Rock Star: The Song (Book 1 of a Bad Boy Romance) by Kate Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

play the song. Instead I decided not to place her under any pressure. I was used to people sharing songs with me, but I had forgotten how embarrassed I was back before anyone knew my name. There was always this little voice in the back of my head, telling me I wasn’t any good. It just became a habit of saying no, when I was asked to play. Had it not been for a good friend of mine, I probably wouldn’t have even submitted my own demo.
    Yeah, I knew how she felt.

Chapter 7
    “ S o what other hidden talents are you hiding?” I said.
    She broke into a smile. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, besides being a mean cook, you really know how to write a good song.”
    “Maybe, it’s just a fluke. You know. That one-hit wonder deal.”
    I walked over to the fridge, and brought out another bottle of wine.
    “Oh, that’s enough for me,” she said, placing her hand over her glass.
    “I don’t think so.”
    “No seriously, I have to work tomorrow.”
    “I meant the song. You sang several the other night. How many others have you written?”
    “Oh, right. Only three so far.”
    “That’s a start. Most demos only have four or five on them.”
    I put away the wine. “Do you want some coffee?”
    “Sure, OK.”
    “Earlier, you were about to share something, but you decided not to?”
    Her eyes dropped to the ground.
    “Listen, there’s no stupid question here. Just because I do this for a living, I won’t look down on you for saying something you think is stupid.”
    She let out a deep breath. “A friend of mine submitted a video of me singing to a contest. A singing contest. I made it through to the next round. I know it’s kind of stupid really. I mean, you didn’t make your way up the ladder through a contest.”
    “No, but then again those kinds of things weren’t around when I was trying to get in the door.”

    * * *
    H e put some coffee beans into the grinder, and set down a couple of small white cups.
    The buzz of them being ground and the smell of fresh coffee permeated the air.
    “Anyway, I have to write a new one and submit another video. If they like it, I will move through to the final round.”
    “What’s the contest called?”
    “ The Next Country Star, ” I grimaced saying it. It sounded absurd. As if I was a star.
    He spun around. “No way. A friend of mine put that together.”
    “What, he runs it?”
    “He’s a coordinator for locations. Instead of them traveling around to different cities they have people send in their auditions. His crew compiles those to make the web show. Based on the rankings and social response they are able to gauge how the live show is going to perform.”
    “Small world.”
    He filled a French press with hot water. Spirals of smoke that resembled tiny spirits rose up from it.
    “It is in the music world. That’s why if they don’t want you to succeed, you won’t. Word travels fast and doors can be slammed in your face faster than they are opened. I know a number of buddies. Good singers. They still do the circuit around Nashville, but they stepped on one too many toes, and now they can’t get airplay or anyone to sign them. Not that getting signed is much better than going independent.”
    “Yeah, I notice a lot of people are moving away from the record labels. Why is that?”
    “Money. While you might see our faces out there, hear our voices on the radio and see stadiums filled out with people, a large portion of the money never makes its way to the artist. Some of the labels are scandalous. They have made many a good friend of mine sign a contract where the fine print meant signing away years of earnings. It also meant becoming what they wanted. Singing what they wanted. Whatever was hot, you were likely to end up copying or mimicking that style.”
    He handed me a cup of coffee.
    “But what about you? I mean, you’re still on a major label.”
    “I lucked out. Mia, my agent is a hard nose. She doesn’t take a lot of crap. If it wasn’t for her, I