Pearl woke up to Rhys sitting on the bed, watching her sleep.
"I need to tell you a few things and then I'm going to let you decide what happens after." Rhys began, "I'm not perfect. I told you that in the beginning. I'm not proud of my past. But if you can learn to love me in spite of it, I swear to you, I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt that it is exactly that, the past. Since the moment I met you, no other women existed. I don't even see women anymore. It's only you. I am giving myself to you, all of myself, if you'll have me after all this." She reached out and put her hand on his. "I have one condition." She said"Ok. Anything." "You keep loving me like you have." She smiled. "And keep being you, the charitable, caring man I love." "That's it? Consider it done." He said and kissed her cheek. She asked him what time it was and how things went after she fell asleep. Rhys told her that"Have an extra smoke?" She asked Ian."Yeah." He said, handing her a cigarette."I hear you and Dylan had a talk." She said, reaching for his lighter. He nodded.She smoked in silence with him for a few minutes."So, let's start over", she finally said. "Hi. I'm Pearl. Welcome to the band." She extended her hand. He shook it."Nice to meet you, Pearl." He said, smiling."Nice to meet you. You fuck up again and you're out. And I'll make sure you never have a paying gig anywhere in this industry, ever again." She said, putting her cigarette out and walking back inside.Rhys was up early. He had a zoom call with the director about the upcoming shoot next week and his lawyer was flying in that afternoon to stay with them for a few days. Pearl met him in the kitchen, he handed her a cup of coffee, kissing her forehead and smiling a devilish smile."What?" She asked."Last night was naught
Pearl cleaned up the studio and sat alone for awhile, having a drink. She needed to be calm before she went in.Pearl went inside to find Rhys, Jim, Ian and Rhys' attorney in the living room."What's going on?", Pearl asked."What took you so long? I wanted you here for the call. We took care of the Carys situation. She's not going to bother us anymore." Rhys said."How do you know?" Pearl wasn't so sure."Ian just called her. They talked on the phone last night and he set up a call today. He recorded their conversation. We have her recorded, admitting to the set up." Rhys said, smiling."Really?" Pearl said."Yes. And I just called her back to let her know what we had and threatened legal ramifications if she continued." The lawyer said. "I will be back in a couple of weeks to meet with the attorney for your situation, Pearl. If anything changes, I will let you know." He said and excused himself.Ian seem
"Oh... hello. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. Nice to see you again, Ashley", Pearl excused herself and went back to her table. It was awkward and she wanted to crawl in a hole."I see Mr. Wonderful has moved on." Dylan said."Yes. It appears he has." Pearl tried to ignore what was going on at the table in her view. She wanted nothing to do with him and seeing him was spoiling her dinner.They ate and talked and laughed. Ian was starting to fit in well with everyone. Pearl caught glances of David and Ashley and every time she looked his way, he was glancing at her. It couldn't be more uncomfortable.They decided they would go to a local bar after dinner that usually had live music. "Yes! Let's go the Orbit Room! I think my friend Alex's band is playing there tonight."Pearl told them she was tired and was wanting to go home. Iris begged her to come out for a little while. Pearl agreed and they all left to head to the other side of
The rest of the week went well. Iris started at the book shop three days a week, learning the accounting and ordering as well as helping Frank train the two new employees. When she wasn't doing that, she was working with John on the recording schedule for Pearl. They were forming a great friendship and Pearl was thankful to have someone she trusted there to help.The album was going better than planned and the band was scheduled to begin editing at Epic the first week of February. They were ecstatic and ready to get it finished.Things were calm for Pearl. Everyone was getting along well and she had a lot of free time for herself to relax and unwind. It was wonderful having the home studio.She FaceTimed Rhys often and they sent pics back and forth several times a day. His latest pic was him in full knight costume and she asked if he could bring it home to wear in the bedroom. His parents were coming in the weekend after Valentine's Day to work on some
After the show, Pearl and the guys went back stage to cool off until the crowd died down so that they could take down their gear and head home. Jason came in with his guests to congratulate them and the reporter from Rolling Stone also came back to get a few candid pictures for his article. He told then he was blown away and felt he was witness to an up and coming "it" band with Pearl becoming a huge star. "There aren't many women in this genre of rock. It's old school. It's dirty and sludgy. It's going to be big." He said, asking them to look at the camera. They posed in the dressing room with whiskey bottles and cigarettes, Pearl's leather clad legs stretched out across Dylan's lap from her chair, with Ian writing in a journal in the corner and Tony strumming his bass. Blake without his shirt and and his Mohawk climbing on the back of the door. They looked Rock n Roll.After he left, they all toasted and celebrated their night. "There's a crowd out by the side entrance,
Pearl stopped by the book shop the next morning to see how things were going. She and Rhys decided to keep the name so Frank would always be a part of it but they were working on having a new sign made out front."Hey guys! I brought muffins. How are things going?""Oh hello there, Miss Pearl. We are well." Frank said. Iris introduced her to the new young man they had hired to work part time. He was a first year college student majoring in English Lit and was extremely thankful for the job. "I'm Tyler. It's nice to meet you. I've never met anyone famous before", He said, blushing."I'm not famous.", Pearl said. She welcomed him and walked around. She looked down the aisle where she had me Rhys and smiled. This was still her favorite place in the world, not that she had seen much of the world.She met the band back at the studio and they worked on a few more songs. By the way things were going, they would be done with the album in another
The album wrapped Friday afternoon. They were all elated and proud of themselves. They called Jax and Jason on a zoom call and popped champagne. They sent them what they had and it was in his hands now to mix. Everyone was in agreement that the single should be released as soon as possible. They needed to spend a few months setting up the release and then it was most likely a year or two of heavy touring, lots of press, album promo and starting the next album. Ian had become like family and he was already talking about wanting to be permanent.They were exhausted after working non stop all week and Pearl was ready for the hot tub, a bottle of wine and bed. Ian was leaving in the morning and Pearl couldn't believe it, but she was sad to see him go. He lived in Seattle and said he missed his apartment in the city.The rest of then guys left except for Blake and Iris. They were tired and said they needed some "catch up time" and went upstairs.Pea
Pearl spent the next morning approving five new staff members for the house and security detail. Jim had done the work to get it all together. With her growing success paired with Rhys' family inheritance possibly coming out soon, they needed more people around."So you like the two new security guards ok?" Jim asked."Yes. And I like the idea of Mary coming on as a part time housekeeper and cook. Just try to keep it in your pants when you're on duty. And I threw in the yard guy just because I know you're getting sick of shoveling snow in between plowing." Pearl winked at him. He rolled his eyes. She was thankful for the help. She wouldn't have to shop or clean or cook if she don't want to. But she wanted to that day. Rhys was supposed to be home the following evening and she wanted to have everything perfect."Jim let's go shopping", she said."Oh no. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'll drive you but I'm staying in the car and and I'm n