Joaquin…Ughh…this is- his large, strong hands gripped my neck while his fingers gave me pleasure beyond imagination. His whispers of how good my pussy tasted, the groans and moans mixed between us caused me to shudder while gripping the sheets, and our juices trailed down onto the tousled bedding. He surprised me with a trip to Spain. We had his entire villa to ourselves. He gripped my thigh, squeezing gently as I called out his name.
“Sofia! Sofia! Are you listening?” Edward asked, snapping me out of my daydream.
“I’m sorry, Edward, what did you say?” While I had the day off, with so many things coming up, Edward arranged for a car to pick me up for the back-to-back meetings about a potential movie, as well as discussions concerning a future album with the label now. My first album had launched, and I was lining up a tour potential along with a new film. And now we’re sitting at the same restaurant that I crashed into Joaquin a few months back. There’s a part of me that wondered if he still came by.
“If you would ever focus, you’d realize I said we have four meetings with producers that want to work with you.” Edward’s gaze cut to mine.
“Sorry, I haven’t been sleeping lately.”
He reached over and caressed my cheek, and I moved out of his hold, before looking around and making sure no one saw us. Edward Anderson had been my manager for the last seven years of my career. The first three years, I was struggling with playing small roles, until my big break in the comedy, Riley Home.
“Cassidy, did you set up the recording with Deras Jones?” I asked.
“I did and scheduled you to do a few social media interviews with influencers. It could be beneficial to show your face online a little more.”
“I don’t know, that ends up being more time than it’s worth. I have to study my lines. And getting distracted by weirdos on the internet is too draining.”
“Cassidy has a point, Sofia, this could be good for us, especially with your music coming out soon.”
“Let me think it over for a few days.”
“I have a photoshoot set for you, so make sure you don’t hang out with your boyfriend all night,” Cassidy stated.
“He’s a distraction. Get rid of him,” Edward demanded.
“Edward, focus on my career only, please.” All eyes bore into me.
“Sofia, what do you think of doing a brand endorsement with a new clothing line?” Cassidy asked as she obsessively texted someone.
Cassidy took a bite of her burger and drank from her strawberry lemonade.
“Who’s the company?” I inquired. My phone rang and I lifted it to see that my mom was calling.
“A sportswear line for women,” Cassidy replied and I held a finger up to give me a second.
“Hello?” I answered the call.
“Hey, superstar,” Mom said, laughing through the phone.
I laughed at her. “Hey, lady, what’s going on?” I asked.
“Checking in on you,” Mom said.
“I’m good, how’s the family doing?” I asked.
Edward pointed toward his watch to finish the call soon.
“Everybody is good. I was planning on coming to visit you with your dad,” she stated.
“Okay, send me the information for the flight and I’ll make sure I’m available to hang out with you guys,” I answered.
“Sounds good, baby. I’ll call you later,” Mom said, ending the call.
“I really need you to focus on the career I’m trying to help you build,” Edward stated as his face glowered at me.
I was over him being condescending and I grabbed my purse, stood up, and turned to leave before we got into a shouting match. I knew Edward meant well but he overstepped his bounds constantly. I held my arm up for a cab and my phone started blowing up with Edward telling me to come back inside.
“Where are you headed to?” Cassidy asked, closing the door of the restaurant.
“To the recording studio,” I replied.
“I’ll go with you. We can continue talking about the clothing brand,” Cassidy said, and I nodded in answer as the cab pulled up. I opened the door and Cassidy climbed in behind me.
…
Twenty minutes later, the cab arrived in front of Sunset Studios in lower Manhattan and I tipped him forty dollars while we thanked him for driving us fast.
“Hey, Sofia,” Keon, the security guard, said as he passed the sign-in form around to me.
“What’s going on, Keon?” I asked. He was an aspiring singer and worked here part time as a security guard to cut the cost of recording down for him. Keon was only around twenty-two, but extremely talented and I wanted to do a song with him one day. He reminded me of the singer, Joe, from back in the day of smooth R&B singers with the bald head. He was tall, around five-eleven, and had a nice well-trimmed beard, and nice full lips.
“Nothing much. You hitting the booth tonight?” he asked.
“Yep, is the last room free?” I asked and he said yes.
Cassidy and I strolled to the back and I pulled my notebook out of my purse. I opened the door and saw Chauncey, one of the in-house engineers and producers sitting at the booth. I bent over and gave him a hug.
“I didn’t know you were coming through,” Chauncey said as he shook hands with Cassidy. I dropped my purse on the couch and flipped to one of the songs I was working on.
“I just needed to get in the booth for a few minutes and record a few bars.” He rubbed his hands together gleefully. Chauncey and I went way back to my first album and I thought of him as not only a producer in the industry, but a friend as well.
“Perfect, get on in there so we can hear what you got,” Chauncey said, turning the volume up on the sound. Cassidy continued texting and making notes as I walked inside the booth and placed the headphones on my ears. I picked up the bottle of water on the seat next to me and took a sip. I closed my eyes, took a few breaths as a beat slowly came through. I motioned for Chauncey to turn it up a little more.
I don’t need your love
I don’t need your love
These feelings seem to change
I don’t need your love, baby
Ohhh, ohhh, ooohh
“How does that sound?” I yelled through the door and Chauncey motioned for me to come in to hear the playback.
“I can do that as a single.” Cassidy spoke up after we listened to the playback.
“I agree, just from the early lyrics,” Chauncey said as he twisted some knobs and pushed buttons to tighten up the instrumental. We continued on throughout the day and night recording two then three songs until about midnight. I went home afterwards and listened back to the tracks and fell asleep with multiple texts and messages from Edward apologizing for his behavior.