The Rock Star Next Door #1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

her, blowing smoke about nondisclosure clauses and privacy.
    But Jewel was everything Rage remembered and more. She pressured Arnie with a mix of flirting and logic. He hadn’t shown her any numbers, but she did have the contract for the second record deal, the one no one had signed.
    Rage watched her as they bumped along. Her hair was a shiny brown in the light from the window. Her skin was creamy. Today she had on a silky tank top that hugged her body. She had no idea how hard it had been for him to walk away last night. Maybe he shouldn’t have. This morning she was as difficult to read as the face of the moon.
    Jewel tucked a long section of hair behind her ear and shook her head. “Rage, I don’t really know what is standard in a contract like this, but I see a real possibility for you getting screwed royally.”
    “How?”
    She turned the paper around, but it was hard to look at it when she was so close. “Here,” she said, pointing. “This new contract isn’t getting you anything. It’s just exercising the option of the first one at the same rates.”
    “But they gave us a half million advance for the first one.”
    “Well, that’s good, because I’m betting that’s all you ever see for a long time.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Jewel wouldn’t meet his eye. “There’s a way of doing accounting labels are known for. Pulling expenses out so that they never show a profit.”
    “I know all that. I read the shit Courtney Love put out and some other stuff online. Arnie said he was going to get money up front. That’s how you fight that.”
    “Good, good.” Jewel looked around at the bus, and over at Crash and Metal, sleeping on their beds near the back. “How do you get money to spend on...things.”
    “I don’t pay for anything. I just ask for it, and it gets done.”
    “Doesn’t that worry you?”
    Rage shrugged. “It seems like that’s the way it’s done.”
    “But it’s like writing checks when you don’t know what’s in the bank.”
    Rage laughed. She was always so practical. “That’s why I asked you here.”
    Now she got all serious, looking out the window. He could still picture her from last night, massaging his hand. Different from today. She was so distant.
    Then she dropped the zinger. “Your girlfriend isn’t going to like me meddling in your affairs.”
    Shit.
    Rage sat back. “You heard about her.”
    “You’re sort of all over the place on the gossip sites.” She still wouldn’t look at him. “They like to follow guys with good hair.”
    He snorted. “Stacey is a plant. I saw through her right off.”
    Now Jewel looked at him, her dark eyes penetrating his. “What do you mean, a plant? You’re all over each other in the pictures.”
    “In the pictures. She’s the daughter of the producer. Did you Google her? I’m just one of a string of guys.”
    “So you’re not dating her?”
    “I have to take her to things.”
    “Still? Like today? Will she be at the concert tomorrow?”
    Rage’s heart was hammering. Now he got it. Jewel was feeling threatened by that nitwit girl. Hope surged in him. He took a risk and reached for Jewel’s hand, but she pulled it back.
    “Jewel. She’s not anything. Not to me.”
    “It doesn’t matter.” She started pushing pages around on the table.
    “It does. Hey.” He stilled the paper. “Please talk to me about this. I need you. Everybody here has an agenda. Even Arnie. For all I know he’s locked up what money we did get and I can’t access it. I’m in way over my head here. My dad doesn’t know anything about this world. I didn’t understand a thing the lawyer said. The only person I know who has the brains and experience to help me muck through this is you.”
    Jewel stared at the papers in front of them. Rage had to try again. He slid his hand over hers. Touching her skin was a jolt, an electric shock. It was true he needed her for the paperwork. But hell, maybe he didn’t care about that. Already he