Hitting the Right Note

by Rhonda Bowen

  She grinned but took his advice. How had she ended up with this man? He was definitely worth the wait. So gorgeous, so amazingly kind, and so unbelievably understanding. Other guys would have thrown a fit. Other guys would have made demands. But Simon was giving her so much room to breathe that she almost wanted to beg him to tie her down.

  “Speaking of being around, they offered me a position here in the University Health Network,” he said, dishing some of the salad onto his plate.

  JJ’s eyes brightened. “As in a permanent job?”

  “More like a long-term contract,” Simon said. “It would be after I get back from Malawi, of course, but it would have me in Toronto for a longer time after that.”

  “Would something like that even interest you though?” JJ asked. “I know how much you love to travel.”

  He swallowed his bite of salad. “I haven’t said yes. But I’m thinking about it.”

  JJ dropped her chopsticks again and twisted in her chair till she was facing him.

  “You’re thinking of staying here?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  Something was happening in JJ’s chest. It was like someone had placed a balloon there and was slowly filling it with air. Filling it and filling it until she couldn’t hold anymore. She also couldn’t breathe or speak. All she could do was launch herself at Simon, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. She didn’t care who was looking or what people might think. They didn’t understand what was going on, what this man was considering for her. Tears she didn’t expect or understand began to leak from her eyes, and she began to tremble.

  “Hey, hey,” he said, holding her gently. “I hope those tears mean you’re glad.”

  JJ nodded, still unable to speak.

  “Was that a yes?”

  JJ pulled back so he could see her face.

  “Yes,” she said. She pressed her forehead against his before kissing him softly. “Absolutely yes.”

  Chapter 36

  By the time her plane touched down at LAX in Los Angeles, all the serenity that JJ had acquired from her last few hours with Simon had dissipated. She was nothing but a ball of nerves. Her sister’s words came back to her in full force. She really shouldn’t dread coming back to work. Especially when work was doing the one thing she loved most in the world. Something was definitely not right with this picture.

  As she walked through the airport, pushing her luggage on a cart and looking for the signs for a taxi stand, another sign caught her eye. One with her name on it. One with Miles holding it. She hurried over to him.

  “Miles! What are you doing here?” She hugged the bulky security guard, more out of surprise than real enthusiasm.

  “I’m here to take you to the hotel,” Miles said with a smile. “What else?”

  “Special treatment?” JJ asked. “This is new. Did everyone get a raise or something?”

  Miles chuckled and took the cart from her hands, leading her out the doors to the pickup area where his signature black SUV was parked. This one, however, had California plates, so she knew it wasn’t the one he’d had in Atlanta or New York.

  He opened the back passenger door for her and her mouth fell open.

  “Deacon?”

  “Shhh,” he said, glancing behind her to make sure no one noticed them. “Will you get in and stop alerting the whole airport that I’m here?”

  She slipped into the vehicle and closed the door as Miles loaded her luggage into the back.

  “Okay, now I am officially worried,” JJ said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine,” Deacon said. But his eyes were hidden behind his usual dark glasses, so she couldn’t verify.

  “Then why are you picking me up?” JJ asked. “Are you going to be needing my help again?”

  “No,” Deacon said. He waited until Miles was in the vehicle and they had pulled away into the traffic leaving the airport. “I’m actually here to do you a favor.”

  JJ’s curiosity was officially piqued. She settled back in her seat, turning questioning eyes on Deacon.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Good,” Deacon said. “Because I am about to tell you something completely confidential. No one knows but me, Miles, my lawyer, and one other person. You can’t tell anyone else.”

  Great. More secrets. JJ took a deep breath. “Deacon, I don’t know . . .”

  “I’m leaving Sound City.”

  JJ snapped forward. “You’re leaving the label? What. . . how. . . but you . . . what?”

  “I’m serious,” Deacon said, his face hardening. “I’m done with Hugh Kelly and his money-making machine. This tour extension? They just sprang it on me. I didn’t ask for it, didn’t agree with it. And it’s been like this for the last couple years. I feel like I have no control over my own life, and I can’t live like this anymore. I’m out.”

  “Deacon,” JJ began. “Clearly you’re upset about everything. But no one just leaves their label. Those contracts are tighter than a celebrity prenup.”

  “This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing, JJ,” Deacon said. “My lawyers have been working on this for over a year, trying to find a way out for me. I have eighteen months left in this prison, and so even if I leave them I won’t be able to perform until that time runs out. And since any new material I would want to put out would come under their purview, I probably won’t be recording either.”

  “That’s terrible, Deacon,” JJ said. “You live for performing. Are you really ready to give all that up for a year and a half? What will you do?”

  “Focus on what’s important, and who’s important in my life,” Deacon said, looking at JJ purposefully. “Deal with a lot of my responsibilities that I’ve had to neglect because of this life I’ve chosen.”

  JJ nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. He wanted to be more involved in his son’s life. He was making this decision for Xavier as much as he was for himself. Clearly a lot had happened in less than a week.

  “Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because it changes what I can do for you at the end of this tour,” Deacon continued. “You have amazing talent, and if things were going better, I would make sure you were a part of my team. But now I can’t do any of that. As it stands, at the end of the tour, She-La will be disbanded and you will be back on your own.”

  JJ sighed and eased back into her seat once more. She had been thinking about what would happen with the band after the tour. She had heard about artists like Prince helping their band members develop careers of their own. It wasn’t unheard of in the industry, and at the very least she had hoped that her time with Deacon Hill would give her the exposure and the connections she needed to further her music career. But now it seemed like there would not be as much of that as she thought.

  “Look, I have friends,” Deacon said, leaning toward her. “I can look into a few things for you. But honestly, once this firestorm with the label starts, I’ll probably be in industry quarantine. Fighting with your label is bad for business, and no one really wants to be associated with that.”

  “Yeah, I know,” JJ said. “I’ve heard.”

  “It sucks, but this is the only way I know to get my life back.”

  “Thanks for giving me a heads-up,” JJ said. “Does Sabrina know about this?”

  Deacon snorted. “She’ll know the same time her daddy finds out. Then she’ll have to find some other man to manipulate.”

  JJ frowned. “What are you talking about? Who is her dad?”

  Deacon looked at her as if she had asked who was the current president.

  “Hugh Kelly. Didn’t you know that?” Deacon asked, surprised. “Why else do you think she has so much pull?”

  The pieces began to click together in JJ’s mind like a puzzle. Sabrina’s father owned Deacon’s label. That’s why he kept warning JJ about Sabrina. That’s what Miles had meant the night she called him to pick up her and Deacon. And that’s why no one was willing to get in the
middle whenever there was a fight between Deacon and Sabrina. Just one word from Sabrina and any of them could be gone in an instant. No one was willing to take that chance. No one except JJ, because JJ was the only one who hadn’t known.

  “So you’re dating the daughter of the label’s owner?” JJ asked. “Is that why she’s in the band? Did she even have to audition?”

  She heard Miles chuckle from the driver’s seat and Deacon grinned.

  “You’re really going to have to stay more informed if you want to survive in this industry.”

  Moments later they pulled up in front of JJ’s hotel. JJ lingered in the backseat as Miles got out to retrieve her luggage.

  “I hope everything works out with you and your son,” JJ said quietly. “You both need each other.”

  Deacon nodded. “Thanks.”

  JJ opened the door.

  “Remember, no one else,” Deacon said as she stepped out.

  JJ nodded. “You have my word.”

  She waved to Miles and trudged wearily into the hotel lobby. She barely registered what the clerk said as she checked in, but just knew that her bags would be sent up to her room. She was more than happy to take the stairs to her fifth-floor room. It would give her time to process everything that Deacon had just told her. First the tour extension, now Deacon leaving the label. The past two days had been crazy. But when she slipped the key card in and opened her hotel room door, she knew that the madness had just begun.

  Chapter 37

  JJ grabbed the nearest object and threw it as a surge of energy powered through her.

  “You sneaky, conniving bastard . . .” The vase near the hotel door missed its target and went crashing into the wall behind. “I have been calling you for the past two days and you didn’t even have the decency to pick up the phone and answer?”

  “Wait, I can explain . . .” Rayshawn ducked as JJ’s structured Coach purse came at his head.

  “You can explain how you went behind my back?” Her left wedged sandal went first. “Made decisions for me without consulting me? All because you were mad at me?”

  Her right wedged sandal followed swiftly after, striking him in the shoulder. He groaned and rubbed the injured spot.

  “No, JJ, it’s not because of that,” Rayshawn said, backing away. “Can you stop throwing things and just listen? Please?”

  JJ did want to stop throwing things, but only so she could put her hands around Rayshawn’s neck. She was so angry at him, and she suspected it was not just because of what he did with her contract but also because of all the other things he had done to hurt her. Things she had ignored or allowed him to brush aside. And with everything that had happened so far, she was too tired and too frustrated to have any more patience with him.

  She closed the hotel room door with a slam.

  “You have sixty seconds,” she said, folding her arms. “Start talking.”

  “We only have a verbal agreement with the label for the tour extension,” Rayshawn said. “Nothing is in writing, therefore nothing is binding. That’s the point of this morning’s meeting—for you to sign.”

  “That’s my point, Rayshawn,” JJ snapped. “You didn’t give me a chance to agree or not. I never got to decide if I wanted to continue with this tour or not.”

  “That’s fine,” Rayshawn said. “’Cause you’re not signing on anyway.”

  JJ’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand.”

  “If you’d have a seat,” Rayshawn said, motioning to an armchair in the sitting area, “I could explain.”

  JJ glared at him for a long moment, gaining a tiny bit of satisfaction from the way he twitched under her fierce look. When she felt he had suffered enough, she sat down on the nearest couch and waited.

  He took a breath and chose the armchair opposite her.

  “I told you, JJ, everything I do, I do for you,” Rayshawn began. “You know I care about you, but it’s not just that. I know that you are talented. I know you’re going to make it big. I believe it. And when I saw how they responded to you at the audition for Deacon and got the reports on how things are going on the tour, I knew we had to take advantage of that.”

  “The label has you and all the other singers for She-La on a tour contract, which means that when the tour expires, so does their relationship with you. I did a little checking and realized that Kya and Diana aren’t signed to any agency. In the past couple weeks we signed them with us. They are now under Franklin and Forbes management.”

  “So basically you now manage almost all the members of She-La,” JJ said, beginning to catch the drift of where he was going.

  “Exactly,” Rayshawn said, his eyes lighting up. “With everyone in one place, we can negotiate with you as She-La, versus individual members. Do you know how much more power that gives us? Especially now that they want to extend the tour and have to sign all of you on for the additional shows?”

  “Yeah, I get it,” JJ said. “Now you can strong-arm Sound City for more money.”

  Rayshawn shook his head. “You’re still thinking too small, JJ. This is way past money. We’re talking about your future here. She-La is making a name for itself with Deacon Hill. We don’t want that to end with the tour. With all of you under the same management, we can negotiate for a development contract. We’re talking about two, three years of label money and resources dedicated to making She-La the next Destiny’s Child.”

  The anger began to slide away as JJ started to understand the full picture.

  “This is your future, JJ.” Rayshawn was now sitting at the edge of his seat, fully animated. “You told me you were tired of feeling like a pawn in everyone else’s game. Well, this is the chance to make it your game.”

  It was tempting. So tempting that she almost forgot that she was angry with Rayshawn. Almost.

  “You’re forgetting one thing,” she pointed out dryly. “You don’t have Sabrina. And since her daddy owns the label, she’ll never sign with you.”

  “True,” Rayshawn said. “But the label is trying to extend this tour and finalize this agreement within three weeks. It’s much easier to get one person to play ball than find three new band members. The numbers work in our favor. Besides, we’re offering Sound City first dibs on giving us the development contract. If they agree, Sabrina gets to stay a part of the band.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Torrina plays keyboard, and her contract with Jayla Grey is up at the end of the summer,” Rayshawn said with a shrug. “We’ll dye her hair red and paint on some freckles.”

  JJ almost laughed until the she realized that Rayshawn wasn’t joking.

  “You can’t be serious,” she said. “You think you can just replace Sabrina with Torrina and no one will notice?”

  “I do,” Rayshawn said. “And even if they do notice, no one will care. Think about it. Does anyone even remember who the original third and fourth members of Destiny’s Child are? No. They only remember Beyoncé, the headliner. You’re the headliner, JJ. You could be the next Bey. And all this drama around you and Deacon in the tabloids? That only boosts your stock.”

  JJ couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was another of those reality-check moments where she was reminded that only about 10 percent of the music industry had anything at all to do with music. The rest was promotion, image, and fabrication.

  “I can’t listen to this anymore.” She got up and headed to the hotel refrigerator. She needed some juice, water, anything liquid and cold to snap her out of the craziness that was happening.

  “I know this is a lot to take in,” Rayshawn said. “But you have some time to absorb it all. Like I said, no one’s signing anything this morning. In fact, I’ll be going with you to meet with Andrew. Kya and Diana are gonna meet us there. We’ll request the modified contract then.”

  JJ took a sip of the water in her hand and turned to look at Rayshawn. “You’re really confident this will work, aren’t you?”

  “Completely.” Rayshawn leaned back, his h
ands locked behind his head. “They say yes? We have a developmental contract for two years. They say no? We have two other labels waiting to sign us on. This is a win-win for all of us.”

  “And just out of curiosity,” JJ asked, her eyes narrowed, “who would be managing She-La?”

  He grinned. “Who do you think?”

  Two more years being managed by Rayshawn? She took another long gulp of water.

  “Anyway, there will be lots of time to talk about this in the next couple days,” Rayshawn said. “Right now we need to get over to Sound City.”

  JJ finished her water, her brain too numb to think anymore.

  “Let’s go then,” she said, walking over to the corner to retrieve her shoes. “Might as well get this over with.”

  Rayshawn raised an eyebrow as his eyes ran the length of her ripped jeans and tank top. “Uh, not that you don’t look great, but aren’t you changing?”

  “Why get dressed up?” JJ asked as she retrieved her purse and its contents from the floor. “With the mess you’re about to start over there, why risk getting my good clothes dirty?”

  Rayshawn smirked but got up and headed to the door. “I guess you do have a point there.”

  JJ closed her eyes and whispered a quick prayer.

  Lord, help me. I have no idea what I’ve gotten into.

  Chapter 38

  JJ had never heard grown men shout the way they did at Sound City.

  It began with the frown that slid onto the label’s lawyer’s face almost as soon as all four of them walked into the narrow conference room. Andrew, Kate, and the lawyer had expected only two.

  “What’s going on?” the lawyer asked. “I thought we were just meeting with JJ Isaacs this morning.”

  “There’s been a slight change,” Rayshawn said, sliding his chair closer to the table.

  Kate and Andrew exchanged a look that suggested they suspected what was about to go down.

  Kate clasped her palms together. “Care to expand?”

  “As you know, these three artists previously negotiated their contracts with Sound City individually,” Rayshawn began. “However, since they all are now under the management of Franklin and Forbes, we would like to negotiate their tour extension as a group.”