The next morning I woke up in my bed in Thea's arms. It has become my favorite place to be and I don't think I will ever get tired of it. My head fit perfectly in the crook of her neck and I gave her a little kiss before I was going to fall asleep again. Just as my eyes started to close I heard a hard knock at my front door. Thea bolted up right away and looked at me.
"Are you expecting anybody?" Thea asked looking at me as we heard another knock.
"No" I said and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
Thea was out of bed in a shot and slipped on her basketball shorts and a t-shirt before grabbing her gun off the floor and walked out of my bedroom door. I quickly got dressed and followed behind her as we heard another hard knock on the door. Thea was already down the stairs in front of the front door by the time I got to the top of the landing. Her gun was held tightly in her hand as she reached for the doorknob.
I got down the stairs and stood next to her with the baseball bat I keep behind the door. She pulled the door open in one quick swish to reveal a startled looking Halsey, Eli and a woman I didn't recognize.
"Is this how you treat all of your guest?" Halsey yelped with her hands held in a surrender position.
I let out a sigh of relief and lowered Thea's gun. Taking a look at the crowd in front of me I found Eli's eyes and he smirked at me.
"My life has been kind of a mess the past few months so sorry not sorry. You guys can come on in." I said and stepped aside to let in my guests.
As Eli came through the threshold last I punched his shoulder hard for him not calling to warn me. I closed the door behind him and looked at Thea.
"I'm going to get dressed and leave you to your meeting, I need to go to the tailor today to get fitted for my new uniform." Thea said as she watched the three guests take a seat at my kitchen table.
"Okay babe, just come say bye before you go." I said and gave her a small smile. Thea smiled and back kissed my temple before she walked upstairs.
I didn't bother changing just walked into my kitchen and started some coffee. I looked at the clock on the stove and saw it's almost 1 in the afternoon. Looks like Thea and I slept in a bit late. When the coffee was ready I joined the three at my kitchen table.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of a house visit?" I asked and threw the manila envelope from Logan on the island.
"I'm sure that Eli told you but my opening act for the US leg of my Manic Tour backed out. I also want to say congratulations about winning you court case. I've been following it since it started. I'm happy that you were able to get justice for yourself. I've always thought Bobby was a sleaze of a guy from the few times we met." Halsey said as I took a sip of my coffee.
"Yea he wasn't the best guy and I'm happy that he will be rioting in prison for a while. I've also heard about your act dropping out. I know how much of a bitch it is to have to find a replacement. So what can I do for you?" I asked.
"Eli told me that you have been working on new music and you might want to get back out there. I want to offer you the opening spot on my tour. It's a 30 show tour in the US with one show in Canada. You would be the only opening act and get a 35 minute set. If you want to stay on there will also be a European leg in the summer." Halsey said.
Halsey and I have met a few times at different award shows and through mutual industry friends. I've also sat in studio time with her before but we weren't really close. Bobby kept me away from forming friendships with other artists. We are friendly towards each other and I looked up to her a lot. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I'm hungry and I still want to be in bed with Thea. Speaking of Thea I looked up when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Thea was standing at the bottom of the landing with a bag on her shoulder.
"Give me one second." I said and stood from the table to walk Thea out. I slipped my boots on and grabbed my coat and pulled Thea outside with me.
"Should I get used to more celebrates showing up on your doorstep?" Thea asked as we walked to her truck.
"Hopefully not. I'm pissed that Eli didn't call first." I said and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Well you can't blame him because he did." Thea said and handed me my phone.
I took it from he and looked at the lock screen. I had a half dozen notifications all from Eli, well looks like I owe him an apology.
"I'll deal with him later. Let me know how it goes at the tailor, I'll probably have dinner with Pat tonight." I said and leaned into Thea.
"Yes ma'am. You should really consider her offer. I know you don't think you should get out there that soon but you're music deserves to be heard Ashlyn." Thea said and wrapped her arms around me.
"Fine" I said and planted a kiss to her lips.
Thea pulled away far too soon for my liking but I knew I needed to go back inside. I watched Thea pull away from the curb and walked back inside. I sat back down at the table and looked at the three of them.
"So I don't have a manager right now. Before I agree to anything I would need to hire one. Any contract you give me will also get reviewed by my attorneys." I said warming to the idea of getting back out there.
"This is actually another reason why I came in person to speak with you. I knew that you would need a new manager and label to sign to help you get yourself off the ground again. This is Alyssa McIntyre; she has been my assistant for years and has been a manager for a few smaller bands on my label before. I'll let Alyssa speak for herself and the label but I think that you could possibly like her for a manager." Halsey said.
"It's really nice to meet you Ashlyn. Ashley is right, I have managed a few bands here and there in between being Ashley's assistant for how long has it been now? Five years? I did come with Ashley with an offer from her label, Astralwerks. Astralwerks is owned by Universal Music Group and its music is distributed by Capitol Music Group here in the states. They want to make you an offer that's combined between the tour and one album.
"Astralwerks is aware that you have headlined tours as big as Ashley's for your past two records. This opening act jig is just to let you experiment with whoever you want to be in the future of your music career. The label isn't asking for you to sign a major deal with them after the tour is over and you release the album. They are giving you all the freedom to do what you want within reason of course." Alyssa said and handed me a copy of a contract.
"Is there a time limit on this offer or when I have to put the album out or limits on the album itself?" I asked the few questions I had.
"The label is giving you a week to decide. There is no timeline for you to have the album come out or limits on the album itself. If you want to set up meetings for interviews for potential new managers they can also help you do that as well." Alyssa said.
"You do know that I wouldn't be singing any of the songs on my first four albums right? Everything that I would sing is new and a lot of it is dark and not the nicest." I said because this deal sounds way too good to be true.
"We are aware." Alyssa said and gave me a small smile.
"I know this is a lot of information being thrown at you at once but we wanted you to know everything up front. I brought Alyssa with me because I wanted to offer her to you because I trust her and know her as a person who wouldn't do anything to hurt you." Ashley said.
"Thank you for all of this and the offer. I want to take some time to think about it and read through this contract with my attorney before I give you an official answer but I do like what I've heard from both of you today. I won't take too long to get back to you with a decision though. I do just want to make one thing clear though, I'm based here in Salem and I don't really want to leave unless I have too. I know there are things I can't do here and I'll come out to LA for that but I rather not leave unless I have too." I said wanting to make that clear.
After cleaning out my apartment in LA, I had no intentions of ever returning. Now that I have Thea I didn't even want to think or entertain the thought of being away for so long.
"I've made that clear to them and Ashley has told the label of that as well." Eli chimed in for the first time in this meeting.
"Thank you." I said mainly to Eli and gave him a smile.
"We are going to get out of your hair and let you think about everything. Here is my cell along with Alyssa's if you have any questions about anything or just wanted to talk." Ashley said and wrote two phone numbers on the contract Alyssa gave me.
"Thank you for coming all the way here to present this too me I really appreciate it." I said and walked them to the door.
"I hope to hear from you soon." Ashley said and walked out the door with Alyssa.
"It's a really good offer Ash, the tour is going to be amazing, I hope you jump on it like you've jumped on the cop." Eli said and smirk. I punched him in the arm again.
"Get out of my house, I'll talk to you soon." I said and pushed him out the door.
"Love you too Ashlyn!" Eli yelled as I closed my front door.
I sighed and finished my coffee before I called Jack and set up an appointment with him to go over this contract in two days. After that phone call I called Pat and asked if he wanted to do dinner and he agreed and asked if I could pick up some Mexican. I agreed and was looking forward to seeing him later. For now I grabbed a pop-tart to snack on and picked up the manila envelope Logan gave me the other day outside the court room. I haven't opened it yet and thought now would be the best time to do that.
I sat at the table again and ripped open the top of it. Paperwork poured out of the envelope as I turned it over along with two checks. When I saw the dollar amount on the check that Bobby was supposed to get I almost fell out of my chair. No wonder why he wanted me to sign the contract this badly. My check was a good amount as well but nowhere near how much they were going to pay Bobby. Along with the checks the was all the paperwork regarding the royalty rights to my music on the label. Looks like I'm going to the bank today before I get dinner.
My trip to the bank took longer than expected because they had a few phone calls to make to the label to make sure the checks were real. I don't blame them, the checks almost totaled 7 million dollars together. But finally the manager put them through into my account and I left to go pick up dinner for Pat and myself.
When I got to Pat's house I heard the blender going and I knew he was making margaritas. I unloaded all the food onto the table as Pat finished up the drinks and joined me.
"You have something on your mind, I can tell." Pat said as he took a sip of his marg.
" I got an offer today to go on tour with Halsey and open for her, with my own music. She also offered me an album deal for me to release my own music. I have set up a meeting with Jack about going over the contract to make sure it's a good one. I'm thinking about taking this shot to be me." I said and bite into a taco.
"I knew you wouldn't stay down long." Pat said and took a bite of this enchilada.
"What do you mean?" I asked and wiped my mouth.
"Music is your gift to the world Ash; it deserves to be heard. If you think this tour spot with Halsey is a good fit for you then you should take it and play your music. It's been a long time coming for people to finally get to hear you. And I've heard some of your new stuff through the window, it's raw and vulnerable and it could help a lot of people who were feeling like you felt that night when you went to the bridge." Pat said and gave me a soft look.
After I see Jack to discuss the contract it only looks like I would need to talk to Thea about it.