Bad Boy vs Millionaire (17 page)

I
waited for Angie at the cafe. She'd called to say she'd found an awesome location for a video shoot and that we could go and check it out. I wasn't so sure but Angie's enthusiasm had once again convinced me.

“
The last video did so well. We’re getting a shitload of downloads of the new song and the buzz is growing. We have to keep the momentum going. I mean, we have to have something new up for the fans this close to the tour.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“And this place sounds perfect. Perfect, I tells you. You need to come with me to check it out. Also, I really, really need to do this video as a final piece for my assessment portfolio. My whole career, my whole life depends on this video.”

I
had agreed and Angie was late to meet me.

Instead
, I saw Jack Colt enter the cafe. I turned my back to the door. I had no reason to talk to him. He sat at the table beside me, also not talking.

Then
I received a message.

I
can't make it. You'll have to go alone with Jack. I've sent you directions. You need to get the farmer's permission to film so we can get organised.

I
shook my head. Then I heard Jack's phone beep, obviously with the same message.

My
phone beeped again.

Don't
even think of bailing. If we don't get permission today, it will throw out the whole schedule.

As if
we couldn't phone him and get permission that way.

Before
I could reply, another message came through.

Sh
e doesn't have a phone.

Likely
story. Angie was just doing this to set us up through some fool scheme of her own. I wasn't stupid. I knew Angie's way of thinking.

This
is NOT some fool scheme. I need you to do this.

I
caught Jack's gaze without meaning to. I tried to look away but it was too late. He knew I'd seen him and if I pretended not to then it would be like intentionally pretending not to see him. That was so much worse than making it look as though I accidentally didn't see him.

“
Do you think she's having us on?” he said.

“
Chances are, she is.”

“
Should we ignore it?”

I
really wanted to say yes. Then I could go home and have a nap well away from Jack Colt and those pesky emotions. But I thought about everything Angie had done for the band. All the work she'd put into the last video filming. I would feel like a right bitch if I said no.

“
I want to but there is the chance she's telling the truth. If you think you can handle a day of my company, we can check it out.”

“
How far away is it? I have to be back by 3.00.”

I
checked the map Angie had sent. It didn't look too far out of town. Maybe an hour's drive.

Another
message. Take photos of the site.

I
sighed. “I guess we'll have to do it.”

The
hour's drive seemed to go forever. What do you do in a car with someone you are barely speaking to? I got out my phone and played Candy Crush. At least it diverted my attention from the closeness of Jack Colt. I needed to not be aware of his thigh muscles straining against the denim of his jeans or the scent of his skin or the way his hair curled around the nape of his neck or those biceps. Oops, I died again.

“
Why are you pulling over?” I asked.

“
I need to check the map.”

“
I told you I would navigate. You don't need to check for yourself.”

“
Hannah, you’re the worst navigator ever. I don't trust you for a minute. Remember when we went to that cabin at the beach and you took us to the wrong one. That old man nearly shot us.”

I
tried not to look at him. I tried to stop my lips from twitching at the corners. I covered my mouth but, before I could stop myself, the giggles exploded out through my fingers. Jack bit his bottom lip until he had to laugh too. I tried not to look at him but I couldn’t resist and, when our eyes met, we both cracked up, the memory of the angry man and our mistaking that horrible, run-down shack for Frank’s beach house was too funny to resist.

Then
I remembered what had come after. That perfect moment, lying in Jack's arms, him stroking my hair and the tender words between us. My heart felt as if it was being shredded by a hell beast when I thought of how we'd had lost it all. If only we could go back in time. Jack's laughter stopped too. I wouldn't look up and meet his eyes and, when he leaned over to smooth the hair from my face, I pulled away. He'd promised so much on that day but it'd all turned into lies.

“
It looks like it's not that much further along. We need to turn right at the next intersection.”

I
nodded. I picked up my phone to continue my game but the battery was down to 15% and I didn't want to waste it, so I stared out the window at the paddocks of cows and the hills. The country was super boring. Who wanted to see nothing but cows all day?

Not
long later, we pulled into a driveway. “I think this is the place,” Jack said.

Nothing
special there to make Angie think it an especially good spot for filming. I started taking photos with my phone. I couldn’t believe how cold it’d gotten. After weeks of heat, the day had become cloudy and overcast. Not the best weather for taking photos either.

“
Shit, Jack, the batteries nearly dead in my phone. You use your phone for the photos.”

I
jumped out of the car and knocked on the farmhouse door. It looked pretty bleak, a deck covered in mud and old engine parts, with gumboots heaped around. The place smelt like diesel and grease and pig shit. I really hoped Angie's plans did not include pigs. Pigs were not what I wanted right then.

I
heard someone shuffling around inside. It had to be the pig farmer. It was like a movie I'd seen once where the young couple asked a pig farmer for help and… well, I didn't want to think about that right now. We wouldn't end up as pig food or anything worse. Angie wouldn't send us into something like that.

“
G'day,” a gruff yet female voice called from inside. “Are you here to see the dam?”

“
I guess so,” I replied. Angie hadn't exactly told me what we were there to see. It could be anything.

“
You'll need to put some boots on then. There's a heap of spares on the porch.”

I
looked around me at the boots. They looked a bit gross and like they'd previously contained sweaty feet. I didn't want to put them on. But then I looked at my shoes and the muddy paddocks around me.

The
old lady came out of the house, wiping her hands on her apron.

“
I'll show you the way.” She looked at Jack, pacing around taking photos. “He's a bit of a Nancy-boy isn't it? Will he be okay walking around the farm in those tight jeans?”

“
He'll have to be, won't he?”

The
old lady grinned, showing a missing tooth at the front and pressing her face into a stream of wrinkles.

“
Jack, come and get some boots on,” I yelled.

“
I'll be fine. I'm wearing cowboy boots.”

“
Fancy cowboy boots that never saw a day of hard work, I bet,” the old lady muttered under her breath.

We
followed her to a wooden gate that she opened then latched behind us.

“
Now mind you don't scare the cows in that fancy getup,” she said to Jack.

I
hid my grin and squelched my way through the mud in the boots. Jack looked less confident making his way in his cowboy boots. They'd be covered with mud and he'd have to spend a good few hours cleaning them. Plus, he kept slipping. The thought of Jack stumbling and sliding down the hill on his arse made me regret wasting the battery on my phone. That would be priceless.

“
What are you taking photos around here for?” the woman asked. “Aint nothing here but cows and grass. Watch out you don't make the bull angry.”

“
Bull! No one said anything about a bull. Is it dangerous? Will it attack?” Jack looked around him as though expecting a bull to come rushing from any direction.

“
It won't if you don't be a dick,” the woman said.

I
snickered. You could tell by the woman's eyes, she was having a joke. The lines crinkled up around them in a way that made me think she was just waiting for Jack to fall too.

We
walked down the hill without any mishaps and then through a grove of trees. I'd never find my way back alone. I'd get lost and be stuck there forever and it would be just like that movie.

When
we came to a clearing, I could hear the sound of water. When the woman said “dam”, I thought she'd meant a muddy hole with animals drinking at it but this wasn't a dam. It was a clearing with a small creek running through it and ― OMG ― a waterfall. It looked near to perfect, the colours all muted blue-greens and sunlight dappled through the trees.

“
I think the other girl wanted to use the old smithy's hut,” the woman said. “Come and I'll show you.”

The
mud got even squelchier near the river. As we walked, a flock of multicoloured birds flew through the trees. I stared at them, open mouthed.

“
Come on, girl, we're not here to look at the scenery.”

“
Well, actually, technically I am.”

We
rounded a corner and saw a fallen-down stone cottage that looked as though the bush was trying to reclaim it. Moss and vines covered what was left of the stone walls, with the interior exposed on one side. The old fireplace still stood in place though. I ran around finding things for Jack to take photos of. It really would be perfect for the new song. The ruins and the regrowth. I could see why Angie wanted them to film there. But how the hell had she found it?

“
It's okay for us to film here?” I asked.

“
Well, you'd have to careful about scaring the cows,” she said, giving Jack a pointed look. “If the cows go bad, I won't get any milk outta them.”

“
Of course, we'd be very careful. It should only take a day and then we'd be gone.”

“
Well, you can have a look around. I've got to go to see to the cows. I'll meet you back at the house.”

I
was about to protest that we wouldn't be able to find our way out but the old woman had already disappeared.

“
Shit, we can't get out of here. All of that bush looked the same as we were walking. We're stuck here forever.” It was seriously bad. And how the hell did that woman disappear so quickly?

“
What are you talking about? We can just follow our footsteps back in the mud. Anyone would be able to follow those tracks.”

I
looked at his mud-drenched boots. He must be regretting not putting on the gumboots. Jack took more photos on his phone. He wanted to get in everything that Angie needed. I stood on what would have been the verandah of the old house and watched.

“
Hey, Hannah, give me a hand,” Jack called. “I think my boot is stuck in this mud.”

I
walked over and let him lean on my shoulder to prize himself out. His weight pressed heavily on me.

“
Step on those old planks,” I said. “Then you won't get stuck again. Anyway, didn't you have to get back to town by 3.00? It's getting late.”

Jack
looked up at the sun then, realising that would tell him nothing, looked at the time on his phone.

“
Shit, you’re right. We need to find a way out of here. I think I can work out how to get back.”

Eric
asked me to go with him to meet the management guy. Jack was supposed to come too but he hadn’t gotten back from the farm yet. Anyway, Eric wasn’t convinced that signing up with Blainsley was the right thing to do so, without Jack and Spud around, he could get some hard facts to convince them.

“
It's not necessarily proven that, just because we sign to a big company, they are going to be any better for the band than what we have now. And we have to make sure Hannah is looked after.”

I
nodded. His argument made sense and, plus, I really wanted to go along and be a bit of a sticky beak. There was no down side.

The
office was so hipster. Like, they just had to prove to the world how hipster they were. They even had a typewriter in duck egg blue sitting on the reception desk. No computer, just a typewriter. Like a neon sign saying “look how hipster we are.” It probably wasn’t even a real typewriter but some kind of weird computer made to look like a typewriter. For hipsters.

We
looked around but we could see nobody.

“
Oh my god,” said Eric. “We can't sign with these people. They don't understand rock in a non-ironic way. They’ll want us to play twee love songs.”

I
nodded. I would see nothing reassuring about the place.

He
squeezed my hand. Tight.

A
guy came bouncing out of a back room, wearing a trilby hat and a yellow checked bowtie.

“
Come through, come through,” he said, as though rushing from something important.

Eric
rolled his eyes. It did not look promising. Maybe Jack should've come with us. He'd have hated that guy. He'd have never wanted to sign a contract with him. This guy was the epitome of all Jack hated. Spud too, I'd imagine. They would be going down a slippery slope to hell if they signed there.

We
followed the hipster into a room that looked nothing like an office, all white and blue with a big trestle table in the middle. It had the look of being banged together out of random bits of junk found on the street but the view from the windows did not come cheap. They'd probably paid a decorator a fortune for that slum look.

I
grinned at Eric behind the hipster's back. One of those things sat on the table. I dunno what they are called but they are like “executive toys” with a bunch of hanging balls and you ping the ball from one side and it goes pong, pong, pong and the ball the other side flies out.

“
So, I've got a few questions…” Eric started.

The
hipster ran his hand through his hair. “Great, that's really fantastic but say, guys, do you want a coffee first?”

He
ran out and asked someone to make us coffees.

“
It's okay, it's all single origin, rain forest friendly coffee here.”

I
rolled my eyes again. This guy could not sit still. Maybe he should cut down on the coffee.

“
First up, I wanted to know if you had some kind of management plan for the band if you take us on.”

The
guy still didn't sit.

“
Ah, here's our coffee. Management plan, yes. Well, we'd have to work that out once we got all the details. It's not a ― Hey do you need sugar? I'll grab you some.”

He
dashed from the room.

“
This guy is a dick,” I whispered to Eric.

He
came back with a jar filled with sugar.

“
Look, as soon as you sign the contract, we can work out the finer details. Of course, we want you to feel comfortable but we can't give away all our secrets now, can we?”

“
Just a general idea would be fine.”

“
Ummm, yeah, well the more we do for you, the better, right. We have some major clients. People doing big things. I don't think you need to worry about the whole 'management plan' thing.” He did air quotes as he said it. Damn air quotes guy.

I
played with the executive toy thing while Eric got his notes out of his satchel.

“
So, where would you see Storm being in five years’ time?”

The
guy sat down on a chair opposite us, folding one leg under him.

“
See, right there, the name…” He scratched his beard. “Storm, it's kind of not very… Have you thought about changing it? I think we could do a lot more if we got something a bit more in touch with our demographic. Something a bit more hip…”

Eric
looked at me. I bounced the ball on the toy again.

“
Wouldn't changing the name alienate some of our existing fan base?” Eric asked.

“
Ha, see that is great thinking right there. You have potential. Gathering up the low hanging fruit, yes. Really good point. I can see what you are doing. Of course, we could market it as an irony thing. Storm… its rock, it's got potential.”

The
balls on the toy kept bouncing.

Eric
asked a few more questions but really the guy wasn't saying anything. He was stringing together a bunch of buzz words, bouncing them together just like the balls on the toy were bouncing backwards and forwards without actually doing much.

When
finally there was a break in the conversation, Eric gathered his notes up.

“
Thanks for your time,” he said.

“
And thanks for the coffee,” I added.

Eric
and I exchanged a look. I thought we'd both have a lot to say after the meeting.

“
Sure, sure, any time,” the guy added and took us out to the reception area.

“
Hang about a bit,” he said. “I'll get you my card.”

He
ran off, leaving us there.

“
Freak,” I whispered under my breath to Eric. Eric grinned and lowered his head. I think he was trying to avoid my eyes.

Behind
us, the elevator pinged.

I
didn't really pay it much attention as the hipster raced out with his card and handed it to us.

“
That’s me.  Chaz.” As if we couldn’t read his name on the card ourselves.  “Call me with any questions, any time. And, yeah, we can go into more detail when the contract is signed.”

The
whole thing smelt fishy to me.

As
we walked to the elevator, I realised someone was standing in the alcove, looking out the window. There were no other offices on this floor and it seemed as though he was waiting for us to leave before he went in.

I
couldn't see his face but I could've sworn it was Tamaki.

What
was he doing at the management company? I was going to call out but I couldn't be 100% sure it was him and he looked as if he didn't want to be seen. Then the elevator came and it was too late to say anything.