I look at him and shrug and mouth the word 'drugs'. He gets what I mean instantly.
"We'd be up to talking about it with one condition. Any artists we promote have to be drug free. We made that rule for our band and roadies and will make it for our artists. Anyone we promote must follow the same rules." Landon says.
Milton smirks.
"Done, and I’ll let you in on something that isn't widely known yet. After all, the support you guys got about banning drugs from the tour; we started working it into all our contracts as well. As of the beginning of the year, all of our artists have a no drug clause in their contracts. As does everyone who works on their tours, and those here in the office as well." Milton says.
I'm a bit shocked if I'm honest. I've seen some managers with other labels feed their client’s drugs to get them on stage in order to manipulate them. Labels have turned a blind eye for years.
Milton takes advantage of our silence.
"Here are the contracts we drew up. They’re fairly simple. No poaching for either of us, no drugs, different promotions, and ways to work together, and the legalities of parting ways. Take a look at it and read over it. Either way, we’ll let you out of your contract, as of today." Milton says.
We stand up, and everyone shakes hands. Milton hangs back, and when it's just the three of us in the room, he turns to us.
"You two remind me of me and my partner, when we first started. We were never a band though." Milton says.
His partner died of cancer a few years back, and he had taken over the main operations of the label.
"With that being said, I'd like to be a mentor to you guys. Be a sounding board, answer questions, and help get you off the ground." He says.
"Why?" I ask.
"Honestly, because it's what Charlie would have done." He says, speaking of his partner. "He always loved your band, as a fan, and as your label, he was proud of you taking the stand on drugs. I think that will help revolutionize the music industry and help clean it up. I want to be a part of that."
"We'd like that,” Landon says.
We say goodbye and head out to the car. Our next stop is the police station, and then on the way home, we both do nothing but read the contracts in our hands.
Chapter 37
Austin
This is the first time I've been alone, since Branden attacked me. Okay, let's face it, I'm not alone, alone. Mason is here, along with the woman who doesn't talk to me. There are also two other guys in the house who don't talk to me. There are at least six outside that I have seen. The only one who talks to me is Mason. He said he's my point of contact. So damn formal.
Today, is my first day alone without one of the guys here. I feel safest with Dallas, but Landon runs a super close second. Without one of them here, I'm a bit jumpy. Every time I see movement from the corner of my eye, I spin around. Every time, it's been Mason. I try to shake it off, but for some reason, I just can't.
So, I've started pacing the living room. Mason has his back to the wall with his arms crossed watching me, and another guy is standing by the back room. This room is large, I could probably run laps around it for a decent exercise, but the pacing is enough right now.
"Austin, why don't you try to watch some TV?" Mason says.
I shake my head.
"Okay, why don't we do some baking? Dallas is always talking about much he loves your cookies." He says.
"I'd probably burn them all," I say.
"Well, you’re making the guys nervous." He says.
This makes me stop in my tracks, and I look at the guy by the back door and see another one in the doorway that leads to the small hallway to the kitchen.
"Sorry." I sigh and try to slow down my pacing, until a door closes, and I full on panic. I run right to Mason, who puts me between the wall and him.
"It's okay. It was just one of my guys coming in from doing a garage sweep," Mason says.
I don't move right away, and finally, he sighs.
"If you’re going to pace, let's at least go do it in the upstairs hallway and give these guys a break, yeah?"
"Okay." I nod. He follows me upstairs, and I start to pace not just the side of the hallway where my old room is along with Landon's and mine and Dallas's room. But also, down the guest side and make the 'L' turn to the game room and the loft. Mason follows me the whole way.
They still haven't found Branden or Jimmy, whatever his name is. The cops have a warrant out for his arrest, because on top of attacking me, he missed several probation check-ins and being back on drugs is a violation of his parole.
I know the cops are searching for him, and I know Dallas and Landon are working with Mason, too. One night, I heard them talking to Mason, who had hired on a bunch of extra men to start their own search for Branden.
I asked Dallas about it that night, and he told me the guys are all ex-military and happy to help find someone, who attacked a woman. Dallas said this is also a
