Star Maker (34 page)

CHAPTER 26

“It
sounds… off.” Kit spoke into the microphone in front of her and scrunched up
her nose as she looked at Sully across the live room in the studio. He was
fiddling with the microphone in front of him. She hoped to grab his attention
without having to blatantly call him out. She tried again. “The harmonies
aren’t blending properly. Do you hear that or is it just me?” He seemed to be
off in his own little world.

Jimmy
looked at her. “Sounds fine to me.” Tony shrugged his shoulders. Remo and
Bryan didn’t seem to care.

Ria
looked at her. “Let’s try it again. I’ll pay closer attention this time.”

Kit
looked at Fred through the glass as he sat in the control room. “Back it up to
four bars before the chorus, Fred.”

The
music filled their headphones and they all sang the chorus. Sully held his
hands up, prompting Fred to stop the playback. “No, no, no. Sounds like
shit.”

Kit
rolled her eyes and stared at him. “Like I said earlier, something is off.”

Sully
looked around the room. “Someone’s flat on the last harmony just before we go
into the bridge from the chorus.” She nodded in agreement and grinned knowing he
was right. She hoped it wasn’t her. Sully spoke again. “Ok, round robin, a
cappella. Sing your part people.”

He
started and pointed to Kit to sing her part of the harmony. He nodded and
pointed to Ria who nailed her harmony flawlessly. Kit looked at her and
winked, impressed with her talent. Sully pointed to the next backup singer,
Debra who sang. After Debra was Bryan’s turn, Tony’s turn, and finally, Jimmy.
Sully held up his hand and mimicked the sound of a buzzer. “Sorry, Jimmy.
You’re the flat one here.”

Jimmy
rolled his eyes. “Aww, shit.”

Sully
teased. “C’mon, man. Get on top of that note. Give it a shot.”

Jimmy
tried the harmony again and hit it perfectly. Sully nodded and smiled. “That’s
what I’m talkin’ about, daddy-o. You got it.” He looked at Fred and pointed.
“Freddy, my man, take us back to the playback and restart that track.” He
smiled.

Kit sat
in one of the chairs in front of the boards in the control room next to Fred
later that night as Remo was tracking his drums. She stayed focused on him as
did Sully who was standing next to her. They had come far in the last six
months. They had gone back into the studio in the late summer and were now
almost finished with the new album.

She was
happy that Jimmy had let her write and contribute alongside he and Sully who
had been the primary songwriters since the start of the band back in Chicago in
1981. She was co-producing the album with Sully. Jimmy had given his stamp of
approval, albeit reluctantly. She had suggested that they pull in some female
backup vocalists for a more robust sound on the some of the songs. She was
happy that Ria DiMarco was available to do backing vocals for them.

The
phone rang and Fred reached to answer it. They had a separate phone line they
nicknamed the bat phone, dedicated to the studio and installed when they
started working on the album to make things easier. Fred handed it to Kit
silently.

She
looked at him. “Who is it?”

Fred
didn’t bother to look over. He kept his attention focused on the boards.
“It’s Diamond time, counselor.”

She
grabbed the phone. “Hey, G. Two minutes, ok?” She hung up the phone and
stood up. She gave Sully a kiss on the cheek. “Be back in a bit, babe.” He
nodded, keeping his attention focused on Remo.

She
walked across the backyard and into the studio an hour later after successfully
extinguishing a few fires with Giselle at Diamond corporate. Sully was sitting
next to Fred talking to he and Remo, who was now in the control booth, while
Tony set up to lie down his bass tracks. She walked up behind Sully’s chair
and he reached behind to grab her, looking up and smiling. She leaned down and
kissed him. He grinned. “How’s my girl doing?”

“I’m
good. Legal crisis averted over at Diamond. All is well.”

Remo
looked at Sully and Kit. “I’m gonna head out. Kit, when’s that meeting
again?”

“Friday.” She waved as she watched him walk out. They were due to
have a meeting to discuss their upcoming tour for the new album. She was
meeting with Pete at Diamond the following day to find out their thoughts
before talking with Sean and the booking agents. She knew the next few days
leading up to Friday were going to be crazy. Planning a world tour was never a
simple feat and now that they were more popular than ever and headlining, she
knew much more would be involved.

Kit sat
down next to Sully on the sofa in their large entertainment room, the site of
the meeting that he, Jimmy, and Fred had called with her. She had an uneasy
gut feeling that something was up and had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t be
pleased with their news. Sully had been very distant in the past two weeks.
He remained vague about how the mixing of the album was proceeding, and avoided
her or made excuses when she asked to take the tape in for Lew and Pete at
Diamond to hear. She had been too busy with her chief counsel duties closing a
big record deal with a new pop artist to fight him on it. Her attention to
their progress in the studio had waned considerably.

Sully
got up and headed toward the bar. “Want a drink, babe?”

She
eyed him suspiciously. “Sure.”

He
returned moments later and smirked as he handed her a double scotch on the
rocks. When she figured out her drink was a double out of the gate, she was
doubly concerned. They all stared, waiting for her to take a sip. It was
putting her on edge. She chuckled to diffuse the tension in the room. “Sull,
did you put something in my drink?”

He
shook his head. “No. Why?”

Her
eyes darted around the room. “Then why are all of you staring at me waiting
for me to take a sip?”

Jimmy
spoke up. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean for it to look that way. We have some
heavy stuff on our minds, I guess.”

She
took a sip. “The band’s not breaking up, right?”

He
chuckled. “No.”

She
grinned, feeling a sudden rush of relief. “Then there can’t be anything
heavier than that.”

Sully
stared at her as he spoke. “Ok, then. I’ll get right to it. We need to push
back the release by two months.”

Kit
almost spit out her drink and she struggled not to choke. Her eyes widened and
she looked at Sully as if he’d lost his mind. She sighed and shook her head.
“Please tell me you’re joking, because actually I think that may be about as
bad as you guys breaking up.”

Sully
frowned and Fred interjected. “Kit, we need more time. We’re running into some
problems with the mix. You haven’t been in any of the sessions. You don’t
know…”

She
could feel her temper bubbling up and struggled to keep herself from an angry
outburst. As of late, she had developed a very short fuse. Sleep deprivation
and high levels of stress had driven her to the end of her rope. She raised
her voice. “Then fix the problems! How long could that possibly take?”

Sully
looked at her. “About two months. Unless we work twenty-four seven.”

Frustrated,
she seized the pack of Jimmy’s cigarettes on the table in front of him and lit
one up. Her green eyes narrowed as she looked at Sully. “So, work twenty-four
seven. I’m not seeing the problem here. You are professionals making more
money per day than most people in this country make in a year. Get over it and
work!”

Sully’s
frustration was rising. “We don’t want to burn out before we go out on the
road, Kit. We don’t want to push twenty-four seven ‘cuz if we do, we might
miss something and then release a half-baked, shitty album.”

She
shook her head and waved her hands in the air. “No, no, no. There’s gotta be
a way to work this out. We cannot push back two months. That’s ridiculous.
There’s another solution. We just have to find it.” She pounded the last of
her scotch and headed to the bar for another. She made the drink haphazardly
and turned around to face them. “Sull, is this you being a perfectionist
again?”

Jimmy
laughed and Sully silenced him with a scowl. He looked at Kit, his steel blue
eyes glaring dangerously like he had been provoked. His voice carried a
venomous tone as he spoke. “Excuse me? What the hell do you mean by that?”

Fred
exchanged an uncomfortable look with Jimmy and stood up. “I gotta go use the
little boys’ room, guys. I’ll be back.” Jimmy nodded and followed suit.
“Yeah, I uh, my beeper just went off.” He lied.

Sully
shot him a look. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Jimmy
nodded. “I have it on vibrate. I felt it go off. It’s probably Diana. I
need to go check in.” He scurried out of the room only a few feet behind Fred.

Sully
shifted his focus back to her. The two of them stared each other down from
across the room. He glared at her again, threw his hands up in the air and
yelled. “Answer my question, Kit!”

She gulped
her drink and shook her head. Frustrated with him and seething with anger, she
yelled. “Oh c’mon, Sully. You and I both know that sometimes you drag things
out too long. Our personal relationship is a perfect example of that. And
professionally speaking, reworking a song twenty-six times is not needed. You
need to learn how to let go.

“Sull,
if you push back two months you’ll go into breach of contract. We’ll have to
cancel dates that are already booked for sold out arenas and stadiums all over the
world that you’re headlining for the first time ever, if I may add. And you
may miss the deadline for a Grammy submission. Put yourself in check, Sull.
Your perfectionist tendencies are getting way out of control.”

He
walked up to her until he was standing mere inches away from her. “You used to
be on my side with that. What the hell happened to you, huh? Too much of a
corporate hotshot now? Oh, you play that record exec, attorney role really
well. Can’t pull a few favors with Lew for her very own boyfriend? That’s
fucked up. He’s the authority.”

She
stared into his eyes, glaring. She wanted to slap him, but couldn’t bring
herself to do it. She slammed her drink down on the bar instead. “No, Sull.
I’m the authority now. He looks to me to make the best legal decisions for the
company. And this would be a poor one costing the label and the band millions
of dollars in my professional opinion.” She walked away.

He
yelled after her. “Guess I know whose ass you’re really kissing now, corporate
sell out. All it took was a corner office, a parking space with your name on
it, and a brand new Mercedes-Benz to make you crumble. You’re looking more and
more like your dad everyday. I’m actually a little surprised it was that easy
for you to give in, but then again Kit, you never cease to amaze me.”

She
spun around, her green eyes ablaze. “That was uncalled for and you know it.
Go ahead, do it. Push the date back on the album. I’ll tell Pete and Lew
first thing tomorrow and you’ll have my written resignation as your manager.
This is a conflict of interest and I’m not doing it anymore. Not like this.
Consider yourself officially in breach of contract. Have your attorney, Bill,
call me ‘cuz you’re definitely gonna need him when we sue your ass!”

Sully’s
eyes were wide and he remained motionless. Part of him wanted to run after
her, but he didn’t. He was stunned and still seething with anger. The next
thing he heard was the echo of the front door slamming. He stared in awe,
doing his best to catch his breath as he felt the surge of adrenaline that had
taken over during their argument start to subside.

He
wondered if this was the beginning of the end. Kit had made him a star as
promised. He couldn’t deny that there was a special formula with her in the
mix for him and the rest of the band. He swallowed hard dwelling on the stark
possibilities before him of a life without her in it. He knew she could make
or break his career in one fell swoop at this point. His fate hung in the
balance. He grimaced and shook his head, sighing. Never had his future seemed
so uncertain as it did in that moment.

Kit got
into her car and revved the engine. She pulled out of the garage and past the
gates, onto Sunset Plaza Drive. As she sat at the red light at the bottom of
the hill, she fought the tears that welled up in her eyes. She glanced over at
her bare right hand. In a fit of rage, she had taken off the ring Gypsy Tango
had given her and left it on the table in the foyer before she left. She had
never taken it off before. She swallowed hard and wondered what was going to
happen next. Everything she had worked for was unraveling right before her
eyes.

When
the light turned green, she turned right and sped onto Sunset Boulevard. She
knew she had to figure out how to get things back on a favorable track, but her
deepest fears dealt a powerful blow that left her paralyzed to find the
solution. She headed west toward the Sunset Strip, where good memories and
amazing victories once resided.