Colorado Game
By Androgene
Chapter 27
I closed my eyes as soon as he dropped that little bomb on me.
“Oh my god,” I whispered. “Oh my god…”
I gripped my head in this theatrical gesture of absolute horror (must’ve
been an Oscar performance me thinks) as this news sank in. I was actually
going to work for the two people on this planet that
Ross would probably hate more than
anything, not to mention Sofia,
whose reaction was pretty understandable now. I looked up at Ross, and saw
the muscles in his jaw nervously working as his eyes sought mine.
I sighed deeply and then did the only thing I could think of; I hit his arm
as hard as I could. It wasn’t meant to actually hurt him, and I doubt it
did, but more to release the frustration.
“Jesus Ross, were you ever going to tell me this? Or were you actually just
going to let me work there and find out by myself in some weird way? You
jackass!”
I stepped away from him and started to pace while Ross followed me closely,
trying to get me to look at him and stand still.
“I know, I know… I’m sorry… I tried to talk to you about it but you came on so strong about it being ‘your choice’, that I had to ‘butt out’ of it and that you didn’t care about the business stuff. I didn’t wanna risk a big fight over it, then. The last time we had a big fight, Antarctica was looking pretty comfortable compared to you freezing me out for what was it… a week? I figured I’d tell you this weekend, so that you’d know what you were getting in to.”
“You’re an oaf, you know that?” I said, shaking my head and pulling him into
a hug. “An absolute oaf.”
He returned the hug by squeezing the life out of me and I groaned softly,
and he let go. He sent me an apologetic smile.
“Forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive except maybe your timing; I wish you would have told me sooner. No wonder Sofia almost had a heart attack; she pretty much wants to drink Kyle’s blood.”
“And Warner’s,” Ross added, “to this day, he’s somewhat of a social pariah in this town. Don’t ever cross Sofia Forester.”
“Yeah, I already understood that much. Ross… what am I going to do now? Obviously I can’t go to work for them.”
“You have no choice. You signed the contract. That’s why I let it go; there’s no way for you to get out of it. I wouldn’t let you, if I were them. And you were right when you said it wasn’t about business itself. Well, in a way it is; if their game sells, and with your music it should fly off the shelves, it’ll be a success I’d rather not see them having.”
“Neither do I,” I answered, “well, I could always compose a piece of crap for them.”
“Your reputation would be ruined and I know you’re too proud of your work to deliver a piece of crap, even if it’s for your worst enemy.”
“True, that,” I conceded.
Damn principals.
“So what do I do? And what the hell am I going to tell your mother? There’s
no excuse in her eyes, I’m afraid.”
Ross pulled me against him and brushed his lips over mine.
“We’ll deal with it tonight, okay? She was just shocked because you dropped that bomb on her like… well, like I did a few minutes ago, basically.”
“Yeah, and if you ever do that again, you’re going to be walking funny.
Permanently.”
He grinned and gave me a proper kiss.
“She’ll be calmer tonight, I’m sure. For now, though, we have to get back
downstairs. There’s still a party going on, in your honor.”
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