A Blue Tale by Sarah Dosher

elevators.
    “What the fuck was that?” Deacon growled at me, like he was accusing me of causing this whole encounter when it was his presence that made everything turn bad.  “Are you hurt?”
    The hard shell that had been building around me softened slightly at the first sign of him actually caring. His eyes and hands went immediately to my arm where Shaw had held onto me.  The pads of his fingers smoothed up and down my sensitive flesh.  I ignored the spark he ignited, jerking my arm away.
    “I’m fine, what are you doing here?” It came out sounding harsher than I meant because of those damn sparks, and I knew he’d heard it, too, when his eyebrows pulled together.
    My head screamed “Take it back, take it back!” because I wanted that frown gone from his face.  Instead my mouth stayed closed, while I just stared at him.
    After what felt like forever, he shrugged. “Umm, I’m late. The other guys met with you, so I thought I should, too.”
    One corner of his mouth turned up, and I burst into laughter.
    “Yeah, I’d say you’re late, by like a week.”
    He laughed lightly along with me, and the sound made little fireworks explode in my tummy.
    “Well, what’d I miss?” He asked.
    “Everything.” I said with a smile then started toward my office as he followed closely behind.  “I sent the contract with Duke, so if you’ll let him, he can walk you through it.  The others have already signed, but they did so before consulting a lawyer—technically, they didn’t even read it.  So maybe you should.”
    “Maybe.” He said, I couldn’t gauge his flat tone, and his facial expression wasn’t telling me anything.
    “Just read it.” I demanded.
    “We’ll see.”
    “Why won’t any of you read it? It won’t take that long, you could at least flip-“
    He stopped walking, and I stopped a couple steps later, turning to look back at him.
    “They had their reasons for not reading the damn thing, and I have mine.” He groaned. “I don’t give two shits what’s in the fucking contract, I just want to know your motives.”
    “My motives?” I asked, paranoid he was accusing me of something again.
    “Duke and I have been down this road before, obviously it hasn’t gone as well as planned in the past.”
    “Well, tell me what went wrong in the past? I’m sure we can avoid that now.”
    He barely waited until my last syllable was out, “I have zero interest in working with a money, power hungry, douche that wants to squeeze the life out of us and our music, then drop us like a bad habit. That shit is not what I’m about, I won’t fucking sign anything until I know that’s not you. Duke believes your motives are pure, I have to believe the same thing, or I’m not signing a damn thing.”
    His words had me taken aback for a couple seconds—not exactly what I was expecting him to say—and I was starting to understand why they’d had trouble getting signed in the past.
    “Well, I can guarantee I’m not in this for the money, you know who my dad was, so I’m assuming you can understand money is not my motive.” He nodded his head in agreement. “I won’t lie and say I don’t want to use your talent, and the other guys, to help build my clientele.  I’m the new kid on the block. No matter what my last name is, I’ve got to prove myself. I think Unforgiven can help me while I’m helping you in return.”
    “That’s what I’m worried about. You see a fast ticket to making a name for yourself, possibly outshining your dad. So you tighten the vise around us until you get everything you want, and then move on to the next band that’s sure to help prove your worth even more. You damn sure wouldn’t be the first.”
    His eyes drilled into me, waiting for the first sign of a crack in my armor.
    “Look, Deacon. I don’t really know what I can say that will make you believe my motives are pure.” I said as I started walking again and he joined in beside me. “Willow took me to see