“Marco lays a better smackdown than any WWE wrestler out there. But I guess I’ll have to have Ethan do it if you think Marco can’t. But Gus…” She trails off, her eyes growing wide and I shake my head, cutting her off before she gets carried away.
“No. I’m not leaving the band. In fact, we’re working on songs for our next album and this happened.” I slide my now very crumpled piece of notebook paper across her desk and resume my previous position. “Jasper thought I should bring it to you.”
Curiosity paints her features as she leans forward and picks it up, dropping her elbow to her glass desk and reading over what I wrote. My heart picks up an extra few beats, and I realize I’m nervous. It felt different when the guys read it. Even when Jasper and Vi read it. They’re my family and love me no matter what I throw at them. There’s a certain amount of strength and confidence that comes with that knowledge.
But Lyric is a different story altogether.
She’s a producer. She’s a record executive.
I hold in a breath, trying to rein myself in as my gaze casts away from her and outthe window. This is what art is, right? Putting yourself out there and allowing others to watch you bleed.
I tap my foot on the carpet, listening to the incessant ticking of my watch. It’s been minutes and this isn’t exactly a long song, so I know she’s reading it a few times. I shift in my chair, unable to handle the silence a second longer and blurt out, “Jasper thinks it should be a duet.”
The paper drops, floating from her hands to her desk as Lyric’s stunned and steady gaze meets mine. “A duet?” she parrots, and I nod my head. She pushes back from her desk, the wheels on her chair rolling her in the direction of the window, and the Los Angeles skyline beyond. She spins in its direction, staring out at the same view I just was. “You’re singing this, aren’t you? I mean, it’s why you’re here alone.”
That last part wasn’t a question, but I answer, “Yes,” all the same.
“Fuck,” she hisses out, scrubbing her hands up and down her face.
I chuckle. “That bad?”
She spins back around to face me, shaking her head adamantly. “No. It’s so beautiful and heartfelt, and it will wreck everything else that’s been done before. I mean that. I can already hear music with this, and I’d be willing to bet you can too. Like, I hear a cello, something low, mournful, and hypnotic in the background.” She lets out a self-deprecating laugh and shakes her head. “I digress. Ignore me. Do you have someone in mind to work on this with you? Add some more to it, maybe?”
Damn, I love Lyric. I love how her brilliant mind works.
“That’s why I’m here, babe.”
“I figured that much. Okay. But…shit.” She taps her lip and then slams her hand down on her desk. “It’s freaking insane, Gus,” she practically yells, and I feel my eyebrows pinching in. I have no idea what she’s talking about.
She presses a button on her phone, and two seconds later a man’s voice comes through the speaker. “My lovely Lyric,” the man says in a sing-song voice.
“Ethan, are you busy?” she asks, a touch of urgency in her tone. Ethan is Lyric’s best friend and second in command here at Turn Records.
“No,” he deadpans. “I’m sitting in my office jerking off.”
“Fantastic,” she retorts dryly, rolling her eyes at me, and I can’t help but smile. “How about you tuck your dick back in your pants and get your ass into my office. I have Gus Diamond here.”
“Oh?” he says, his voice rising an octave. “Well, in that case, I’m coming right now.” Then he lets out a loud laugh. “Pun fucking intended.” He laughs some more as he disconnects the call.
“I’d apologize for that, but it’s Ethan and there are no apologies for him.”
I throw my hands up, chuckling lightly. “It was pretty funny, actually.”
Lyric bursts out laughing. “Yeah. It really was.”
A moment later the door to Lyric’s office slams open and in walks Ethan, tall, fair, and brawny. He’s still laughing to himself, and all I can do is shake my head as I stand up and give him the bro hug and shake. “Sup, brother. How’s it going?”
“Fantastic. Only, I wish you had asked how’s it hanging. Would have fit this whole moment that much better.”
I laugh, rubbing the top of my head. “You’re making me blush, Ethan. You already know it would be you if it were to ever be men.”
“From your mouth to God’s ear. Until then, a man can dream.” He perches himself on the edge of Lyric’s desk and she scowls, reaching over and trying to push him off. He scoots on it further and I’m guessing this is a thing between them. “But something tells me you called me in for reasons beyond staring at my hot bod and listening to my inappropriate sexual banter. What’s up?” he spins around and poses that question to Lyric.
Lyric thrusts my paper into Ethan’s hand. “Read this,” she demands, rocking back in her seat and watching as Ethan lifts the paper to his eyes. “Gus is going to sing this one and he’s thinking a duet,” she says, but there is something in her cadence when she mentions duet. Almost like she’s leading Ethan on to something she has in her mind and is waiting to see if he’ll come to the same conclusion.
He reads it through and then clutches it in a tight fist, wrinkling the goddamn thing more. He pins Lyric with a look. A look I can’t fully see and certainly don’t understand. “A duet?” She nods her head. “You’re thinking—”
“Yes,” she interrupts, her enthusiasm growing. “Do you think she would—”
“She hasn’t done a duet since—”
“I know. But I think she’s perfect—”
“But—”
“I thought of that.”
Ethan fans himself dramatically, his eyes wide and bright. “Her voice with his?”
“Incredible, right? That’s totally what I was thinking. Plus, the emotion of what she can bring to this?”
“No doubt. But I’m worried about—”
“You two are driving me up a wall,” I snap, interrupting their back and forth. They’re talking without having a conversation. At least not an understandable one and it’s annoying as all sin. “I have no idea what the hell you’re even talking about.”
Ethan turns back to me. “Oh really? Like you and Jasper are any better?”
“At least we’re twins.”
“Bitch, I’m her sister from another mister.” The three of us crack up, some of the intense energy that had been building between them ebbing. “Back to this.” He shakes the paper still clutched in his hand. His gaze drops back to it, reading it once more, and nodding his head. “Yeah. A duet. And yeah…she’ll be perfect.” His eyes lock on Lyric’s, pinning her with a wary look. “If she’ll do it at all.”
Lyric throws her hands up helplessly, but there is a wicked gleam in her eye. One that tells me she’s a woman on a mission. “Only one way to find out.”
“She’s here today. Down in studio six.”