13. Chapter Thirteen

The four of us pulled up to the guard shack at Sal’s house at nine forty-five a.m. and I was a nervous wreck. We’d already hashed shit out at Rocktoberfest, but this was huge, and anything could happen. What if he changed his mind? That would fucking break me and it would crush the guys.

“Hello, boys. I’m Sal’s wife, Sharon. It’s nice to meet you. Please come in.” A nice older lady greeted us. I fully expected a stiff butler to show us in. This was better, more personal.

We stepped inside the foyer just as Jeremiah came around the corner. “Mom, Ethan wants to talk to you.” Ethan. Ethan. Why was that name familiar?

“Excuse me, boys, I need to call my other son.”

Bingo. Diamond’s real name was Ethan. Wow, Masterson really did keep it all in the family.

“Good morning. We have pastries. Anyone hungry? Sal will be a few more minutes, he’s on a call right now.” Jeremiah led us to the kitchen where more than pastries were set out at a ten-person table.

“I could eat.” Marley was the first to fill a plate then the rest of us followed his lead. I hadn’t eaten yet. My anxiety was all over the place and I was afraid I’d spew. Now that we were here, I was still nervous, but the warm welcome helped calm some of the nerves.

“Good morning, boys.” Sal came in with Joey, Stoli, and Mickey behind him. “I hope you’re enjoying breakfast. I wanted to meet with these three before we did. I’m sorry proper introductions weren’t made on Sunday during the call. If you could take a moment to introduce yourselves, we’d appreciate it.”

“Jason Stallworth, lead vocals.”

“Marley Altman, bass.”

“Nigel Lawton, drums.”

“Josh Gray, guitarist.” They knew who I was, but directions were given, and I was following them. With time, hopefully not too much, they’d see I wasn’t the man they believed me to be. I was better than my past, Reagan had shown me that, though I still had my low moments. Fighting my demons would be a lifelong battle but one I was determined to win.

Joey, Stoli, and Mickey each filled a plate and took a seat. Idle chit chat, I could do this. Here goes nothing. “Thanks for agreeing to work with us.”

Stoli rolled his eyes. “Not like we had much of a choice.” Joey elbowed him.

“I’m happy to help. With Maiden and Social taking a break from touring it’ll be nice to have something to do. Idle hands and all that.” Joey and I were gonna get along just fine.

“My partners work for Masterson,” Mickey began. How he juggled two men was beyond me. “River manages social media for all the bands. You’ll meet him and Benny later. Benny is our touring masseuse and when we’re not on the road he has a lot of personal clients he tends to.” Hmm, that was good to know and smart of Masterson to employ a masseuse. Between head banging, lugging heavy gear and sleeping in shitty beds, I could see how the bands would benefit from that service. Not that Masterson would let us sleep in seedy motels and places like that, but I got it. Keep the talent happy and healthy and they’ll remain productive and happy.

“I’ll give you a low down of the inner workings for the Masterson family so none of you,” Stoli’s eyes immediately darted to me, “say or do the wrong thing. Sal is married to Diamond and Jeremiah’s mom, Sharon. Diamond is married to Sal’s son and our band manager, Easton. Benny and River are Mickey’s partners. As everyone in the world knows, Joey is my husband. I assume all of you know the members of each band?” We nodded. “Good, what am I forgetting, babe? I know there’s more.”

“Rhone, the drummer for Embrace the Fear, is married to Ely who is the head chef for the company. David, bassist for Embrace, his partner Jordan owns a catering company with Ely.”

“And my partner is Seltzer, lead guitarist for Embrace,” Jeremiah said just as the man entered the room and kissed him.

“Chaotic, great to meet you.” Seltzer went around the room and shook each of our hands as we said our names and what we did again.

“We are one big, happy family.” Sal’s smile spoke volumes. He was proud of this, as he should be. He spent years in the industry building his flawless reputation and if one of his boys fucked up, the others would yank him back in line.

“Thank you for breakfast.”

“Don’t thank me, thank my lovely wife. She insisted.” I’d make sure to do just that the next time I saw her. “Put your dishes in the dishwasher and throw your trash away. Stoli, bring them to the office when they’re done.” He turned and walked away. We scrambled, cleaning up everything and ensuring no crumbs were left behind and then followed Stoli.

“Deep breath,” Joey whispered to me. “You’ve got this.”

“Thank you. I really am sorry.”

“It’s all in the past. The first step to moving forward is to leave it there.” Fucking hell, what did I do to deserve this potential friendship? You already paid your dues, Josh. I sure as hell fucking hoped so.

“Gentlemen, have a seat.” This was by far the largest office I’d ever been in. It must’ve been converted from two or three huge ass bedrooms and extended the length of one side of the downstairs hallway. “If you need to use the restroom, it’s across the hall.”

We sat around a large conference room table that sat fifteen. On the far wall was a giant TV monitor, the screen separated into seven boxes. No faces were in them yet, but the names on each made it easy to figure out who was joining us.

All four members of Maiden Voyage and the three remaining from Embrace the Fear.

I wasn’t familiar with the Embrace guys outside of just having met Seltzer but was about to be as faces appeared in the boxes. “Good morning, gentlemen,” Sal said to them. Each either waved or returned the same words. “We’ve already done introductions here, but I’ll have the guys from Chaotic do it again for those of you on the video call.” Once that was done, Sal began again.

“We’ve already hashed out past digressions and I’m here to warn, I don’t want to hear of it again. Leave the past there and everyone is to move on. Now, I’ve emailed all of you the agenda and printed out copies for those in attendance here.” Mickey walked around and handed us each a packet. “First and foremost, after NDAs and contracts are signed today, Stoli, Joey, and Mickey will become more acquainted with Josh, Jason, Marley, and Nigel by mentoring them. With that being said, Jeremiah and I are working with venues from Seattle to Phoenix, including Las Vegas and the greater Los Angeles area to set up shows with Embrace and Chaotic.”

I wanted to whoop and holler and I’m sure Jason felt the same. He was the only one who cold called the various places and built those relationships and that was a hell of a lot of work. Playtime was what we needed along with a steady income. Everyone in Chaotic but me had day jobs and to leave those would be a financial strain.

“Rhone, since you and Ely will be on the road with the bands, I’d like to ask you to partner up with Nigel. Embrace has been with us for a couple of years now and you know the ropes.”

“Absolutely, Sal. I look forward to working with them.”

“Good, good. Thank you. Chaotic, in between shows we’ll book studio time. I have a copy of your CD and while it’s good, it’s not great. Nothing against the songs or any of your parts in it but you’ll see a notable difference regarding the mixing once the new CD is produced. I’d like you to have twelve to fifteen songs ready to go. They can mirror what you already have or be a mix of old and new or all new. Your call, but the songs must be polished.”

Now for this, I was stoked. The guys and I busted through several of the songs I’d written but we hadn’t played them yet. This was insane. Had I finally paid Karma in full and now it was my time to shine? If so, I was gonna be one sparkly ass mother fucker. We all were. Jason, Marley, and Nigel took a big chance when they hired me and risked being shunned as I had. I owed these guys my life and I’d rather die than allow us to fail.

“Understood,” Jason replied for the band.

“Ryder, Derek, Jaxson, and Shadow. You are on this call today because you’re a big part of the family and we need to operate as such. Look at this as a new venture and an opportunity to help your brothers succeed. If possible, when Chaotic is in your town, we’d appreciate it if you could hype up the local scene, get the fans out to see them and Embrace, and do the same if your schedules allow. I know you’ve been working closely with Embrace as Social will be doing for Chaotic. Of course, River will be hot on the social media scene and Jason has given him access to all of Chaotic’s socials so he’s updating those as we speak.”

Jesus, Sal didn’t miss a thing. Masterson was an A-to-Z management company. This was like every musician’s dream come true. Handling socials, websites, drumming up business, while all that was necessary it took time away from what we were meant to do—write songs and play music.

“While on this call, River has texted everyone here the phone numbers for each member of Chaotic and Chaotic, you’ve received all the numbers you need. Part of the NDA is you do not under any circumstances share that privileged information. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” we replied in unison. The guys from Maiden were billionaires, they’d been on the scene longer than Social and they were already millionaires. Giving away that kind of info could seriously fuck someone and get you blackballed. Again.

“Jason has provided us with your band logo. We’ll be working behind the scenes on merchandise to sell at the shows. Jeremiah has set up radio station interviews and will continue to do so locally throughout the tour. As soon as the ink dries on your contracts, your lives will become hectic and overwhelming, but I promise it will be more than worth it.

“Nigel, I understand you have a daughter?” My head darted so fast in Nigel’s direction it nearly spun off.

“Yes, sir. Joint custody.”

“Will you need assistance with making arrangements for her while you’re on the road?” Wow, Sal was even willing to help us out on a personal level.

“I shouldn’t but if I do, I’ll let you know.”

“I was lucky in that aspect,” Derek chimed in. “Having a great relationship with my ex helped out, though my son is an adult now.”

“Damn, dude, you’re old.” Jaxson, always the jokester, though that got him into trouble in the beginning with his now partner. Talk about a shittastic mistake of epic proportions.

Derek flipped him off and everyone laughed. “All right, boys, simmer down.” Sal’s words held no contempt, not with the smile on his face. “Within this family you’ll learn we’ve all run into our share of things, both good and bad. Have a problem? Reach out. I can promise any one of these men would be willing to help out, but do not take advantage of that. They have big hearts and in Jaxson’s case, a wallet bigger than his brain.”

The entire room roared with laughter. Back to that how he fucked up with his partner in the beginning. Every bag of shit reminded me of him. Not that I’ve seen many but…yeah. It was a gross story that left you thinking, what the actual fuck, Jaxson.

“Oh my God!” Sharon hollered as she burst through the office door. “They’re pregnant. We’re gonna be grandparents!” Sal jumped up and swung her around while the room erupted in cheers.

“Who’s pregnant?” Jason asked me.

“No clue. But I guess it’s a good thing?”

“So sorry, gentlemen. It looks like the surrogate for Diamond and Easton is pregnant. This is a joyous day.”

“Um, might want to check your texts, Sal.” Stoli held his phone up. Sal grabbed his off the desk. His eyes widened as he glanced up at his wife.

“With twins.” Sharon squealed and danced around. How perfect would it have been to be born into such a loving, warm family? If only every child had that chance.

Holy hell, the sound in the room reached deafening levels. You’d have thought we were onstage. At least now we understood why Diamond wasn’t part of the mentoring program.

“Poor Easton,” Mickey shook his head. “You know there’s no way one of those kids won’t mirror D.”

“Or both.” A communal groan rang out at Joey’s comment. I’d heard stories of Diamond’s antics, and inability to remain fully clothed around others. Their kids would likely turn out to be streaking hellions.

Poor Easton was right. Note to self, don’t randomly show up at their house or you may get more than you bargained for.

“Time to get our own place, babe.” Jeremiah nodded as he readily agreed with Seltzer.

“I thought you lived in Vegas?” Should I have asked? Not knowing my place, I guessed I’d learn the hard way. Either he’d answer or tell me to fuck off.

“Yeah. My sister and I have a house together. Jeremiah and I split our time between Vegas and Seattle. We’d been staying with D amp; E, but I think it’s time to look for a place of our own here.”

I should consider that myself, but I needed to see what we were making first. We’d be in the headlines and all over social media by the end of the day and in no time, jackasses with Robin Hood complexes would find out where we lived. Little did they know, I wasn’t one of the rich they wished to rob. A fragmented memory of a conversation with Reagan about us living together that I know we didn’t have popped into my head.

Or did we?

“Okay, back to business.” The room silenced as Sal reined the group in. “If any of you hear of venues with open slots, reach out to Jeremiah. He has taken Embrace from Easton so my son can focus on his new family and as announced on Sunday, he’ll be managing Chaotic as well. I feel the two bands mirror each other perfectly and will work well together. Maiden and Embrace, you’re free to log off or sit in on the social media portion. River has just arrived and will begin his presentation shortly.”

Maiden said their goodbyes and their screens went black, but I was happy to see Embrace stay on. Since we’d be working with them, I was interested in any input they might have.

“Hello, everyone, I’m River. Social media guru and the one who keeps Mickey in line.” He winked at Mickey and the heated look returned nearly had me leaving the room. Their intense chemistry was off the charts. River plugged his computer into the monitor and minimized the Embrace faces. “Chaotic has the bones set up for their socials and a fair following but today we are blasting out the contract signing. So, gentlemen, prepare to be amazed because you’re about to launch into rock ‘n roll outer space.

“Gentlemen, please remove the contracts from the packet Mickey gave you earlier.” I hadn’t dug that far into it yet, too enthralled with everything going on around me. “Those are exclusive contracts to Masterson. We pay a fair percentage, and those contracts are the same used with Maiden, Embrace, and Social. Each has an out clause to where if any member of a band causes problems that result in jail time or worse, they are immediately relieved of their contract. This is not pointing fingers at any one individual, this is to protect the Masterson family as a whole.” Made total sense and I was glad there were no Josh-specific additions.

With a quick read through, and the inability to hire a lawyer to read it over, I grabbed the pen provided.

“Gentlemen, if you’re in agreement, pick up your pens and pose for pictures, please.” As we did, River snapped away. “Go ahead and sign.” When all were signed, they asked we stand as a group while River took more pictures. “Excellent. I’m sure Jeremiah and River have flooded your inboxes with enough reading material to keep you busy throughout the weekend. Welcome to the Masterson family.” Sal shook our hands and posed for a picture. “Keep in constant contact with Jeremiah, especially with any scheduling conflicts. Fill out the auto deposit forms before you leave today and we’ll have your advances deposited in your accounts in the next twenty-four hours.”

Advances?

Holy shit. This just got real!

On our way out, Stoli stopped me. “Is there a day you and your special someone have off together?”

I wasn’t about to tell him I didn’t have a regular job, not that he probably couldn’t have guessed that. “Reagan has Sundays off.”

“Perfect. Joey and I would like to invite you to dinner at our place on Sunday. I’ll text you the address.” Without another word, he walked off. I suppose he wasn’t used to people telling him no. Not that I would have, but…yeah.