You Really Got Me (Rock Star Romance #1) by Erika Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

press kit?” Ben said. “Where do we get the money for that?”
    Derek looked at her. “How much will that cost?”
    She set her fork down. “Other than the demo itself, the kit’s not that expensive. We’ll need a great picture of the band, but the rest is stuff I have to write up. I’ll need to get your bios—no more than, say, a paragraph or two for each of you. I’ll need your fact sheet, you know, where you’ve performed, who you’ve toured with. Do you have press clippings?”
    Derek nodded. “So when can we have it?”
    “The press kit?”
Here we go
. The problem with sharing her opinions with Derek was that—thanks to their dad—he heard any suggestion as criticism. She had to tell him, of course, but she had to do it the right way.
    “Em?” her brother said.
    “I’m not sure we’re ready for that.”
    Slater set down his fork. She knew he’d been waiting to hear from her.
    “What?” Derek said. “We’re more than ready. We’re beyond ready. That’s the whole point of having you here.”
    “I know that,” she began. “But I’d like to throw out some ideas before we go ahead with the press kit. Of course, I’m not here to tell you what to do, so you don’t have to listen to any of it. But maybe you could hear me out?”
    “Talk.” Slater leaned forward, a napkin balled in his fist.
    She studied Derek’s face. He sat rigidly, chewing the inside of his mouth. “If you don’t like any of my ideas, we’ll go ahead with the press kit, okay?”
    Slater held her brother’s gaze. It was weird the way they looked at each other, some big, silent communication going on born out of nine years of working together. After several tense moments, Derek’s shoulders slumped, and he exhaled. “What’re your ideas.”
    Not even a question. Just resigned. “Thanks for hearing me out. Okay. Well, let’s start with the merchandise table. You guys are great up there. You really are. But as soon as you leave the stage, it’s over. You go to your private table and close yourselves off from everyone. Well, except Slater, who goes to the bar and starts hitting on women.”
    “I don’t
hit
on anyone.”
    Was he really going to argue about who initiated the moves? “That wasn’t a judgment. Just a statement of fact. Am I wrong about what happens when you leave the stage?”
    Slater’s expression gave away nothing. If he let pride keep him from facing the truth, he didn’t have a hope in hell of making it in this ridiculously competitive business.
    “No.” His deadpan response made her smile. He kept surprising her.
    “Now, hang on a second,” her brother said. “We’re the biggest college band in Texas. People love us.”
    “Okay.”
So?
“Mostly, the girls love Slater.” She expected a self-satisfied expression, but his jaw tensed. She could practically hear him urging her on,
Talk
.
    “That’s not true,” Ben said. “We’ve got thousands of fans.”
    “Fans aren’t enough. Especially when the bulk of your fans are girls who want to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with the lead singer. If you want to get signed, if you want to be the next U2, you have to have more than fans. You have to have fanatics.”
    Cooper barked out a laugh. “I like that.” He clapped his hands once. “That’s good.”
    “Have you seen the crowds at our shows?” Derek sounded like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They know every lyric. They wear our T-shirts. They’re all over our website.”
    “Posting naked pictures of themselves for Slater.”
    “Hey,” Derek said. “He’s not the only reason they like us. We’re a good band. We’ve got a great sound.”
    “You do. You absolutely do.” She held his gaze long and hard, projecting only one thought,
Let’s get you to the next level.
    “Hear her out.” Slater gave her a chin nod, her cue to continue.
    “Let’s go back to the merchandise. So, the show ends, and you guys go to your private table.” She motioned to the four