His Luna Warrior

Chapter Two: The Job

Adam

“Let’s get started,” Garret announced. “Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?”

“Ok. I was born and raised in Modesto. Got into a band when I was in high school. Because of my time with the band, I’ve traveled most of California and have friends and acquaintances everywhere. I have two children, am in between jobs at the moment and could really use a break.” I shouldn’t have said that last part, but they didn’t bat an eye.

“What does your wife do?”

I shook my head and rubbed my sweaty palms on my pants unable to stop the bile that rose in the back of my throat at the very thought of her. “We are divorced.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Garret said. It wasn’t just an automatic, stilted response. I actually heard the genuine apology in his tone and I had to wonder if he had gone through something similar.

“What was the name of your band?” Derrick asked curiously, thankfully changing the subject, even if it was to another sore subject.

“It was something stupid, and embarrassing,” I mumbled, dropping my eyes.

“ETsOM,” Blade announced, phone in hand. God, could this get any more humiliating? “Extraterrestrials Of Modesto.”

“Original,” a deeper, melodious woman’s voice spoke up from somewhere behind me. I jerked around, startled. A beautiful vision was standing at the bottom of the stairs, her piercing, light green gaze looking straight through me, right to my very soul. A bolt of awareness traveled down my spine, my skin breaking out in goosebumps. Her voice was sexy as hell and I regretted not listening to a single song of theirs before. This had to be the lead singer. And if it wasn’t, they were doing something wrong. She had only spoken one damn word and I was hooked. I was convinced I could listen to her voice all day every day and not get tired of it.

I tried to swallow, tried to breathe, but everything seemed so difficult to do in her presence. I had never felt like this before. Somewhere in the darkness that had become my life, I was now being bombarded by light and so many unfamiliar emotions.

Her thick, straight white hair was loose and cut in a pixie-bob. The long parts in the front framed her face and accentuated her features just right. Her modest clothing did nothing to hide the delectable curves beneath. She was tall for a woman, though it did nothing to take away from her beauty. On the other hand, it added to her alluring charm.

“I like it,” she smiled crookedly, a dimple peeking out on her right cheek, striking me speechless. Damn but she was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen! “I’m sorry I’m a little late,” she addressed me, stepping forward, extending her hand. “I’m Jadea.”

I bolted up out of my chair, as if I had been shocked, and thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t made an even bigger i***t of myself when my chair magically remained upright. I felt my cheeks flushing red from the few sniggers I heard from the other band members at my back. My hand was still outstretched, halfway to meeting hers when this occurred and I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t normally clumsy…My gaze had dropped down to the floor as I willed my body to stop being embarrassed, to stop embarrassing me…

As I was pep talking myself, I felt her hand take mine in a surprisingly strong grip. It brought me back to the present. It grounded me. And, at the same time, made every cell in my body burn with a need I didn’t understand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Adam,” she smiled encouragingly. The way my name rolled off her tongue sounded like silken sheets and honey. There was no hypocrisy or judgement in her gaze. No laughing edge to her tone. I was immediately put at ease. “I’m Jadea, by the way, and I’m the matriarch to this group of misfits,” she teased her band mates as she released my hand and moved to take a seat directly across from me. “I hope they haven’t given you too much trouble. They can be… relentless sometimes.”

It took a few tries for me to find my voice. And when I did, it ended up cracking to my utter humiliation. “No, n-not at all.”

“Good. Then, shall we move on?” She looked around pointedly before returning her kind gaze back to me. And it was then I remembered I was here for a job interview. End of story.

“Why were you fired from your previous job?” Garret asked next.

I really didn’t want to get into this, but it was necessary. For some reason, I had this nagging feeling that my honesty would better suit me here than hiding the truth behind little white lies. And so, I told them about what I had found out and how the boss had been in on the shady misconduct.

“How unfortunate and frustrating,” Briar commented.

“If we were to hire you, would you be able and willing to do overnight and/or multi-day trips?”

“As long as I can find a babysitter, yes.” Though, my gut knotted at the thought of leaving my children with a stranger overnight. I had to admit it was far more unsettling with the serial killer on the loose, though.

“We would provide you with your choice of sitter. All childcare costs would be covered by us,” Jadea announced. “And that would include daycare costs as well, even if you are already paying for them. We would reimburse you.”

They would cover all childcare costs, babysitter included? I had only ever heard about this kind of care in magazines and on television shows. It wasn’t reality. It had only ever been fantasy. Damn! This sounded too good to be true. There had to be a catch, right?

“Would you be okay basically scheduling our vacation activities, making all preparations and driving us to all destinations, and in the process being flexible and handling any last minute changes that may occur if we decide to take detours along the way?” Derrick asked next.

“Of course! That’s in the job description, right?”

Jadea and Garret chuckled. The others smiled. “You’d be surprised at how many apply and don’t look at the job description. They are fan girls or boys that are looking for bragging rights.”

“Well, please don’t take this as any form of disrespect, but I haven’t listened to any of your music. Does that disqualify me?”

The band burst out laughing at my attempted humor. I was glad it worked. “Actually, it’s quite ideal,” Jadea chuckled. “We prefer to have someone who isn’t star struck, no offense.”

“None taken.”

Jadea took a look around the table in the silence that followed and I saw each band member give a slight nod as her gaze passed them. Were they already making their decision? My stomach knotted again. They hadn’t asked very many questions and, usually employers waited to make decisions after the interviewee left…

Jadea’s enchanting light green eyes fell back onto mine, her smile soothing. “We like you and we are impressed by your refreshing honesty. We would like to offer you the job.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This hadn’t ever happened to me before.

“Before you accept, maybe we should go over the job description again and our expectations in more detail,” Blade suggested off handedly.

“Yes,” Jadea agreed. “We understand our request is a bit odd, but no band in my opinion has a true vacation. Since we are in-between tours, we decided to take a little vacation. While we are planning on taking some R&R, we will still be creating and writing. Our producers are pushing for another album to be completed by the end of the summer. So, while you are driving us around, we thought that time would be the best to work. We would all be in one vehicle, forced to be together,” she shrugged. “It seemed ridiculous to waste such precious time.”

It made sense…

“So, you see, we would be relying on you a lot. We would provide you with a credit card so you can make any and all arrangements without needing to have a band member present. There are also going to be times you can work from home. We are expecting this vacation to be pricey.” She shrugged. “We are relying on you to show us the best that California has to offer.”

It seemed fair. And far too easy. “How long were you planning on staying here for?”

“A month and a half, two months,” Garret answered.

“All of which we aren’t expecting you to be available for. We understand you have a life, especially with two littles,” Briar added.

“And the pay?” I asked. I couldn’t say I wasn’t worried.

“We would give a $5grand sign on, then we would be paying you $500 a day, regardless if you work for us that day or not,” Jadea replied. “And that does include weekends. Overall, you should see 15-25 grand depending on how long we decide to stay in the state for.”

Only an i***t would turn down such an offer. But, my gut was warning me away. There was something off about this band. What it was, I didn’t know. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of turning them down. I was nearing rock bottom fast and I refused to take my children back to that state.

“We also expect your discretion,” Derrick added. “We don’t really want the public’s eye on us.”

“Of course!” I now understood why they were fronting so much money. They were, in a sense, buying my silence.

“We will be having our lawyers write up a contract stating our terms and requirements. It’ll cover what we have already gone over but in more detail with some legal jargon thrown in. Mainly it is to protect you with a touch of protection for us,” Jadea said. “I can have the contract emailed to you tomorrow, that is if you would like the job?”

Did I want the job? “Yes. Yes I accept the job and am looking forward to working for you guys.”

“Perfect!” Her smile almost seemed predatory. An odd concept coming from a woman. I’d never ever been looked at like that before and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “After the contract is signed, we will get back together so we can tell you what our ideas are and some places we would like to go. And then we will leave the rest up to you to fill in.”

“Just messaged our lawyer,” Blade announced. “I’ve given him your number, Adam, and he will be contacting you later today to walk you through the contract. If there is anything you would like changed or re-worded please let him know and we will do our best to accommodate your requests.”

We all stood up and I gave each member a handshake. This was a good gig, even if there was something off about the whole thing. The money alone was worth it. Or at least I hoped it would be.