Page 13 of Dirty Like Jude
And no. I wasn’t about to let thathappen.
“If I do this, I’ll take that generous cut of ticket sales,” I informedher.
“You can work that out withBrody.”
I crossed my arms at my waist and stared her down. “And incidentally, why am I not having this conversation withhim?”
Jessa just looked at me, and in her silence, it becameclear.
“Because I don’t have the gigyet.”
Brilliant. She wanted me to find a venue,thenpresent Brody with what I had tooffer.
I sighed and took a few steps closer to her, gazing down at her baby boy. “Remind me never to underestimate your mother,” I told him, nudging his littlefoot.
Jessa smiled. “You’ll do it? Roni, this would be sooo good for you. And just think how much fun it would be if you worked with the band, with Brody… withme…”
I didn’t respond to that. I was still thinking it through. Fun, sure. But I didn’t love the position it put mein.
If I found a venue, it would definitely give me more to bargain with when I brought it toBrody.
But if I went around town trying to book a venue for a Dirty show… it’s not like Brody wasn’t going to find out. Which meant I probably couldn’tsayit was for a Dirty show upfront; not until after I actually had thevenue.
“Fuck.”
Jessa just beamed her gorgeous, lingerie-selling smile up atme.
I sighed again and sat down next to her. “What other intel have you got? I want every detail you know so far. Motivateme.”
“All I know is the band is really keen on the show. Likereallykeen. And…” Shehesitated.
“And?”
“And… this isn’t public yet. Which means you can’t tellanyone.”
“You know Iwon’t.”
“It’s gonna be Elle’s last show until after she has thebaby.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. So it’s kind of a big deal for the band, and thefans.”
“Uh, I would say so.” Elle was Dirty’s bassist, and she was a few months pregnant now. But she’d been with Dirtyforever.
“She and Seth have been really private about the pregnancy so far,” Jessa said, “keeping it out of the media, but that won’t last much longer. She’s really starting show, and the band is planning to announce to the fans at this show, for the first time, that Elle won’t be on the tour. I mean, she’ll be on the tour, traveling with Seth, but she won’t be playing shows. She won’t even be at a lot of the shows. She told me she’s spoken with her doctors about it, gone over her touring schedule with them, and they’ve told her that the repeated exposure to the excessive noise levels at the constant concerts, sound checks, everything, pose a risk to the pregnancy. And it’s not just possible hearing loss to the baby, but preterm labor, that kind ofthing.”
“I see.” Honestly, I’d never thought about that. I’d wondered how she was going to play with a baby belly, how tired she might be, but that was aboutit.
The noise thing hadn’t even occurred tome.
“So, Elle’s going to take a step back,” Jessa said. “She already told me she was worried about how far she could take it, how much energy she could bring to the stage, to give the fans and the band and the music what they deserve. I’ve been through a pregnancy and I don’t blame her. Even if there was no possible harm to the baby, she doesn’t need that kind of pressure rightnow.”
“Forsure.”
“Which means… this is gonna be a special show.” Jessa gave me a slight smile. “Nopressure.”
“Oh, none at all,” Isaid.
