Destroyed (Lost in Oblivion, #3)(64)

Ugh.

Margo sat on the other side of him, her face impassive. She hadn’t really talked to him today, but she hadn’t not talked to him, either. She was a cagey one on a good day.

“Two things,” Lila said as she walked across the stage. “We’re going to do a special fan club only show on Thursday night to get some reactions, see if we need to do any tweaks.”

Jazz clapped behind him. “That was me and Nicky’s idea. That way if something doesn’t work, then we still have a day to replace a song.”

Yay.

Christ, he hoped his voice held out. Most of the rest of the tour was staggered so he had a night off at least every three days. Now, the first week would be five nights in a row.

Fucking phenomenal.

“And now…” Lila glanced over her shoulder. “Music Life had so much left over from the release party that they teamed up with NBC to do a primetime special with you guys. The fact that ‘Lit’ is still in the top ten doesn’t hurt, either. ”

Nick punched him in the arm. “Dude, everyone will see this.”

Simon smiled wide for the first time in two days. As Kim Forrester’s face filled the screen, the house speakers went live. She talked about their humble beginnings, the YouTube song that had changed their lives, and the fight for a contract between two different music labels.

The way Kim told it, they’d been in more of a bidding war than what had really happened. She made them sound so altruistic for choosing the smaller label and how it had worked out for them.

No one would know the real story. Not unless one of them actually coughed up the info. Simon hated to remember those days. The way that Trident had played them, turned them on the rest of the band.

The way Jackson Miller had worked the contract until it sounded like they’d been protecting Oblivion. That the numbers wouldn’t matter for the one album. And he and Nick would have controlling interest in the band for a year.

It had sounded so safe, so doable. After the train wreck the band had become after Snake was ejected, he and Nick had been looking for any way to protect the band.

Every part of it had been a bad idea.

And the only reason they still had their shirts, or even their songs, was because Deacon had questioned every piece of the contract.

He’d saved their ass.

And they’d never spoken of it again. Because those dark days had showed he and Nicky had been lacking in the trust department—in a big way. And listening to Kim Forrester make it sound like they’d been so brave to try a smaller label made his stomach turn.

Beside him, Nick had his arms crossed over his middle, his face impassive. He must have been thinking back on their shitty decisions, as well.

But in the next segment she talked of “The Becoming” and their use of a string section to create an epic song experience for the soundtrack.

It had shot them to the top of the charts and had brought the EP into their lap. Once they’d gotten out from under Trident’s thumb, they’d found out that they were a great band in the studio.

Everything that had been a chore and a slog in Trident’s studio space had become magic and intimate with Ripper Records. Donovan Lewis understood what artists needed.

To an uncanny degree, to be honest.

Simon didn’t give two shits about how the guy knew, but he was grateful for it. By the time Music Life showed footage from their release party he was willing to buy an album.

She’d spun it so they seemed like the next Rolling Stones, for f*ck’s sake. And her take on adding a violinist to the band made them sound like geniuses.

Kim’s huge bluebell eyes filled the screen. “In our last segment, we’re going to get a little insider information on how the band came to be.”

Simon turned to Nick and they both frowned. “Did you talk to her?”

Nick shook his head. “Not since the release party.”

He twisted in his chair. “You guys?”

Deacon, Gray, and Jazz all shook their heads.

Nick folded his hands behind his head. “I hope to shit they don’t talk to one of your road skanks, Simon.”

“Fuck off.” Simon swiped his hand over his face and glanced at Margo. She was sheet-white. “Hey. Are you all right?”

She tucked her hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. “I wish I’d known they were going to include me.”

Simon lowered his eyebrows. “Ashamed that you’re slumming it with a rock band, Violin Girl?”

“No, of course not. But now I’m going to have to do some explaining.”

“Mommy dearest doesn’t want to know that her daughter has any interests outside of chamber music.”

“Fuck off, Simon.”

He laughed without an ounce of humor. “I didn’t know you had such language living inside your head, let alone that it could come out of that mouth.”

“You don’t have to live with the repercussions of this.”

“You’re right. My old man hasn’t cared what I do since I was twelve.”

Margo’s mouth dropped open, but before she could say anything else, the commercials ended and the screen was filled with Snake’s face.

The entire pavilion went silent in shock.

“We’re here with William Scotsman, best known as Snake from the original lineup of Oblivion.”