REPRESENTED (24 page)

             
Cassie shook her head.  She really had a case of the nerves as she pressed on her stomach to calm the butterflies and practiced breathing.  It wasn’t that she was nervous meeting Elliott Kreske, it was the fact that he was Karin’s boss and she was going behind her girlfriends back to do it.  She had tried talking to her but Karin always shut her down about it.  She had asked her to explain who Em Phillips was but that had ended even worse with Karin hanging up on her and not talking to her for a couple of days.  Karin had finally called and apologized telling her that some things were just off limits.  She had gone out to Long Island and signed a new client there and yesterday had flown up to Maine for another meeting so Cassie was pretty certain she was out of her office for her ‘impromptu’ meeting with Elliott Kreske.  She hadn’t wanted to call and make an appointment in case Karin found out about it.  She knew everything from what Cassie could see and she didn’t want a knock down drag out fight over this, she wanted her help.  She was becoming desperate and was grasping at straws.  She was certain that Karin’s phobias about entertainment representation weren’t as bad as she made out.  She needed her.  She needed her expertise and the people she knew and had at her fingertips.  She trusted Karin and only Karin after the fiasco she had left in Nashville thanks to Travis.  The last week of her life, the last two weeks had been awful.  She had lost several of her endorsement deals and sponsors.  She was financially ruined and knew it.  It wasn’t the fact that she was gay that was going to ruin her in the end.  Instead an unscrupulous business manager was going to take her down with him.  She looked curiously around her as she watched people behind the reception desk in all sorts of cubicles.  She wondered where Karin’s office was and then hoped she wouldn’t see it too soon.

             
“Ms. Summers?” a professionally dressed woman was addressing her.  She looked like a poor imitation of Karin in her suit but Cassie could see it was a sort of uniform around here.

             
She stood up and nodded.

             
“Elliott will see you now, if you’ll follow me?” she smiled pleasantly indicating the direction they would go.  They went around the reception desk and to a hall that totally changed the atmosphere of the offices.  These were sleek and modern and not at all like the chaotic outer office Cassie had been observing.  They turned right into the hallway and went down to the far end passing office after office before turning into one that the woman indicated Cassie should proceed her into.  She shut the door behind Cassie and she was trapped or so she thought.

             
“Ms. Summers?” a tall perfectly coiffured man came forward in a three piece business suit.  The only time Cassie had seen a man dressed so was in court and on TV.  She was surprised and impressed all at once.

             
“Mr. Kreske?” she returned as she shook his outstretched hand.  The hand enveloped her and was warm.  She liked a firm handshake, it always made her trust the bearer immediately, but she had been wrong before.

             
“Please call me Elliott” he told her as he indicated she should take a seat in the comfortable chairs across from his own.

             
“I’m Cassie” she told him.

             
“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?” he got right down to business, she liked that, she was nervous enough.

             
“I’d like your firm to represent me and my band” she told him and watched his reaction.  She watched as his eyes took on an immediate interest.  They were light brown and she could see he was a good looking man but in this industry that was a necessity or at least that was what she had observed through Karin.

             
“In what capacity?” he asked but he already had dollar signs appearing in his eyes.  The consummate businessman he already was thinking of ways they could work her fame into something profitable for both of them.

             
“I’d like the whole works” she said with her twang “I’ve considered firms in Nashville of course but yours in one of the best and with the contacts you have I need the best” she figured it wouldn’t hurt to flatter him.

             
“You realize we get twenty percent of your income from the time we sign on the dotted line?” he asked wondering if she was as naive as she sounded.

             
“Oh, I’m very well aware of that” she said softly.

             
He looked at her sharply.  These Southerners could be pretty sharp and he wasn’t fooled by her soft spoken voice.  She had gone pretty far but they could do better for her than whoever was representing her now.  Whoever it was hadn’t capitalized properly on her notoriety but they could fix that.  Even he who abhorred country music knew who Cassie Summers was from the tabloids.  He sat up and shuffled some papers looking important “well then, I think the first order of business is to get you under contract so that you and I both know what you’re expecting from us and what you will get.”

             
“I do have a few conditions” Cassie began carefully holding up a hand showing a few fingers.

             
Uh oh, here it comes he thought to himself and hid a grin.  He loved negotiations.

             
“I want to be as famous if not more so than Melissa Etheridge, Celine Dion, or there abouts” she said quietly.

             
“You do know that Celine Dion is not gay?” he asked.

             
She smiled “it isn’t being gay that I’m worried about.  She has a carefully built career and legions of fans both gay and straight.”  Karin and she had this very conversation once which was why she was thinking this way.  “I want the fame that she has, I’m good, I’m
very
good” she said it without sounding conceited, absolute confidence in her abilities, “and I want a firm that can give me my just dues.  I’ve worked hard, not that I won’t continue to work hard but there are things I want” like a roof over her head, she thought.

             
“We can help you obtain those things” he said kindly thinking far beyond her.

             
She held up her fingers as though she had a list “I would like to be nominated and possibly awarded for a Grammy in the next couple of years.”

             
He smiled, “that’s doable.”

             
She smiled, he was making it easier than she had thought “thirdly” she paused and he thought, uh oh as she continued “I want Karin Myers to handle it all” he felt the hammer fall as he was hit in the stomach with that.

             
“Karin Myers doesn’t handle entertainment representation…” he began but she cut him off with a slicing motion of her hand.

             
“I know she doesn’t anymore, but she does to a degree on smaller clients before handing them off to others in your firm.  I want her to handle my career, every aspect of it.  I trust her and I need her.  She is one of the best, I want the best.”

             
“Pardon me for asking but have you ever met Karin Myers?” he asked curiously.  Why was she so adamant about Karin handling her career?

             
“Yes” she nodded her head and smiled “I know Karin.”  She didn’t need to tell him any more than that.

             
“Then you know how fanatical she is about not handling the entertainment clients.”

             
She nodded again “I know that, but I think she’s wrong.  She’s good, she’s
really
good” she stressed “I want her and no one else.”

             
“Please Ms. Summers …” he began.

             
“Cassie” she corrected.

             
“Please, Cassie, let me put your career in one of our other representatives hands, we have several...” but he left off as she shook her head.

             
“Look, this is a deal breaker.  We both know someone of my … shall we say, unique position, can make a lot of money for both of us.  I have the talent.  I’ve made the tabloids, we can make a lot of that and to both of us that bottom line means money.”  She knew that to men like Elliott that was godlike.  Karin had told her about him and Cassie was using it to her advantage.

             
“I don’t know if I can convince her” he began.

             
Cassie smiled “I’m sure you’re very persuasive when you want to be.”

             
“Surely someone else who wanted....”

             
She shook her head and held his gaze, she wasn’t going to budge.

             
“How do you know Karin?” he ventured curious.  She was too sure and he wondered why.

             
“I’ve been dating her for several months” she said without flinching.

             
Elliott froze.  That explained a lot.  He’d had no inkling, but then Karin was good at that as she protected her clients.  Cassie wasn’t a client though.  He wanted her on his roster though.  She would add prestige and open other avenues that they might not already have.  Each celebrity on their list was another feather in his cap.  One celebrity or star attracted others.  He liked money, he enjoyed it, Karin made a lot of it for him, but he always craved more.  He knew she could and would make a lot more for him in entertainment than she would in literary circles.  He would do it!  “Okay Cassie, let’s get those contracts going” he capitulated as he pressed the button for his secretary.

             
It took several hours for their legal team to hammer out the deal and Cassie was very explicit.  She did it without legal representation but knew exactly what she wanted.  She wasn’t stupid although some of the more sophisticated New Yorkers assumed because of her easy ways and southern accent that she was lacking intelligence.  She was thorough and had them explain any and all legalese that didn’t make sense to her.  The agreement was iron clad and binding to both parties, all contingent on Karin Myers representing her.  She was quite pleased with the result when they broke for lunch.  Elliott had stopped in the conference room several times to see how it was going.  Everyone had basically dropped what they were doing to accommodate this deal.  It was like that sometimes and they all rolled with it.

             
“Is Karin back yet from Maine?” he asked one of her many assistants.

             
She looked up at him fearfully.  Elliott Kreske didn’t often come to this side of the building but Karin was a very important executive in their firm and she thought she understood why he was here.  “No sir, not yet” she shook out.

             
“Is she due back today?” he barked.

             
She wanted to shrug but you didn’t do that to someone of Elliott’s stature.  She really didn’t know.  “I believe so sir, I’ll inform your office as soon as I know something” she offered.

             
“You do that, I need to see her the minute she gets back” he said as he strode away.  This was an important deal and he didn’t want it screwed up!

             
“What was that about?” one of the other girls asked.

             
“I haven’t the faintest idea.  Do you know if Ms. Myers is coming in today?”

             
The other girl shrugged.  It wasn’t part of their job to know her whereabouts unless she wanted them to know.

              Karin strode into work directly from the airport.  She was feeling pretty good about herself.  First the author out on Long Island and then this morning Jack Perowski had signed on the dotted line for representation by their firm and especially by Karin Myers.  She was very proud of herself and justifiably so.  She had worked hard on these two authors for a long time and Jack especially had been a hard fish to catch.  This was going to annoy a few other firms that had been romancing him as well as ruffle a few feathers in their own firm but too bad.  Karin had done her job and she had done it well.  It was why they paid her the big bucks she laughed to herself as she rode the elevator up with her familiar briefcase over her shoulder and her carryon luggage rolling behind her.

             
“Um, Ms. Myers, ma’am?” one of the secretaries approached her as she stopped at the reception desk for her mail and any messages or packages.

             
Karin looked at her annoyed for the momentary distraction but she was in too good a mood to snap at the stuttering girl.  “Yes?” she looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

             
“Mr. Kreske would like to see you as soon as you got here” she hastily got out.

             
Karin looked at her in surprise and then nodded to acknowledge that she understood.

             
She strode into the hallway with her suitcase rolling behind her.  Instead of turning left to her own office she headed right towards Elliott’s.  She wondered what he wanted; he didn’t usually ‘command’ her presence.  They communicated a lot through memos, emails, and phone calls.  She wasn’t here a lot so that was the best means of communication.  She guessed he wanted to know what had happened in Maine though; everyone had been vying for Jack.