Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (26 page)

She
nodded and surveyed her carefully.
 
“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Giselle’s
fear melted as her head bobbed, and she grinned enthusiastically.
 
“Yes!
 
It’ll be the experience of a lifetime.”

Kit
knew Giselle had never been on the road before.
 
She had the typical reaction of
most.
 
She wondered if this
enthusiasm would remain six months from now. She put her hands up,
surrendering.
 
“I tried to warn
you.
 
Take a flip through it before
everyone gets here.”

She
nodded.
 
“Ok.”

Kit
chuckled and donned a devilish grin.
 
“Welcome to hell, G.”
 

One
hour later, Kit’s house was swarming with people.
 
She managed to squeeze the important
ones into her office.
 
She called
everyone to attention, including the band.
 
“Welcome to the final meeting for the ‘Triple Tango’ tour.
 
I’d like to introduce you to your tour
director.
 
Those of you that have
worked with us before will recognize him.
 
Sean?”
 
She motioned for him
to come forward.

He approached
and stood next to her.
 
He gave her
a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before starting the meeting.
 
Satisfied, Kit walked across the room
and took a seat next to Giselle.
 
She scanned the group of people in the room and was overcome with a
moment of nostalgia, remembering their first world tour that had only a quarter
of the personnel that this one was slated to have.
 

She had
sweet-talked Spencer into pushing Sean’s KMK duties onto someone else in order
to have him direct Gypsy Tango’s new tour along with her brother-in-law, Danny,
again.
 
They were a formidable pair
that got things done—something this tour desperately needed.
 

The
slated ‘Triple Tango’ tour was a beast, proving to be a much larger, longer and
complicated haul than their last two tours combined.
 
She didn’t want to take the risk of
putting someone in charge that could screw it up.
 
She accredited a majority of the success
of the enormous ‘Dangerous Curves’ tour to Sean’s management and Danny’s assist
along with Jay, who also signed on again as Danny’s right-hand man.
 
Kit was relieved and content to keep
those three players at the top.
 
There
was no point in reinventing the wheel.
 

She
glanced over at Giselle, who was flipping through the spiral bound guide.
 
It served as a quick tutorial of tour schedules,
dates, personnel, and the band’s rider that had become much more demanding than
the past tour.
 

Giselle
had agreed to be with Kit as her lead assistant on the first leg of the tour
that included Europe and Russia.
 
She had always wanted to go, but after reviewing this thick booklet and
taking note that they had sixty-eight shows scheduled in a ten-week time span,
she figured she probably wouldn’t be doing much sightseeing.
 
She was starting to feel slightly weary.

Kit glanced
over at her and grinned, noticing the look of uneasiness on her face.
 
She leaned over and whispered.
 
“Changing your mind now after seeing
that and hearing what Sean had to say?”

She
chuckled and shook her head.
 
“No.
 
I still want to do it.”

Everyone
had cleared out three hours later, and Kit resumed her work.
 
She sat at her desk frantically getting
things in order, putting things in file folders for the road and tying up as
many loose ends as possible.
 
Her
two new publicists, one for the tour and one for the band in general, were in
place and ready to go.
 
Giselle had
met the assistant that would be reporting to her earlier in the day and seemed
to be pleased.
 
Sean had everything
running smoothly so far with not one detail overlooked.
 

The
only thing Kit had left to do was call Alexa and Maxine to say goodbye.
 
A normal routine she had been doing for
years, ever since her college days when she would go out of town for gigs.
 

She had
the pleasure of Maxine’s company on the last tour and was saddened the scene
wouldn’t be replicating itself on this massive tour in front of them.
 
Maxine was in Nashville on assignment
and Alexa was about to give birth to her second child.
 
Things had certainly changed for all of
them since Kit went out on the first tour with Gypsy Tango, six years prior.
 
She thoughtfully grinned and picked up
the phone.

She finished
her calls and walked out to the foyer seeing evidence of the clock ticking down
on her normal life while her tour life started to bleed in. Three large trunks
were stacked, and five guitar cases leaned against them patiently waiting to be
retrieved and transported.
 
Sully walked
in carrying another guitar case.
 
He
set it down and gave her a quick kiss, then surveyed the large pile.
 
“I think this is everything.”

She nodded
and stared at the pile again.
 
“That’s about right.
 
Wardrobe and gear, babe?”

He
nodded.
 
“Yep.”

She
grinned and wagged her finger, teasing in a singsong voice.
 
“Too heavy for the jet.”

He chuckled.
 
“Whattya think, I’m new at this?”
 
He winked at her.
 
“Sean is sending a courier to get this
and put it on one of the rigs.”
 

The
doorbell rang, and Sully laughed.
 
“And there they are!”

Kit
giggled as he opened the door and started helping the guys load all the
items.
 
He walked back in and hugged
her tightly.
 
He gazed into her eyes
and kissed her.
 
“I forgot to ask
you earlier, do you have plans tonight?”

She
shook her head.
 
“No.
 
Why?
 
What did you have in mind?”

He
grinned.
 
“A quiet night in.
 
I want to make you dinner and hang out
because God only knows when we’ll get to do
that
again.”

She
nodded.
 
“Isn’t that the sad truth.
 
This is going to be a big tour for you,
babe.
 
And yes, I would love a quiet
night in with you.”
 
She playfully
swatted him on the butt.
 
“I’m going
to finish cleaning up my office and make sure I have everything packed for
tomorrow.”

He
scrunched up his nose.
 
“You’re not
going to work on the plane, are you?
 
It’s something crazy like a thirteen-hour flight.”

She
grinned.
 
“I’ll tell you what.
 
I won’t work if you don’t want me to.”

He
smiled.
 
“Ok.
 
In that case, I don’t want you to.
 
You’re all mine on that plane.”

She
laughed.
 
“Sull, babe, there’s no
bed on that plane and the other members of the band; Sean and Giselle will be
on the flight with us.”

He
shrugged his shoulders and pretended to be serious.
 
“So, it’s not like it isn’t anything
they haven’t seen before.
 
We could
give ‘em a good show.
 
It’s all
about the performance, babe.”

She giggled
and shook her head.
 
“Nice.”
 

Before
she could launch into more spirited banter with him, Giselle ran into the house
screaming her name and waving the newest issue of
Billboard Magazine
in her hand.
 
She was out of breath by the time she
reached Kit, shoving the magazine at her.
 
“Kit, ‘Triple Tango’ debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200
!”

Sully
heard the news and came running out of the kitchen to find Kit and Giselle
hugging and jumping up and down.
 
He
screamed and ran toward them.
 
They
all folded into a group hug, jumping up and down.

Kit
handed the magazine to Sully, who stared at it in amazement.
 
Giselle was still jumping up and down
and looked like she was about to burst.
 
“There’s more; there’s more!”

Sully stared
at her in amazement.
 
“What?”

She seized
the magazine from him and hastily flipped to another page that displayed the
Billboard Hot 100
.
 
She pointed.
 
“That!”

Kit
stood next to Sully to see what Giselle was pointing to. His eyes widened as a
wide smile spread across his face.
 
Staring him in the face was ‘Anything For You.’
 
It gleamed back at him on the charts
sitting in the coveted spot that every artist dreams of, number one with a
bullet.

He and
Kit looked at each other and joyfully screamed as she jumped into his
arms.
 
“Baby, you did it!
 
You did it!”

Giselle
giggled and watched them, pleased to have been the bearer of good news.
 
“I’m sorry to bust in like that, guys,
but I had to share it with you before we got on that plane tomorrow morning.”

Kit
jumped down and smiled at her.
 
Sully walked over to Giselle and gave her a long hug.
 
“Thank you so much for bringing this
over.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank
you.
 
You are the best assistant
ever, G.”
 
He looked at Kit and
smiled.
 
“Give this girl a raise!”

She
laughed and nodded her head.
 
“You
bet.”
 
When Kit stepped into her
role as chief creative officer, she asked Diamond if she could split Giselle’s
duties between development at Diamond and helping her manage Gypsy Tango for
KMK.
 
They agreed, and KMK took on
half of Giselle’s salary.
 
She had
already had a long discussion with Spencer that Giselle was indispensable.
 
He released the normal salary cap for
managers and gave Kit free reign to decide Giselle’s compensation, knowing it
would be a good investment for the company.

Giselle
looked at Kit, her eyes widening.
 
“Are you serious?”

She
giggled.
 
“Yep.
 
Sully had a great idea.
 
Expect an additional five hundred a
week, G.
 
It’s perfect timing.
 
I’ve wanted to do it for a while.
 
You more than deserve it.
 
I’ll make it retroactive for three
months.”
 
Sully nodded and put his
arm around Kit.
 
She continued.
 
“We’re glad you’re coming on tour with
us.
 
We’re grateful to have you on
our team.”

He
nodded.
 
“We are.
 
We know you’ll kick ass.”

She
smiled and squealed with delight.
 
“Thanks, you two!
 
I don’t
think I’ve ever worked for such cool people before.
 
I won’t let you down. And, I’m gonna get
out of your hair so you two can enjoy a nice, quiet evening.”
 
She winked at Sully.
 
“I’ll see you both in the morning.
 
Limo’s coming to get me first and then
we’ll be here at six-fifteen.
 
Your
asses better be ready.”

They
nodded, and Kit smiled.
 
“We will be.
 
Thanks again, G.
 
Have a good night.”
 
She looked at Sully.
 
“Do you have that list for me yet?”

He
chuckled.
 
“No.
 
I thought Ariana was going to the
store.
 
You’re going?
 
I got a little distracted by this.”
 
He held up the magazine.
 

She
pointed to him.
 
“Yes, I’m going to
the store.
 
Keeps me humble.
 
Write out that list, give me the keys to
your Ferrari, and you can stare at it the whole time I’m gone.
 
Deal?”

He
smiled.
 
“You’re so bossy!
 
You wanna drive
my
Ferrari?
 
This is a
new development.
 
I’ve had it about
nine months, and you’ve never made that request before.”