Page 22 of Dirty Like Jude
“Is that hope I hear in your voice, or trepidation?” I held out my hand for a beer, and she passed one tome.
“Both?”
“I’ve never seen him. So probably not.” We cracked open our beers and headed back into the living room. “What if the teeth are platinum orsomething?”
“Well, damn. Now I’ve got myself a dilemma.” She grinned, getting comfy on the couch. “So. What’re we workingon?”
“Something big,” I said. “Potentially huge.” I took a swig of beer and wondered how to… well, pitch this to her. Talia often worked with me on the events I was promoting. She workedforme, really; I hired her on as an assistant when I needed one. But when it came to Dirty, she was definitely the authority in theroom.
Talia had been working with Brody and Maggie, on and off, for the past few years, as one of their many managerial underlings-slash-slaves. She’d worked a lot of Dirty events and she definitely knew a shit ton more than I did about the inner workings of the Dirtyworld.
Honestly, I’d really never paid all that much attention to the inner workings of the Dirty world before. It really wasn’t myworld.
Untilnow.
“Oh?” She blinked at me, waiting formore.
I settled in on the floor, cross-legged, across the table from her. “You can’t tell anyone yet. It’s top secret until we’re sure it’s ago.”
“Okay.”
“It’s…Dirty.”
She stared at me. Then she cocked her head a bit. “What?How?”
“Jessa brought it to me. She told me the band wants to play a New Year’s Eve show, in town, and Brody’s looking to put it together. Have you heardanything?”
“Yeah. Of course. But I thought Maggie was onit.”
“I guess not? Jessa said Maggie and Brody are both too busy. She said they need a venue, basically, and suggested I find one and make ithappen.”
Talia sat back, considering that. “Wow.”
“Yeah. So I really want to make a go of this,obviously.”
“You have avenue?”
“No. Which is why I need yourhelp.”
Talia’s pretty face immediately tightened, in that way a person’s did when they really didn’t want to have to break the bad news to you, but knew they had to—because you had a giant tarantula on your head orsomething.
“Roni…”
“I know, I know. Everything in town is booked. But there has to be some way. Let’s just put our big, juicy lady brains together and see what we can do,okay?”
“Okay…” she said, sounding not at all optimistic, but at leastwilling.
“I’ve started a list, of all the places I’dlove—”
“Don’t bother,” she said, clicking around on her laptop. “I’ve got the only list you’ll ever need.” She turned the laptop toward me. “These are the only places in town Dirty will even consider playing. This is Brody and Jude’s approvedlist.”
My stomach dropped as I took a look at her list. There were exactly seven venues on it, with data about each venue and contact information. “Jude?”
“Yeah. Jude. He’s a real hard-ass when it comes to security. On the road, Dirty only plays major venues. At home, they love playing smaller shows, trying out new material and just having fun. But it always has to meet Jude’s standards for security. He’s very protective of Jesse and Zane, especially. You know I wasn’t even allowed tomeetZane until the fifth show I’d ever worked for them?” She rolled her eyes. “I promise you, these are the only venues Jude will approve. And Brody won’t even consider anything Jude won’tapprove.”
“Great.” I closed my list, which was obviously a total waste of time, with a dramatic jab of my touchpad. Then I took a big-ass swig ofbeer.
“I’m telling you,” Talia said, sympathetic. “You think rock stars are difficult? Try working with Brody andJude.”
