Page 167 of The Comedown

“Can you believe it? The fucking Mousais,” Slade interrupts, gripping Julian’s shoulder and shaking it, effectively cutting the kiss short.

Keeping me in the crook of one of his arms, Julian grimaces like he can’t stand Slade’s touch, and asks him, “Did you accept yet?”

“No, I was waiting to talk to you about it.”

“Do it. Accept.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.” Julian motions at Slade’s phone. “And text Axel to get out here, too. I gotta tell him something.”

“You didn’t even look at the contract,” I tell Julian, and he looks me in the eye, asking, “I’m playing with you, right?”

I give him a slow nod.

“Then that’s all I need. I’m in.”

With Slade staring at his screen, his eyebrows hike up to his slicked-back hairline, but he doesn’t comment, just does what Julian told him to. When he’s finished, he drops his phone by his side, saying, “Done.”

“Good.”

“Axel should be out any minute. What’d you want to talk to me about?”

Julian manages to pull me even closer, brushing a tender kiss on my forehead. It’s so tender, I tense up, expecting the worst—like a goodbye—but then he replies to Slade, telling him, “You’re fired.”

It was a goodbye all right, just not to me.

Julian’s firing Slade?

Slade rears back, his gaze bouncing between us. “What?”

Axel chooses that moment to appear…from my bus.

“The fuck were you doing on there?” Julian stops to ask him.

The drummer’s face splits into a grin as he points a thumb over his shoulder. “I was helping Irelynn…”

That’s it. That’s all he says.

Julian and I look at each other, and I try my hardest not to laugh. I’m sure he was “helping” my assistant. These Family Julez boys, they are something else.

“What’s up?” Axel asks, and Julian nods at Slade.

“Just firing this motherfucker.”

Axel freezes in his tracks to do a golf clap, saying, “’Bout damn time, brother. ’Bout damn time.”

“Boss man, what the fuck?”

“You heard me. You’re fired. Get your ass on that bus, pack up your shit, and fucking go.”

Julian fired Slade. Just like that. Someone that’s been with him for two years, and knows his schedule, his life, his needs, his everything, he just…fired.

I can’t tear my eyes off the scene. It’s like watching the northern lights. You know they’re real, but you’ve never seen them for yourself, so when you actually get to, my God, they’re fucking glorious. Except in this instance, seeing Slade getting what he deserves is a hundred times more gratifying. If I do get sued by him, this moment right here will make it all worth it, so I make sure to hang off every detail.

To Axel, he says, “Make sure he takes out the rest of the trash when he leaves.”

Axel sobers, his voice nearing disbelief. “You want a deep clean? How deep?”