Game On (18 page)

Ryan rubbed his eyes and turned away from
his computer. He’d had three long, sleepless nights, replaying his conversation
with Brianna, and he knew waiting four more nights to have her in his bed was
going to be torture. “What’s that?” he asked, gesturing to the piece of paper.
Not that he cared, but since he assumed it was the reason for her early morning
visit, inviting her to talk about it was the only way he was going to get rid
of her.

“You and Brianna?” she asked, setting the
paper down on his desk. “What the hell is this about, Spencer?”

His first impulse was to tell her to mind
her own business, but since she was an employee and someone he considered
family, he got up and went to the small kitchenette just outside of his office.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Avery?”

“I don’t need coffee. What I want is an
explanation about this photo.”

The photo in question had been taken at
Jimmy’s on Friday night. He and Brianna were engaged in the heated kiss that
had invaded his daydreams ever since. “What about it?” he asked, bringing the
coffee mug back to his desk.

“Since when are you and Brianna a couple?”

He thought back to Brianna referring to him
as her boyfriend. “It’s a recent thing. You know we’ve been friends forever. It
can’t be a huge surprise to you that we decided to take our relationship to the
next level.”

“Are you just doing this because you don’t
want to see her with Clint?” Avery asked, leaning over his desk as she glared
at him. “Is this just classic Ryan Spencer, staking his claim because he
doesn’t want anyone else playing with his toys?”

Ryan was trying to hold his temper, but it
wasn’t easy in the face of her accusations. “You are so far off base, you have
no idea.”

“Then fill me in,” she said, sitting back
in the chair and folding her arms.

“I’m in love with her.” Ryan continued to
be surprised by how easily those words came with Brianna when dozens of women
before her had cried, pleaded, and threatened to try and pry the same admission
from him. “It’s as simple as that.” He took pleasure in the look of shock on
Avery’s face. For once, the public relations dynamo seemed at a loss for words.

“Why didn’t you say something to me about
this at Jimmy’s when Brianna was there with Clint?”

He took a sip of his strong black coffee
before he said, “No offense, but I thought I should tell her how I felt before
I told you.”

“So you two are in a committed
relationship? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” she asked, looking
skeptical.

“We’re still workin’ things out, but yeah,
you could say that.”

Avery sighed. “Damn it, Ryan. I can’t believe
you’re doing this to me.”

“What the hell am I doin’ to you?” he
asked, throwing his hands up in the air. “I fail to see how this affects you at
all.”

“Everything you do affects this company,”
she said, leaning forward as her voice dropped dangerously low. “And don’t you
forget it. Evan was supposed to be the steadfast, reliable one, but ever since
his break-up with Erika, I can’t even count on him anymore.”

“He’s goin’ through a tough time. Just give
him some space.” Ryan had spent the weekend trying to get Evan out of the house
since Brianna took Alisa on a surprise trip to the spa. Convincing Evan to go
out wasn’t easy, but they went to a hockey game on Saturday night and dinner at
their parents’ house last night. Ryan didn’t know if it helped lift Evan’s
sagging spirits, but at least he wasn’t sitting at home feeling sorry for
himself.

“In the meantime, what the hell are we
supposed to do about the clients who are threatening to find a label who’s got
their shit together?”

Ryan knew he had to get his head in the
game, especially since Evan’s seemed to have taken leave for the foreseeable
future. He was there in body, but he certainly didn’t seem willing or able to
shoulder his share of the responsibility any more, which meant Ryan had no
choice but to step up to the plate. Or admit to his father that they were
struggling to hold it together in his absence, which his pride would never let
him do.

“We have a plan, Avery. We’re workin’ on
executin’ it.”

“Is it true you went to L.A. to meet with
Shane Moore because he was making noise about wanting out of his contract?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ryan said,
smoothing a hand over his silk tie. “I handled him. It may have taken some
coaxing, but he’s firmly back in our camp. We don’t have to worry about where
his loyalties lie.”

“You may be able to schmooze some of our
clients some of the time, but we can’t maintain our A-list roll that way. Titan
was built on the foundation of making the best artists in the business come to
us, and it’s worked for the past three decades. We were the most sought after
label in the industry. I have to be honest; this new approach you and your
brother are taking scares me.”

Ryan and Evan knew it wouldn’t be easy to
convince people that their approach was better, especially since most of their
employees, including Avery, remained loyal to their father, but they couldn’t
continue to do business the way they had in the past. The country music
industry had changed a lot in the past thirty years and they had to change with
it or get left behind.

“Country music is changin’, and personally,
I like the changes I see. Don’t get me wrong, I love the older artists like
George Strait, but there’s a new generation of country music artists. People like
Lee Bryce, Miranda Lambert, and Brantley Gilbert, who aren’t afraid to rock it.
Hell, even guys like Colt Ford, who are showin’ country music fans that country
boys can rap.” He grinned. “I want to be a part of that, Avery. I want to find
guys like that, who are fresh and innovative. Do you have any idea how many
guys there are like that out there, just waitin’ to be discovered? If we’re the
ones to discover them, to build their brand, to make all of their dreams come
true, they’re loyal to us. Trust me, takin’ on the musicians who already have a
fan base isn’t the right approach anymore.”

Avery sighed. “I hope you boys know what
you’re doing.”

“Trust me, we do.” He slid his chair back.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. I need to get back to
work.”

Avery tipped her head to the side. “I must
admit, I’m seeing a different side of you. Since when did you get all responsible,
putting work before fun?”

He laughed as he picked up his gold pen.
“Looks like I grew up when you weren’t lookin’.”

“You sure did,” she said, sliding back in
her chair and opening the leather notepad she’d walked in with. She reached
across the desk and grabbed his pen, smiling when he rolled his eyes. “But
don’t think this is over. I’m still pissed at you for makin’ me look like a
fool with our friends in the press and for not returning my phone calls or
responding to my emails this weekend.”

“Sorry,” he said, though they both knew he
wasn’t. “It was a hell of a week. I just needed a little down time. I’ve got a
lot goin’ on over the next few days. I’m meetin’ with some new artists, and
I’ve got a lot meetings lined up to figure out where we go with our current
team.”

“Explain to me why I had to see this photo
on some celebrity gossip site over the weekend? You know it’s only a matter of
time before the other rags pick it up.”

“I don’t see why anybody would be
interested in who I’m datin’.”

“Oh please,” Avery said, rolling her eyes.
“You and your brother are two of the most eligible bachelors in this city since
you started pulling in seven figure paychecks as the head of this company.
Besides…” she said, offering him an indulgent smile. “Your behavior has always
been so outrageous. The press loves to know what you’re up to.”

“I plan to keep a low profile from now on,”
he said, ignoring the buzzing cell phone on his desk. “My only concern right
now is building a relationship with Brianna and doing what I need to do to get
this company on the right track.” He lowered his voice as he said, “Evan’s
always had my back. He’s always been there to clean up my messes. Just this
once, I wanna be the one to come through for him.”

Avery smiled. “That’s sweet.” She pointed
at him. “And I think you might even mean that.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Believe what you
want. I’m turnin’ over a new leaf.”

“For Bri?”

“No, for me. This is what I want.”

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You and
Brianna are definitely a couple. This isn’t some fling y’all are gonna tire of
in a week or two?”

“No, hell no! How can you even ask me that?
This is Bri we’re talkin’ about, not some random woman I picked up in a bar.”

Avery raised one hand. “Fine, don’t get all
defensive. I just wanted to make sure before we made a public statement about
it.”

Ryan winced. “Why do we have to make a
statement about it all? This is our business, no one else’s.”

“When the legal counsel for Titan Records
is caught in a steamy kiss with the talent one week and the V.P. of the company
the next, people are going to start asking questions. The rumors will start
flying if we don’t make a statement to quash them. We’ve got enough drama going
on around here. We don’t need to add this to the mix.”

“Fine, make a statement about it, if that’s
what you need to do. Bri and I have nothin’ to hide.”

“Okay,” Avery said, her pen poised over her
notepad. “What do you want me to say about her relationship with Clint?”

He clenched his jaw. “There was no
relationship. They went out on one or two dates, end of story.”

“When did the two of you start seeing each
other?”

He pushed his chair back as he glanced at
his watch. “Come on, I don’t have time for this. I have meetings I need to get
to.”

“This will only take a minute,” she said,
pinning him with the same stare she’d seen him use on her grown son dozens of
times. “And like I said, it’s important.”

“I don’t understand how this got out there.
Who the hell posted that pic?”

“Hell, it could’ve been anyone with a cell
phone, Ry. Don’t worry, I have Mike looking into it.”

Ryan leaned his head back and closed his
eyes. “So, Mike knows about me and Bri?”

“The whole world knows about you and Bri. That’s
what I’m trying to tell you.”

“I was kind of hopin’ I’d be able to talk
to Mike about this before it went public.” He had always had a great
relationship with Brianna’s family, but that was before he was intimately
involved with their little princess.

“Too late for that.” She scribbled
something in her note pad. “So, how long have you and Bri been involved?”

“Since we were in diapers.”

She smirked. “Don’t be a smartass. How long
have you been in a relationship?”

“Not long. Isn’t that obvious since, as you
were so quick to remind me, she was makin’ out with some other guy not too long
ago?”

“That’s what makes this story so
salacious,” Avery said. “People are speculating that you and she had a fight
that night and she was just using Clint to get back at you.”

“That’s ridiculous. You know she would
never do that.”

“Of course I know that. I know her, but the
rest of the world doesn’t. That’s why we need to set the record straight.”

“Fine.” Ryan rubbed his eyes, wishing he
could go home, pull the blankets over his head, and start this day over. “Tell
them we’ve been friends forever. I’ve had feelings for her for a long time, but
we’ve just recently started dating. We’re not ready to define our relationship
just yet, but it’s safe to say that it’s exclusive.”

“Excellent,” Avery said, quickly scribbling
his quote. “For the record, I think this could be a great thing for the company
and your image.”

“How the hell does my bein’ with Bri affect
Titan?”

“Everybody loves you, so please don’t take
offense…”

He knew if she was opening with that, her
barb was likely to cut deep. “Just say it already.”

“They’re not sure if you can be trusted to
make the important decisions around here. You have this reputation as someone
who loves to have a good time and work takes a backseat to that.”

“Whoever thinks that is wrong,” he said,
gripping the wooden armrests on his leather swivel chair. “This company is as
important to me as it is to my brother, and I intend to prove that.”

“I’m glad to hear it. I think that your
relationship with Bri will go a long way toward putting everyone’s mind at ease
around here.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It makes the talent and the employees a
little antsy when the vice president of the company stumbles in to work with a
hangover.” She smiled to soften the blow. “But now that you and Brianna are a
couple, I assume that will be happening a lot less?”

“I’m gonna be spendin’ as much time as I
can with Bri, if that’s what you’re askin’?”

“Good.” She got to her feet and adjusted
the silk scarf around her neck. “Okay, I’ll get to work on this press release
right away. Maybe we should line up a photographer to take some really cute
candid shots of you two. We could-”