CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The whole time that I waited to hear that Mark was coming into the studio I was distracted; I didn’t even need for Sophie to be there. Nick came in from doing his play-through of the guitar parts, and I went into the bass room to do my own part. Jack had told me to give him thirty minutes, but between one thing and the other, more than an hour passed and I had next to nothing to show for it; I kept flubbing a particular part of the bassline, and I couldn’t seem to get my fingers to work right, in spite of the fact that I’d nailed it in practice earlier in the day.
I took a break and ran into Jules, hanging around outside; he’d been chatting with Fran about something, to judge by the look on his face. “What’s on your mind tonight, Danny boy?” I shook my head.
“I told Jack to call Mark into the studio,” I told him. Jules raised an eyebrow and took a drag from his cigarette.
“Tired of all the bullshit?” I nodded.
“Either we’re going to stick together as a band or we’re not,” I said. “Either Mark really is this pissed off about me dating some girl he was hot for, or he’s got some other issue, and I’m just fucking exhausted with recording this way.”
“It’s shit,” Jules agreed. “What are you going to say to him?” I smiled bitterly.
“It’s probably going to mostly be repeats of, ‘what the fuck, dude?’ until something happens,” I told him. Jules laughed, tilting his head back against the wall.
“You want me or Nick to hang around when he comes in?” I thought about it. Nick had suggested that it should be just between me and Mark, and I’d pretty much been on board with that idea--but this was something affecting the whole band, not just me. Should I have the rest of the band be around for whatever was going to happen?
“He’s not talking to any of us,” I mused. “Obviously, he’s not only pissed off at me, if that’s the case.”
“Yeah, but he’s especially pissed at you,” Jules pointed out. “I’m not saying he’s got any reason for it, just that it’s a thing you need to keep in mind. But if you want me or Nick to be here, mediate or whatever…” I shook my head, coming to a decision.
“Either he’ll talk or he won’t, and either it’ll get figured out or it won’t,” I said. “Whether you and Nick are here or not, the outcome will be whatever-the-fuck it’s supposed to be.”
“Try not to get under his skin right away if you can help it,” Jules suggested. “He’s already going to be pissed that Jack got him here on false pretenses.”
“Yeah, I know,” I told him. “I just want to get this over with. Whatever his fucking deal is, I want it out in the open and I want us to figure out where to go from here.” Jules thought about that for a moment and then nodded.
“How’s Sophie?” I grinned.
“She’s coming by in a little bit.”
“You don’t think that’s trying your luck, with Mark supposed to come by too?” I shrugged.
“It either will be or it won’t be,” I said. Jules exhaled a plume of smoke and pressed his lips together.
“I want this cold war bullshit over as much as you do,” he said, stubbing his cigarette out. “Just make sure you don’t nuke the band.”
I went inside after he’d gone to work on his own parts of the songs we were supposed to be recording that night, and found Jack and Nick in the control room. Jack looked up from his boards and nodded to me.
“Mark said he’d come by at one,” he told me. “I couldn’t talk him into coming in any earlier than that.”
“Jules and I will be out of the studio by then,” Nick pointed out. “Especially Jules. You got this?” I nodded.
“Whatever is going to happen, it’ll all go down tonight,” I said.
“When’s Sophie coming?” I checked my phone.
“She’s on her way now.” It was 10:30, and I could count on a couple of hours of working, hanging out with her, and maybe a little break in one of the unused studios before Mark got there. It should have made me relax, but it was just more tension.
I went back into the bass room and tried again on the parts I needed to nail it for us to move forward. Jack was a great producer--he had Jules working in one room and me in another, and somehow, he was able to keep track of us, to give us each individual instructions on how to fix whatever we were doing wrong, or direction on how to change our playing. Even still, though, it was fucking miserable--and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Even Mark had to be feeling like shit. None of us were playing with the same vibe we’d always had, and the early mixes of the songs we’d managed to finish in the first month and a half of recording weren’t what any of us wanted. Either we’ll still be a band at the end of this, or we won’t, I told myself.
By the time Sophie showed up, I was on edge. I stepped out of the studio to meet her, and immediately brought my mouth down on hers, pushing her up against the wall. I breathed in the smell of her hair and skin, felt her body against mine. “Sorry,” I said, when the moment passed and my heart started to slow down.
“Sorry?” Sophie gave me a crooked smile. “That was pretty exciting.”
“Mark is coming by later,” I told her in a whisper. “It’s going to be a showdown.”
“It’s going to be a shit show, you mean,” she countered. She looked up at me with her big, dark eyes. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I want you here. Just maybe not when he gets here.” I took a shuddering breath and exhaled slowly.
“I can go before he gets here,” Sophie said, her voice breathless. I kissed her again.
“Maybe just be scarce,” I suggested. I was already half-hard, just from kissing her. “He’ll be here sometime after one.” Sophie nodded, trembling slightly against me, taking a quick breath.
“I don’t want to be accused of distracting you,” she told me. I chuckled lowly.
“I’ve been distracted all night--it’s not like you being here is going to make that any worse.”
“Will everyone agree with you on that?” Sophie pushed me away gently when I went for another kiss.
“Sometimes I wonder if you care more about my band than I do,” I murmured in her ear.
“Sometimes I do, too,” Sophie said, giving me a wry smile. “Why is it only a month later that you’ve finally decided to have it out with Mark?”
“I don’t want to talk about that with you,” I told her. “I’m settling it tonight; that should make you happy. Hell, it should make everyone happy.” I kissed her again and Sophie didn’t resist. “I’m on edge, babe. I just want to have you here, and I want to know I can keep being with you with nothing causing drama, and I want to know what the hell kind of future the band has.” Sophie took a deep breath and nodded slowly.
“I thought you told me we were going to fool around in an empty studio,” she said, a little teasingly.
“We can still do that.” I dropped down to her neck and nibbled just under Sophie’s ear. “In fact, before this whole idea of getting Mark in here came up, I had this great image in my mind of bending you over this big stack I saw in one of the other rooms…” I brought my mouth back up to Sophie’s, and kissed her hungrily.
“That does sound promising,” Sophie said, her breath hitching in her throat as my hands wandered over her body.
“Give me an hour til the next break, and I’ll show you just how promising it can be,” I told her. I could barely make myself pull back; my cock was starting to get harder, and the thought of having Sophie to myself in one of the unused studios, of screwing her brains out before Mark arrived, was so fucking hot that I almost couldn’t stand it.
“Can you walk?” Sophie slithered out from between me and the wall and gave me a teasing grin. I snorted.
“I’ve had way more embarrassing hard-ons than this one,” I told Sophie, taking her hand and leading her towards the entrance.