Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3)
CHART TOPPERS
J.M. Nevins
NIMBLE MINX PRESS
COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS
NIMBLE MINX PRESS
26895 Aliso Creek Rd., Ste. B-310
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by J.M. Nevins
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Nimble Minx Press at www.nimbleminx.com/contact/
CREDITS:
Cover design courtesy of Pixel Studio
Cover photograph: © massonforstock (style redheaded girl with shopping bags)
DEDICATION
To all who strive to get to the top and find the resolve to stay there.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER_2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CADENCE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my entire family, immediate and extended, especially my amazing little brother, Dan, for your creative, entertaining spirit. Thank you all for your constant, unending love and support of my writing and me.
To my ultimate bestie, Teri McCarty who is still totally rocking it and an eternal supporter of me and my work.
To all that have helped along the way, pledged your undying support to me, this series, or all the above. A huge thanks to: Damien Amore, Chris Baseford, Jeff Brooks, Christopher Cano, Indigo Charles, Richard Danielson, Ray Davies, Susanna Gaffney, Chanel Green, Greg Gurniak, Don Kirkpatrick, Marc Lisheski, Jeff McCarty, Karyn McIvor, Mitchy, Jennifer Nitchman-Chong, Wendy Smith, Julia Thornton, Audrey Shelton-Townson, Jana Watkins. And a big thanks to all my new readers and fans.
And thank you to God for continually guiding my steps and making all of this possible.
CHAPTER 1
Sully shook his head in disbelief. He felt flooded with a mixture of emotions. On one hand, he felt awful for her, on the other, he felt a distinct bubbling rage over the politics of the boy’s club she mentioned. He knew a gross double standard existed in the industry, but hated seeing in play out against his wife.
He easily recalled their humble beginnings and felt his anger melt into sorrow. He remembered when Kit had started the company five years ago, with Scorcher, one of the bands she was managing when they met. At the time, Scorcher on the brink of getting signed and were one of the main reasons she started the company in the first place.
He felt partially responsible for the mess knowing her attention had been solely focused on Gypsy Tango the past few years. That attention had driven them to the level of superstardom they were starting to experience now. He never anticipated it could backfire, turning her management company into a sacrificial lamb.
His anger started rising again, running through the chain of events, and he found his thoughts taking him to unpleasant visions of ripping Dante apart limb by limb and leaving him for dead. Rather than continue down that negative, spiteful road to devise a method of converting his malevolent thoughts to actions, he quickly returned his attention to Kit. He realized what she needed more than anything right now was his support. He gently stroked her back to comfort her. “I’m sorry, babe.”
She nodded. “I talked to both Richard Branson and David Geffen a little while ago. That’s how I figured out what happened. I put the pieces of the puzzle together with their help. Two of my artists were with Virgin Records, one with Geffen. They were both concerned that these artists were going to this new management company, but their A&R people went ahead and pushed it through before legal could review it.
“I put in a call to Lew to see if he knows of anything weird going on at Diamond Records, but he’s not back from vacation yet. I couldn’t get a hold of Drew in legal.” She sighed and grabbed his hand. She forced a grin, her green eyes straining to look hopeful. “But don’t worry, babe, you guys are protected. I ran everything for GT through a separate account and a separate part of KMK. That’s the only part of KMK that still has a heartbeat right now and luckily a very strong one. I spoke with Edward. GT’s earnings are thriving. Much stronger than we projected.”
Sully grinned. “That’s great, babe.” He stroked her cheek and gazed into her eyes. Being financially set was the last of his worries at the moment. He was more concerned about how she was going to recover from all of this. He then smiled at his brilliant idea. “Don’t let him win, honey. You’ll rebuild. You’ll blow him off the map and make him look like the fuck up. He’ll be sorry he ever crossed you. I’ll make damned sure of that.” He offered a smug grin as his steel blue eyes twinkled with excitement.
She frowned. “Huh? Sully, have you lost it? Do you even comprehend the magnitude of everything I just told you?”
He smiled. “Hell yeah, babe! And I know what you’re made of, Kit McKenna O’Sullivan. You will rebuild. KMK Management will come back bigger, faster, stronger, better than ever! I know you can do it, and I will help you along with so many others, I’m sure of it. I believe in you, and I know I’m not the only one that does. You have a big camp of supporters; you just need to leverage them.”
She grinned and stroked his cheek, silently grateful for having such a loving, supportive husband. “Thank you for believing in me so much, but I don’t know if I can do it again.” Her doubts quickly crept in, and she let out a defeated sigh. “I don’t know if I have it in me. It’s exhausting. I’d not only be rebuilding a company, but also my reputation. Seems like too much, baby. Way too much.”
He laughed loudly, unwilling to give up. “Ok, right. I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” He stared at her grinning, his eyes brimming with hopeful enthusiasm. “Kit, look what you’ve done for us. You can do it again, and we’ll help get the word out—every single one of us.
“That ring you’ve been wearing on your right hand for years, the one we gave you, it means a lot more than you being our manager. I think you know that by now. You are a definitive part of the heart and soul of Gypsy Tango, and I can bet all the money in the world that Jimmy, Bryan, Tony, and even Remo…” He chuckled and then continued. “Will have your back and go to bat for you to help in any way they can. We already know Nicky and Frank are on our side.”
He grabbed her hand again and squeezed it. “Listen, babe, the tour is ending in a week, so we can figure out how we’re gonna play this out, hop to it immediately and get things back on track. You don’t have to do this alone. We can do this! We’ll call everyone and tell ‘em that KMK is coming back bigger and better than ever! And we will personally make sure that everyone knows how badly you were screwed over by some big time crooks in this industry who attempted to destroy you, but couldn’t. We’ll show the industry that you’re invincible.”
She giggled for the first time in hours,
loving his enthusiasm. She knew his points were valid and couldn’t resist. “Ok. I still need to figure out how this whole mess happened, but after that I’ll definitely take you guys up on helping me. By the way, I think if this frontman, international rock star thing doesn’t end up working out for you, you could be a fantastic motivational speaker!”
He snickered. “Thanks, I’ll keep that one in my back pocket just in case.” He grinned. “Babe, seriously, I’m sure you could enlist Richard, David and Lew to help out too. Maybe even Clive Davis, Jimmy Iovine. Talk about all the heavyweights in this industry. Hell, who are we kidding? At this point, you’re a heavyweight too. You got this, babe, you do. We’ve all got your back.”
She agreed, knowing his statement was right on the mark. “True.” The clouds of fear and devastation that had plagued her mind, all day and night started to dissipate, and she had a poignant, bright moment of clarity. She grinned. “And I think I know who can run it. Someone I really trust.”
Sully raised his eyebrows in anticipation. “Who?”
She smiled, and her emerald eyes twinkled with determination. “Spence.”
As Gypsy Tango’s jet touched down at Burbank Airport on a sunny afternoon one week later, everyone cheered. They were home. The ‘Dangerous Curves’ tour was officially over. After singing a chorus of Elton John’s ‘Benny and the Jets’ to their favorite pilot, Captain Ben Russo, they exited the plane and stood on the tarmac exchanging hugs, kisses, and tears. The end of the tour always proved to be a bittersweet moment for all of them.
Sully, Kit, and Maxine piled into one of the limousines after saying their goodbyes. Kit stared out the window as the limousine pulled away thinking about the impending chain of events to come, including digging herself out of the KMK mess. It would have to wait. There were more pressing matters to attend to.
She had to find a way to shut down the chaos in her mind surrounding the bombshell that was dropped on her the week before. Mustering all of her positive energy for the festivities ahead needed to be her primary focus. This was supposed to be a time of celebration. The first item on the agenda was the wedding reception that she and Sully had put on hold after they married in New York four months ago.
The celebration dinner they held after their ceremony in January had been for a small contingent of their closest friends and family. The wedding reception they had planned locally was a different story. Celebrating their nuptials with four hundred guests was sure to be one of the biggest private parties of the season and one of the most coveted entertainment industry events of the year. Their guest list consisted of friends, family, rock stars and many other impressive A-listers from all areas of the entertainment industry including famous actors, directors, producers and studio heads.
Betsy had worked diligently on the road with a wedding coordinator based in Beverly Hills to make the reception nothing less than amazing. The honeymoon to follow would be the icing on the cake. Kit had given her all the specifics of what they wanted and let her run with it. The next forty-eight hours would prove if that had been a good idea.
Maxine was dead asleep when the limousine pulled up at the house. Sully gave Kit a kiss on the cheek and jumped out to help the driver with their bags and his guitars.
She leaned forward and tapped Maxine on the knee. “Honey, we’re home.”
Maxine roused slowly and grinned. “Really? I can’t begin to tell you how badly I’ve wanted to hear those words for the last three months. Please tell me it’s real, and I’m not dreaming.”
She laughed. “It’s real and you’re not dreaming. C’mon, sleepyhead, let’s go.”
Maxine and Kit strolled into the house arm in arm observing Sully and Spencer catching up on the latest events. They laughed as they playfully joked with each other reminiscing over tour experiences they had shared in the first leg. Kit immediately felt content, and her rampant thoughts about the demise of KMK melted away remembering that she was back home under the same roof with Sully for good.
Two weeks after their idyllic wedding reception, Sully and Kit returned tanned, rested and fully recuperated after enjoying a luxurious honeymoon in Tahiti. Their large front room was crammed with exquisitely wrapped wedding gifts piled high, in desperate need of attention, but their time at home was fleeting. They had exactly three hours to tie up loose ends, pack and head to the airport to catch a flight to New York.
As they sat on the private jet together, across from each other at the table, they silently passed thank you notes back and forth signing their signatures in a flourish with ease. Sully glanced up at Kit and shook his hand out. “And I thought signing autographs was bad. How many of these have we signed so far?” He motioned to the billowing stack of signed note cards sitting in unsealed envelopes on the seat next to Kit.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Hundreds, babe. Let’s power through. We’re blessed we were showered with a mountain of gifts.” She looked up and met his eyes. “We are either very loved or people are kissing our asses to stay in our good graces or maybe a little of both.” She grinned and winked at him as he snickered.
She sighed and continued to sign the note cards, but her mind ran rampant reviewing the week ahead. Their schedules were filled to the brim and rounding it all off was the hunt for the perfect apartment. Sully and Kit had decided to purchase a New York apartment to have as their east coast home base, and Alexa was more than willing to oblige in assisting them. A realtor would be waiting with options upon their arrival.
Kit took a momentary break to stare out the window at the soft blanket of white, puffy clouds that supported them at thirty thousand feet. She glanced back over at Sully who was still diligently signing, and she grinned. She wanted nothing more than to head back to Tahiti for another two weeks, but that wasn’t in the cards. Business called, and they were headed back to New York. She felt optimistic. Besides Los Angeles, New York was the other city that held a certain magic for them, and she hoped it would play in their favor.
Spurred by the bright stream of morning sunlight, Kit rolled over into Sully, burying herself into his side in a desperate attempt to shield her eyes. He gently chuckled and roused, waking her in the process. She opened her eyes, squinted and frowned. He snickered.
She glared at him. “So much for sleeping in.”
He gave her a gentle kiss. “You can sleep in tomorrow. First day back in Manhattan, babe. Lots to do.”
She rolled her eyes. “Crap, you sounding like me now. “How did that happen?”
He laughed. “It’s called marriage.”
She fell back onto the bed and couldn’t contain her laughter. She finally caught her breath and grinned at him. “Are you insinuating we’ve become the same person?”
He nodded and winked as he stroked her cheek. “Somethin’ like that.”
She giggled and leaned in to kiss him. As she pulled him to her, there was a gentle knock on the door followed by Alexa’s voice. “Are you two up? Do you want some breakfast?”
Kit groaned at the interruption while Sully chuckled. She shook her head and grinned as she yelled out. “Sure, Lex. We’ll be out in a few minutes.” She stared into Sully’s eyes. “Maybe next time, if we don’t have a place of our own yet, we should stay in a hotel.”
He smiled. “Maybe so. Lex and Wes are like family, though. And we haven’t seen them since our reception. Let’s make the best of it. Between all of our schedules, when are we going to see them again once we leave?”
She sighed. “Ok, you win. Excellent point. It could be months before we see them again. Let’s go.”
Sully and Kit relished their days with Alexa and Wes. They caught up and laughed over fun memories from the past and created new memories for the future. As the week started to wind down, the dinner with Nicky, Frank and their spouses was on the agenda. Kit was dreading it, not because of the company, but the impending topic of conversation—the debacle with KMK management.
She had mixed emotions ranging from dread and apprehension to intrigue
and curiosity. They plagued her so much that she made a last minute call to Spencer, encouraging him to fly out for the event knowing full well that Nicky and Frank would have important details to impart to them.
The black Lincoln town car came to a stop. Sully easily sensed Kit’s apprehension and guided her out gently, doing his best to shield her from a small band of paparazzi. He threw his arm around her for support, rubbed her back and grinned as he whispered into her ear. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll get through this. Remember, this a group effort. You’ve got Spence and me here with you. Nicky and Frankie are on our side. It’s all good. Relax, babe, and smile.”
She did as he instructed and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she paused to watch Spencer step out of the town car. She gave him a hopeful look. “You ready for this? I have no idea what this evening will hold.”
He nodded and confidently straightened the lapels of his suit jacket. “Hopefully, answers. Let’s go.”
Moments later, when Kit spotted Nicky and Bernie’s open arms, she felt her initial apprehension vaporize in favor of support and camaraderie. She was happy to see them both. As Bernie and Kit caught up, Nicky talked with Sully as he led them all to a discreet, reserved table in the back of the exclusive restaurant where Frank and his wife, Valentina waited patiently. After a round of introductions, everyone was seated, and drinks ordered.
Kit was enjoying the moment, finally unwinding after a glass or two of wine. The last thing she wanted to do was rehash the disaster that was now KMK, but knew it would occur at some point. They breezed through the appetizer course with dinner quickly on its heels and now as dessert was on its way to the table, she silently waited for the other shoe to drop.
Frank watched her carefully and sensed her avoidance of the issue. He didn’t want to pull her from the frivolity of the evening, yet knew it had to be done. They were all there for a reason. He sighed and dove in. “So, Kit, we found out some information.”