Free Echoes in the Wind by Debra Jupe Page B

good excuse. We could’ve become smarter. It was clear early on what Dugan was. We looked the other way on a lot of things. Our minds were on making it big and he was doing that for us, so who cared about his outside activities. My parents were against me getting into the music business, but I told them I planned on following my ambition regardless. My dad suggested a lawyer review every document before I signed anything. In the beginning, I couldn’t afford one. After I had the money, I didn’t want to bother. We were too busy. So I lied. I said I handled things as a way to blow him off. He’s gonna have a say after I give him this news.”
    “My family advised the same thing,” Blaine agreed. “They’ll be disappointed in me too.”
    “Damn, I wish we had listened. When Dugan was still our manager, we may have had some options. Now I’m not so sure.” Eric lifted his shoulders. “We’re just aware.”
    “I’m holding out we’re wrong. Maybe Finn’s confused about what he spent.”
    Eric gave him a doubtful look. “As long as you’re not holdin’ your breath.” He nodded toward the file in front of him. “From the way those papers read, we’re fucked.”
    Blaine began to pace. “Yeah. I guess Finn going through cash like water is a good thing, or it might have been months, even years before we made this discovery.”
    “We can go over this stuff more thoroughly tomorrow. See what we find. I’m hoping there’s a legal loophole which will give us a way to recover our losses without having to hire a shitload of attorneys we can’t afford.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Although I’m betting these contracts are airtight. More than likely we will need to go to court, and we stand a chance of losing. We’d end up spending the money we have left on lawyer fees and get nothing.”
    “You’re forgetting something else.” Blaine stopped wandering. “Eric.” He directed a worried glance toward the closed binder lying on the bed. “We’ve funded this new band with our own money. We’ve footed the bill for everything. Studio time, producing, marketing, you name it, the costs has been on us. We’re only in the beginning stages, so we’re hardly in a place where we’re gonna be earning our investment back anytime soon. If all the money we have is in that one account, we’ll need to keep every penny to live on. We’re going to have to put this venture on hold.”
    Eric scowled as he considered what Blaine told him. Each word made perfect sense in his head, yet his gut yelled no. He wouldn’t surrender his goal easily. One he so desired to reach. “We’ll find other ways to raise funds.”
    “How? We tried to regroup after Finn quit and we canned Dugan. No one would touch us, although I’m sure the exposure of Dugan’s activities may have something to do with that. We were a teen band. We’re like poison in the legitimate rock world. The negativity and rejection disillusioned Drake and Mitchell so much they retired from the business to do other things. We’re lucky Shane is around to manage us, though I dunno how long we’ll be able to afford to keep him.”
    “There has to be a way. We’ve worked too damn hard, Blaine. Money aside, you and I are literally crawling out of the depths of teen idol hell, and are working into the ranges of respectability. I don’t want to throw that away or let this dream die.”
    “Yeah, but we’ve been quiet about our newer happenings. People are starting to hear our later stuff, especially in the UK, although no one has an idea it’s us. We must maintain our anonymity for continued success, at least for the time being. Any rumblings from our camp will kill us professionally. Your idea to keep our presences out of the new band was great and helped us acquire many new fans. But even if our songs are good now, we can’t risk being discovered, and asking someone to bank us could bring us down. The music world may be massive, but it’s a small one