Halo’s head whipped my way, his mouth hanging open, as Gellar said, “You’re such a fucking reprobate. But here’s an idea: how about we talk about something other than Viper’s cock?”
“Please,” Killian said, and I shot a finger his way.
“Right,” Gellar said, and then sat forward to place his clasped hands on top of his desk. “Let’s get down to business. You five ready to go on tour when this bad boy hits?”
“Fuck yes, we are,” Slade said, and Gellar nodded, his eyes running up and down the five of us who were all waiting with bated breath, as his attention finally landed on Killian. Gellar understood the hierarchy in the room.
“If ‘Dark Angel’ hits as well—”
“When it hits as well,” I said, and Gellar’s eyes flicked to me for a second. He nodded before turning back to Killian.
“Right. When it hits as well as ‘Invitation,’ we’re going to go ahead and give you five lucky fuckers the green light for a stadium tour. What have you got to say about that?” As Gellar let his words sink in, he sat back in his chair and a smug smile curled his lips. Then he delivered the icing on the already fucking amazing cake: “And if Corruption hits the way ‘Invitation’’s numbers all seem to indicate it will, then we want this to be worldwide. It’ll be the biggest, most spectacular production the rock world has seen in years.”
Holy fucking shit.
When no one said anything, Gellar let out a booming laugh. “So this is all I need to say to get you guys to shut up?”
That set them all off. Jagger was on his feet shaking Gellar’s hand, Slade was hell yeah-ing and fist-bumping the man behind the desk, and Killian was busy asking questions I couldn’t hear, because I was too busy trying to wrap my head around the fact that four months ago MGA had been close to kicking us out on our asses, and now they were talking worldwide tours. I mean, we’d all been fantasizing about it down in Miami, and thought that we might get a shot at a nationwide tour—but worldwide stadiums?
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
I glanced at Halo, the only other person who hadn’t moved, to see he was looking at me with shock stamped all across his face, but his eyes were lit with pure excitement.
I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to grab the back of his neck, haul him in, and kiss him. I wanted to share this perfect moment with him by sharing my own pent-up feelings of relief, excitement, and total respect I had for him for getting us to this spot today. But I couldn’t do any of that, so instead I winked at him, and Halo grinned even wider as he got to his feet to shake Gellar’s hand.
When I went to do the same and we were all standing gathered around Gellar’s desk, he took my hand and said, “Remember, this is all contingent on whether this album, and Halo, are as good as you all think they are.”
I tightened my fingers around his and leaned over a little and said, with no hesitation whatsoever, “He’s even better, and you know it. Otherwise you’d never have signed off on this in the first place.”
When I let go of Gellar’s hand, he looked at all of us, and I added, “Drop ‘Dark Angel’ next. If that shit doesn’t top ‘Invitation’’s numbers in the first week, I’ll shave my fucking head.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Gellar said, and I shrugged.
Jagger’s mouth fell open. “Shut the hell up,” he said, as Slade muttered, “You crazy-ass motherfucker.”
And when Killian said, “You wouldn’t,” I looked over at Halo, who was eyeing my hair as though he hated that idea, but I wasn’t worried.
All of America was waiting for what this dark angel beside me was going to do next. My hair was going nowhere, but Fallen Angel? We were going on a worldwide tour, and I couldn’t fucking wait.
Thirty-One
Halo
IT’D BEEN A chaotic month. “Dark Angel” had dropped, edging out “Invitation”’s sales by a number that blew my mind, the stadium tour was officially greenlit, and, best of all, Viper had gotten to keep his hair. Thank God.
I turned my head on Viper’s pillow to look out his floor-to-ceiling windows at the Manhattan skyline. It may have been after midnight, but lights twinkled across the city like stars, countless others as awake as I was. Beside me, Viper slept soundly on his stomach, his face angled toward mine and his arm draped over my waist. More often than not lately, I found myself staying over, not leaving until well after dawn, because if I was gone when Viper woke up, all hell broke loose. I’d already seen what happened when I snuck out in Miami after our first night together, and I wouldn’t be repeating that mistake anytime soon.