Surge

1

It’s saidthat fifty percent of couples get back together after a breakup. This sounds like a lot when you’re a hopeful guy who’s just been dumped. But let me tell you, it only takes one night at a roulette table in Vegas to know it’s nothing to count on.

Even if I had been feeling lucky, fate wasn’t on my side this time.

Within a span seven months, I’d met the woman of my dreams, landed a recording deal, toured the world, and lost it all faster than the spin of a wheel.

This time I called red and the universe gave me black.

Just when I’d thought I truly stopped caring about what had happened with my ex-best friend, he rose from the dead and threw this lawsuit at me. Adding insult to injury was that the best goddamn entertainment lawyer in LA (according to me) just dumped me as well, so there went my chances.

It wasn’t that Hunter Rodrigues didn’t sound smart on the phone. He did. But he was more of a smart-ass than a smart person, and after only one conversation, I knew my luck had dried up.

Now I wanted Maeve back for more reasons that one. Yes, I wanted my heart back. But also, I wanted my life back. I knew somehow, the only way to do that was to do it together.

“Hey, Hunter…”I answered the video call from my lawyer.

“Hey, hey, Drake-o. How’s it goin’, man?” Hunter leaned in close to his laptop cam as if to keep a conversation private that clearly wasn’t.

I knew he sat in a cubicle.

Why he bothered asking such a mindless question at the beginning of our calls and giving me the stupidest nickname in the world was beyond me. He was tasteless and crude compared to everyone else I’d dealt with at Reckless Integrity. Even Tayo, who was probably the one-hit wonder of social media marketing, was many rungs up the ladder in business etiquette. Hell, I was more professional when I used to sling fish than this asshole with a master’s degree.

I chose to be optimistic today and assume his skills were in writing, not speaking.

“Yeah, I’m good. Ready for my update.” I wasn’t in a hurry but tried to convey that I was.

On top of Hunter being awkward, he was slow. Or maybe the whole process was slow and I was being unfair, but it had been more than a week since I first got served humble pie by Jules over the phone, and it seemed like nothing was happening.

He shuffled through some papers in front of him. “All right, here it is. We finally got the account of profit. Sorry it took so long, but where you went on tour, it was more complicated than usual.”

Another excuse added to the high pile Hunter had given me this week. There was no way a company like RI with an actual accounting department hadn’t known what I’d profited before Jules had even made that call to me at my mom’s. Fucking Hunter. He’d better have more to say than to give me the bottom line which I could basically figure out myself from pay slips.

“So, the grand total you’re up against is…” He ran his finger from top to bottom over several pieces of paper. What a time waster. The guy couldn’t have even written it down before our meeting or used a damn highlighter?

“Right. Here it is. Save the dollars and pennies, but rounded up, it’s two point seven million.”

My heart stopped. My mouth dried up. “What the hell? That doesn’t even make sense. I made about nine hundred grand. How can he sue me for more?”

“Oh, sorry.” He slid his finger across a document again. “Oops, my bad,” Hunter said as if talking about accidentally writing oat instead of soy on my coffee order, “he is only suing you for about that. That’s the grand total for Graphic Temple. Didn’t Jules tell you? Or Tae or Quinn?”

My heart beat back in full force, and instant anxiety hit me. Not the whole band. I couldn’t handle them being dragged through the mud, too. “What do you mean? He can’t do that.”

“He can. You all played his songs for profit.”

“For fuck’s sake, Hunter. What kind of thing is that to say? Who’s side are you on?”

“Didn’t mean it to come out that way. You know what I’m saying.”

Jesus. I’d hate to see this guy in a courtroom. I hoped like hell we didn’t get to that point. I’d been promised a partner at the firm if we did, otherwise I’d play dead if he was the one joining me in front of a judge.

“Shit. When are you telling them? I’d like to talk to them before you do.” I didn’t want the guys to think I was playing ostrich. The news should come from me.

“Oh, pretty sure Jules already did.” Hunter looked at his cell phone.

My lawyer felt as reliable as a chocolate teapot and took his job as seriously. Probably another trust fund kid. Or maybe this really was how these things worked. I was just another item to tick off the list. After all, it wasn’t his hopes and dreams dangling like bare ass cheeks over an active volcano.

I had to worry about Tae and Quinn now, too. Fuck. “I have a million questions, Hunter. I mean, I know I shouldn’t Google stuff, but absent an agreement, which Jay and I didn’t have, I should be allowed to use these songs. So, he’s saying he wrote them a hundred percent himself?”