Ace (Playtime Series Book 1)

 
 
ACE
Playtime Series Book 3
 
GEMMA ARLINGTON


Contents
Copyright
~Prelude~
~Chapter One~
~Chapter Two~
~Chapter Three~
~Chapter Four~
~Chapter Five~
~Chapter Six~
~Chapter Seven~
~Chapter Eight~
~Chapter Nine~
~Chapter Ten~
~Chapter Eleven~
~Chapter Fourteen~
~Chapter Fifteen~
~Chapter Sixteen~
~Chapter Seventeen~
~Chapter Eighteen~
~Chapter Nineteen~
~Chapter Twenty~
~Chapter Twenty-One~
About the Author
Author Links


This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental"
Copyright © 2019 Gemma Arlington.
ISBN- 978-0-6484862-2-0
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from author Gemma Arlington herself.
Cover Design – Sly fox Cover Designs


~Prelude~
 
Ace
This was the last thing I ever expected when I agreed to this stupid, stupid, stupid idea. Not that I had much choice in the matter, especially when your boss’s supervisor enforces that you go above and beyond the line of duty.  You must make sure the client remains happy and gets what they want, while adhering firmly to the well-known mantra that the client is always right… even if they’re completely wrong.
I remember him stating that there was no job too small, and if a client asked, we delivered. I guess to him, it was a motto, but to the rest of his employees, including myself, it was pure and utter bullshit.
I had failed to see that this job I was being thrown into, was like no other. Being part of one of the biggest record labels, and landing my current position with the company, was more than I could have ever dreamed of.
I had been living in California for all of
two months when I scored this gig, and within six months I had climbed the ladder to becoming a recording label manager. I loved that I had the power to sign new clients plus help old ones revamp their images while relaunching their ailing careers.
My job, for the most part, was relatively easy as most clients listened and took the information, I provided them with. A lot of up and coming garage bands were being signed to our label and were bringing in good revenue. They went to the right events, spoke with the right people and all in all, behaved themselves. Occasionally we had the odd member of a band or solo artist believe they were ‘all that’ and they liked to turn on the stereotypical, ‘diva-like’ behavior.
Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever in this business and it seemed my luck had almost run out; that stupid, stupid, stupid mistake I made a few weeks back was about to hit me like a ton of bricks, and it seemed life as I knew it, was never going to be the same


~Chapter One~
Ace
Life was a lot more complicated than I ever realized it could be. Never-ending bills, a job that required me to go above and beyond, and the fact that I was all alone in a town that I wished I had steered clear of, was all too much.
Los Angeles wasn’t for everyone; I can easily say that if I had the chance to up and relocate I would. It’s not that I hated LA, there were parts I loved, but I found it slightly daunting that the lifestyles here were so much bigger and brighter than the life I was used to.
The celebrities I worked with were down and out recording artists who needed a revamp. They took drugs and wasted their youth drinking and swearing at anyone who didn’t agree with the way they lived. Not that I blamed them, a lot of the people I had met were talented individuals who had just taken the wrong path in life.
I tried not to judge, but sometimes it was harder than it looked.
I remember the first day on the job. I ended up being reduced to tears due to some Pre-Madonna, spoilt, rich individual, who decided they didn’t need an image consultant nor another manager to help brand them. They wanted to remain the dry, wasted, drug-fucked individual they had always been.
On that day, I learnt never to let anyone get under my skin, and that no matter how much they were bringing me down, it was only due to their own insecurities. The following day when I came into work, I told the spoilt, rich individual, that if she intended to still sing for the label, she needed to get healthy and work on her attitude. Of course, I threw in a few choice words which didn’t go down too well, but she came back a few days later a changed woman and said that I had given her the wakeup call she had been looking for. Within a month she was back out on the music scene with a great album and two new singles that were now topping the charts.
As much as she was a bitch in the beginning, I did owe her more than I cared to admit, because without her harsh words I wouldn’t have had the strength and determination to continue at Dash Records.
I would have left the city right then and there to go back home, but I had been
determined to make something of myself here in
L.A and I was surprised at how quickly it happened.
“Hey Ace, you ready to go? I can’t wait to hear this band, they’re meant to be amazing,” Elle said, smiling as she leant up against my tiny office door.
I might be a part of the management team here, but it didn’t mean I was