Page 63 of Real Sexy
Wait, how does he know my last name?
There’s only one explanation I come up with.This guy isscary.
“Babe, let’s go.Paps are already circling.”This comes from Mick.
“Those assholes are worse than turkey buzzards.”Tana downs the rest of her wine.“I guess I’m ready, but we didn’t get a firm answer out of Ripley.Holly needs to hear her sing so she can sign her to the label.”
“That may be the case, but unfortunately, it’s not happening tonight.”Karas delivers the verdict.
Holly rolls her eyes.“Then I guess I have to come back tomorrow for open-mic night so I can hear what I need.”She looks to me.“Does that work for you, Ripley?”
“Holly—”
“Shh, Crey.We’ll have more security.It’ll be fine.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose.“Damn right we will.”His attention zeros in on me one more time.“Make sure to let management know that my security team will be contacting them in the morning to go over plans.”
“Uh, okay?”
“Crey, if you scare her, she’s not going to want to sign with Homegrown.Boone already told me I had my work cut out for me to convince her, so I don’t need you making it more difficult.”
“He did?”I ask.
Holly winks.“He told me quite a bit, and I’m so happy for you both.”Her smile disappears.“As long as you don’t screw him over like that bitch Amber, we’ll be all good.Otherwise, you should know that I know people inthe family.”
The family?Holy shit, is she talking about the mob?
“And on that note, I think we’re done here,” Creighton Karas says with finality in his tone.
“’Bye, Ripley!”Holly and Tana both wave as they slide off their stools.“See you tomorrow!”
I watch as the entire contingent makes its way out of the White Horse, half the crowd standing gape jawed and the other half snapping pictures like crazy.
What the hell did I just agree to?
Boone has a lot of explaining to do.
33
Boone
Holly’spractically bouncing in her seat, and her excitement is contagious.
Seeing Ripley on video is a lot different from seeing her perform live.Even though I’ve got all the confidence in the world in her, I’m still a little nervous.Shit, I’m more nervous than before I step onstage in front of thousands.
Tonight’s attendance has been heavily curtailed due to Creighton Karas’s ironhanded rule over security, but I can’t blame the bastard.When Holly told me she showed up here last night with only Tana and two guys, I asked her if she’d lost her damned mind.She flipped me off.I miss that girl.After touring with her, she became like a little sister to me, and I’m glad as hell to see her succeeding and finding her own happiness.
When we talked last night, she also broke the truth to me about the fact that she never liked Amber.She thought Amber was a bitch from day one, and was irate that she’d fucked me over, but happy I’d parted ways with her.
Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all that, I couldn’t disagree with Holly.I also wanted to shake her and ask her why she hadn’t bothered to tell me in the first place.But then again, no one did.Not my parents, my brother, or my friends.No one.They just let me almost make the biggest mistake of my life—a mistake that meant I never would have met Ripley.
That thought is enough to twist my gut into knots.
“What’s she singing tonight?”Tana asks from the other side of the table.
“I don’t know.She didn’t tell me.”
I don’t mention that Ripley was too pissed off at me when she called because I had the keys to a rental car delivered ...and it was parked in the spot where her Javelin was before Anthony stole it.Although it wasn’t really stealing.He just got a wrecker to put it on a flatbed so we could take it out of state.
