CHAPTER 35

ALICIA

The air conditioning in the conference room lifted the loose tendrils of hair on my neck, causing goosebumps to rise on my arms and shoulders. I’d changed and pulled it into a loose bun just before coming down for the meeting, but my hair wasn’t playing along, and some tendrils had already escaped.

Hugging the jersey I had on tighter around my arms, I tried to forget the chilly room and focus on whether I was ready for this meeting. Based on previous experience, I doubted the band would open the folders I put together for them, but I’d done it anyway.

Each of them had a full list of tips they could study before the live interview, personalized to what I’d picked up from that particular band member during interviews before. They also each had a list of talking points for the interview, topics to avoid and how to handle it if those topics were mentioned.

I’d arranged for the hotel to have a projector ready for me and had my laptop hooked up to it. As part of our final interview prep, I was going to show the guys some of their more disastrous old videos and compare it to interviews given by other bands. In their genre. In this age. It should show them they could be all rock n’ roll and whatever and still do what I needed them to do, which was to promote and not sink this album.

“Hey, Alicia,” Dom said, opening the door to the conference room and entering first. Caleb and Matt came in after him. Glancing at my watch, I was surprised to see they were right on time.

“Hi, guys.” I motioned to the round conference table, gathered up the folders I made, and handed them to the boys as they passed me. “Have a seat anywhere. Thanks for being on time.”

“No worries,” Jared piped up cheerfully, walking into the conference room not a second after the rest. He kicked out a chair beside the one my folder and pencil case were resting in front of, sinking into it as if he hadn’t noticed, even though he immediately grabbed one of my pens and started sketching on the front page of the folder I handed him.

Dom opened his, paging through the information inside with keen interest. He was generally the most serious of them all, but this was the first time I’d seen him as focused. Caleb flicked through his, too, which was a little more surprising since he usually just asked what he wanted to know.

Even Matt seemed more focused tonight, though, turning my laptop toward him to scroll through the videos I had lined up. He grimaced, telling me he remembered some of what they were about to watch and flipped open his folder.

“Anyone seen Nick?” I asked, eager to get going while I had their attention on the work to be done. For the most part, anyway. Jared was still sketching, but he was also skimming through his tip page.

“Not since we got here,” Dom offered, looking around at others. They shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“Only one no-show,” I noted. “I’m impressed, but I’m going to have to go get him before we get started.”

“Gerry not joining us?” Caleb asked absently, still reading whichever of the documents he had open in front of him.

“Not tonight. He’s going over some last-minute details on his end,” I told him, digging my phone out of my purse in case it rang while I went up to Nick’s room. The thing had been going off every few minutes since we’d arrived in New York.

Word was leaking that the band was here, and everyone wanted a piece of them. It started buzzing in my hand as I was thinking about how busy it’d been, but I silenced it. I had a band member missing in action and this wasn’t a meeting I was letting any of them off the hook for.

“I’ll be right back. Please keep reading through the information I gave you, and whatever you do, don’t leave. The hotel will be sending in drinks and snacks in a minute.”

Jared pushed his chair out and stood before I could get to the door. “I’m coming with you. Might help.”

He didn’t say anything more but closed the conference room door behind him and gestured for me to lead the way down the hall and to the elevators. He walked close to my side, smelling like man and soap with just a hint of beer.

“Thanks for offering to come with me, but I’ll be fine. You could’ve just waited with the others.”

“Figured reinforcements wouldn’t hurt.” He shrugged, his tone more crisp than it usually was when he spoke to me.

“No joke about coming with me?” Arching my brow as we walked, I lifted my gaze to his and punched the button for the elevator when we got to it. Thankfully, I knew which room they were all staying since I’d checked them in earlier.

Lifting his shoulder in another shrug, Jared looked up at the white-blue numbers above the elevator doors counting down the floors to us. “Too obvious.”

A bright digital ding ran out, signaling the arrival of our elevator car. The doors slid open soundlessly, and Jared followed me in. “You’ve never been one to shy away from making the obvious puns.”

“Fine. Then maybe I’m just not in the mood.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared straight ahead. I didn’t understand it, but he was being standoffish with me. Flirty, borderline warm Jared I was getting to know was nowhere to be found.

I wondered why, but I didn’t question it. The elevator car rose fast and didn’t stop once. Before I knew it, another ding sounded, and we were deposited on Nick’s floor. The guys had identical suites on a couple of the upper floors. I walked to Nick’s door, which I knew sat right beneath Jared’s and knocked loudly.

Muted music was playing through the door, and I knocked again, even louder this time. In the middle of one of my knocks, the door swung open. A half-naked girl stared at me from inside, irritation flaring in her eyes until she noticed who was standing next to me. “Jared! Oh my god! I was, like, just telling Nick how much I love your band.”

Nick came up behind the girl, shirtless and with a drink hanging from his thumb and index fingers. “What’s up, guys?”

“Getting started into New York early, I see,” Jared remarked, surprising me when his eyes stayed on his friend instead of the half-naked girl in front of him.

“Yeah.” Nick grinned, his own clear blue eyes surveying the girl’s behind before lifting back to Jared. “I’m not going to make it to the meeting. Thought I’d make it in time, but still busy.”

“I’m sorry Nick, but—” I began, but Jared took a small step forward and pushed the door all the way open.

“Get your shit and meet us down there,” he told Nick, leaving him no space to argue. “The girl can wait. This is important.”

I blinked, my eyes widening when I realized what had just happened. Jared was being assertive for me. It was hot as hell.

And just a little bit confusing, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Squaring my shoulders, I grinned sweetly at Nick. “What he said.”

When we got back to the conference room, a grumbling Nick in tow, the others were still focused and ready to work. Jared and Nick took their seats, and I kicked right off with what they could and couldn’t do in a live interview.

Nick scowled all the way through the meeting, but even he seemed to be paying attention to what I was saying. I played them the videos, pausing at times to point out things they had done that they shouldn’t have and making sure to point out what they’d done right too.

The guys laughed but one by one started asking to borrow pens to make notes. Encouraged, I kept my pointers short and to the point before I lost this rare chance of the band cooperating and turned the lights back on when I was done.

“Remember, you’ll only get one shot at this. There will be no repeat performance and no second takes, so keep the future of the band in mind before you answer any questions. At the end of the interview, you’ll play your one song and that will be it. Everyone clear?”

“We’re clear,” Caleb said, looking around the table and glaring at Jared in particular. “We’ll be on our best behaviors, you have my word.”