I wasn’t one to judge a book by its cover, but—okay, fine. I totally did that…and this cover didn’t give me the clues I was hoping would instinctively let me know I could trust this rather colorful duo with Zero’s future. I pasted a smile on my face as Neil talked about Sandstone’s vision for the future.
“We love your sound, man. Love it. You’re great musicians, your chemistry is off the charts, and you’ve already got a head start building your brand. We don’t want to change a thing. We want to help package you and get the word out to the masses.”
Justin brightened beside me. He leaned his elbows on the table and cocked his head. “So how would this work? Hypothetically speaking. What exactly would you handle? Shows, recording, promotional stuff?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…all that,” Neil said excitedly.
“But who works for who? I mean…Charlie’s taken care of the detail work for Zero on his own for months. Would he be employed by us or you?” Ky asked, winking slyly at me from across the table.
I ripped a ciabatta roll in half and shot a death glare at him, wondering if he thought his playful query might distract me from noticing that his eyes had been glued to his lap all evening. Unless he was getting a stealthy blowjob under the linen tablecloth, he had to be on his cell. No one else either realized or cared, but I did. I’d been hypersensitive to Ky’s every move since he walked into the restaurant. And I had to give him credit…the skater boy cleaned up well. He wore basic dark jeans and a plain oxford shirt like the rest of the guys, but he looked especially sexy tonight. Ky’s longish hair brushed his collar and curled enticingly at the ends. I wanted to run my fingers through it, undo the top button on his shirt, and examine his neck to see if I’d left a mark when I bit him the other day. Fuck, just knowing I’d had my mouth on him made me feel tingly all over. Not okay.
“Zero would remain its own entity and would employ whatever resources required…including your own manager. However, we would help with PR needs, like advertising for concerts and strengthening your social media presence,” Daria explained.
“We don’t need social media assistance. I have that covered,” I assured her.
She furrowed her brow slightly and tapped something on her phone. She cocked her head and smiled. “Wow. I’m impressed. Great page. Zero has a ton of followers too. How’d you manage that so fast? Did you buy followers?”
“Excuse me.” I lowered my chin and gave her my best “come again” look.
“Charlie’s the real deal. He’s a professional…” Justin snapped his fingers. “What’s the term?”
“Enabler?” Ky offered.
“Influencer.” I didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking, but I willed myself to fixate on Daria. I rattled off a few of my sponsors, then glanced at Neil who looked like he desperately wanted to get back to chatting about hypothetical profit margins. “It’s not something I do anymore, but the contacts are invaluable,” I said.
“Absolutely. We’re always looking for ways to increase traffic and visibility. I’d love to discuss this further with you,” she replied earnestly.
“Another time, another time,” Neil chanted with a dismissive wave. “There’s nothing to promote without the music. You boys gotta record your album and take it for a spin. And I don’t just mean in LA. You gotta promote the old-fashioned way too. Travel up and down the coast before hitting the East Coast…New York City, Boston, DC. We’ll pop you in at a few hot spots like Miami, Nashville, Denver, Dallas. And we’ll get you radio and TV gigs. First time outta the gate, you gotta get your faces out there so people who’ve never heard of you before can’t fuckin’ forget you. We want them to talk about you, buy your singles, go to your concerts. We wanna see you conquer the US of A…and then Europe, Australia, Asia…the whole damn world.”
“Really?” Johnny asked.
“Yeah, man. You’ll be bona fide rock and roll stars!”
“You make it sound so easy,” Tegan commented dubiously.
“It’s not easy,” Ray finally piped up. “It takes hard work, sacrifice, grit, determination. Luck helps too. We’ve backed a few heavy-hitting artists on a few memorable songs that still get airtime on the radio. Not every story is going to be a success, but we have a fuckton of personal experience in the business, and we know potential when we hear it.”
Neil thanked our waiter and discreetly handed over his credit card, then sat back with a satisfied nod. “We want to expand our portfolio and we’re here to help. We know things aren’t perfect in the beginning. It’ll take some time before you give the Stones anything to worry about, but that’s okay. Hell, we just signed on a very ragtag band who still need a bass player and a drummer who’s worth a shit. Their whole rhythm section is in shambles. But man, the lead singer can play guitar like a champ and he’s got star quality. Just like you guys.”