“That’s what I just said. All of you have amazing talent, but especially you, Drake. There’s just something about your voice that draws others in. I haven’t heard anything like it in a long time.”

“What happens now?” Jade asked.

“If you accept our offer, we’ll give you the contracts to look over. After you sign, we’ll figure out which of your current songs to put on your first album, and then we’ll start working on a song to release to the radio stations. Soon after that, I’d also like to do a music video for your first single. We need to get your faces out to the public. You’re all attractive, and that will get you a fan base just as fast as your music.”

“What kind of time frame are we looking at—from when we sign the contract until the album is released?” Eric asked.

“It will take a few months to get everything ready. Considering it’s late September now, I’d like to have the first single out right after Christmas. Sales are usually down in January since everyone is broke from Christmas, but if we release it on the radio and online, we can at least start a fan base. Once we have that, we’ll plan for the album to be ready by late spring or early summer. That way, we can promote you guys for a while. The fact that you already have enough songs for two albums will help speed up the process.”

I just sat there and stared at him. This was it. Our big break was finally here. After years of playing together, we’d finally done it. My lips turned up as I let that sink in.

Brad continued to talk, going through all the details of our contract. Brad mentioned the amount of our advance when Adam was taking a drink from his bottle of water. He started choking, and Eric had to beat him on the back.

“Holy shit!” Adam shouted when he could finally speak.

Brad laughed at Adam. “Yes, we have been very generous with your advance, but we feel that you will be worth it.”

“Can we have a few minutes alone to talk this over?” Eric asked.

“Certainly. I need to run upstairs for a minute. Talk among yourselves while I’m gone.”

After Brad left his office, Eric turned to us. “What do you guys think?”

Jade grinned. “I say yes! How could we say no to that?”

“I’m in, too,” Adam said.

All eyes turned to me. “I’m in, too. Jade’s right. There’s no way we can turn down that kind of offer.”

“All right then. I just wanted to make sure we all agreed.” Eric smiled. “This is it, guys!”

“It is!” Jade shouted as she did a little dance in her chair.

There was a knock on the door, and a few seconds later, Brad stepped back into the room. “Did I give you enough time?”

“Yes, we’re ready to sign,” Eric said.

“Excellent! I have the contracts on my desk.” Brad walked around us and picked up a folder from the top of his desk. “Here we are. Feel free to read everything over before you sign, but I’ve given you most of the details.”

He handed each of us a set of papers, and I started reading through mine. I sucked with legal wording, but as far as I could tell, everything was exactly as he’d said. I grabbed a pen from his desk and signed my name on the line at the bottom of the last page. There—it was done. Adrenaline shot through me as I handed the document back to Brad. With that contract, our fates were sealed. I wanted to jump out of my chair and start running around the room. My leg started bouncing, and I had to force myself to sit still. I had so much adrenaline running through my body, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to move.

“Do you mind if I use the restroom?” I asked, finding an excuse to leave.

“Not at all. It’s right down the hall on the left,” Brad said.

I ignored the look Adam gave me before I slipped out of the office. I started walking down the hallway, and then I saw the restroom only a few doors away from Brad’s office, just like he’d said.

I pushed open the door and walked inside to see the restroom was even fancy. These people were really over the top. The sinks and floor were both made out of a beautiful black marble. A black leather couch was in the far corner, and the urinals were on the opposite wall. There were three black stalls next to them. I walked into one, almost expecting the toilets to be made out of gold.

I was relieved when I saw that they had at least left the toilets alone. I closed the lid and sat down. I pulled my bag and mirror from my pocket and started pouring the powder onto it. I made my lines and snorted them quickly. I wasn’t sure why I was snorting right now. I wasn’t upset or anything, but I just wanted to. Call it my private celebration—sitting on a toilet in a restroom stall. Yeah, apparently, I’d sunk that low.

Someone walked into the bathroom, and I quickly threw everything back into my pocket. I flushed the toilet and stepped out of the stall to see some guy in a suit at one of the urinals. I ignored him as I left the restroom and walked back down the hall to Brad’s office. When I walked in, Brad and the others were holding up glasses.

“Just in time, Drake! We’re celebrating our partnership!” Brad handed me a glass.

I clinked my glass against theirs and took a sip of whatever was inside. I almost gagged as the taste of champagne hit my tongue. I never understood how people could stand to drink this crap. I looked around to see Jade wincing as she sipped, but Eric and Adam didn’t seem to be bothered by the taste. They could have at it. That stuff was nasty.

I set my mostly full glass on Brad’s desk. He didn’t seem to notice it when he set his empty glass next to it.

“All right, let’s go down to the studio and get some work done,” Brad said.

We all followed him out of his office and to the elevators. As soon as we hit the basement floor, he instructed us to go into the studio and get ready. My head was spinning a little, and I tripped over a cable as I was walking toward the door.

“You okay there, buddy?” Tony asked, looking at me with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook my head to clear it.

I still felt a little weird, but I ignored it as I took my place and picked up the guitar sitting next to the mic stand. It seemed to be tuned good enough, so I waited as Jade, Eric, and Adam adjusted their instruments.

When they gave the okay, Brad’s voice came over the speakers. “Let’s do ‘Whirlwind’ again. I’m going to have you play it a few times, and then we’ll work through whatever needs changed.”

I groaned to myself. Of course that was the song they wanted to start with again. The red light came on a few seconds later, and I waited as first Jade and then Eric and Adam entered the song. When it was my turn, I started singing. I still felt a little dizzy, but I tried to ignore it.

I made it halfway through the song before I had to stop. The room was spinning around me, and as I tried to put the mic in its stand, I lost my balance. In what seemed like slow motion, I fell to the floor, and I heard Jade shouting my name.

The next thing I knew, Adam was shaking me. I groaned as I tried to sit up. My head felt like it was splitting open.

“Stay down for a minute. You hit your head when you fell,” Jade said, leaning over me.

“It fucking hurts.” I lifted a hand to touch the back of my head. Luckily, there was no blood when I pulled it away.

“Your head is too hard to be hurt,” Adam grumbled as he helped me stand.

Jade glared at him as she wrapped her arm around me to help support my weight. The room was still spinning, and I stumbled. Adam caught me as I started to fall again, and Jade grunted as my weight nearly caused her to fall.

Out of nowhere, Brad appeared in front of me. “You all right there, Drake?”

“I’m fine. I’m just dizzy.”

“Why don’t you sit down for a while? It might help,” Jade said.

She and Adam helped me out of the studio and into the control room. They sat me down in a chair next to the soundboard.