Brando 2 by J.D. Hawkins

the sound of his secretary
confirming my appointment already behind me.
    “I’m
squashing the story, Rowland! Don’t
make any statements from the label, my team is going to handle this.
I know you think this is good for Haley but—”
I’m
already at his desk, standing over it with my palms on the steel when
I notice. “What’s
Lexi doing here?”
    I
turn my gaze back from her crossed legs, casually bouncing up and
down, toward the concerned, almost frightened, look on Rowland’s
face. He locks his fingers in front of him on the table and fidgets.
    He
talks slowly, carefully, like a doctor on a death ward. “I
don’t
really know how to say this, and I’m
pretty surprised myself, to be totally honest with you, but I—”
    “Haley’s
getting dropped from the label,”
Lexi
interrupts with dark relish. “I’ve
just told him. It’s
me or her.”
    “What?”
I
say, my eyes switching between the two like I’m
watching a frantic tennis match. “Is
this some kind of joke ?”
    “I
don’t
exactly have a choice,”
Rowland
whispers through gritted teeth, as if Lexi wouldn’t
be able to hear. He raises his helpless eyes to mine, almost like
he’s
begging for a way out. “Lexi’s
pretty much made up her mind.”
    I
turn to her.
    “Why
are you doing this?”
    “I
don’t
like the way this label is run,”
Lexi
says, springing out of her chair and standing beside me. “What
was Haley doing on my tour? She doesn’t
even have a full album out! And you were supposed to be managing both
of us, Brando, but I didn’t
see you running to my side very often.”
    “You
seemed to do perfectly fine on your own,”
I
growl.
    “Exactly.
I don’t
like sharing. And as long as Haley’s
on the label, I know I won’t
be getting all the support I could be getting. It’s
me or her.”
    I
turn to Rowland. “This
is ridiculous. Lexi signed a contract. She can’t
leave, right? Isn’t
that what you told me? That this whole business is about tying up
artists even when they don’t
want to be?”
    “I’m
only part artist –
I’m
all businesswoman,”
Lexi
purrs maliciously. “Anyone
tries to stop me from quitting and I’ll
destroy Majestic from the inside. A couple of tweets and I’d
have every one of my fans boycotting your records. Maybe throw in a
sexual harassment lawsuit. Yet another case of the big, bad record
industry taking advantage of a poor, innocent girl. I can bring a
shit storm raining down on this label that you people will never
recover from.”
    Rowland’s
face goes white, and he jumps up from his chair. Lexi flutters her
eyelashes and laughs. Now the three of us are standing around the
desk.
    “You
see this?”
he
cries, despairingly. “What
the fuck am I supposed to do?”
    “You’re
supposed to drop Lexi, and keep Haley!”
I
shout back. “ She’s the one who killed on this tour, not Lexi! She’s the
one with the potential to take us to another level!”
    “You
think I want to drop Haley? She’s
fantastic, I love her! But I don’t
have a choice!”
    “Yes
you do! Lexi’s
giving you one!”
    Rowland
slumps back into his chair and spends a full five seconds rubbing his
forehead before looking back up at me. Lexi just watches us, all
self-satisfied amusement and dancing eyes—loving
every second.
    “Haley’s
had two hits, Lexi’s
had five. Haley hasn’t
even released an album, Lexi’s
had a number one. The tour was great, but it was still Lexi’s
name on the top of it. Even when you get past the simple numbers of
the thing, I don’t
know what the hell is going on with Haley. One minute she’s
fucking up a gig because she can’t
tune a guitar, the next minute she’s
pulling out of the grand finale to the tour. And now there’s
a weird story connecting her to Rex Bentley that you won’t
let me use to her advantage because of her ‘feelings.’”
I
take a step back. I know what’s
coming. “I’ve
made my choice, Brando. Haley’s
gone.”
    “Then
so am I,”
I
say, stalking