Hard As Rock Read Online Free PDF Page B

editor?”
    “I – I just expected her to – ”
    “To what? Get you access to Derek Kane? She did that,” Ryan said coldly. “That’s why you hired her.”
    “But I need a fucking article out of it!”
    “Then maybe you should have hired one of your top writers.”
    “But they couldn’t get to Kane!”
    “So you hired someone based solely on her ability to get to the lead singer of my band, and then expected her to perform at the level of a twenty-year veteran, knowing full well the history she had with Derek, and knowing that she might get entangled in that again. But all you care about is your goddamn article.”
    I looked over at Ryan.
    He’d said ‘goddamn.’
    He was maaaaaaad.
    “This isn’t my fault,” Glen shouted.
    “I’d say this is entirely your fault. I wouldn’t hire a rhythm guitarist straight out of music school to tour with the band, just because he was friends with Killian Lee. And I certainly wouldn’t berate him and threaten him when he didn’t perform up to Killian’s level. That would be completely idiotic and unprofessional of me. Wouldn’t you agree?”
    BOOM.
    I didn’t like that I was the rhythm guitarist straight out of music school in that analogy, but… still.
    BOOM.
    Glen was gnashing his teeth in frustration. He’d had all his asshole arguments turned back around on himself.
    So he decided to go with another one.
    “She owes us money,” he hissed, stabbing the desk. “Plane tickets – ”
    “ One plane ticket,” I said.
    “Hotel rooms – ”
    “For, like, a week. ”
    “And meals, and expenses, and – ”
    “For a week!”
    “We covered your expenses!” Glen raged at me. “You owe us that article!”
    “Wait,” Ryan said, holding out his hand. “Did you ever pay her?”
    “We covered her expenses – ”
    “But did you pay her?”
    “We – I – ”
    “Did you write her a check or deposit any money into her bank account in exchange for all the time she was spending researching?”
    “I wouldn’t call what she was doing ‘researching,’” Glen said nastily.
    “HEY!” I shouted, almost getting up out of my chair.
    Ryan put out his hand, though, and I stayed seated.
    “Did you or did you not pay her? Yes or no,” Ryan said calmly.
    “ No. The agreement was that she would be paid on receipt of the article – ”
    “So you didn’t pay her. She was, in effect, working for you for free, then,” Ryan said.
    “No – we covered all her expenses – ”
    “For a week!” I yelled.
    “That’s still a lot of money!” Glen yelled back.
    Ryan reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a checkbook. “If that’s the sticking point, we can take care of it right now. How much does she owe you?”
    I looked over at him, horrified. “Ryan – no – ”
    Ryan held up a hand to me again, but never looked away from Glen. “How much does she owe you?”
    Glen looked at the checkbook, and I swear he licked his lips. You could see the wheels turning inside his head.
    “Well… it was a lot… the plane ticket was last minute… the room at the Dubai, that was expensive…”
    “Give me a number,” Ryan said.
    “I would have to check to make it accurate…”
    Ryan waved his hand. “Ballpark. Give me the upper range of what it might have been.”
    Glen licked his lips again. “…ten thousand dollars.”
    “BULLSHIT!” I yelled. “You know there’s no way on earth it was – ”
    Ryan raised his hand again, and I quieted down.
    “Ten thousand would definitely cover it?”
    Glen hesitated. “…maybe. Twelve thousand would definitely cover it.”
    “TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS?!” I raged. “Jesus Christ – ”
    “Kaitlyn,” Ryan said quietly, and I calmed down. It was like a fucking Jedi mind trick he had.
    Then he turned back to Glen and started writing a check. “Who do I make it out to? Rolling Stone?”
    “Actually… I had to front the money out of my own expense account, so… you can make it out to me.”
    My mouth dropped