Theo pursed his lips. “Born from Ashes…that’s…”
“Julian’s band,” I finished bitterly, his name leaving such an unpleasant taste in my mouth. There was simply something about Julian Hudson that irked me to the core. “They want me to convince them to sign with us. Apparently, rumours have been circulating around the industry that they’re on their last year with Wayland and Ross.”
Theo shifted in his seat beside me. “And if you’re unable to recruit him?”
“I’m to step down from my position as CEO and let Anthony take my place whilst continuing to learn the ropes in my previous position.” The words left a dull ache in my heart. All my life, I’d made sure that I was worthy of being the chairman of the company that had been in my family for three generations and it was heart breaking for someone else to deem me unworthy.
Theo stared at me in disbelief. “They can’t do that.”
I smiled wryly. “Oh, but they can, T.”
He let out a sigh and then leaned his back on the couch and stared blankly at the wall in front of us. “What are you going to do now? Julian probably remembers you as the girl who threw him out of the hospital when all he wanted was to make sure Amber was alright. Granted, you had the right to do so knowing how he broke her heart. But throwing away all his letters, blocking him on every social media platform that Amber had and deleting every email he sent, crossed every unimaginable line.”
Theo always voiced out his disappointment at the measures that I took when it came to banning Julian’s existence in Amber’s life and the fact that Amber had no idea of what I had done. I never really used the connections that I had but I did for my best friend. All I wanted was to protect her from the man that broke her heart and I was too scared that I might lose her officially for the second time around if it happened again.
But when Theo said that Julian remembered me, I doubted it. As far as I know, he didn’t know that Amber never got his letters or emails and he would’ve simply thought that she blocked him on her own. Earlier, he didn’t seem to recognize me. Maybe there was a flash of recognition in the end when I left but I was absolutely certain that with the number of women he had been with, I would simply be another face in the crowd.
“I can call the people we went to college with. I’m sure there has to be some that are still in contact with at least one person in that band,” I said, grimacing at the thought of having to face Julian. Heck, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to do this.
I didn’t want to do it.
Theo sighed. “Or we can call Bonnie. She used to date the drummer in their band and sort of has an on again - off again relationship with him. I’m sure she would help us.”
“How do you know her?”
He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, “I had a Psychology class with her and we did a project together. Sometimes I’d hang out during parties with her since Carlos used to leave her to hang with the band.”
I blinked, staring at Theo oddly. “I never really gave much thought of your friends outside Amber and I.”
He rolled his eyes and dug his phone out of his pocket. “You’re both thoroughly cute but my life does not revolve around you two. And anyway, do you want me to call her?”
He held his phone and looked at me expectantly. I pursed my lips. I didn’t really want to contact Julian Hudson and sign their band in our company but I didn’t really have much of a say in the matter. They were a fast-rising and an in-demand band in the country and all over the world. Passing them up would be a horrible decision on my part and would also demote me back to my previous position.
But god, Julian Hudson! He was the one person I hated the most. I hated how he broke Amber’s heart and not just Amber’s but of so many girls back in NYU. I was so thrilled to know that he and the rest of his bandmates had dropped out of NYU to pursue their musical career and had there been a farewell for those idiots, I would’ve been the first in line to wish him good riddance, sarcastically of course. More than that though, I can’t seem to forget Julian’s haunting words directed at me when he was begging for a chance to see if Amber was okay or not, after he got news that she tried to kill herself.
And I hope that you will also remember everything you just said to me and pray that there will never come a day that you’ll need me.
Your task is simple, Audrey, sign Born from Ashes with us and you can lead this company how you want it.
I clenched my fists in irritation and slammed them at my sides, landing into the plush cushion of the sofa. I wanted to scream and throw something against the wall in frustration as Dick and Julian’s words swirled and echoed in my mind. The company was meant to be mine to lead and I wasn’t meant to prove myself when it was birth right and more so, there were a lot of talented bands than Julian’s. Why did it have to be theirs?
“Audrey…” I could hear the concern in Theo’s voice. He was aware, more than anyone else, of how I didn’t let things get to me easily but they also knew me that when it bothered me, I was a volcano waiting to erupt with a series of cussing which was very unladylike, according to my mother.
I chewed on my bottom lip and let out a shaky exhale, trying to calm down despite how incredibly annoyed I was with the situation I was in. “Please don’t start with me, Theo. I don’t even know if I want to contact Julian and give him a proposal to sign with us.”
“I know you hate him. I know you’re absolutely seething right now at the idea of having to sit down and talk to him about this whole situation. But may I remind you, Audrey, that this company is your birth right and although this is unfair on your part, you’re going to fight for what’s yours. So you swallow that freaking pride of yours and show that Dick what’s yours to begin with.”
God, if only it was that easy.
3
Julian
The boys were all staring at me with a blank expression on their faces as they stared at the feast that I’d prepared for them the following day. No one came home early when I got back from the meeting yesterday and everyone seemed to be too tired earlier this morning. They weren’t in the right state to take in the bomb that I was meant to drop on them at the moment, but I didn’t think there was such a thing as the right time for me break the news to them.
“As much as I love your cooking,” Carlos began, eyeing the food with an invisible drool on his chin and I knew how he was struggling with keeping himself together to ask the question, “you never cook unless something’s up.”
“Yea and you rarely call for an emergency meeting,” Dylan said, stuffing himself with the shepherd’s pie I had made.
José wasn’t commenting. He was simply staring at the food in front of him and I knew that his alcohol clouded brain was trying to piece together everything despite how hard it was for him to do so. Slowly, José looked at me with hard eyes. “What’s going on, Julian?”
I rubbed my palms together, trying to come up with the right words to lay the news on them so that they would be able to take it gently. Milo always told me that you should be sensitive when it comes to breaking bad news to other people but how does one even start on telling his peers that I’d basically brought us back to zero and unemployed?