Chapter 45

Tommy

Gettingbehind my drum set for the first time in two months was a little trippy. I was running on just a few hours’ sleep, my knee was tightly taped, and there was an energy in the room that was exciting. The girls were all here, as was River, with the cutest little noise-cancelling headphones to protect his ears. Bash was coming later this afternoon, just to hang out and in case I needed him.

Sasha had called and said she was running late but would be here soon, and I was anxious to get going.

We’d wanted a little time to find our groove before inviting anyone else to play, but my gut told me I was going to be fine.

After last night’s lovemaking marathon with Harley, getting re-engaged, and everything back on track, the only thing left was figuring out if I could play.

I used my left leg to thump on one bass drum a little, since I used two of them, and then tapped my foot on the right.

No pain.

I thumped a little harder, getting used to how it felt to play with my knee wrapped this way, and so far, everything felt normal.

I picked up my sticks, twirled them a few times and then did a light tap-tap-tap on the snare, adding a little back beat with my feet.

Oh, yeah.

I glanced up and found Harley watching me with a soft smile. River was on her lap, and he waved when he caught my eye. I grinned and twirled my sticks for him, making him laugh. Then I did a roll on the snare, hit the bass drums with both feet, and pinged against the cymbals.

Yup, I was back.

“Let’s do this,” I called to the band. “What the hell are we waiting for?”

“Just waiting on you, gimpy!” Kellan called with a laugh, swinging his guitar back and forth.

“Gimpy, my ass!” I grunted, hitting the bass a little harder.

This felt good.

I wasn’t stupid, I knew the knee wasn’t back to a hundred percent, but between the steroids, the Advil I’d taken, and the bandage, I was going to get through these two songs no matter what.

“Guys!” Sasha came running into the room, a huge smile on her face. “Sorry I’m late, but I just got the best fucking news. Sorry, I know you’re about to start warming up, but you’re going to want to hear this.”

“What up?” Kingston asked as we all paused what we were doing and turned to listen.

“It’s a little convoluted, so try to follow the explanation.”

“I asked my mom if she and/or my stepdad would be willing to use one of their shell corporations to buy back your masters. You would pay for it, of course, or just buy them from him, but we know Aurora won’t sell to you. She would sell to a stranger for a lot of money, though.”

“Oh, shit.” I raised my eyebrows.

“The royal family uses shell corporations to hide their identity when they’re doing business outside of Limaj, but not because they’re laundering money or anything. It’s just safer to do business and make investments with random corporations than with a royal family, you know? Anyway, my mom talked to my stepdad, and they agreed they would buy your masters for you, assuming you guys agree on a price. It’ll have to be high, but that’s up to you. And we’ll use a very wealthy friend of a friend to do the actual transaction, with money being moved under the table so Aurora has no idea who’s actually buying the masters.”

“What?” Kellan looked startled.

“And then you’ll buy them from the person who bought them, for a dollar more than he paid. Everything’s on the up and up. The only one who won’t know what’s happening is Aurora, until it’s too late, but we don’t give a shit about her.”

“We certainly don’t,” Devyn muttered, shaking her head.

“That’s fucking brilliant.” Kingston started to chuckle, as if he’d needed a few seconds for it sink in. “My brother offered to do the same thing, but she knows him, and all of his companies are linked directly to him, so we figured she’d never sell to anyone that knows us.”

“Well, with any luck, she’ll have no idea what’s happening. And you’ll have your masters without having to re-record those albums.” She paused. “I mean, you still can. There’s nothing wrong with polishing up older songs, adding Devyn to the mix, stuff like that. And honestly, this deal could take a while to broker, so you’ll want to re-record these two songs as planned. That way, you’re covered when you start the tour, but a year from now, you should own your masters and Aurora can suck it.”

We all looked at each other and then Kingston walked over and gave her a big hug. “You’re fucking amazing, Sasha. Thank you. We owe you and your mom…something. I don’t know what yet, but it will be big and expensive.”

“I don’t need anything, and Mom will say the same thing,” she said with a smile, turning as Kellan hugged her next, followed by Devyn. I dragged myself out from behind my set to join them and then we all looked at each other.

We had a new band member, a new tour was on the horizon, the new album was coming out soon… lots of great things happening.

It felt like yet another new beginning.

My band.

My family.

My woman.

I really had it all.

I glanced over at Harley who was smiling, as if she understood and knew what I was thinking.

“I love you,” she mouthed.

I winked.