Harmonizing Hearts (Darkest Symphony #1)

1. Chapter 1 Jax

Me: We’ve made it.

Mac: That’s my boy, I’m so freaking proud of you Jax.

Me: Thank you, Dad.

T here’s no one who ever has believed in me like Mac did. He pushed me to be who I am today. To always give one hundred percent no matter what.

Dex and Liam burst into my room, making me snap my head up from my cell phone and don’t give me time to protest before the two of them clings to each of my arms and forces me out of my room.

“The fuck you’re doing?” I ask when Charlie blindfolds me. Trying to free myself I grunt, “You better leave me, I’m not in a mood of celebrating.”

“Yeah, you never are and since this is something we should be celebrating, you’ll come with us.” Charlie’s voice reaches from behind me now.

I’m not a party kind of guy. I’m reserved and try to keep my head low. I was the one left in a corner and forgot about my existence. Bullied because no one wanted me or just for the sake of it. Being a lead singer has been out of my comfort zone until I genuinely believed in myself but still not a party guy. Give me an instrument to play, I’m fine with it. Make me sing in a crowded room and I’m fine. But partying? I’ll better pass, unless is it at my club. There I can be one hundred percent myself.

“Okay, I’ll come.” I reluctantly give up.

Once we step out of the elevator, the air even feels different. Tonight will be our last night out. A new life is about to begin and I can’t wait.

* * *

Monday

Parking the car in front of Starlight Music Distribution makes me nervous. I’ve stopped and prayed so much to be worthy of their attention but haven’t got the chance to send them a demo. The more me and the guys thought about it, the more we got scared about a rejection and pushed it for next month. Seems that won’t be needed.

“You know you can’t be teleported there, do you?” Jill breaks the silence in the car while all of us burst out laughing.

“You’re the best, little one.” I wink at her while getting out of the car.

Once I lock the car it’s like my feet have their own mind until we cross the doors. People are everywhere, some in small groups and others typing on their keyboards but it still seems peaceful here and not scary as I thought.

“Wow, look at those slides!” Dex points at the huge monitors where pictures of concerts are displayed.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” A smile appears on my face while a stunning redhead walks toward us focused on her tablet. I’m sure she won’t look up until she comes to a halt and holds her hand out. One of the security guys stops to talk to her and she giggles.

Trying to shake my nervousness away and focus on why we’re here, I walk toward the reception.

“Good morning, gentlemen, how can I help you?” The girl on the front desk peers at us, her gaze shamelessly resting over Charlie’s body.

“They’re with me, Karen.” A melodic voice reaches us from behind. We turn around to see the redhead in front of us. “Hi, I’m Emma, and these are yours.” She hands us our badges, surprisingly matching the right badge for all of us.

“We have a meeting with Mrs. Montgomery,” I add while pinning it on my chest. I can hear the guys chuckle while Jill shakes her head. What now?

Emma’s green eyes land on mine, and for a second I forget to breathe. It’s only a quick glance but somehow it moves me. Wow, she’s stunning. “They’re waiting for you in the main meeting room.” She turns around as my eyes follow the curves of her back.

Dex nudges me before turning around and drawing a heart with his fingers. “Aww.”

“Fuck off.” I roll my eyes while we follow Emma.

Jill saves my back, walking near her. “The main meeting room? Like they have more than one?”

Emma’s cell phone trills and she opens what I think it’s a text but still she walks toward the elevators without looking up. “We have four meeting rooms upstairs and two conference rooms on this level. Two recording studios at the upper level but the offices are on the third level.”

The doors open and after a man greets her we get in.

“I bet we’ll get lost in here,” Charlie jokes.

“It’ll take you a few days and you’ll get used to the building, no worries.” Emma locks her cell phone back while the doors open again.

We follow her and the adrenaline pumps even more. The hallway that brings us toward the meeting room is a show for the eyes. The awards and pictures hanging on the walls showcase all the amazing work this label has done so far and I can’t wait to see our names on it too. Opening the door Emma steps aside and lets the guys walk in. I have a weird feeling about her, not weird in the meaning of creepy but not knowing what it is exactly drives me insane.

I stop in front of her, “Ladies first.”

Her smile is worth millions and it makes her eyes shine. “Thank you.”

“Jax,” William greets me, shaking my hand. “How’s it going?”

“Mr. Foster, I’m good, LA is pretty chaotic but it’s not that bad.” I chuckle while my eyes darts to Emma but she’s busy talking with a man.

“Hell no, I’m William. Mr. Foster is my Dad.” He laughs it off. “LA is not that bad, but trust me, the coast is even better.” He says while his eyes skirt toward the door. Mine do too. Angel and two men are walking in along with a group of built-up men. The meeting room, even if huge, now seems little as we shake hands with everyone.

“Let’s take a seat and have a chat, shall we?” Angel pats my arm, while leaning closer. “No need to be nervous, Jackson, SMD is just a crazy family.” Her smile somehow calms me.

I nod at her. “I’ll try.”

We approach the huge oval table placed in the middle of the room and I notice some folders are scattered on it. Holding a chair out, I let Jill to sit and then I do too. “Mrs. Montgomery, I wanted to start by thanking you for standing up for us.”

“Synder is a piece of shit. Always been. He knew you’d pique my interest and wanted to jeopardize the selection, making a fool of himself.” She shrugs with a devilish smile. “The show is recorded which means the episode haven’t gone live yet but will be this Friday evening, which gives us five days to walk you through how your life will be from now on if you want to sign up with us.”

“Honestly, I won’t give up on this amazing opportunity,” I admit, not that I want to or even think about it. Signing with one of the big five labels has always been our dreams.

“Good, let’s roll the dice then, but first of all I’m Angel, no boss, no Mrs. Montgomery or other nicknames either.” She pauses before laughing, “I’m not into formalities either, as I said I like to treat my staff as my family. If you ever need me for whatever reason I’m a call away. No matter the day or hour.”

I like it. Family means everything and that says a lot about how she runs SMD. It may be her golden ticket to have success in this business.

“Same goes for us,” Dex and I say in unison. We look at each other bumping our fists.

“That’s what I want to see, and thank you.” Her voice softens. “In front of you is a sample of our contract.”

“A sample?” I ask while peering at the pages in front of me.

“Of course, I want to be sure both of us are happy with all the terms in it. If you want to add anything else, feel free to discuss it. SMD offers a five-year contract as standard, then if you want, and I hope you will, to continue or not will be up to you.”

“Five years?” The awe in Charlie’s voice makes me hold back a smile. He’s not easy to surprise but damn, five years is a dream.

Reading the contract, my eyes lands on the six figures and the list of events.

Ours.

Exclusive.

And bigger than we could ever imagine.

Holy fuck!

Trying to hold back the emotions I feel right now seems impossible. My eyes stop on the program Angel has included in the folder and I feel so ready to take it seriously and give all of myself to music.

“It says we should move to LA. Is this mandatory?” I ask, my eyes skirting to Dex and Jillian. “I mean, we have a business in Vegas and I can’t just leave it.” That’s not a problem. I have Mike and Sasha to manage it and my presence is not required.

“It’s not mandatory, but we’ll have a lot of work to do and I guess you can ask your managers to look over Royal Casino Club, at least for a week. If you want to go back and forth daily from here to Vegas, then it’s up to you.”

She knows about Royal? How? It’s not that we are that big but still our is a tridimensional and unique place.

Jillian’s voice makes me snap my head at him. “The problem is mine,” she confesses. “We live together and moving here will be a nightmare.”

“That’s not a problem at all, SMD will take care of your accommodations. If you want to move on your own or share the same house, again, it’s up to you. Just let me know.” Angel smiles but I can see her staring at Jill. We need to tell her; I don’t want news to ever leap. Jill wouldn’t overcome it again.

“In that case we need to talk about it.” Angel moves her eyes on me and I mutter privately . Her nod makes me relax. “As for Royal, I have it covered, music is my life and I want to give it a proper shot.”

“Awesome. We have a no drugs clause, which means if you test positive, the contract ends right away.”

Fair enough. Not that we use any. Cigarettes and alcohol yes, but nothing more. We all nod in response.

“Take your time to discuss if you want to move here. Either you live together or not, you’ll each have a personal bodyguard.” She stands up and points to the guy on the left, “He’s Chris, our head of security and my bodyguard, then we have Luke, Em’s shadow, Venya, Trevor, Bob, Steven and Duncan.”

Why does Emma have a bodyguard? “My pleasure, I’m Jax, he’s Dex, Jillian, Charlie and Liam.”

“We’ll talk about security stuff in a second moment.” Angel nods to Emma. “William is one of our producers and Jake is my brother and my left hand and last, but not less important, Harold is one of our legals.” One by one they shake our hands while staying in silence. “I’ll handle your schedule both with Emma’s help. She’s our best resource, event planner and media manager. If you need help, advice, anything at all, she’s the girl for you.”

“We’re not that popular to need all that help but thank you.” Jill moves closer to the table curious to see what’s in the second folder in front of us. I want to know that too.

Angel smiles. “Oh, trust me, in her hands you’ll get over the top in weeks, isn’t it, Emma?”

“No doubts about it.” She nervously flicks the pen. “I found little information about Darkest Symphony, which would have been okay if you’d be a brand new band.”

“Good point.” Angel adds, “Our team has collected your backstory, but we need to know more about you.”

Peering at my hands I move my thumbs in circles. “Music has always been my way to hide from reality, and when I met the lot I knew they were my family. I play some instruments and write the lyrics. I’ve taken classes both with vocal coaches and music itself to improve my skills. To be fair we all did.” I look at all of them. “I wanted to make sure we all have the best skills to do something special but we haven’t aimed that high until now.”

“That explains why you are so good at using your voice.” William nods.

“I wasn’t that lucky to study music from childhood but after fifteen years I’m proud of myself,” I admit, suddenly regretting what I said. All of them are wealthy people who have studied in exclusive schools.

“I like it. How did you guys meet?” Emma’s voice echoes in the room. I can’t help but look at her. The feeling that I’ve already met her gets stronger. But where?

“We have known each other for ten years if not more.” Charlie points to Liam and me. “Dex joined us ten years ago and Jillian five. She was a model and performed in one of Royals’ open mic. It was hard to find and convince her to join us, but she had that special touch and craziness we needed for the band.”

“I think I’ve been at Royals, it’s an interesting place and drinks are the cherry on top.” William peers at me with a nod.

“Apparently I’m the only one who hasn't been there. Em said the same.” Angel smiles. “I may bribe Matthew to give me a tour this Saturday.”

“You should, the club is sublime.” Emma nods excitedly while her cell phone pings.

My eyes are on her. Is it possible I’ve seen her there? My heart flutters as an image pops in my head of a woman tied up. Deliciously sinful . But still, have I or is it just my deepest desire to see her tied up? “It’ll be a pleasure to have you as my guests.”