SCREWING THE BILLIONAIRE
By Alexa Davis
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Alexa Davis
From the Author
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Chapter 1 – Xander (Monday)
“In a world where everyone gets their news on the Internet, you still get your news the old-fashioned way… from a newspaper! What is it with you, Xander?”
My friend Michael sounded like he was teasing me, but I knew better. There was an edge to his tone, an anger bubbling deep inside, but he was doing his best to control it because we were in public. He didn’t want everyone in the coffee shop to know he was an irrational hot head.
I smiled secretly to myself, knowing that at least I had the tools to calm him down. Not many people did, so I was lucky, especially considering I had to work with him every single day.
“How’s it going, Michael? Anything wrong?” I kept my tone calm and considered as I folded up my paper, not rising to his bait.
“Just fucking traffic… It’s as if no one in the whole of New York is ever in a rush. If they have forever to dawdle in a line of cars, that’s up to them, but I have lots to do. I can’t be wasting time waiting around, you know.”
“Yep, you’re the most important man in the city,” I teased, smirking in his direction “I’m sure you’re right. None of those bankers, CEOs, or whoever need to get to work at a certain time.”
Making light of the situation was the only way to make Michael forget his temper. If I gave him anything else to rant about, he’d be going on for hours. Much as I enjoyed mocking him, we didn’t have time for that. A busy day lay ahead of us.
“Yeah, well, fuck them. Whatever.” He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture as he joined me at the table, clutching his morning coffee as if it was a lifeline – a sentiment I fully understood. Late nights came with the territory when you worked within the music industry. “Anyway, who’s coming in today? The studio’s all booked out, right?”
“Yep, we have Aiden Smith recording today. His manager booked him in all day long because rumor has it he’s a bit of a nightmare.” I rolled my eyes, already having prepared myself for a day of drama, but that information only served to piss Michael off further. “So that should be a whole load of fun.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? That’s all I need: a diva. Who is this guy? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him before.”
Uh oh. Michael’s anger was rising again. He hated people who thought they were better than they were, which was an unfortunate side effect of this career choice.
“Nope,” I replied. “He’s a newbie, so if he does have a diva-like temper, then it’s out of nowhere. He certainly hasn’t earned it.” To be perfectly honest, I didn’t like it much, either. I wasn’t sure why anyone would ever think they were better than anyone else. I always tried to treat everyone like my equal. I hoped that was part of my charm.
“Right, I guess it’s up to me to bring him down a peg or two!” Is it just me, or does Michael’s mood seem improved now that he has someone to take his anger out on? “Let’s get going, I don’t want to be late for this precious little asshole.”
“Be nice,” I warned, following him, but I already knew that my words were falling on deaf ears. Better him than me, I suppose. I’d experienced his temper more than my fair share. And if this guy deserved it, then why the hell not?
My mood lifted as we walked to work. I absolutely loved music – it was my one true passion. I’d grown up obsessed with new sounds, following the charts like they were a religion. So, when I inherited some money on my twenty-first birthday, I brought my own studio and record label. It was all I’d ever cared about, and that had shown through my work.
I’d quickly made my fortune, but that wasn’t all it was about for me. I didn’t care how much money I made, as long as I had enough to live on. It was all about enjoyment.
I loved my job. I was one of the lucky ones who adored what I was doing, and for that reason alone, I’d probably do this for the rest of my life, right up until the day that I died.
Sure, there were some downsides, such as working with people who felt they deserved star treatment far before their time. But on the whole, it was awesome. I got to turn my passion into a living – not many people could say that. I didn’t ever take what I had for granted because I never wanted to lose it.
***
“Can we take this from the top again?” Michael yelled out through gritted teeth. His temper was bubbling. He was doing an amazing job of keeping it under wraps, but that was only because we’d been at this for hours.
The morning had quickly rolled into evening, and we’d made absolutely no real progress. Michael knew blowing his top would only keep us all here that much longer... and by this point, no one wanted that.
Aiden was more than a nightmare; he was the worst person I’d ever worked with. I was about two seconds from throwing him out of the studio myself. Never had I met someone quite so self-entitled without any career to show for it. If this guy ever did make it big, he would be utterly unbearable, and I didn’t want to have any part in that.
“But we’ve done it already,” he whined pathetically, trying a different tactic. Shouting hadn’t gotten him anywhere, making outlandish demands had landed him with nothing, threatening to storm out had had no reaction… Whining was all he had left.
“I just want to go home now. I’ve got a party to go to, and I don’t want to be too tired for it. This isn’t fair; I’ve been working for hours now.” God knows what he’d do if he actually had a real job! If he thought this was difficult, he had no idea about life.
“You need to sort your priorities out,” Michael warned. “Parties aren’t a God given right, especially if you haven’t even recorded anything.”
“But I’ve been doing it all damn day long.”
Aiden glowered, as did Michael. The air grew thick with the standoff, and I knew I was going to have to intervene.
“Take five, guys,” I announced loudly. “We’ll come back to this in a moment. There’s no point in rolling your eyes, Aiden. You aren’t getting out of here until this is done. You aren’t the only one missing out on whatever you had planned tonight, so I suggest you stop being so selfish.” Yep, he’s getting to me now, as well.
He stomped out, grabbing a cigarette from a pack in his pocket, causing me to huff angrily, too. What the hell is the point of smoking if you want to be a singer? If your talent is in your voice box, what is the point of throwing all that away over a dirty habit? People didn’t even think smoking was cool anymore; it was just so pointless.
“What are we going to do about him?” Michael demanded, flopping down in one of the studio chairs. “We need to get this shit finished today. I cannot spend another minute with him. I won’t come in tomorrow if he’s here. I hate his little asshole guts.”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, feeling defeated, too. “It’s a shame that his sound is so generic. There isn’t a whole lot that we can do with it, really. If he had something a bit unique about him, we could work with that. We could do something with the sound department to save on time.”
We both fell silent for a moment, pondering the dilemma. There didn’t seem to be any solutions, which was driving us both crazy. We took this very seriously, Michael as much as me, which was why I’d always keep him around. But it seemed like this issue was without an answer.
“I know this doesn’t help us right now, but what we could use is a new sound.” Michael nodded as he spoke. “We need someone unique. We need to have something different, something that stands out. This generic crap will only last so long. If we can find someone who defies the crowd, then we won’t have to deal with this sort of stuff anymore.”
“You’re right.” I could feel that familiar excitement growing within me once more. “Yeah, that’s exactly what we need. We need to get our hands on some new talent, but nothing like Aiden.” My mind whirred, racing over the possibilities. “I don’t know what we need exactly, but I feel like as soon as I hear it, I’ll know.”
Unfortunately, before we got too deep into our conversation, Aiden’s voice boomed back down the hallway, reminding us both where we were. “Come on, then, let’s get this done!” he yelled loudly, only rasping a little bit.
“Come on.” I grinned at Michael. “Let’s just get through this nightmare, then we can start looking for someone new. I’m excited for that now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, we’ll have to draw up a plan, decide on what we want. Then we can work out where to go looking.”
We were both thinking about the next project now, barely concentrating on Aiden at all, which left him with no audience for his moods. That actually worked in our favor because it seemed to spur him forward. What we ended up with wasn’t amazing, but it would do.
Especially considering it was midnight and we all had better things to be doing. Aiden had his ridiculous party to be going to, whereas I needed to get home to bed. I was glad my party days were long over.
“So, we’ll really talk about things tomorrow.” I grinned at Michael as we were both about to leave. “Decide what direction to go in next.” Maybe I owned the company and Michael was just my employee, but he always went in on things wholeheartedly with me. I respected him, trusted his decisions, and always would. “We’ll sit down and make a plan.”
“I’ll do some research tonight, give it some real thought.” Michael always seemed to be up all night long. He didn’t need to switch off like I did, which probably explained his constant temper. “Then we’ll meet up again tomorrow. And, I hope to never see that asshole again.”
I wasn’t confident that would be the last we saw of Aiden. I knew the work we’d done with him hadn’t been as good as it should’ve been, but I nodded anyway. I couldn’t talk about him anymore. I didn’t want to even think about him. He wasn’t the reason I enjoyed music. I much preferred people with a genuine passion and drive.
Hopefully, that would be what we ended up with when we started our next hunt. Someone who needed this, someone with grace and gratitude. Someone willing to work hard to make their dream come true.
“Great, I’ll see you then.”
As I made my way home, I tried to envision what that person might be like, but the possibilities were endless – and that made it so much more exciting.