Fade Into You (Shaken Dirty 3)

“What exactly do I need to do?” Suddenly he sounded a lot more wary. Then again, no one had ever accused her brother of being an idiot.

With that thought in mind, she decided to just rip the Band-Aid off and tell him what had to be done. “You need to get Drew Fitzpatrick on a plane to Austin no later than tomorrow morning.”

When he didn’t immediately explode, she told herself maybe this was going to go better than she’d originally thought it would. But then several long seconds passed with no response from her brother, and she knew that was wishful thinking.

“Caleb?” she finally prompted when they were coming up on a minute of full radio silence. “You still there?”

His only response was a fairly alarming gasping sound.

“Are you actually dying or are you just being dramatic?”

“I’m imitating the sound Dad is going to make choking on his scotch if I even suggest putting Drew on a plane to Austin. Have you lost your freaking mind?”

“He’s perfect. You know he is.”

“He is perfect, absolutely. He is the perfect bass player for Smoke and Mirrors. You know how I know? They’ve got four Grammy nods and three CMA awards. That’s CMA as in Country Music Awards. Not rock. Country. And again, because it can’t be overstated, Drew already has a job. Playing bass for Smoke and Mirrors.”

“Okay, first of all, they walk the line between rock and country. And secondly, you know he’s not happy there. I’ll be shocked if the band manages to hang together another six months. Not with all the shit that’s gone down with them in the last year.”

“Oh, you mean like all the shit that’s gone down in Shaken Dirty?” Caleb asked snidely. “Because even if Drew randomly decided to leave Smoke and Mirrors, do you really think he’d choose to jump from the frying pan into the fire?”

“You let me worry about that. You just get Drew on a plane.”

“That’s not going to happen, Poppy.”

“Come on, Caleb. Trust me on this.”

“It’s not about trusting you. It’s about the fact that Dad’s planning another tour for Smoke and Mirrors in six months. If I take their bass player—who we both know is the most talented member of that band—he’s going to lose his shit completely.”

“Big deal—let him lose it.”

“Are you kidding? Who are you and where’s my sister? You’ve spent your whole adult life trying to make sure Dad doesn’t lose it.”

“Yeah, well, maybe that was a mistake.” The words poured out of her as if they’d been there all along only she’d been too stubborn—too dead-set on winning her father’s approval—to realize it. “Besides, if Drew leaves Smoke and Mirrors, there are other options. They can pick up Li—”

“Li’s not good enough and you know it.”

“Seriously? Now you agree with me about him not being talented, but yesterday you were all ready to follow Dad’s lead and push him on Shaken Dirty? That’s awesome.”

Caleb huffed in annoyance. “I didn’t say he wasn’t talented. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re putting them there yourself. I’m just repeating them.”

“You know as well as I do that Shaken Dirty has an embarrassment of talent. Most bands are lucky to have one really talented musician. They’ve got four. If the fifth one isn’t quite as good as the others, who’s going to notice?”

“Everybody is going to notice because it will be glaringly obvious. Plus, one okay musician in a band of greats is the difference between being The Quarrymen and being The Beatles.”

“Who the fuck are The Quarrymen?” Caleb demanded.

“Exactly what I’m saying. I want Drew.”

“Well, you can’t have him. Replacing him with a substandard bassist will be the final death knell of that band.”

“That band needs a death knell. They’re done and you know it.”

“I don’t know that—”

“Well, that’s a problem because you should. It’s obvious. Their last album flopped because it was all over the place. It had no clear direction because none of them could agree on anything. I tried to tell you guys that before the album dropped, but no one would listen to me. Add in the fact that they’ve gotten into numerous public fights recently and just last month they refused to perform at a scheduled charity event—fifteen minutes before they were set to go on.”