you to do all of my blow, you greedy mother fucker. Jesus!”

  He chuckled, wiped his nose and handed her the straw. “Sully!” He heard Giselle’s voice bellow from the first floor. He sighed. “I gotta go before G has a coronary.” She nodded, uninterested as she focused on doing lines.

  He waited until she was done and then leaned forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Max. See you soon?”

  She nodded. “I’ll be in L.A. in two days.” She sniffled.

  He grinned. “Ok. I won’t be back for a bit. I’ll tell Kit you say hi.”

  She snorted. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  He frowned. “Huh? What do you mean?”

  She met his eyes. “I haven’t talked to Kit or Alexa in months, Sully, and I can’t imagine that my moving back to L.A. will change that.”

  He stared at her, stunned. “Huh? Why?”

  “Sully Foxx! If you don’t get down here in…”

  He yelled. “I’m coming, G.” He looked at Maxine. “Tell me what happened.”

  She shook her head and folded her arms in front of her chest. She then grinned. “Go, before Giselle loses her shit. We’ll catch up when we’re both back in L.A. and I’ll tell you the whole story.”

  He nodded. “Ok. Lunch on me. I’ll call you when I get back into town.”

  She smiled. “You got it, Sully Foxx. Go blow up Portland tonight.”

  He smiled and waved as he hastily headed out.

  As awkward silence penetrated the interior of the limo where Sully sat with his fellow, hungover band members, he couldn’t help recall Maxine’s comment about not speaking to Kit or Alexa. He wondered what had happened. They had all been thick as thieves since he met them.

  * * *

  “It’s a major sales spike, Spence. I talked to Pete, he said it’s nearly beating out retail on the numbers,” Giselle retorted as she balanced the receiver on her shoulder and glanced at a report in front of her.

  Spencer sat back and chuckled. “Wow. I guess we had underestimated the impact Sully’s announcements would make.”

  Giselle laughed. “Totally. We’ve got another shipment of her singles coming in today. They’ll be ready for the show tonight. Have you talked to her yet about performing?”

  He sighed. “No. I haven’t. One thing at a time. I wanted to see the results of Sully making those announcements before I said anything. If it wasn’t making much of an impact, I would have pulled her out at the last minute. But now, I’ve got numbers to back it up. I’m gonna need that because I have a feeling this is going to be a hard sell.”

  Giselle took a seat at her desk. “Maybe not. They’re officially separated now. I talked to Kit two days ago. She’s been working through things with her therapist. She seems to be doing well. Now she can really focus on building her career. Any idea about management for her? ‘Cuz I love you, man, you’re an amazing manager, but you can’t do it full on. You’re the CEO of KMK. Do you sleep anymore managing her and running the company?”

  He chuckled. “I catch a wink here or there. As far as a manager for her, I’ve got some ideas, fireball. I gotta run and call her. I think it would be easier to talk her through this face to face than over the phone.”

  “Smart idea, Spence. Talk soon.”

  He nodded. “Yep. Thanks, G.” He hung up the phone and sat back in his chair evaluating the best angle before picking up the phone to dial Kit. When he couldn’t think of one, he defaulted to go with being completely direct. He knew she’d appreciate that more.

  The cell phone on the passenger seat started ringing. Kit had just parked the car and glanced over at it. She wondered if she should even check who was calling.

  Although calls from Sully had died out completely since he agreed to the separation, she didn’t want to take any chances. Curiosity won and prompted her to seize the phone.

  She noticed it was Spencer calling and flipped it open. “What’s up, Spence?”

  “Can you come into the office today?”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  He let out a frustrated growl. “You aren’t in a session today. C’mon, your album is almost finished. Come in for a meeting.”

  She got out of her car and shut the door, keeping the phone affixed to her ear as she headed toward the restaurant where she was meeting Kendalle for brunch.

  She let out a frustrated sigh. “No, I’m not in a session today—it’s my only day off. We’re wrapping the album tomorrow. This is the first chance I’ve had to catch my breath since this whole whirlwind. What’s up? Whatever you want to talk about, let’s talk now. I have a few minutes.”

  “It’s an in person conversation.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Are you gonna drop a bomb on me?” Her eyes then widened in horror. “Oh no. It’s bad news isn’t it? The sales are tanking and you don’t want to tell me over the phone. Billboard isn’t out yet for this week, so I have no idea how it’s going and I’ve been so busy in the studio and…”

  “Kit!” Spencer interjected to stop her. “It’s not bad news. And don’t worry about the single. Since when did you become neurotic? You’ll actually be pretty pleased when you hear how it’s doing.”

  Her ears perked up. “Really? Tell me
more. I have time.”

  “Nope. Where are you having brunch?”

  She let the hostess lead her to a table on the patio. “I’m not telling you the name of the restaurant. I’m on 3rd east of La Cienega. And no, you’re not invited. Don’t crash my brunch.”

  He laughed. “That could be one of several restaurants. Why can’t I stop by? Is it a date?”

  She giggled. “No. I’m meeting up with Kendalle.”

  His ears perked up. “Kendalle Scott? I’m glad we found out the truth about her—that she’s not Sull’s mistress. That girl is wicked talented. She’d be a good fit for the tour. Are you thinking that angle?”

  She grinned. “Now I’ve got your attention. Yes, I’m going to see if she has any interest in helping out with choreography and possibly doing backup too.”

  He smiled. “She’s gorgeous.”

  Kit waved to Kendalle and smiled. “Yeah and you know she’ll never go out with you. You’re the wrong sex. Ok, she’s here, so I gotta go.”

  “How long do you think you’ll be?”

  She frowned. “I dunno. Two hours maybe. Why?”

  “Call me when you’re heading over.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Huh?”

  “Come here and meet with me after your brunch, Kitty.”

  She groaned. “Alright. See you soon.” She shut her phone closed and got up to give Kendalle a hug.

  Annie led Kit into Spencer’s office where she threw her large purse onto one chair and slumped down into the other, melting into it as she watched him wrap up his phone call.

  As he hung up she pointed to him. “Are we doing an acquisition?”

  He shook his head and snorted. “If you’d take the time as chairman of this company to read the dossier prepared for you, you’d know that yes, we are acquiring Bullseye Publishing. It wasn’t my idea, can’t take credit for it.”

  She giggled. “Gotcha! I know we’re acquiring them. I read the dossier four days ago when you sent it to me. I just wanted to see you sweat a little and let you do your job. Sounds like it’s going well.”

  She sat back again and looked surprised. “I didn’t get the part about it not being your idea. If not you, then who is the super genius that came up with the idea?”

  He grinned and nodded, carefully sidestepping her final question. “It’s going well. That’s not why you’re here, so let’s get to it.”

  She watched him carefully and could tell he was concealing something from her. “Hold up. You just avoided my question and as chairman, I want to know whose idea it was to acquire Bullseye. That’s a fucking ballsy yet brilliant power move and whomever came up with it needs to be properly acknowledged. Who was it?”

  Spencer swallowed hard. He knew Kit wouldn’t want to hear this, but he was stuck. “One of our board members and founding partners.”

  She frowned and cocked her head to the side. “Wes Matthews? But wait, he’s not a founding partner.”

  He sighed. “No. Wes is a board member, yes, and one of our original investors. He helped with the capital raise for this acquisition, but he’s not the founding partner I was referring to.”

  He met her eyes. “Kit, there are only three founding partners and you and I are two of them. Kit, who came up with the idea for us to have a publishing division in this corporation?”

  Her eyes widened. “Sully?”

  He nodded slowly. “His idea to acquire Bullseye. He’s been tracking them—following them in the trades making the right relationships with them on the inside. He started plotting with Wes and figuring out how much capital to raise in addition to him throwing in a few million of his own money. I suspect that came from the inheritance money he had left.”

  He sat back and spun a pen in his fingers as he continued. “We discussed it a few times over the last year. He put me in touch with the powers that be over at Bullseye and before we knew it, the deal was moving. Once the transition is complete, this acquisition has the potential to make us anywhere from five million in profits on the low end to forty million in profits on the high end. Their catalog is huge. It’s a real victory for KMK.”

  She sat back in her chair, stunned. As much as she was still confused, hurt and angry with Sully, she couldn’t deny his penchant for making money. He had taken to business and finance like a fish to water that was disguised under a long-haired rocker.

  She nodded and chuckled. “Doesn’t really surprise me. The guy is more brilliant than my classmates at Wharton or any Harvard MBA when it comes to things like this.”

  Spencer nodded in agreement. “Yep. Can’t deny that. Now, he’s proposing a merch division for KMK. It’s a new idea, we haven’t had time to explore it because of his schedule, but I believe it’s viable. Pair that with our existing touring division and it could be very lucrative.”

  She grinned. “Oh yeah, that’s viable and could make us big money. Wow. Ok, enough of that, let’s get to it.”

  He smiled. “How’s Kendalle?”

  She giggled. “She’s fine and open to hearing more about possibilities for her to work on the tour, so reach out to her and discuss it. I’ll give you her number before I leave. Why am I here? Talk to me.”

  He pushed a report toward her. “Take a look at this and let me know what you think.”

  She grabbed the document recognizing it immediately. It was a sales report from Diamond Records. She had seen thousands of these over her career. She never imagined she’d be looking at one for a single of her own.

  She grinned, liking the progress she was seeing. The sales were much larger than expected. She glanced down and noticed a huge spike coming from a channel labeled ‘GTTM.’

  She pointed to it. “Damn, this is a huge spike! What retailer is GTTM? Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.”

  He nodded. “It stands for Gypsy Tango Tour Merch.”

  She frowned, confused. “Huh?”

  He leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk. He knew it would be better if he left it more generalized than specific to Sully spearheading the entire initiative. “The band’s management reached out to me. Sully and the band expressed an interest in promoting your single during radio interviews and during each show. I agreed to it. Sully started announcing it the first day your single dropped in stores. To make it easy for fans to purchase, they made it available at their merch table.”

  Kit’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She shook her head, too stunned to speak. Spencer could tell she was wavering between astonishment and annoyance. He was quick to clear up her concerns.

  He held his hands up. “It’s a pass through, Kitty. It’s merely taking up space in their merch booth. They aren’t taking a cut. They’re doing this for you.”

  He met her eyes and nodded. “Because of everything you’ve done for their careers—this is their way of thanking you. It’s been a tremendous boost for your chart position and your sales, as you can clearly see.”

  She stared at the report again. She knew in her gut that Sully was the ringleader of this entire movement. As much as she wanted to be angry with him and question his motives, her inner guidance system wouldn’t let her.

  She knew the desire that pushed him to do this was pure heart and aimed at her success. He had championed her creative efforts from the start and she was quick to recall that.

  She swallowed hard and looked back up at Spencer. “Ok. So what now?” She was desperate to snuff out the intensity of the situation and countered with humor. “Are we sending a thank you fruit basket?”

  He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly hadn’t thought of that. I can do that if you’d like but that’s not why I asked you in here.”

  His eyes met hers. “The band would like to showcase you in their last two shows—the L.A. shows. They’d like you to perform the single and two additional songs of your choice. They’re willing to learn the songs and soundcheck them with you before those shows. We’ve got a three-day lead going into it, meaning they’ll be back with plent
y of time for you to rehearse with them.”

  She stared at Spencer. “This was Sully’s idea wasn’t it?”

  He sighed. “Now Kitty…”

  She interjected. “No, I’m not mad. I understand his motives on this. I’m not questioning that at all. I’m merely confirming, Spence.”

  He nodded. “It was his idea, yes.”

  She thought about it for a moment and nodded. “I’ll do it. It will help the single plus build momentum for the album when it releases. This is something that Lew would have been drooling over. I’m a little nervous to perform my songs live, but you mentioned that we have three days and a soundcheck leading up to the shows. We can work out the kinks then.”

  Her eyes then widened as she stared at her brother. “Shit just got real, Spence.”

  He chuckled. “Indeed it has. Welcome to your new life as a pop star, Kitty.”

  * * *

  Camped out at the dining room table, Candice carefully watched Kit on the phone wondering whom she was speaking with. So much had transpired in the last few weeks with her termination from Diamond that it could be anything.

  Kit’s cheerful expression quickly turned to a furrowed brow with a touch of sadness. She pretended to get back to business when Kit ended her call.

  She hung up the phone and let out a long sigh as she glanced over at Candice. “I’ll be back in a minute. Gonna go up to the rooftop and hang out by the pool to get a change of scenery.”

  Candice nodded as Kit left the condo and proceeded to the rooftop. She took full advantage of the warm autumn day, kicking off her flats in favor of bare feet on the warm concrete that surrounded the area.

  She strolled around, admiring the panoramic view of the city, chewing on Ralph’s words from their call in her mind. The news wasn’t good. The case had gone cold on Kirby. Attempts to uncover his new identity were unsuccessful as were gaining access to sealed court records. She was at a standstill.

  Alexa had suggested they try to learn the identity of the medical professional that she came across on the same floor where Kit’s room was located, months ago when she was in the hospital after the shooting. She didn’t have the energy or the drive to initiate those efforts.