Star Maker (20 page)

Kit
chuckled. “I would love that. What’s your name?”

“Tracy,
doll. And yours?”

“Kit.”

“I like
you, Kit. I’m gonna hook you up tonight. Be back in a sec. Stay put.”

Kit
nodded and chugged her beer. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sully
walked up to her and pulled up a stool. He stared at her. She refused to look
at him. “Hey.”

She
finally glanced at him. “Save the stupid smart ass comments for another time.
I’m not in the mood.”

He
nodded solemnly. “Fair enough. Sorry, I was engrossed in my game of pool. I
should have been there to protect you.”

Her
face melted into a kind grin. “That’s ok. You can’t always be by my side
twenty-four seven. I appreciate you wanting to protect me in the first place.
That’s really cool of you.” She patted him on the knee.

He smiled
as the server returned. She looked at Kit. “Is this one bothering you? I can
make him go away.” She gave him a dirty look and handed Kit two beers,
grinning at her. “They’re on the house, honey.”

Kit
chuckled. “He’s harmless, Trace. He’s one of the good ones.”

She
then smiled at him. “Well in that case, I’m gonna get you a drink. What’ll
you have sweetie?”

He
smiled. “I’ll have a beer too.”

She
nodded. “Coming right up.”

He
looked at Kit and grinned, perching forward on his stool. “So, I’m one of the
good ones, huh?”

She
chuckled and shook her head, chugging back half of her beer. “Yes. You know
that. We’ve had a similar conversation before.”

“I
wanna make sure that you never kick my ass like that, so what do I have to do
to prevent that?” He gave her his most charming smile and she burst out
laughing.

“Behave,
Sully. Don’t be an asshole. I can’t imagine I’d ever have to use that on you.
Remo may be another story, though.”

He
laughed loudly. “That was good.”

Tracy
returned with his drink. “On the house for you, honey, since you’re friends
with Supergirl, here. And you’re awfully cute too.”

He
winked at her. “Thanks.” He looked at Kit. “Supergirl, huh? I’d say that’s
about right. You are pretty super. So tell me, Supergirl, where did you learn
how to do that? Somewhere in central Krypton?”

She
chuckled and shook her head as she grew serious. A flashback of her unsavory
past crept up and she shoved it down as she stared at him, changing her focus
to answering his question. “Try central Philly. Black belt, Taekwondo, don’t
ask.”

He
nodded and grinned. “Wasn’t gonna. Good to know. Can we license you as a
weapon for our next tour?”

She
giggled. “Maybe. We’ll have to see about that.” She winked and clinked her
bottle with his.

CHAPTER 15

Kit
stared down at her book and tried to focus, but felt eyes on her. She looked
up and grinned, seeing her new boyfriend, Steve, smiling at her. Steve was
also a second year law student at UCLA specializing in entertainment law.

They
had met on the first day of school in one of their classes. She remembered him
from the year before. They were on the same track, but her mind had been
preoccupied with Seth so much that she didn’t give him a second look. Steve
asked her out during the first week of classes and now, eight weeks later, they
were an item.

He was
definitely more of a yuppie than Kit preferred, but he was nice, smart, and
treated her well. He doted on her and she loved it, plus he was one of the
smartest students in her class at UCLA Law. The second year of law school was
proving much more challenging than she could have ever imagined and she
welcomed his help. She was drowning.

Gypsy
Tango was due back in town the following week. After their tremendous success in
Florida, they worked their way up the Eastern Seaboard thanks to Alexa’s Delta
Gamma network and sold out shows as far north as Boston.

They
were now headed home to Los Angeles. Kit had managed to get them on the
airwaves in a handful of cities throughout the country, especially on the
Eastern Seaboard and in the Midwest, but she hadn’t yet cracked the Los Angeles
market. She planned to change that very soon.

“Kit.”

She
grinned, lowering her voice. They were studying in the law library and loud
conversations were frowned upon. “What?”

“Let’s
take a study break. We’ve run way over. Let’s go get something to eat.”

She
didn’t have her wristwatch on that day and had no idea how much time had
elapsed. She was sitting with her back to the clock. “What time is it?”

“It’s
two.”

Her
eyes widened. “Two o’clock? Crap! I gotta go.” She started shoving her notes
and books into her backpack hastily.

He
looked at her. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

She
shook her head. “I am more late than you can imagine. I have to go. Call me
later.” She ran out, leaving Steve dumbfounded.

She
pulled up at KNAC, a fairly new hard rock radio station located in Long Beach.
She was twenty minutes late and hurried into the front lobby. She looked at
the receptionist. “I’m here to see George Price. Malcolm Rossi sent me.
Sorry, I’m a little late.”

The
receptionist stared at her, completely uninterested. “Your name?”

“Kit
McKenna.”

“Hold
on.”

Once
again, Alexa had helped move the needle for Gypsy Tango. Kit shared her
frustrations of not being able to break through L.A. radio and get them
airplay. L.A. radio for hard rock was one of the toughest and most competitive
markets, with all of the bands that were rolling onto the Sunset Strip ready to
pay to play on a daily basis.

What
was already a crowded market was now overrun with band after band jockeying for
position. Alexa had asked Malcolm for advice and he was nice enough to set up
a meeting for Kit with George Price, the general manager of the radio station.

The receptionist
looked at her and motioned through the glass doors. “Go through those doors.
George’s office is on the right.”

Kit
nodded. “Thanks.” As she strolled through the doors, headed for George’s
office, she heard ‘House of Pain’ by Van Halen ringing out in halls of the
station. She grinned remembering Joe and their drive out to California that
started all of this. She knocked on the doorjamb of his open office door.
“George? Hi, I’m Kit McKenna. Sorry I’m late.”

He
waved her in and shook her extended hand. “Friend of Malcolm’s huh? Malcolm’s
a great guy. So, what’s this about?”

She
slapped a cassette tape down on his desk. “Gypsy Tango. They’re the latest
and greatest. You should put them in rotation on your station.”

He
didn’t even look at the tape. He gingerly shoved it off to the side where it
hovered dangerously close to the edge of the desk, a small trash bin eagerly
awaiting its demise below. He stared at her like she was crazy. “You know how
often I hear people say that to me? Who are you, one of the band member’s
girlfriends?”

She
looked him in the eye and chose to silently dismiss his condescending attitude
and comment. “No. I’m their manager. They’ve been out on the road selling
out shows all over the country. They’ve got airplay in five major markets on
the East Coast. They should have airplay here. They have a huge following in
L.A.”

He
snorted. “Let me guess—another Sunset Strip hair band. Dime a dozen
these days, sweetheart.”

She
shook her head and grinned confidently. “No, not just another Sunset Strip
hair band. You’re looking at the next major rock band that will be selling out
the largest stadiums and arenas in the world. This is one of the most talented
bands out there right now.”

He
leaned back in his chair and eyed her carefully. “If they’re so talented, why
don’t they have a deal? Why hasn’t Malcolm plucked ‘em up yet?”

She
grinned. “Oh, Malcolm is interested and so are a lot of other labels. It’s a
point of seeing who the highest bidder is.” She lied. They did have label
interest, but Malcolm had never approached her about the band nor were they
even close to inking a deal yet. She kept her poker face on, hoping he
wouldn’t call her bluff.

He
shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

Kit’s
eyes lit up and she smiled. “You’re going to put them into rotation?”

He
glared. “No. I’m going to listen to it and see if you’re bullshitting me.”
He walked over and cut the feed to the station on his office stereo, flipping
the input to the cassette player so he could hear it without distraction. He
pressed play, went back to his chair, and listened intently. The song was just
past the first chorus when he stopped the tape. He looked at her. “Who’s your
frontman?”

“Sully
Foxx.”

He
nodded. “The guy has a killer voice. Talented. The band’s tight. Ok, I’ll
put ‘em in rotation. I’ll start ‘em in odd hours. If they do well, I’ll put
‘em in prime time.”

Kit
smiled, trying to hide her girlish enthusiasm and keep it professional. She
looked him in the eye again. “George, you won’t regret this. I’ll see you
back here when you bring the band in to do an on air interview, after they’re
ripping up the charts!”

He
rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh. We’ll see about that Ms. McKenna.”

She got
up, grabbed her purse, and smiled at him. “Thanks again. Have a great day!”

He nodded, looking smug and annoyed with her. Kit walked out of
office with a spring in her step. Once she was in her car, she screamed out in
joy. She put her car into drive and sped home.

A full
week had passed and Kit hadn’t heard Gypsy Tango’s song, ‘Jaded’, on KNAC. She
wondered if she had been duped by the station manager. Her notes and law books
were spread out in front of her on the table. Steve was due any minute and
they were going to start a late night study session.

Alexa
walked in and looked at her. “Hitting the books again?”

Kit
sighed. “Yes. Second year classes are kicking my ass. The professors don’t
hesitate to pull punches. That’s for sure. I’m getting my ass handed to me
daily. Luckily Steve is helping, but I’ll tell ya, he’s certainly not very
supportive of my managing bands. Every time I bring GT up, he changes the
subject. He thinks it’s a joke. That concerns me. The guys are due home and
things are going to get crazy again. He only knows me with them on the road.”

Alexa
grimaced. “Oh. Yeah, that’ll be a problem. Good luck with that.”

“You
going out with Wes right now?”

“Yeah.
He’s taking me to dinner. I’ll see you tomorrow. No date, huh? Just study
time?”

“Tonight,
yes. I’ll have to wait until the weekend for that nice date.” She winked.

Three
hours later, Kit sat across from Steve at the table. She was starting to get
burnt out with the incessant studying. He was drilling her constantly. In some
ways it was good, but in other ways boring. Without the distraction of Gypsy
Tango, she hadn’t gone out for eight weeks. Staying home at night either with
her nose stuck in a law book or cuddled up on the sofa watching a movie with
Steve was not her normal pace. She was starting to get antsy.

She had
talked to Sully the day before and knew they were on their way back into town,
quite possibly that very evening. Sully had asked if he could crash there. He
still didn’t feel completely comfortable alone in Joe’s condo. She told him it
was fine and had already cleared it with Alexa, but sensed that Steve would
have a big problem with it. She didn’t really care about his opinion at this
point.

The
guys had done an amazing job on the road without Kit and she was impressed with
Sully’s take-charge attitude when she wasn’t there, whipping the guys into
shape and managing the money like a pro. She was happy to see all the coaching
she had done pay off. She finally saw the evidence that Sully was much more
intelligent than he led on. She had always suspected and now she had full
proof. He had informed her that they were safely positioned in the black as
they closed out their dates. She was excited to see how much they had made.
They were out of T-Shirts and photos again, completely sold out for the third
time.

Airplay
had continued for them on radio stations back east and a buzz was building
throughout the country. A few indie labels had called already, but Kit and the
boys were in agreement that they wanted a major label and were willing to wait
for that big fish to bite. The buzz locally was now at a fever pitch. Their
fans were eager to have them back. Their show at the Roxy, coming up in five
days, was completely sold out and the VIP guest list was maxed, including a
slew of major label record executives.

Kit snapped out of her Gypsy Tango world and back to the drab reality
of notes and law books. She made a comment to Steve about something in her
notes and he answered her. She felt bored, but pushed through, knocking back
another can of Jolt Cola to help her stay alert. It was going to be a long
night.

Wes
cracked a joke and Alexa laughed as they crept down La Cienega Boulevard in his
Jaguar. They had finished a romantic dinner at L’Orangerie and were headed
back to his place.

She
leaned forward. “Honey, do you mind if I change it? I hate this song.”

He kept
his eyes trained on the road. “Sure, baby, change it to whatever you want. I
have some cassettes if you’d prefer that instead.”

She
shook her head. “Naw. Let’s try 105.5.”

He
glanced over at her while they sat at a red light. He grinned. “Still waiting
to hear ‘Jaded’, huh? It’s pretty cool how this is all unfolding. I’m not a
huge hard rock fan, but I like these guys. Tell Kit I’ll front money if she
needs it.”

Alexa
smiled. “Wes, are you joking? Mister conservative hedge fund manager is
willing to take a gamble on my friends with his own money? Are you feeling
ok?”

He
nodded and grinned as the light changed to green and he turned his focus to the
road in front of him. “Yeah. I like ‘em. They’re all decent, hard-working
guys. And Sully always cracks my shit up. He and I have had some good laughs
together.”

Alexa
rolled her eyes. “That’s why we don’t let you guys hang out on your own. You
two together would be trouble. It’s like leaving toddlers alone with matches
and gasoline.”

He
chuckled. “When do they come back from the tour?”

“Tonight,
I think. Sully’s gonna crash with us again for a bit, but he was telling Kit
that things are looking good money wise. He has to figure out his roommate
situation before he moves into Joe’s place.”

“We
should all go out.”

She
frowned. “Who?”

“You
and me, Kit and Sully. It would be fun.”

Alexa
giggled. “Wes, are you trying to set up Kit and Sully? That’s a little
devious of you, don’t you think? She’s got a boyfriend.”

He
chuckled. “I think Kit and Sully would make a fantastic pair, that’s all.
Kind of like you and me.” He reached over and patted her knee.

She
smiled. “I like that you think of us as a fantastic pair. If you weren’t
driving this car, I’d kiss you right now.”

He
grinned. “I guess I’ll have to wait until we get back to my place.” He turned
onto Wilshire Boulevard and started heading west.

Alexa
was about to say something flirty to him, when the DJ’s voice caught her
attention. “…New band out of our very own Sunset Strip in Hollywood, here’s
Gypsy Tango with ‘Jaded’.” Their song started seconds later. Alexa screamed
with delight.