Chapter 78

She met the guys in the lobby a few minutes before they had to leave. The two security guys Ian hired seemed legit and they all met and talked about how the night would go. John was doing a good job as a new manager. She was happy she decided to push him into it. The paparazzi had died down a little outside. There were still two it looked like. They all gathered their things and headed out to the car. "Pearl! Are you and Holden an item? We hear rumors he's engaged!" One of them shouted. She ignored it and got into the car. The venue was completed packed. The walked in and the owner said he expected them to be at capacity within the hour. She and the guys couldn't believe it. They got set up and just before their set was about to start, Jax Stark walked in with Taylor McConnell, the lead singer of one of biggest bands in the industry. They all fell silent and stared at them. "Hey man! Damn! Thanks for coming! Ian stood up and went to shake Taylor's hand. Taylor turned and instead offered to shake John's hand, obviously snubbing Ian.

"Holy shit. I'm sorry, I, I mean we, are all star struck. Thank you for coming." John said.

"No problem man. I heard your demo. People are saying good things about you guys. Thought I might want to be one of the first to say I saw you before you made it big. You're Pearl, right?" He said as reached out to shake her hand. She wanted to speak but couldn't and just nodded.

"You've got a great voice. Very unique. Like Janis but easier on the ears. Good luck and have a great show guys. Can't wait." He said and he and Jax went out and up into the VIP booth upstairs.

The crowd loved them. And Dylan did exactly what Pearl suggested. He had already dressed the part, he had jeans and a fitted jacket with a extended tails that had red velvet lining and a vest with chains. He even put on eyeliner. He was a goth god and he played to the audience well. They were eating him up. She could tell Ian wasn't happy about it, and she helped by moving Dylan up in front for solos and giving him attention while she was singing.

It was a killer show. Their security guy had to keep a couple of guys off stage that tried to get grabby with Pearl, but all in all, it went well.

After the show, Jax and Taylor came back stage and congratulated them. "You guys are already going viral." Jax said and showed them his phone.

There was Pearl the night before, singing the song "Haunted Hearts" and they sounded bad ass. Someone had uploaded it and it was being shared all over social media with the caption, "Holden Tomlinson's girlfriend sings with her band "Poems for Wolves" in New York City"

Great. She wasn't thrilled about it being all about Rhys but she knew press was press. It got their name out. That's all the mattered.

"Be wary of Ian. He's known to be a little....troublesome." Taylor whispered to Pearl as he walked out. Yeah, she thought, no shit.

Pearl went outside for a smoke while the guys took the rest of the set down, one of the security guys came also and walked around, keeping an eye up and down the alley. Dylan joined her. "Man! That was awesome. I can't believe we came this far so fast. I feel like it was just yesterday John was trying to convince us to do this band thing." He said, lighting a cigarette. "I know. It's insane. It's been a crazy year, for sure. I'm proud of you tonight. Really proud, you put on a great show." She hugged him. He kept his arm around her and said "It's all because of you we are here. You are amazing." And he kissed the top of her head. They went back in to find a line of people wanting autographs. "You guys have any merch?" A guy asked in line. "Not yet. We should have a website up in a couple of weeks with some items. Like us on social media." John announced.

They made it back to the hotel and they all were exhausted. Pearl headed up to her room and crashed almost immediately. They had one day left in town before they flew back home for a dinner with the Epic team to set up a recording schedule. She texted Rhys and told him the show went great and she missed him very much and closed her eyes.

She woke up to her phone ringing. "Good morning, I love you. I can't wait to see you tomorrow." Rhys said as soon as she picked up.

"You're spry this morning. It's like 8 am." She said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"I have a hot piece of ass I'm going to tear apart when I get home and it's our first Christmas together. I have some things to be excited about." He said. "Gotta go. God I can't wait to see you. Love you!" And he hung up. Shit. She was so caught up in everything she forgot to get him a gift.

She went down to the cafe and got a large coffee. She googled some gift ideas and couldn't find anything. She wanted to give him something special. Then it hit her. She called Iris and asked her to meet her at the hotel. Lucky for her she was already there in Blake's room.

Iris came down looking like she had a helluva night. "Ok, I need two of those." She said, pointing at Pearl's coffee. "So what can I help with."

"I need you to make some calls. And get something printed for me." She said. "And it has to be done today. I'll help until my dinner."

Pearl explained her plan and Iris lit up like a Christmas tree. "This is so great. Let's see what we can get done." And she high-fived her, slamming her coffee.