Twisted Broken Strings (South of Forever, Book 0)

Chapter 5

Read Twisted Broken Strings FREE via NoiseTrade!

Koty let himself be shepherded with the rest of ESX. His phone felt twice as heavy in his pocket, and he itched to listen to the voicemail. If anything, he promised himself, he could at least listen during the ride to the concert venue. He only had to wait a few more minutes.

Scott Woodrow and his people led them to two limousines parked outside, blocking a good chunk of the pick-up area. Shaking his head, Koty slid into the back seat with Johnny Z, Benny, and Dev. Their body guards got in next. Woodrow's entourage boarded the second limo, but ESX's manager remained on the sidewalk. He leaned into the window and said something to the driver of the second limo, then strode away.

To Koty's shock, Woodrow climbed into their limo.

The manager smoothed his suit and grinned at the members of ESX. His smile reminded Koty of a weasel who caught a helpless baby animal of some sort. "Welcome to the first leg of your tour, gentlemen," Woodrow said.

The guys whooped. Koty merely nodded, wondering what was so special about this tour and why Woodrow was suddenly taking an interest in socializing with them.

"Do you know how close we are to breaking the record for the most number-one songs on the Billboard charts?" Woodrow asked.

"How close?" Johnny Z asked. His eyes lit up, and Koty swore he could see dollar signs in them.

"We need to work harder." Their manager lit a cigar. He blew smoke into Koty's face. "We need to ramp up your images. We need to sell more records on this tour. While you're out on stage, you need to be promoting, promoting, promoting."

"Isn't that what our marketing department is for?" Koty asked. He folded his arms across his chest.

Woodrow blew another stream of smoke at him. "You are our best marketing weapons," he said. He tapped ash onto the floor.

Koty frowned, glancing at the built-in ash tray at Woodrow's elbow.

"We're on our way to a meet and greet right now," Woodrow continued. "I need you boys to really nail this. Your biggest fans are going to be there, and those are our word-of-mouth ads. Whatever they want, give it to them."

Johnny Z snorted. "Oh yeah?" He and Benny elbowed each other.

"Within reason," Woodrow corrected. "We don't need any more incidents. Though, if you want to take it a little too far, the publicity might do us good. Let me think about it for a minute."

The group lapsed into silence. Koty leaned his head back against the seat. He closed his eyes, thinking of Jett and wondering if she would know whether he was in or not. He supposed she would. Unlike the members of ESX, Perpetual Smile had full creative control. They would probably vote on his entry or something. Jett, he knew, would vote no. He wished he could have done a better job at introducing himself. He ran himself through the scenario, trying to figure out where he went wrong. It had been all her, he decided. A smile escaped his lips at the memory of her telling him off at Maz's show. Maybe he was a masochist, he surmised. There was something about her, though. Underneath all of that fire and smoke was a musician. He felt a magnetic pull toward her.

"I must be crazy," he murmured. Jett Costa had been nothing but rude to him. He wondered, suddenly, if that was exactly why he was attracted to her. Besides the fact that she was living his dream, she was also the first person to not kiss his ass just because he was the face of ESX.

He turned toward the window and watched as they passed through the streets of Miami, wishing he could explore a bit. He loved the ocean, yet rarely took the time to actually see it. The sun would be setting in a few short hours, and he would be inside an air conditioned building, dancing and sweating on stage. He felt like a performance monkey.