Most of my anger drained away with his genuine apology. “Give me the singer’s name and whatever information you have on her, so I can have one of the guys run a check. If any red flags pop up, at least you have the clause in the employment contract that lets you fire her immediately.”
“Yeah…about that.” Drew ran one of his hands through his hair and sighed. I braced myself for what he was about to say because I knew I wasn’t going to like it. “I didn’t have her sign the standard contract. Her situation is different than our usual employees. I’ve been trying to hire her away from Stratton for two years with no luck because she took her commitment to him seriously. No matter how many times I offered to buy her out of her contract, she wouldn’t take me up on it.”
My brows rose in surprise. Most singers would jump at the chance, no matter who they were working for at the time. Not only did the Lennox draw in the biggest audiences in Vegas, but we also had some of the longest-running shows. “How many times did you offer her a contract?”
“More than I can count,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Then I found out last week that her contract with him just ended, and she’d already sold her house. I had to move fast, or else I was going to lose the opportunity. Since her stuff was already packed and ready to go, she wasn’t interested in the usual offer. I had to up the ante.”
Considering how much money Drew had, there was a lot of room for him to maneuver when he wanted something to go his way. “What’d you give her?”
“A fuck ton of money, along with a guarantee that she could work at the Lennox as long as she wants.”
“Damn.” I whistled, stunned that he’d handed that much power over to the woman. Drew liked to keep the upper hand when it came to business. “Is she really that good?”
“Better.” He flashed me a smug grin. “She could probably make millions if she was interested in signing a recording contract, but she’s always been content to stay in Vegas and play to a smaller audience. I don’t know why she suddenly decided to leave Las Vegas, but I had to swoop in fast before she was gone. Now she’ll be singing for me, and Autumn is happy as fuck since she’s a fan of Addilyn.”
That explained his unprecedented decision to pull out all the stops to get the woman under contract with the Lennox. Addilyn Cole could’ve asked for those millions Drew thought she could earn with a recording studio, and he would’ve given them to her if it meant that Autumn got what she wanted. Drew would do anything for his wife, which made it easy to wind him up when I felt like yanking his chain. “Maybe I’ll horn in on your date night so I can hear her for myself.”
“Unless you want me to fire your ass, you’ll get your own damn table,” he grumbled with a glare aimed my way.
We both knew my job wasn’t at risk. I was too damn good at it, and he’d never trust anyone else with the safety of the empire he’d built—let alone his family—as much as he did me. “I’ll be sure to tell Autumn you threatened to fire me if I bugged you two when I spin her a sob story about having nobody to sit with since those bastards stole my sisters away from me.”
“If you do that, I’ll be sure to tell your sisters that you called their husbands bastards,” Drew tossed back, folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow in challenge.
I shrugged and grinned at him. “It’s not like they don’t know I’ve said worse about the men who ‘swept them off their feet.’”
My sisters couldn’t be too pissed at me for it since they’d tossed around some threats of their own to their future brothers-in-law. We were a close-knit crew and very protective of each other, but Griffin, Maddox, and Will had proven they could be trusted with my sisters’ hearts. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t still keeping a close eye on them. I always would.
* * *
When I walked into Smoke and Rhythm five hours later and spotted Addilyn Cole on stage, my plan to fuck with Drew some more flew out the window. My entire focus centered on the woman with long, curly black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. She was a tiny thing who’d barely come up to my shoulder when I pulled her close—which was going to happen, and soon—but the red dress she was wearing showed off her curvy body. It also bared too much of her sun-kissed skin, and I fought the urge to rip off my jacket and toss it over her shoulders so no other men could see what belonged to me.
The surge of possessiveness roaring through my blood was a shock. I’d never felt anything like it. Hell, I’d given my buddies, Drew and Becket, as well as my sisters’ husbands a hard time about falling for their women so quickly, and now here I was, ready to take on anyone who even thought about standing between me and a woman I knew nothing about.
Stalking across the lounge, I snagged a booth to the right of the stage. It was in the shadows, allowing me to keep an eye on Addilyn without freaking her out during her first performance for the Lennox. I was aware of everyone around me, but my attention never wavered from her as I sipped at the whiskey the waitress brought me.
