Page 136 of Dirty Like Brody
“Can I have a word?” Iaskedhim.
He untangled himself from his guitar and set it aside. I kissed Jessa on the head and she gave me a sweet smile as Jesse hopped down from the stage. As we headed up the aisle, I could hear her twiddling on her guitar,tuningit.
“We good?” I asked him when we stopped just inside theentrance.
“Yeah,” he said. “We’regood.”
Great. Because the other day, while I was on bullshit post-concussion bedrest and he’d come to my place, ranting and raving about leaving the band if I didn’t get rid of Seth, like yesterday, it was definitelynotgood.
“Then we don’t need to be looking fortwonew guitarplayers?”
“Nope.”
I stared him down. “You know you own part of Dirty, right? You go, the name probably goes with you.” It was true. Jesse left the band, we had all kinds of legal bullshit to deal with, and the other band members would have to fight for the right to use the name… and possibly lose it. If he wanted to be a dick about it, they probably would. He owned a fourth of it, on paper. They split the royalties on everything, but he also wrote a fuck of a lot of the music and could fight for more if he ever wanted to. “Not to mention you write most of the killer shit. So basically, the band is fuckedwithoutyou.”
“Iknowthat.”
“Plus, you know, the chicks dig you something fierce. You and all your fucking leatherpants.”
Jesse grinned that dazzling grin of his, so like his sister’s. “Knowthat,too.”
“Good. Don’tforgetit.”
“I’m here, Bro,” he said, getting serious. Then he pulled me in for aquickhug.
“Glad to hear it.” I slapped his back and released him. “Maggie’ll take care of the press. I’ll deal with the record company. Zane’s gonna do a couple of interviews, deliver a statement we’re preparing, and you all can vet it before the lawyers do. Jude’s got us covered with everything else. I’m hashing out some ideas with Maggs on how we’re gonna find our new rhythm guitarist. You don’t need to worry about that. Just keep your focus where it should be—writing a kick-ass album of number one shit with that sister ofyours.”
“Yeah,boss.”
“I mean it. If I don’t feel the need to fight, fuck or party ’til I black out, like immediately, when I hear these new songs, you go back at it untilIdo.”
“I can take care of that,” Jesse said. Then he gave me a pointed look, complete with raised eyebrow. “If you can take care of mysister.”
Well,shit.
I really didn’t expectthatout of hismouth.
“Yeah,” I said, tentatively. “Yeah, I can do that. Intend to. She’ll let me, that’s anotherstory.”
Then he did something else I didn’t expect. He clapped me on the shoulder and looked at me like he hoped shewouldlet me. Actually, he looked a little sorry for me. “She’s back, right? Let’s keep itthatway.”
I sighed. “Just tell her to come outside when she’s doneinhere.”
Jesse nodded, but he didn’t let me go. “I’m gonna give you a little advice you gave me, not so long ago,” he said. “You care about her, give her everythingyou’vegot.”
Fuck me. What an asshole. Using my wordsagainstme.
That was exactly what I’d said to him, when Katie almost walked away and he had a panicattack.
He grinned. “Sucks being right all the time,huh,Bro?”
“Don’t be aprick.”
* * *
Iwentoutside and my ass found the stoop around back of the church, where I could be alone until Jessa came. I just hoped I didn’t have to wait long. I’d been wanting to have this conversation for days, but this was the first day I’d managed to keep it together enough to get out of bed. I was fucking tired and groggy all the time, and still onpainkillers.
Note to self: never hit your head on a fucking amp while a two-hundred-pound dude is on topofyou.
