Working for the Band

“Sandrine...”

“Dad, I told you, it’ll only be a couple of weeks,” I said, covering up the ear that wasn’t pressed to my cell. It was noisy in the back hall of the restaurant, but I’d been putting off this call, telling myself it was due to the time difference. But I’d be getting on the bus soon, so I needed to get this over with while I could have a little privacy.

“You sure you don’t want to come work in the Geneva office with me this summer rather than bum around with some band on a cramped bus?”

As if. “I’m sure, Dad.”

“It’ll look good on college applications if you have diverse skills. Show that you’re committed to working for the summer rather than bumming around.”

Was he serious? Unfortunately, yes he was. He really thought that working for him would help my resume and would be preferable to ‘bumming around’ with a band. “I know. I just...it’s been a hard term and I want the summer to relax and do what I want to do. This is exactly it.”

“Fine. And then you’re going to your friend’s house in San Diego?”

“The Hamptons,” I said, fighting the sigh, but seriously, I was tired of repeating myself. I had told him this a million times but he never listened. To me, anyway. He always listened to his clients. But of course, that could be mean life or death.

I’m not even kidding about the life or death thing. Because my father is a criminal. Not a tatted up street thug, doing drive-bys, hanging out the window with an AK, but a white collar guy who looks legit in his bespoke suits and dark-rimmed glasses. But he isn’t—it’s just all part of his image. He doesn’t know I know as much as I do—that they call him Maytag because he’s the best money launderer there is. That his clients are arms dealers and drug dealers; anything that’s illegal to deal? They do it. And he helps them hide the money and the paper trails. He’d probably be amazed to find out that I know what I do.

I try to stay as far away from that life as I can, which isn’t easy because when you’re a crook like my father, you like to keep what’s yours close.

So even though he sent me to The Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence, a boarding school known for its security, in the summers, he liked me with him.

It wasn’t going to happen this summer; I’d been prepared with a plan. I was going to be spending it with my best friend and roommate from Rosewood, Vanessa Capri, at her beach house. Her father, Tony, is a music producer who creates boy bands, and he would be spending the summer touring with his latest one while Nessa and I stayed in the Hamptons.

Until our plans changed in the best way possible. I became the band’s dedicated vlogger, poised to do a video series on them and the rise of Wiretap, Tony Capri’s latest phenom. I’d be spending a week with them, doing interviews and helping with social media to build buzz as they started their cross-country tour.

Me, a nobody, a fangirl and groupie wannabe was about to get on a tour bus with five hot musicians. Seriously, could life get any better?

Then it did, when the tour manager, Linda, had an epic fall the day of the first gig and couldn’t go on tour. (That’s not the good part, obviously.) That left Vanessa, who could probably run a tour with her eyes closed, to take over as fill-in tour manager.

So just to recap that math, It was about to be me, five hotties, and my best friend going on tour. Music, boys, festivals, fun on four wheels.

Yes, I was about to be living the dream.

I was about to embark on the best summer ever.

––––––––

Find me online at http://katrinaabbott.com, follow me on Twitter @abbottkatrina and to see my inspirations for the band members, check out my Pinterest page where I’ve created a board just for them!