“What? You miss the good old days?” Her blue eyes met mine. “You miss being at the top and hate having to start over?”
I grinned sheepishly. She really did know me too well. “Am I an asshole?”
“God, no. The only reason Tyler isn’t struggling is because of Ariel. Before he met her, he was feeling the same way.” Ariel was my bass player’s wife.
“I already paid my dues,” I muttered. “Starting over is…hard as fuck.”
“I know. But you only have a few choices. Work for it and get back to the top the hard way, go solo, or walk away and retire. Are you ready to retire at thirty-two?”
I hesitated but finally shook my head. “No. That’s ridiculous. I can afford to, but I’d go insane with nothing to do.”
“Get married, have a family…that’s what lots of people do at your age.”
“But there isn’t anyone special in my life right now, and retiring doesn’t mean I’m going to automatically meet her.”
“Right.” She gazed at me patiently. “So, what do you want to do? If you want to bail, the time would be now, because I’m putting a lot of time and energy into this band, and I need to know you’re all in. Unless you have another project in mind.”
“Nah. That’s probably my least favorite option.”
“Retirement, then?”
“No, I don’t think so.” I sighed. “I just want something to happen. It’s been two years now. Playing clubs and opening for someone else has been a pain in the ass, and don’t get me started on the whole tour bus thing.”
Casey laughed, shaking her head. “Spoiled much?”
“Like you’d go back to tour buses instead of chartered flights from city to city.”
“If I wasn’t married to a king, I absolutely would. The only negative in my life is the fact that I can’t be in a band anymore. I miss it more than I can tell you, and I think you would too. What’s really going on with you, Bash?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I’m restless. Maybe a little lonely. Seeing most of the band in relationships is weird. We all used to whore around together, but Tyler, Lexi, and Stu are settled down, and I might be the tiniest bit envious.”
“I thought you and Ford were the Banger Brothers?” she teased.
I chuckled at the nickname Ford and I had gotten from banging women together. “Yeah, it’s been fun, but I’m kinda bored with the whole love ‘em and leave ‘em routine. I feel like it’s time for something more serious, but how do you get serious when you’re constantly on tour or whatever? Hell, how does a guy like me even meet nice women?”
“Like anyone else, I think,” she said. “I mean, you’re a great-looking guy with money. How hard can it be?”
“To meet women who aren’t gold diggers? Who don’t care about Bash from Pretty Harts, but actually like Declan James, the guy who was homeless thirteen years ago?”
She smiled. “She’s out there. You just have to go out of your way to look for someone you have a connection with.”
A vision of the auburn-haired beauty who’d doused me with coffee flashed through my mind and I wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t been the most gorgeous woman I’d ever met but she’d been striking, the kind of woman who wasn’t easy to forget. All that red-kissed hair and big green eyes. I should have asked the receptionist about her, but my tooth had been killing me and before I’d gotten my shit together, she’d slipped through my fingers.
“Yeah, I know. That connection is rare, though.”
“But so worth it once you find it.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Can you focus on the task at hand for now? There’s a party coming up that’s going to be a chance for you to hobnob with a lot of important people in the industry, so I need you, Tyler, and Lexi to work the room. Ford and Stu don’t have the star power the three of you do, and we need to get a bigger buzz going. The tour went well but the numbers aren’t where I want them.”
“But we’re going to start recording the next album, right?” I asked. “It’ll be a while before we go back on the road. Why the push now?”
“Because we’re going to make sure the whole fucking world is anticipating it while you’re recording your follow-up album. I have plans to rebrand everything about Nobody’s Fool except the music.”
I arched a brow. “This is the first I’m hearing about rebranding.”
She winked. “You didn’t think I came all the way to Vegas just to say hi, did you?”
“I should have known you had something up your sleeve.”
“Uh huh.” She grinned.
“In other words, you want me to shut up and get to work,” I said, standing up.
“I want you to be happy,” she said softly. “If you’re not going to be happy in Nobody’s Fool, then you need to rethink your future. But I don’t think the problem is the band. Sounds like you’re having a midlife crisis twenty years too early.”
“More like a midlife identity crisis, but I’ll be okay.”
“Look, I hear voices out there, which means the band is here, so let’s discuss my plans and if you’re still unhappy, we can talk privately again later.”
“Thanks, Casey.”
“Anytime.”
We walked out into the reception area where the rest of my band had just come in. It was a scorching hot day in Vegas so we were all dressed in shorts and T-shirts, looking more like we were heading to a pool party than a business meeting.
“Hey, man, how’s the tooth?” Tyler asked me.
“Root canal,” I told him, “but I’m already feeling better.”
“Toothaches are the worst,” Lexi agreed.
“I don’t like the dentist,” Ford said, shaking his head. “Haven’t been to one since I was seventeen.”
We all stared at him.
“That’s like, ten years,” Lexi said in disbelief.
“Nine,” he corrected her.
“Not even once?” I asked.
“What?” He looked around at us in confusion. “I brush at least three times a day and floss every day. I don’t need to go to the damn dentist. Uh uh. No way.”
“I want to give you shit about it,” Tyler said slowly, “but I don’t floss every day.”
“Me either,” I admitted.
“Twice a week,” Lexi said.
“Every other day,” Casey added, joining the conversation.
“I never went to the dentist as a lad,” Stu, our Scottish guitarist, piped up. “But now I go every six months like we’re supposed to. A lot of my mates I grew up with have a mouth full of rotting teeth. Not for me.”
“But how often do you floss?” Lexi prompted him.
He grimaced. “Few times a month?”
Ford pumped his fist. “See? That’s why I don’t gotta go.” He always made sure his Texas drawl was more distinct when he was making a point.
“Okay, let’s get to work.” Casey smiled and perched on the back of one of the couches. “Do you want to talk numbers or strategy?”