Chapter 2: 'I know this will work'

"We want her." Bill demanded, pointing his finger at the plastic case of the DVD he had borrowed from Andreas.

"Come again?" Jost asked while sipping on his coffee.

"We want to collaborate with her. She is perfect, She can fit anywhere into our band because she is able to play so many instruments and her vocal range is amazing. She will do nicely. When can we meet her?" Bill finished and crossed his arms.

"Well, when I said another star, I meant solo artist, and she isn't joining the band, she is just singing a song or two with you and that's it. You don't even have to record your parts at the same time, so meeting would be a waste of time. That and there is a problem with her. I wanted us to find an artist that had their own set up of producers and editors that could actually make the songs for you. This girl doesn't have any of that. She writes and produces the songs herself, which makes your collaboration less likely to succeed." He looked between the two twins, surprised that their facial expressions weren't softening into realization of his point. He may lose this one, and they may get what they want.

Jost sighed in resignation, "Look, boys, she isn't going to be easy to track down. She has a lot of medical problems as well as personal. This has been a really tough couple of years for her."

"How do you know?" Bill demanded.

Again, Jost sighed, "She… is my wife's second cousin. I have known her for several years. Her music career was going great till she hooked up with that stupid agency. She was thrown into a sticky situation that forced her to break the law. No respectable recording company would ever take her seriously after that. Since then she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and in an unrelated incident, her back was partially broken. Like I said, she has a lot of problems right now."

"What happened?" Bill asked, curious.

"You will have to look it up online." Jost replied, looking away with obvious signs of pain. "But Noel Oden is out of the question. You can't work with her." He finished rather sharply.

Bill narrowed his eyes and Tom let his arms fall. Jost knew that he had slipped up a bit. The twins didn't allow anyone to give them the business when it came to their band. If they wanted something done, anyone would have a hard time telling them otherwise.

"I think you need to think about the line between personal business and professional business." Bill said in a low voice, "That girl is simply a great performer, and that is all we care about. If she is dealing with a lot and can't handle working right now, then maybe she is grown up enough to tell us herself. Right now, all we care about is preserving our band, and if you want to continue to get a paycheck, maybe you should start caring too."

The room was silent for a moment. In the eight years he had known these boys, he had never heard Bill speak so vehemently. At this moment, when it was time to sink or swim for the band, Bill meant Business. Jost had to respect that, so he flattened his palms against the surface of his desk and drew in a breath, "Okay, you have made your point. You want a talented musician, and you have selected her. I can no longer argue with you. I will start making arrangements." With that, he turned his chair towards his computer and pulled out his phone. The boys took the hint and left the office.

"I have to say Bill," Tom said, scratching his nose, "I have never seen you be so demanding of something. You really want this plan to work, huh? Is it the girl? There is something about her, isn't there, otherwise you wouldn't have-''

"Tom, like I will tell you what it is. I care about our band succeeding, nothing else. I hope you are with me on this." Bill watched his brother from the corner of his eye.

"I am with you on whatever decision you make, baby bro. If I didn't like what you were saying, I could have easily vetoed it!" Tom said smiling.

Bill laughed, softly play-punching him in the shoulder, "Whatever, I always have better ideas than you!" He joked. The tension had been lifted, and they were back to joking around, the way they always should have been.