Almost Ordinary (The Song Wreckers Book 2) (23 page)

What a load of garbage. I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “And what type of lifestyle is that?”

He put his hand on the empty glass in front of him and lifted, then saw it wasn’t filled and set it down. “Gina likes nice things, and I like nice things. We don’t plan on having to lower our standards. I’m unconvinced Crystal Records’ decision to hire you for Gina’s second album was the most responsible. I question the financial viability of your songs.”

Chapter 29

I stared at Dex, dumbfounded. I replayed the words he just spoke in my head in case I had misunderstood.
Likes nice things, doesn’t want to lower his standards, my songs weren’t financially viable.

This douchebag was unfuckingbelieveable, and as far as him and me being buddies . . . forget it. “You’re worried Gina’s not going to make you enough money to live high and mighty?” I turned my focus to Gina. Her face paled when she met my eyes. “What do you think?”

Gina glanced at Dex, then to me. “I like the songs. I like to sing ‘em. But if he’s right, that’ll kill me. I don’t want my career to end before it has a chance to take off if I’m singing the wrong songs.”

Every one of my muscles tensed.

Starting from my tapping toes, I unclenched every body part all the way up to my jaw, which was clenched the hardest.

I rubbed my lips together, breathed deep, then finished my biscuit. If this was how Gina felt, then so be it. If Dex forced her to feel this way, well, I needed to find that out. But not when Dex sat with us.

I kept my temper in check. “Like Gina said, this album is a done deal. I’ll deliver the rest of the songs by the end of January so she can start recording. We can hold off on negotiations for the third album until we see how
financially viable
the first two albums are.”

Dex snapped his fingers at a waiter next to us—not ours—and pointed to his empty water glass.

My mouth gaped open for a second but I forced it into a smile. A tight, fake, very forced smile. “It was good catching up with you.”

She gave me a half-hearted hug. “Bye, Molly.”

Ignoring Dex, I placed my napkin on the table, and left.

Halfway to the door, I passed our waitress bringing Dex’s order out. “Is that for our table?”

“Yes.”

“Any chance you dropped all his food on the floor and put it back on the plate?”

She smiled. “No, sorry.”

“Would you like me to spit in it?”

She switched the plate to her other hand, farther from me. “Yes, but no.”

Okay, I wouldn’t have spit in Dex’s food even if the waitress let me. And it was nice to know that the workers here didn’t allow that sort of thing.

I paced in front of Kent’s desk as he sat relaxed in his chair. “Can he fire me?” I asked.

“No. Contracts have been signed, the ball is rolling. The worst he can do is persuade Gina to not renew her contract with us. I’m telling you, Molly, don’t stress yourself over this,” Kent said.

I’d gone straight to his office after my lunch with Gina, and told him what Dex thought about my music. My insecurities had risen to the surface and I began to panic. Being successful at song writing for a bar band didn’t necessarily translate into commercial success outside of Brett’s.

“Which means I’d be out of a job.” I sat down on the leather loveseat next to Kent’s desk.

“You’ll have work here as long as you can keep turning out songs. We have other singers, Molly.”

I nodded. That felt good to hear.

There were three taps on Kent’s door, then his secretary held out a CD case. “Here are the recordings from yesterday,” she said, handing the case to Kent.

An hour later, Kent and I, along with George, head of song acquisitions, had listened to and discussed each song. Kent held firm on his assertion that I had nothing to worry about. George agreed.

“Are we still waiting until the February to start recording?” George asked.

“That was the plan,” I said. “Why, has something changed?”

“The Mrs. wants to take a cruise then. I had to tell her no because of the album.”

Kent raised an eyebrow at me and I sat blank faced, rolling my eyes in my mind. George was on his fourth Mrs.

“Our marital relations have been non-existent since I told her no. If we could start recording earlier, it sure would help me out.”

Poor man. I made a mental note to make a bet with Kent about when George would divorce next. I mean, come on. Withholding sex from your husband because he told you no? Crazy.

Technically, I only threatened to do that to Caleb once, and it was out of anger and I didn’t mean it.

I promised George I’d do my best to finish as early as possible.

They both assured me once again that Crystal Records believed in the “financial viability” of my work. My anxiety dropped a few notches, but in my opinion, Dex was a wild card. He wasn’t happy with my work, and I wasn’t sure he could be brought around.

I drove to Kent’s and handed Joy the keys to the rental car. She’d mentioned her desire to explore Nashville, and since we were leaving tomorrow morning this was her last chance.

I called Caleb and summarized my conversation with Dex. “I don’t know what to be more worried about—that he’ll convince Gina I’m not good for her career, or running into Cooper at the airport and letting him help me with the kids.”

“Is it worth worrying about either?”

“Yes. I want to be prepared.”

“Well, Cooper’s constantly travelling. Soon he’ll be moving to Florida. I don’t think he’s anything to worry about. And Kent said you’d always have Crystal Records, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then don’t stress about Dex and Gina until you have to.”

“I don’t like Dex.”

“Did you Google him yet?”

“No. But you gave me a project for the evening.”

While Joy enjoyed the Nashville sights, the boys played, and Vivian napped and ate, I Googled the hell out of Dex.

He had a website and I gathered some personal information, nothing much.

I called Caleb again. “I need a favor.”

“Name it.”

“I need you to work your P.I. mojo and find me everything you can about Dex.”

He sighed, no doubt wondering if it was worth his time. “Why?”

“I have a hunch he’s a phony.”

“Because?”

“Because the little I found out about him is vague. He
attended
college. Did he graduate? He started his management career at R and M Talent Agency. Why did he leave? I couldn’t find any other artists he’s worked for. Stuff’s not adding up.”

I expected a grumbling from my husband. I knew he was busy, but digging into Dex was important to me.

“Did I mention that I’d be
very
grateful if you could do this for me?”

He didn’t miss the seductive tone in my voice. “How grateful?”

I loved when his voice came out in a sexy rumble. It didn’t matter that he was over five hundred miles away, my heart thumped and I shivered from my heart all the way down.

“Hmmm,” I purred. “I seem to remember a certain fun toy from Katie’s bachelorette party you’ve been wanting to try out.”

I heard the
click
of his office door closing.

“The cherry-flavored one?” he asked.

“No, the other one.”

A slight squeak of leather sounded as sat. “The cuffs? Remember, we couldn’t find the key.”

“No, not the cuffs. Think harder.”

“That tickly thing with the feathers?”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “No, Caleb! The crotch rocket thingy, or whatever it’s called!” The suggestive tone disappeared. “You were all like ‘Please, Princess?’ and I was all like, ‘Not when I’m pregnant’ then you asked ‘Is that a no?’ and I said, ‘More like a raincheck.’ Is any of this ringing a bell?”

“You’re not messing with me to get your way are you?”

Thank God he’d ignored my minor outburst. “Nope. It’ll be you, me, and whatever that thing is called.”

He blew a low whistle. “This is actually kind of perfect. We have a couple of new guys who’re beginning their two-year internship with us. You mind if I hand this off to one of them?”

“For the record, I would let you have your fun with all those things even if you told me no.”

“And I’d make sure this gets done for you even if you hadn’t gone all dirty on me.”

Caleb transferred me to Ben, the new intern. I told Ben all the information I found out so far about Dex. He promised to start investigating right away.

“Thank you,” I said. “I know how crazy 3D is because of the new Tampa branch. I’ll stop in tomorrow and see what you were able to turn up.”

I called Cindy and told her that, although I wasn’t Dex’s biggest fan, Gina seemed happy with him and that was good enough for me.

I didn’t want to tell her my suspicions yet. There’d be no need for her to worry about her future son-in-law until I had concrete evidence he was a fraud. I hoped I was wrong, that Dex was qualified to manage Gina’s career. Kent wasn’t worried about Dex, and I told Cindy that as well.

“Molly, promise me you’ll keep looking out for Gina,” Cindy begged. “She’s my only baby, and I don’t want to see her ruined.”

Call waiting beeped in my ear. I pulled the phone away from my ear to look at the caller. Mama. “I promise. I have to go. Bye, Cindy.” I pressed Mama’s name on the screen. “Hey, Mama!”

“Hey, Baby Girl! I heard you were in Nashville.”

I picked out pajamas from my suitcase. “Yeah. Had to check in, let them know everything was on track.”

“I could have Deena on a plane and in Nashville by morning.”

I froze for a second, caught off guard. All this fuss over a girlfriend of her ex-husband’s son. Deena had better appreciate Mama’s loyalty. I tossed the pajamas on the bed, glad Mama couldn’t see the look of horror on my face. “I’m leaving in the morning.”

“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “Have you told them about her?”

I loved Mama as if she’d been the one to give birth to me. Once she liked you, she’d do anything for you. She liked Deena and heard her talent through rose colored ear plugs. “Not yet.” I should’ve told her the truth,
not ever
.

Mama didn’t say anything, and I feared she was disappointed in me. I had agreed to “see what I could do” for Deena because I didn’t want to hurt Mama’s feelings. I just didn’t want to deal with it.

“It’s been crazy,” I explained. “Everyone’s busy, and I’m not sure if they value my opinion enough to give her a shot.” That was a lie. “I’ll talk to them soon, Mama.”

“Thanks, Baby Girl.”

We hung up, and the guilt munchies attacked me. I rummaged Kent’s cupboards for something to satisfy my conscious. Chocolate fudge ice cream and cookies called to me, but the last of my baby weight wasn’t going to take itself off.

Kent came through the door as I found hummus and pita chips.

“I’m in the kitchen,” I called out.

He trudged in with his top shirt button undone and tie hanging out of his suit pocket. His eyes were dull.

“You looked fine this afternoon. What happened?”

“Don’t ask,” he said.

I ordered Kent to sit, and pushed some of my snacks toward him. “So there’s this singer I know who’s awful. I don’t even know if singer is the right word. Anyway, she wants an audition with Crystal Records.”

He raised one, very unamused, eyebrow at me.

“I sort of promised Mama that I’d speak up about her. Except, I never told Mama how horrible she is and I owe Mama. A lot.”

Kent’s eyebrow didn’t lower. “Just who is this singer?”

“My secondary mother’s ex-husband and current boyfriend’s son’s girlfriend.”

Both eyebrows stretched up.

“I know, I know.” I felt stupid and trapped in a no-win situation.

“Music is a business. Nice doesn’t factor in business decisions.” Kent finished the last few bites then set his dishes in the sink. “You can be truthful without being mean.”

Easy for him to say, he told singers all the time their talent fell short. Guess I’d have to pull out those big girl underpants again and channel my inner Kent. I wasn’t looking forward to that task, but as a professional, Deena deserved my professional opinion: You’re not good enough.

Chapter 30

“You okay?” Caleb asked as I came up the basement stairs early in the morning, sweaty from head to toe. It was the first Friday in September, what would normally be the start of a Wreckers Weekend.

“Yeah.” I was still fine with the decision we made to end the band. Didn’t mean I wasn’t sad about it, though.

Caleb had already showered and dressed in nice slacks and a dress shirt, with an extra cup of coffee in his hand for me.

“Then why did you work out so hard? You’re in a sweat over something.”

He handed me the cup and I guzzled, not caring that it burned my tongue. Getting caffeine into my system was more important.

“If I tell you, do you promise not to make fun of me?”

We sat at our usual kitchen chairs. Caleb half-smiled, half-cringed. “Um, maybe?”

Dropping my head in embarrassment, I mumbled, “I think Deena put a curse on me.”

Caleb’s finger lifted my chin. “What was that?”

I rolled my eyes, knowing I was a dumbass for thinking what I did. “I think Deena put a curse on me.”

His cringe turned into a whole face smile. “Wow.”

“Okay, let’s hear it,” I said.

“I didn’t know you believed in curses.”

I sipped my coffee, wishing it was laced with vodka. “I don’t. I know it’s stupid.”

“No!” he said sarcastically.

“But when I called her a couple days ago to tell her she wouldn’t be getting any sort of audition with Crystal Records, she got really mad. Then her voice shot up, like, two octaves and she started screeching in a different language. It was pretty freaky.”

Caleb continued to smile and stare at me.

“Yesterday I woke up with this zit—” I pointed to the nasty blemish on my jaw line. “—and the last two mornings, my workouts were more difficult than they should’ve been. Stop staring at my zit.”

His eyes travelled from my zit, back to my eyes. “And your pimple has nothing to do with the fact that you probably still have extra hormones in your system, and working out isn’t harder because you gave birth to your third child not so long ago?”

Okay, logically, that made perfect sense. But Deena had flipped into a different person for a minute, and had given me the chills. Demonic possession?

God, I sounded stupid. “Yeah,” I admitted. “That has to be it.”

“And you know I love you, but sometimes you’re not the most diplomatic at delivering news.”

I’d heard variations of that tune many times over the years from Katie. “I was nice about it.”

I didn’t miss Caleb’s hidden chuckle. “If you hadn’t cancelled my Cosmo subscription, I bet we could’ve found an article on how to deal with people like her.”

“You have to get over that. No man your age can still learn from a women’s magazine.”

Nearing seven a.m. the kids would be up soon, so I gulped the rest of my coffee down, and went upstairs for a quick shower. Maybe I could wash the curse off me.

Several hours later, I hooked my purse over my shoulder. It felt weird not having a big diaper bag as well, but Joy was staying with the kids while I ran to 3D to talk to Ben.

I stopped at Caleb’s office first, glad to see it wasn’t the pig sty it used to be. I’d bet a large sum of money Franny was the one keeping it this way.

I gave Caleb a steamy, tongue filled kiss, then he told me where to find Ben’s office he shared with a few other interns.

The door was open, so I peeked in. “Hi, Ben,” I said, holding out my hand.

He shook it. “Mrs. Ramsey, have a seat.”

I sat, and he laid out several pieces of paper on the desk. I picked them up and studied the first piece for several minutes.

“Interesting,” I said.

“This guy is something, all right.”

I held out the piece of paper with the basic information. “No, I mean his name. Poindexter. Who names their kid that? Especially when it’s followed by Parker. When your last name’s Parker at least have the decency to name your boy Peter. That way your kid goes through life with people thinking they’re Spiderman.”

Ben didn’t comment. I continued looking through everything he gave me.

Poindexter Parker grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee and managed to do well in high school. No college graduation, but he did attend a technical college for two whole semesters. He worked with R and M Talent Agency for one year, then left, with no reason as to why. He opened his own talent management company shortly thereafter. The only client Ben could find was Gina. He wasn’t part of any professional organizations or affiliations, and was sued civilly three years ago for harassing his neighbor. He’d been pulled over a couple times for speeding, and had racked up an impressive amount of parking tickets.

Okay, not a remarkable resume so far. It didn’t make him bad husband material. Knowing him, he could explain away all those things.

Then I read the last piece of paper.

At the age of nineteen, my buddy Poindexter sold heroin to two seventeen year old boys, one of whom had overdosed. The police arrested Dex and charged him with narcotics trafficking and as an accessory to murder. Dex plead guilty to the trafficking charge, however the accessory to murder charge was dropped. No mention as to why. He spent a month in jail, and eleven months on probation.

“He was a drug dealer who sold to a teenager, that teenager died, and all he endured was a token punishment?”

Ben shrugged his large shoulders. “My guess is he agreed to give up the names of his distributors. Also explains why he moved to Nashville as soon as his probation ended. Snitches don’t last too long if they stick around.”

Dang, this fit his personality. I was still surprised to hear it, though. I bet Gina didn’t know any of this.

Dex disgusted me even more now, and part of me wished I hadn’t gone digging. What in the hell was I going to do with this information? Made me wonder what other people were hiding.

I set the papers down. “It’s amazing what you all can find. Can we snoop on some other people?” How did it never occur to me to ask Caleb to look up stuff on people I was curious about?

Ben tensed up and shook his head. “That’s not a good idea, Mrs. Ramsey.”

“I want to see if there’s any dirt to dig up on Victor, my mom’s boyfriend.”

Ben fidgeted in his seat, his gaze everywhere but on me. I’d bet he was the type of guy that hated to see a woman cry.

I willed tears from my eyes.

Nothing.

I tried again, concentrated as hard as I could, and still nothing.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you need to use the restroom?”

Damn it. I relaxed. “No, I’m fine. Can I take these?” I picked up the papers and shoved them in my purse.

“Sure.”

I narrowed my eyes and assessed the young intern in front of me. Young, just getting started, probably lived paycheck to paycheck.

I dug through my purse and found two twenty-dollar bills. “This is all yours if you do some extra digging for me.”

“I don’t need two dollars, but thank you anyway.”

Two one-dollar bills drooped from my fingers. Caleb must’ve taken the larger bills out of my wallet without telling me.

I studied him more. He walked behind his chair and grasped the back as if it were a shield from me.

“What’s that about?” I asked.

“I heard what you did to Taylor when he didn’t give you what you wanted.”

Yikes, the poor guy was afraid of me. Or more likely, afraid of doing something Caleb wouldn’t approve, like unauthorized snooping because I wanted dirt on Victor.

I slid the money in my pocket. “Okay, I won’t cause you trouble with the bosses. Thanks for the Poindexter info.”

He didn’t come out from behind the chair, just watched me leave his office like a hawk until I left his line of vision.

I swung by Caleb’s office.

“That was quick,” he said.

I showed him the papers. “There’s some pretty intense stuff in these. I’m not sure what to do.”

He skimmed the papers then handed them to me. “What else did you try to have Ben do?”

I put on my best
I’m offended
face. “Nothing.”

“Princess.”

“Nothing bad. I just wanted to know more about Victor.”

He looked near my crotch. I felt that tingly thrill until he asked, “Why is there money hanging out of your pocket?”

I shoved the bills in farther. “I’m thirsty. Any vending machines around here?” I glanced behind me and out the door, knowing there wasn’t one.

“Did you try to bribe him?”

Sometimes, I felt he knew me too well. “No.”

“Princess.”

“Maybe, but someone stole the twenties out of my purse.”

He opened his wallet and gave one to me. “I spent one on lunch. Here’s the other.”

I snatched it and sang, “Oh Ben . . .”

“Princess.”

“I’m kidding,” I assured him, then gave him a quick kiss and left.

I sat in my van and checked on the kids via text. They were fine. Staring at my phone I debated whether or not I should tell Cindy, but couldn’t make myself call. The papers Ben had given me sat on my lap and I skimmed them over. Again.

God, this information wasn’t my business. It wasn’t Cindy’s business, either.

I stuffed my phone in my purse and started the engine.

Maybe Dex had told her, and she decided to be with him anyway.

By the time my garage door closed behind me I’d convinced myself to give Gina the information I’d learned. Maybe she already knew, but if not, then the ball would be in her court.

I hated that I couldn’t push what I’d learned about Dex out of my mind.

“Something wrong, Molly?” Joy asked as I plunked my purse down. “You look worried.”

“I found out some bad news and have to decide what to do with it.”

She wished me luck, then gathered up her jacket and went home.

Four o’clock. Katie should be home from work.

“Baby Got Back” sang out. Katie’s ringtone. “I was about to call you.”

“We should hang out tonight,” Katie said.

Shit. I’d planned on inviting her and Evelyn over so we could spend what was normally a Wreckers Weekend together. Katie was bummed. Hell, I was bummed. At least I still had a reason to write music. Katie didn’t have that.

I told her to pack up Evelyn and bring her over. I’d provide dinner and gossip to take our mind off of The Song Wreckers.

“You ready for a story?” I asked as we settled on the couch.

My comfort was Vivian’s cue to wake up. “One minute.” I went upstairs and brought Viv down with us.

I nursed her downstairs while I told Katie everything I’d learned about Dex. “So I have all this awful knowledge that I want to make sure Gina knows. I just don’t want to be the one to tell her.”

Katie tapped her chin. “Hmm, this one’s tricky. Dex is a snake in the grass, and Gina, bless her heart, is a sittin’ duck waiting to be bit.”

Katie and I spent the next couple hours throwing ideas around about how I could let Gina know about Dex. Nothing seemed quite right.

I didn’t want to call Gina up and tell her outright for fear of damaging our professional relationship. Selfish, yes. But I needed Gina to like me; to believe in me and my music. If she bombed, I bombed.

Giving Cindy the information to let her be the one to tell Gina might cause a rift between them. I knew all too well what it was like to have a broken mother-daughter relationship, and I didn’t wish that on anyone.

The taco pie casserole had five minutes left in the oven, so I set the table while Katie began to mix some greens for a salad.

“Is Ram going to be here for dinner?” Katie asked. “I might need more than this.” She showed me the bowl of salad.

“Add more. He’ll be here.”

Three minutes later, Caleb strolled through the door. “Something smells good.” He kissed me and the kids before washing his hands in the sink.

“So, Ram,” Katie said as we began eating, “we need your opinion. Oh, sorry.” Evelyn had thrown some food off of her tray.

Both Caleb and I waved her off. The twins did that all the time.

“Mol and I can’t decide how to give Gina the bad news.”

I explained the issues with each option.

“Why don’t you do it anonymously?” Caleb asked.

“How?” Katie and I said at the same time.

“It’s not that difficult. First you have to strip your author info from your computer so the scanned documents you send won’t have your name attached to them. Then you set up an account with a disposable email service, bounce the email through several different remailers to make it look like it came from China or wherever. Unless she’s damn good with computers and has hours to waste, she’ll have no idea where the documents came from.”

I sat there, trying to make sense of what he told me. “Okay, I understood the words computer, email, and China,” I admitted. “Other than that, I have no idea what you just said. Can you do all this stuff for me?”

“Sure. I’ve watched our nerd herd at 3D do this every so often.”