Transitions (A Thousand Words Book 1) (13 page)

They
were
novices by comparison. She had more records and more hits behind her than they did, but it made little difference. They met her as an equal and she underestimated A Thousand Words. Erika hadn’t listened to Mark when he tried to warn her about setting her sites on Dev. The whole band sheltered him much more than Erika expected.

She barely had a chance to get to know him at all. Oh, sure, Erika got to know Kenny after they finished recording the voice tracks and Dev all but sprinted from the studio with Jess practically on his heels. She even got a bit of a feel for Bryan’s role in the band’s dynamics when he lingered, chuckling slightly after the two troublemakers left. But Dev hardly said an unnecessary word to her.

Jess did though, Erika mused. More than a few, and that was interesting.

Mark was waiting for her in her New York apartment when Erika walked in, still thinking about her conversation with Jess. He looked up from his bottomless email inbox when Erika sat down across from him.

“Tell me about Jess Baxter,” Erika ordered. Mark looked up at her and blinked.

“Changed your mind?”

“No. He showed up when he wasn’t expected. Sort of taking that sheltering his best friend to extremes, don’t you think? The media wasn’t there. Just me. And I’m not convinced Jess is Dev’s best friend. I’m not entirely sure what the deal is, but I think it’s a smokescreen. You’re right that Kenny holds the leadership role, but he seems to bow to Bryan sometimes. They have a sort of unspoken agreement and Dev and Jess are aware of it.”

“Okay,” Mark said slowly. “So what about Jess do you need to know? Keeping in mind of course that I have little legitimate reason to hit up Alec Franke for more information.”

“I’m not sure. I want more information about Dev’s girlfriend too.”

“There’s no good way to get that, angelfish.” Mark shook his head.

“What’s she look like? I want a picture.”

Mark shook his head again. “You don’t want to go there. We’re talking stalker-territory. If Dev finds out, there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Then don’t let him find out,” Erika said. “Besides, it shouldn’t really be hard. You know very well everyone in our generation is connected and the Internet is eternal. Find someone to mine her accounts and learn everything about her. I want her posts, her pictures, information she thought she erased, all of it. And most importantly, whoever you find has to be
really good
and can’t be traced back to me. Dev is at MIT and computers are his thing. I have no idea if he just likes computers or programming or even if he’s any good at it. Still, I really don’t want to find out he’s a world-class hacker because he has safeguards on his girlfriend’s computer and caught us with our hand in the cookie jar.”

“An excellent reason to not slip our hands in there to begin with,” Mark reasoned.

“An excellent reason for it to be someone else’s hand you mean,” Erika corrected him. “Find someone from China or Russia or something. No, wait, somewhere A Thousand Words has a big fan base so it would be reasonable that they were looking at Dev’s girlfriend.”

“A fan would be looking at Dev, angelfish.”

Erika smiled. “Great idea. Do that first. If they can dig up info on him, she should be easy. Just tell whoever it is to tread lightly. It’s more important that they’re not caught than to get information.”

“You’re crossing lines,” Mark warned.

“But no one knows that.”

With a nod and a resigned sigh, her manager changed the subject. “What about the sudden interest in Jess Baxter? Where did that come from?”

Erika thought about how to articulate her suspicion. “At first when he showed up, I thought he was there to offer support. Then I suspected he was onto my plan and was trying to shield Dev from me. I mean he wasn’t trying to pick me up, but he led Dev to believe that was why he was there.”

Mark held a hand up to stop Erika. “What makes you say that? Did Jess say something?”

“No, not exactly. It was the way he behaved when Dev was watching versus when he wasn’t. Jess plays the media, but he plays Dev too. We decided before that he couldn’t really be the idiot he pretends to be for the cameras and fans, but kind of thought he was probably just a playboy. I think he might have an agenda; strangely, it plays more toward my goals than Dev’s.”

It was difficult to wait while Mark stared at her, frowning, shaking his head softly in denial.

“Fine,” Mark finally said. “I give up. Tell me your reasoning and spell it out.”

“For all the world, I swear Jess was vetting me to make sure I was acceptable for Dev. He was subtle, I’ll grant him points for that. Amazingly so. He’s really good, but then, when you consider his history with women, I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less of him.”

“Oh, I don’t know –”

“A man can get a lot of women based on good looks and a fun personality, Mark. Jess’s success rate suggests he can use his brain when motivated.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m a woman, trust me on this.”

“And you propose he’s showing you this fabulous brain of his – why?” Mark asked.

“A very good question. Dev has a girlfriend and Jess didn’t mention her at all. Or Dev in romantic terms, actually.”

“Then how do you know he’s looking to replace the girlfriend? Maybe Kenny’s interested.”

“Kenny and I mixed the single with the techs after everyone else left. He didn’t express any interest. Kenny confirmed Jess is available, but warned me he won’t commit if I had any ideas. I alleviated his concern on that point. Dev is
technically
single – as Kenny said it – which I thought was interesting. I mean why not tell me he’s got a girlfriend? And Bryan is married to his high school sweetheart, which of course we already knew.”

“So maybe the rumors that Dev’s gay are true. Maybe the girlfriend’s a beard.”

Erika shook her head. “Jess told me it wasn’t true. They used to worry, but apparently that isn’t the case. Besides, it’s not like that’s a big deal. From what I’ve seen of them professionally, and now working together, I really think Dev would just come out of the closet if that were the case.”

“Fine. And?” Mark prompted. Erika shrugged.

“Dev didn’t come up otherwise. Neither did Lindsay. That’s why I want more information. I can’t say for sure Kenny’s playing games, but Jess is. I can only assume that he doesn’t like Lindsay.”

“You think Jess wants to see his friend’s affections wander a different direction,” Mark said.

“He knows what’s on my mind and didn’t try to dissuade me, yet Dev’s got a girlfriend already.  If you add all that up, what does it mean to you?” Erika asked.

Mark hesitated longer than Erika liked before answering. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll play along for now and see what I can find out from interesting people we don’t technically know. For your part, angelfish, stay calm and try to find out where Bryan’s loyalty is in this. You said yourself that you didn’t think Jess was really Dev’s best friend. Aligning yourself with him and his plan may not be your best chance for success.”

○ ○ ○

Relieved to be done recording the single, Dev left the mixing and marketing details to Kenny and returned to school. Jess and Erika didn’t start dating, to his annoyance, and he decided not to mention it to Lindsay. No point even bringing the subject up.

Thankfully, Lindsay didn’t mention the studio time with Erika Atlas – until he went home for Christmas. Dev didn’t have anything to hide, so he didn’t mind answering her questions. He still didn’t bring up his hopes for Jess and Erika, however. It was over, it didn’t matter.

What mattered to Dev was Lindsay’s casual reference to Brenda’s frustration over her quest to have children. Dev didn’t even know Bryan and Brenda were trying to have kids. The thought of his best friend being a father disturbed Dev. Worse, usually Dev turned to Bryan for advice when he was upset about something, but this time Bryan was the source of anxiety. How could he approach Bryan and tell him
he’s
what Dev was concerned about? It wasn’t even Dev’s business, but it would change everything.

The thought weighed on Dev through the winter break. He did his part helping Jess avoid Cassie, but he had new insight on the traditional plot. Nightmarish daydreams of Jess finally getting Cassie, marrying her, and having children, ambushed Dev whenever he spent time with his sister. Jess was a friend, but he wasn’t right for Cassie. He wasn’t good enough, although Dev felt guilty about the opinion.

Mostly from guilt, Dev decided to approach Jess instead of Bryan with his troubles.

“Jess, can I talk with you a minute?” Dev asked. Jess, Kenny, and Sophie were watching TV downstairs when Dev got up the nerve to talk to him. It was strange, having difficulty talking to his friends.

Jess stood and followed Dev into his room with no concern showing at all, like Dev wanting to talk was an everyday occurrence. Behind him, Dev caught a glimpse of Kenny – turned in his place on the sofa and watching Jess and Dev, analyzing. Dev couldn’t help that. Kenny was who he was – always watching and making mental notes, trying to figure him out.

Closing the door behind Jess, Dev sat on the edge of his bed. Jess leaned against his desk across from him with an attentive look on his face.

“What’s on your mind?” Jess asked.

“Bryan.”

Jess paused. “Okay. What about him?”

“Lin said Bren was frustrated.”

“So you’re warning me?” Jess asked. Dev noticed Jess crossed his legs when he mentioned Bren. He wondered if Jess knew he did that.

“No. Well, I think you might want to know. If she’s frustrated, maybe . . . I don’t think she’d lash out at us.”

“Yeah,” Jess said, but he sounded doubtful.

“You don’t get to be mad at Bren. You earned it when she smacked you.” Dev glared at Jess.

“I didn’t earn
that.
The only people who get to touch my junk is the girl I’m seeing and me.”

Dev stared at him and smiled. Jess blushed slightly and shook his head. “In the shower. To
wash
, you jerk.”

“I knew what you meant. I didn’t ask you in here to discuss you manhandling yourself. Lin said Bren’s frustrated because she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet. Did you know Bryan was trying to have a baby?”

Jess crinkled his brow and shook his head. Then he smoothed his expression and shrugged. “They’ve been together long enough, and married. I suppose it isn’t a surprise.”

“But that’ll change everything,” Dev protested. “I mean I get it that it’s not our business, but it really will change Bryan and . . . well, everything.”

“Chill, Dev. Yeah, it’ll be weird, but it was bound to happen. And I hate to tell you this but someday, in the not too distant future, you and Kenny are bound to get married too. When you do, the little women will want miniature versions of you. It’s the natural order of things.

“And don’t worry about Bryan having less time to deal with your crises. I’ve known him a long time, longer than you, and I’ve seen the way he holds us all together. He’ll make time for your emergencies and to play the referee.”

Dev nodded. Jess managed to pinpoint the problem Dev wouldn’t admit to himself: that Bryan wouldn’t have time for him anymore. Although Dev didn’t care for the picture Jess painted. His crises? His emergencies? No, he just turned to Bryan for advice. He wasn’t going to argue the point with Jess right now, however.

“Dev, seriously, don’t worry about it,” Jess continued. He sounded sincere. “We’re in this together and we’ll deal with it as it comes.”

“I know. It’s just . . . it feels weird. Bryan eloped, we weren’t there when he married Bren. Now they’re trying to have a baby and he didn’t mention it.”

“Because it takes a while sometimes. Not just the nine months to cook, getting there in the first place can be wham, bang, oops, it’s done, or it can take forever. From what you said about Bren being frustrated, I’ll guess they’re in the latter category.”

“Shouldn’t be long now then,” Dev said. He just wished Bryan would have mentioned it. Prepared them.

“Not necessarily. I don’t know a lot about it because I’m obviously trying hard to avoid this scenario. I get the impression it’s common for couples not to advertise they’re trying. If everyone knows then they’ll expect results and it adds pressure. Pressure is exactly what Bryan doesn’t need right now.”

“All right.” Dev nodded.

“Out of curiosity, why me?” Jess asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You have a problem you can’t go to Bryan with, I get that. But why choose me? Kenny reads all the psych books. Not that I’m not flattered, but you know . . . Kenny.”

Dev shook his head. “Flynn makes me see a shrink in Boston already. Psychoanalysis is what I
don’t
need. No offense to Kenny.”

Jess nodded. “Makes sense I suppose. Talk to the shrink about it anyway.”

“Are you going to tell Kenny?” Dev asked.

Grinning, Jess shook his head. “Nah, it’ll drive him nuts if I don’t.”

Returning the grin, Dev answered. “I hesitate to point it out, but it’ll drive him nuts if you tell him what I wanted to talk about, but not why I chose
you
.”