Chapter Thirty-One
The Kiss Off
Nash
I woke the next morning to find Rowan’s side of the bed empty. The clock read nine-thirty A.M. Thirty more minutes and we’d be finished with Blane Hamilton once and for all. It couldn’t happen fast enough for me. It’s not so much that I disliked the guy. I simply didn’t trust him.
After a speedy shower, I went in search of coffee and Rowan. I found her huddled with Mallory at the kitchen table. She lifted her head as I passed by and I dropped a kiss on her lips before heading to the coffee maker.
“Good morning,” Ava called out when she saw me coming. “My, aren’t you looking happy this morning,” she noted as she handed me a fresh cup of coffee.
“Thanks, Ava. I have a feeling this is going to be a great day.” She smiled in understanding as I meandered back over to see what the girls were up to. Sometimes I wondered how much Ava did or didn’t know. Rowan wrapped her arms around me when I reached the table, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense if rightness. “What are you ladies up to?” I asked.
“I know we’re moving back into the house on Thursday and it’s not the best timing, but Mallory has her final fitting on Friday and I want to do something…uh…a little different with my hair,” Rowan said.
“And I want to take Rowan shopping,” Mallory added. The imploring look on Rowan’s face made me smile.
“Go ahead and go, but you’ll owe me,” I told her. Mallory laughed when Rowan smacked my arm. I was about to tease Rowan about her flushed face when Grant’s office door opened.
“Showtime,” Grant said when he spotted me standing there.
Rowan gave me a sideways squeeze and a murmured, “Good luck.” There was no luck needed for this. We were finally getting rid of Blane. With a smile and a wink, I all but skipped to Grant’s office, where I was greeted by Evan’s smile and Chaz’s scowl.
“And to think, I thought you’d be smiling about this,” I muttered.
Chaz’s crude response was cut short when Grant hit the speaker button on the phone and the dial tone rang out through his office. “Here goes,” Grant muttered under his breath as he dialed Blane’s number.
“It’s about time you called,” Blane answered. His sharp tone pissed me off.
Grant didn’t waste any time with small talk. “Hey, man. Sorry I didn’t call you back last night. Just so you know I’ve got you on speaker. The guys are here with me, and we’ve been talking. Look, I’m going to just cut straight to the chase. We’ve decided to let you go.”
“What?” Blane gasped. “B-b-but why? I’ve done everything you’ve asked. If this is about my dad and that guy who hurt Rowan, I knew nothing about it. I swear.” Grant’s eyes slid to me.
“It has nothing to do with Rowan,” I advised.
“Then what?” Blane screeched.
Chaz let out a snort of disgust. “Dude, you really have to ask?”
“If it’s about the intern, she came onto me. Okay, so I slept with her and she was underage. So what? We’ve all done it.” Blane’s confession was like a train wreck. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.
“Fucking hell,” Chaz muttered.
“You’ve never liked me, Charles!” Blane screeched. Was it wrong that I was immensely enjoying this? Probably. “No one can do a better job for you than me. Surely you know this? Wait, have you already found someone? You have! Who is it? You at least owe me an explanation.”
“It’s really nothing personal,” Grant said. Chaz and I both snorted, and Grant mouthed for us to shut up.
“It’s very personal. You’re firing me!” Blane angrily replied.
“The decision is unanimous. As of this morning you will no longer have access to Meltdown’s files. You have one week to remove your belongings from your office and to turn in your keys,” Grant calmly instructed.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this. I’ve done everything for you, including your dirty work.” Grant’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling.
“I think you’re forgetting who saved your ass after you screwed up and your father fucked us over. I also think you’re forgetting that you signed a contract in which you agreed to never disclose any personal information on the band or you will be held liable. Of all people, Blane, you should know what this means.” It was good to see Grant get mad. Blane had taken advantage of him over and over again. Evan and I laughed when Chaz began waving bye-bye to the phone.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” Blane hissed before the line went dead.
“Well, that went better than expected,” I said, and the room erupted into laughter.
“Did you really shut him out or were you just saying that?” Evan asked.
“Hell yes I shut him out. You heard him. He’s a loose cannon. While you fuckers ditched out on me last night, Marcy helped me change the passwords to all of our files.”
“You mean you weren’t punishing Mallory for her insubordination at dinner?” Chaz asked.
I fake-gasped. “Did you just make… a joke?” Chaz responded by picking his nose with his middle finger, and the room erupted in laughter.
“Trust me, Mallory knows who’s boss,” Grant said. We all laughed again, this time, including Chaz. The doorbell rang and Grant smiled. “Hopefully that’s Marcy now.” One by one we all filed out of his office to greet our new manager.
After breakfast, we left the girls to their own devices and headed downstairs to work on the song. Chaz thought it should be fast and bold, but Grant and I felt it should be slow and haunting. Evan suggested we try it both ways. In the end, we all settled for slow and haunting. Unlike Blane, who would show up while we were recording and immediately find an excuse to leave, Marcy parked her ass on the sofa, plugged in her laptop, and worked the entire time. Whenever we couldn’t decide on something, she chimed in with her opinion. Nine times out of ten, we went with her suggestion.
Around three we took a break and I went in search of Rowan. I found her upstairs in our room looking at magazines. She smiled when she saw me standing in the doorway.
“You’re beautiful,” I said.
“You just want sex,” she teased.
“I always want sex with you,” I replied, and she laughed. “What are you reading?”
“I’m not really. I’m just looking at the pictures.” Her eyes shifted to me and she nervously bit her lip.
Something was clearly bothering her. I ate up the space between us in four long strides. Squatting down beside her, I slid my hand up her back to the nape of her neck, and asked, “You okay?”
Her green gaze slid to my face and held. “I want to permanently change my name to Rowan Burns. Mallory said she’ll take me this afternoon, if that’s okay with you?” Surprised and pleased at her decision, I asked if she wanted me to take her instead of Mallory. Her face lit up with a smile. “Sure, but I don’t want to get you in trouble with the guys.”
“No trouble,” I responded, touching my lips to hers. She opened for me and I deepened the kiss. The urge to drop everything and take her to bed rode me hard, but I knew that this was something she really wanted to do, so I broke the kiss, and said, “I love you whether you’re Rowan or Gillian.”
She pressed her forehead to mine, and let out a sweet sounding sigh. “I really needed to hear that,” she whispered.
Three hours later, the paperwork had been filed, and Rowan Burns was official.
We returned to a house full of people. Ironically, Hank had shown up while we were gone, which made me wonder if he and Marcy were serious about each other. I couldn’t easily picture them together, but stranger things had happened. Grant, Evan, and Hank were busy making margaritas, while Ava and Mallory grilled fajitas. Marcy and Chaz were off to the side deep in conversation.
“I didn’t realize Chaz could converse in whole sentences,” Rowan muttered under her breath as we passed by them on our way to the bar.
“You notice he’s not the one talking, don’t you?” I asked, and chuckled when she busted out laughing.
“Rowan! Get your ass in here!” Mallory called out, when she spotted us talking to Grant.
Grabbing the margarita Grant handed her, Rowan said,” See you in a bit,” and walked away.
A margarita suddenly appeared in front of my face. “Were you successful?” Grant asked.
I took the drink and downed half of it, before responding, “Yep, she’s officially Rowan Burns.”
“Cheers,” Hank said.
“Cheers,” Grant and I repeated, before tapping our glasses together, and drinking.
“So, Hank, what brings you to Austin?” I asked. Grant and I both snickered when Hank pretended innocence.
That night we all proceeded to get hammered. That led to us giving an impromptu concert. Only, we didn’t sing one song of our own. Instead, at Mallory’s insistence, we played what she called Shout-a-Song.
Hank started it off by shouting, “The Middle by Jimmy Eat World.” Grant and I laughed, and dove right into the song. Little did Hank realize, but Grant and I had covered almost every song known to man at the coffee houses we’d first played at in college. What surprised me was how Evan was right there with us. Once again, Chaz was MIA.
The second we finished Hank’s selection, Mallory shouted, “Baby Got Back!” And burst into gales of laughter. Grant and I shook our heads at each other. I was beginning to see why she’d wanted to play this game.
After a short consultation, Grant took the lead. As he went on and on, talking about Becky’s butt, I almost pissed myself. Evan hit the synthesizer button on the keyboard, and we launched into the song. We couldn’t do it justice, but damn if we didn’t try. By the time we’d fumbled over pretty much the whole song, everyone in the room was howling with laughter.
After a five minute refill break, we were ready to resume. Rowan started off round two.
“Blink-182, All the Small Things!” she shouted, and I could have kissed her. I fucking loved this song.
Evan pointed to one of the several extra guitars we had lying around, and asked, “May I?”
“Hell yes!” I shouted.
“Now it’s going on! Chaz! Get your motherfucking ass down here!” Grant called up the stairs. A few minutes later, Chaz appeared, and everyone cheered. The four of us consulted for a moment. Evan was lead, Grant was base, Chaz was on drums, and I was whatever the fuck I wanted to be. Evan launched in, and damn if he didn’t kill it. Times like these, when we let go of all of the bullshit, we were fucking brilliant together.
“Green Day’s American Idiot,” Marcy called out, and the girl’s all high-fived each other.
“I’ve got it!” I shouted, and immediately began playing the opening chords to the song. When it was over we took another quick drink break while the girls huddled with Hank. With a loud clap, the huddle broke, and I tried not to laugh.
“We want to go Downtown with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis,” Hank said with an evil smile on his face.
After laughing our asses off, the three of us swarmed Chaz for our own huddle. “I know the chorus,” I said.
“Same here,” Grant agreed.
“I haven’t a fucking clue,” Evan admitted. We all turned to look at Chaz, who was smiling like the cat who ate the canary. I kid you not, the fucker was actually smiling.
“Gentlemen, watch how it’s done,” he announced. The room erupted into screams and cheers as Chaz stepped from his drum kit, took the lead, and blew our fucking minds.