Tainted (7 page)

“I was starting to wonder if you’d make it,” Eric said as we pulled away from the hotel.

“I did but just barely. I knew you’d leave me, so I hurried.”

“We wouldn’t have left you, you idiot. It would be kind of hard to record anything if our vocalist was missing.” Jade said as she rolled her eyes.

I hadn’t thought of that. I was the most important part of the band. Without me, half of our fans wouldn’t even know who we were. I was the face of Breaking the Hunger, and everyone in this limo knew it. They could threaten to kick me out, but in the end, I knew they wouldn’t do it. They’d tank if I left.

When I chuckled to myself, Jade looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about a funny joke,” I lied.

“Okay then,” she said. I ignored the strange look she gave me.

After the limo pulled up to the building, we got out and headed inside. Alex didn’t accompany us up to Brad’s office this time. He must have figured we wouldn’t get lost at this point. When Eric knocked on the door, Brad opened it almost immediately and stepped back to let us in. I took a seat in the same chair where I had sat last time.

Brad walked around his desk and sat down. “Right on time. I just finished up my meeting a few minutes ago.” He smiled at us.

This guy sure seemed to smile a lot.

“Actually, the meeting was about the four of you.”

I raised a brow but said nothing, and the rest of the band remained silent as well.

“Don’t look so worried. The meeting went well. I played the main guys upstairs some of what we recorded yesterday, and every single person there loved it. I know this seems kind of fast, but we want to sign you.”

I sat straight up in my seat. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me that after only one day of listening to us play, you want to sign us?”

“That’s what I just said. All of you have amazing talent, but especially you, Drake. There’s just something about your voice that draws others in. I haven’t heard anything like it in a long time.”

“What happens now?” Jade asked.

“If you accept our offer, we’ll give you the contracts to look over. After you sign, we’ll figure out which of your current songs to put on your first album, and then we’ll start working on a song to release to the radio stations. Soon after that, I’d also like to do a music video for your first single. We need to get your faces out to the public. You’re all attractive, and that will get you a fan base just as fast as your music.”

“What kind of time frame are we looking at—from when we sign the contract until the album is released?” Eric asked.

“It will take a few months to get everything ready. Considering it’s late September now, I’d like to have the first single out right after Christmas. Sales are usually down in January since everyone is broke from Christmas, but if we release it on the radio and online, we can at least start a fan base. Once we have that, we’ll plan for the album to be ready by late spring or early summer. That way, we can promote you guys for a while. The fact that you already have enough songs for two albums will help speed up the process.”

I just sat there and stared at him. This was it. Our big break was finally here. After years of playing together, we’d finally done it. My lips turned up as I let that sink in.

Brad continued to talk, going through all the details of our contract. Brad mentioned the amount of our advance when Adam was taking a drink from his bottle of water. He started choking, and Eric had to beat him on the back.

“Holy shit!” Adam shouted when he could finally speak.

Brad laughed at Adam. “Yes, we have been very generous with your advance, but we feel that you will be worth it.”

“Can we have a few minutes alone to talk this over?” Eric asked.

“Certainly. I need to run upstairs for a minute. Talk among yourselves while I’m gone.”

After Brad left his office, Eric turned to us. “What do you guys think?”

Jade grinned. “I say yes! How could we say no to that?”

“I’m in, too,” Adam said.

All eyes turned to me. “I’m in, too. Jade’s right. There’s no way we can turn down that kind of offer.”

“All right then. I just wanted to make sure we all agreed.” Eric smiled. “This is it, guys!”

“It is!” Jade shouted as she did a little dance in her chair.

There was a knock on the door, and a few seconds later, Brad stepped back into the room. “Did I give you enough time?”

“Yes, we’re ready to sign,” Eric said.

“Excellent! I have the contracts on my desk.” Brad walked around us and picked up a folder from the top of his desk. “Here we are. Feel free to read everything over before you sign, but I’ve given you most of the details.”

He handed each of us a set of papers, and I started reading through mine. I sucked with legal wording, but as far as I could tell, everything was exactly as he’d said. I grabbed a pen from his desk and signed my name on the line at the bottom of the last page. There—it was done. Adrenaline shot through me as I handed the document back to Brad. With that contract, our fates were sealed. I wanted to jump out of my chair and start running around the room. My leg started bouncing, and I had to force myself to sit still. I had so much adrenaline running through my body, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to move.

“Do you mind if I use the restroom?” I asked, finding an excuse to leave.

“Not at all. It’s right down the hall on the left,” Brad said.

I ignored the look Adam gave me before I slipped out of the office. I started walking down the hallway, and then I saw the restroom only a few doors away from Brad’s office, just like he’d said.

I pushed open the door and walked inside to see the restroom was even fancy. These people were really over the top. The sinks and floor were both made out of a beautiful black marble. A black leather couch was in the far corner, and the urinals were on the opposite wall. There were three black stalls next to them. I walked into one, almost expecting the toilets to be made out of gold.

I was relieved when I saw that they had at least left the toilets alone. I closed the lid and sat down. I pulled my bag and mirror from my pocket and started pouring the powder onto it. I made my lines and snorted them quickly. I wasn’t sure why I was snorting right now. I wasn’t upset or anything, but I just wanted to. Call it my private celebration—sitting on a toilet in a restroom stall. Yeah, apparently, I’d sunk that low.

Someone walked into the bathroom, and I quickly threw everything back into my pocket. I flushed the toilet and stepped out of the stall to see some guy in a suit at one of the urinals. I ignored him as I left the restroom and walked back down the hall to Brad’s office. When I walked in, Brad and the others were holding up glasses.

“Just in time, Drake! We’re celebrating our partnership!” Brad handed me a glass.

I clinked my glass against theirs and took a sip of whatever was inside. I almost gagged as the taste of champagne hit my tongue. I never understood how people could stand to drink this crap. I looked around to see Jade wincing as she sipped, but Eric and Adam didn’t seem to be bothered by the taste. They could have at it. That stuff was nasty.

I set my mostly full glass on Brad’s desk. He didn’t seem to notice it when he set his empty glass next to it.

“All right, let’s go down to the studio and get some work done,” Brad said.

We all followed him out of his office and to the elevators. As soon as we hit the basement floor, he instructed us to go into the studio and get ready. My head was spinning a little, and I tripped over a cable as I was walking toward the door.

“You okay there, buddy?” Tony asked, looking at me with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook my head to clear it.

I still felt a little weird, but I ignored it as I took my place and picked up the guitar sitting next to the mic stand. It seemed to be tuned good enough, so I waited as Jade, Eric, and Adam adjusted their instruments.

When they gave the okay, Brad’s voice came over the speakers. “Let’s do ‘Whirlwind’ again. I’m going to have you play it a few times, and then we’ll work through whatever needs changed.”

I groaned to myself. Of course that was the song they wanted to start with again. The red light came on a few seconds later, and I waited as first Jade and then Eric and Adam entered the song. When it was my turn, I started singing. I still felt a little dizzy, but I tried to ignore it.

I made it halfway through the song before I had to stop. The room was spinning around me, and as I tried to put the mic in its stand, I lost my balance. In what seemed like slow motion, I fell to the floor, and I heard Jade shouting my name.

The next thing I knew, Adam was shaking me. I groaned as I tried to sit up. My head felt like it was splitting open.

“Stay down for a minute. You hit your head when you fell,” Jade said, leaning over me.

“It fucking hurts.” I lifted a hand to touch the back of my head. Luckily, there was no blood when I pulled it away.

“Your head is too hard to be hurt,” Adam grumbled as he helped me stand.

Jade glared at him as she wrapped her arm around me to help support my weight. The room was still spinning, and I stumbled. Adam caught me as I started to fall again, and Jade grunted as my weight nearly caused her to fall.

Out of nowhere, Brad appeared in front of me. “You all right there, Drake?”

“I’m fine. I’m just dizzy.”

“Why don’t you sit down for a while? It might help,” Jade said.

She and Adam helped me out of the studio and into the control room. They sat me down in a chair next to the soundboard.

When I closed my eyes, the spinning got even worse. “This fucking sucks,” I groaned.

“Has he eaten today?” Tony asked with concern.

“I don’t think so. We were running late this morning,” Jade said, patting my knee.

Tony picked up the phone and ordered someone to bring me a can of soda and whatever food they could find. “There. They will have it down here in a few minutes,” he said as he hung up.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

I was still dizzy when my food arrived. I choked down whatever it was and chugged my soda.

Jade hovered around me with a concerned look on her face. “Are you still dizzy?”

“I am, but I’ll be fine. Quit acting like a mother hen.” I leaned down and rested my head in my hands.

“Maybe we should call it a day. Let’s get Drake back to the hotel, so he can rest,” Brad said. He pulled out his phone and called Alex to come and pick us up.

My bed sounded heavenly right about now. Between the headache and the dizziness, I wasn’t sure I could stand, let alone sing. Eric and Adam helped me up and led me to the elevators. Jade promised Brad she’d call later to let him know how I was doing, and then we rode up to the first floor.

Once we made it back to the hotel, the guys helped me out of the limo and up to my room. They all but tossed me onto the bed as all three of them circled around me.

“Thanks for helping me, guys. I’m going to try to get some sleep. Maybe that will help,” I said, looking up at them.

“Do you want something for your head? Is it safe for you to even take anything with cocaine in your system?” Jade asked angrily.

I was not in the mood for this right now. “I’m fine. I just need to sleep.”

“No, you need to stop using. This is getting out of hand!” Jade shouted.

“No, it’s already been out of hand for a while,” Eric said, staring down at me.

“Just leave me the fuck alone right now, okay? I’m not in the mood to fight with you guys!” I yelled.

“Whatever. I’m so sick of this shit,” Adam growled.

“We all are. Drake, please get help before you kill yourself,” Jade pleaded.

“Get. Out,” I said in a deadly quiet voice that I’d never used with Jade.

“Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall!” She stomped her foot.

If I wasn’t so pissed, I would have laughed at her.

“What would Chloe say if she saw you like this? Maybe I should text her and tell her exactly what is going on instead of sugarcoating everything for her.”

I sat straight up in the bed. “You’ve been talking to Chloe?”

Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. “I…uh—”

“You have! What did she say? How is she?” I asked. I had to know how she was. If Jade had mentioned that she was still talking to Chloe before this, I would have been bugging her daily for updates. Instead, I’d spent the last two-and-a-half months going mad, wondering what she was up to.

“She’s okay. She checks in every once in a while to see how you are. She knows that you’re still using, but she doesn’t know how bad it is. She’s worried to death about you.”

She was worried about me. That brought me more happiness than I wanted to admit. I was afraid that she’d already moved on and forgotten about me.

“Amber has forced her to go on a few dates, but she’s not over you yet.”

And there went my happiness. Chloe was dating again. It didn’t matter that Jade had said Chloe wasn’t over me. She was trying to move on with someone else.

“With who? Logan? Jordan?” I asked.