I was ready for her to nod her head in agreement to my terms, in the way that we all expected she would, judging from the desperation in her voice earlier when she asked me if I had any terms. But what I didn’t expect was for her hand to collide against my cheek, slapping me so hard that my face was already stinging even before she lifted her palm off of me.
“I’d rather lose than be your slave,” Audrey hissed and without preamble, she turned around and stalked off, her nose in the air as Theo tried to call after her, rushing to follow her out.
Son of a bitch.
4
Audrey
I stared at the open ocean as the waves crashed down against the rocks, outside patio of my home in Santa Monica. I swirled the champagne in the glass and sighed, closing my eyes and running a hand through my now loose hair, feeling the slight sting in my palm from when I slapped Julian when he asked me to be his assistant.
His assistant.
“Good grief, I’d rather die than have to serve that asshole.”
“Careful or you might break that, Aud,” Theo’s voice filled my ears and I closed my eyes, loosening my grip ever so slightly on the glass so I couldn’t break it. Theo followed me out when I walked out on Julian’s offer and had tried to convince me to turn back as I drove us back to my house in Santa Monica which was actually near Julian’s Malibu home.
But I didn’t because I didn’t want to come back to Julian Hudson and say yes on his deal, agree on his terms, and lose my pride and dignity as I did so.
“Why are you still here, T?” I asked, sipping my drink as I watched the sun slowly descend, painting the sky liquid gold with a touch of light pink. God, LA sunsets were always so impeccably beautiful. I’d missed it so much when I studied in New York. “You’re not going to convince me to go back to Julian’s house and agree on his terms. You can’t possibly ask me to give up my pride.”
Theo sighed and then leaned against the railing that I was also leaning forward on. He looked at me and I stared back at the comforting green eyes I’d grown accustomed to stare at for the past five years. Ever since Amber’s incident in college and after she flew to Paris, Theo had become my rock. Through college, it had been Amber who was my support, but with her gone, I had no one but Theo who stood by me. I don’t know how I would’ve survived NYU if Theo hadn’t been there to support me.
“It’s either your pride or your company, Audrey,” Theo said brusquely, looking at me with green eyes shining with the truth, “and here, I thought you were willing to do just about anything to prove to Dick that you could run a company that was meant to be yours from the beginning.”
I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to throw the glass into the wide, open ocean. I’d never felt this kind of frustration, not even when I was a student and been bombarded with so many responsibilities, even with the responsibilities that Dad allowed me to handle with the company despite my young age to train me for the role that I was meant to fill when the time came. All my life, I was trained to become the chairman of Finch Records and now it was dangling right in front of me, within reach but not quite so.
“You don’t need to remind me, Theo,” I said quietly, sighing and then resting my head against his shoulder, “but be his assistant? Theo, I hate the guy. He’s right. I’d rather dig his grave than be in the same room as him.”
“Audrey,” there was a slight tone in Theo’s voice when he said my name, which made me look at him. His green eyes were downcast, “it’s been five years. If this is still about Amber, even she has moved on. Don’t you think it’s time for you to?”
“Are you telling me that maybe I should stop hating him?”
Theo pursed his lips. “I’m telling you that maybe it’s time for you to be a little more reasonable and cut him some slack. You need him, Audrey. You need his band to sign with your company so your company could be yours. Put your pride aside, just this once. Maybe you could do it even just for a month since that’s all he’s actually asking for, Aud.”
I clenched my fist around the neck of the glass. “I think it’s time for you to go home, T.”
Theo sighed. “It won’t kill you if you do, Audrey. It’ll even help you out.”
With that, Theo left me alone at the patio of my house, with a glass of half-filled champagne in my hand and the picturesque view of the descending sun as I thought about failing my parents. Losing the company would only devastate, especially after my father’s current condition and I couldn’t do that to them.
But I also wasn’t sure if I could hold up being Julian’s assistant for a month when I hated the man to the core.
My phone began to buzz in the pocket of the pants that I was wearing and I pulled it out to see that Amber was calling via FaceTime. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her name and I answered without hesitation. “Oof, what’s with the long face, buttercup?”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I sank to the ground, setting the glass of champagne beside me. “The world hasn’t been kind to me.”
I was pouting and Amber laughed at the sight of me and I knew how I must’ve looked like to her. In a very thin black shirt, hair loose over my shoulders and the wind messing it up, makeup smeared around my face because of the number of times I’d rubbed my palm against my face in frustration.
“How’s the mission ‘recruit Julian Hudson’ coming along?” Amber asked as I watched her lie down on her fluffy white bed. She was still in Paris, working her way into being a fashion designer. She always sent a sample of her best work for me to wear and I knew that she was on her way to make a name for herself.
I told Amber about what was going on with me yesterday, right after the meeting, sending her a message that there was an emergency. I ranted to her on FaceTime and she convinced me to give it a shot, so I called Theo and had him contact Bonnie. It was all unfair to me and I couldn’t comprehend why- of all bands that there were in this world- did Dick want me to recruit Julian Hudson and his band.
“A complete and utter fail,” I replied monotonously. Amber’s eyebrows furrowed and she gave me a look. I pursed my lips and sighed. “He wanted me to be his assistant for a month, Amber! I’m not going to do that! I don’t want to do that!”
Amber sighed and then her Persian cat crawled to her, nesting over her head as she reached to stroke her fur. “And let’s say you agree to what he wants, would he sign with you guys?”
I stood up, carried the glass to the kitchen and made my way to my room, thinking over what Julian had said earlier. He demanded to have an assistant, to have me as his assistant. He said that if I could pull it off within a month, he would sign with us. I dropped on my bed and laid on my stomach as Amber patiently waited for my response.
“I think so,” I said quietly, twirling my hair with my fingers as I waited for her response even when I already had an idea of what it was going to be. She would want me to go back to Julian and probably make me beg him to consider the offer I made, tell him that I was agreeing to his terms as long as we made a deal that he would agree with mine.
“He’s not the devil incarnate as you make him out to be, Audrey,” Amber said quietly and all I could do was stare at her through the screen. Despite all the heartache that Julian Hudson had brought her, she still had a soft spot for him and I couldn’t really understand why. For one thing, Julian never apologized to her- well, I might have something to do with that- yet Amber easily forgave him which was something even I couldn’t do.