Two

And so it begins.......

“Maud they've upped the offer again, I can't keep on refusing them!”

I swear Jeremy and I have had the same conversation twice daily over the past three weeks and I'm raking my brain trying to figure out how to get my manager and Marshall’s manager off my back before they break me “Tell them they can have the song and I'll sing it here and send it to them, I'm not leaving LA Jem!” I know I sound abrupt and that's not the way I like to be at all but I wish Jeremy would stop picking up Roseburg’s calls.
He slinks off to phone through my compromise yet again, I can't hear what he's saying through the glass wall of the studio but I can see him gesturing wildly and his free hand gripping at his hair, I find it funny!

He's certainly earning the overinflated cut he takes from my earnings this week, he looks flustered as he hangs up the phone and enters my booth ready to do battle with me again “apparently Mather’s doesn’t work that way, you have to be there in case he wants you to change it slightly, you are holding up his entire album now Maud" worn down my head hits the desk in front of me and I groan loudly, I'm going to have to give in, I just know it and in defeat I tell Jeremy I'll go, “Good because he's sending his jet for you tomorrow morning, be at LAX for eight am, I'll meet you there!” Holy crap this couldn't be any worse and I'm speechless as he saunters out leaving me alone with my thoughts.

The next day I board Marshall's flight at 8.15am promptly welcomed on board by his flight attendant, the jet is luxurious and as I sink into a large soft suede chair I groan it feels so decadent, I could get used to travelling private.
Jeremy perches on a seat opposite me marvelling at the jet before going through our itinerary for when we land, Marshall is expecting us at his recording studio for three pm. My hands sweat and I'm a nervous wreck during the flight, there's no alcohol on board to calm my shredded nerves I take my nerves out on Jeremy bemoaning the fact I'm leaving a warm LA for a currently minus six degrees in Detroit, I'm going to freeze to death if I don't die of embarrassment first.

We settle into the hotel Rosenberg has arranged for us and I change my clothing from shorts to something more substantial before I get frostbite. Jeremy announces that the cars here to take us to the studio, I feel nauseous as I get in the vehicle clutching onto my writing pads and lap top like they were my shields.

His recording studio looks like nothing from the outside, it looks like a corrugated warehouse with ten foot high walls surrounding it. I clock the security guard across the street speaking into a radio as our car approaches the gate to this so called studio.
Once granted access the car pulls into the car park there's several large black vehicles parked there already, there's a small basketball pitch off to the side as well. Entering the studio I'm stuck by how beautiful it is inside in the middle of the building surrounded by various studios and offices is a small courtyard with a beautiful old tree in the middle of it and some chairs with a table, it takes me attention away from the fact that I'm shaking with nerves as we're led to where Marshall is apparently working.

The assistant knocks on his door, my heart pounds in my chest as we wait for it to open eventually the door opens and Porter pokes his head out smiling and tells us to come in, my legs wobble as I follow him remembering the things I did with him and in front of him, as Jeremy watches Marshall, Porter takes the chance to wrap his arms around me hugging me tightly “You're a sight for sore eyes Sexy!” he kisses my neck and releases me as Jeremy turns his attention back to us. I'm assaulted by a million flashbacks, feelings and smells and it makes me light headed I stumble backwards luckily landing on a chair behind me.

Porter takes a seat next to me while I watch Marshall through the glass wall “You arrived just in time, maybe he'll stop acting like a bear with a sore head now he's got the song he wanted and the girl he wants, the more you refused him the angrier the little white dude got!” Porter chuckles beside me as I try to laugh along but I'm sure he just said that Marshall wants me but I must have misheard.

Marshall looks through the glass at me while his sound engineer speaks to him, his eyes penetrate mine and I want to look away but I can't, I'm bloody hooked. He nods at something and removes his headphones placing them in a holder beside his mike stand and exits the booth heading into us.

If I thought it was bad seeing Porter again it was nothing compared to hearing Marshall say my name once more, his calloused hand shaking mine and then moving onto Jeremy. It all happened so fast I felt like I was miles away watching this little scene unfold after he finished talking to everyone he turns his attention back to me but addressing everyone else in the room “Ok everybody out now, we've got work to do!” he sounds so authoritative that they all rise from their seats and begin to leave the room, all that is apart from Jeremy “I said everybody" Marshall repeats himself slowly leaving Jeremy under no illusion that his presence is not required, he gets up slowly and leaves.

He takes a seat next to me at the mixing desk, turning my chair round to face him “Hey" he greets me at last, “Hiya!” I reply nervously which is really silly considering our history.

“So I just want to use parts of your song Maud, maybe chop it up a bit, I'm not sure yet we’ll see how it sounds" he's all business right now and I relax a little, he gestures towards the mixing desk “Go on, press play, let's hear it all the way through first.”
I glance at the desk it's way more professional than the one I use at home and plugging my memory stick in the USB I puts play and sit back watching Marshalls face as he listens to the whole song, occasionally jotting down time points in the song to come back to.

“That's great Maud, it's beautifully written" I blush under his scrutiny and he laughs softly.

Turning a dial on the mixing desk my voice and the tune immediately sounds different, Marshall gestures for me to have a go and my hand moves over and touches the dial but I turn it wrong and the tune hours so fast I can't stop it, before I manage to pull my hand away, Marshall’s hand brushes against me, fingers intertwining with mine over the dial and he moves my hand slowly making the sound much better.

I've got goosebumps as he looks at me hand still on me, my heart rate increases and before I know it I'm hoisted up by my waist and dropped on the mixing desk it's uncomfortable but with Marshall’s mouth attacking mine it's the last thing I'm going to complain about.

His hands hold me firmly in place and I feel the lower half of his body moving, the sound of chairs crashing against the wall after getting kicked out of his way as he pulls my denim covered legs apart roughly shoving his body in between them, the upper half of his body laid out flat against mine, my breasts squashed against his muscular chest,  pushing me further into the dials it's the thinnest of lines between this being pleasurable or painful.

Eventually he pulls his lips away from mine, staring at me, I'm feeling dazed. Marshall’s eyes are practically black with desire as he lifts himself and me up from the desk. He steps back wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and looks at everything around him apart from me “I'm sorry Maud that shouldn't have happened!” he fetches the two chairs he sent flying and brings them back to the desk pointing at the one he wants me to sit on.

My wits are still scattered all over the floor and I'm trying to gather myself back together as he sits beside me once more, all business again.

We manage to work for awhile longer but I can't deny that it's awkward now.  Suddenly he leaps up out of his chair and leaves, stating that he's meeting his daughter for dinner and that he'll be back later.