No One Does It Better

One week later

Josh’s P.O.V

“After seeing both performances, we have decided that we would love to sign you both on to the label. We have drafted a 4 album contract, Josh we know your familiar with these. For everyone else, that basically means that we need at least 4 albums from you guys if you choose to sign our agreement. You have as long as you need, well up to ten years to produce them; in that time you will all be paid 40% of the income from playing gigs, the rest goes to the crew and techs, with the remainder going to us. We will provide you both with a tour bus, pay for travel expenses, and we will provide food, and drinks until you can get sponsors of your own. We provide your health care, and a few additional things such as insurance on your equipments and homes…does this sound fair to you all?” Alex laid out two perfectly printed contacts and a set of pens as he finished speaking. I felt Oli grab onto my hand so I turned to face him.

“Can you give us a moment Alex?” I turned my attention back to the agent who nodded his head.

“Of course, take your time.” He clasped his hands together before pushing his chair back and exiting the room.

“Josh…does this sound like a fair deal?” Max questioned, I spun around so I could eye everyone.

“It’s actually an amazing deal they offered, but I want to make sure you all realize what you’re getting into before we jump to conclusions.” Oli gripped my hand tighter, “a 4 album contract with a ten year limit means an album almost every 2 and a half years, that means world tours after every release, so at least 10 months to a year on the road. Them paying our bills means they will continue to pay our rent, so when we come home we have a place to stay. The tour buses will be where we sleep, where the crew sleeps at times, or they may get their own bus, and that's where you stay when were traveling. All in all, it’s a great offer…but are you all up for the stress?” I raised an eyebrow as everyone processed what I had just said.

“Definitely,” Chris stated as he put his hand in the center of us,

“Agreed, let’s do this!” Nicholls placed his hand on top of Chris’, the rest of bring me followed suit, as did the rest of my band.

“We’ve worked so hard for this, no way I'm backing out now.” Oli said as he placed his hand on top, all eyes fell on me and Jordan.

“You ready to be back at it again, Josh?” Matt Barnes smirked,

“Fuck yes.” I added, laying my hand at the very top.

“Jordan…don’t feel like you have to do this…but we would love to ha-“ Lee was cut off by the keyboardist giggling.

“Here’s to our future!” Jordan exclaimed as he placed his hand over mine.

“To our future!” We all proclaimed as we raised our hands in the air, a knock came to the door.

“Can I come back in?” Alex asked with a laugh,

“Yes.” Oli replied, the agent pushed through the door and resumed his seat at the desk.

“Well?” he placed his hands together on the desk and watch us curiously.

“We will take it,” I smiled, as he clapped his hands.

“Welcome to the family, just need you all to sign on the dotted lines and we’re good to go. We will contact you in the next few days with information on when we would like you all to come to the studio and record your EP 's or LP'S.” We all nodded and did as instructed, before saying a quick good bye and running out to our cars.

“Am I dreaming? Tell me I'm not dreaming!” Nicholls shook Oli by his shoulders,

“You want me to hurt you, Pickles?” Oli retorted with a laugh as he pushed his friend off of him.

“Let’s go celebrate! It may only be 11 AM but who gives a fuck! Drinks on me!” Max clapped everyone on the back,

“I'm not really feeling up to it right now.” I bit my lip as everyone gawked at me.

“Why not, Joshy?” Dan whined, pulling on my sleeve.

“I don’t know, guess I just want to let it sink in…you have to realize this is surreal for me…as I know it is for you.” I reasoned with them, I felt Oli wrap an arm around my waist.

“Yeah, maybe tonight we can go out or something? I think you all should go see your families and girlfriends or what not. We will be spending a lot of time together from here on out, so it only makes sense to spend the time we have left at home with your loved ones.” Oli backed me up, which was nice on his part. I didn’t have a family, the closest thing I had was Oli, and the lads; but they did have family. Most of them had girlfriends too, so it only made sense for them to go see them.

“You both are absolutely right…party at mine tonight though? Let’s say 9?” Max raised an eyebrow,

“Sounds good. You all have a 3 hour trek back to Sheffield, so you better be going! I’ll be back in the area by 8. See ya!” Jordan gave us all quick hugs before hopping into his car and heading off.

“Well…I guess we will be doing the same as Jordan, since we live here.” Chris motioned towards Dan and Matt who nodded in agreement.

“That sounds good to me. Well, I guess we will see you all later!” Oli waved to our friends before grabbing my waist harder and steering me towards his van, as everyone else got in their respected cars. We climbed inside, as he started the engine. We drove in a comfortable silence for about 20 minutes before Oli decided to speak up.

“This is insane…” he commented as he turned on the roundabout out of London, I placed my hand on his knee.

“It really is…I can only imagine how this must be for you.” I commented as I laid my head back into the seat.

“Definitely…I never thought I would make it this far…” he exhaled loudly as we pulled onto the long stretch of road towards Sheffield.

“You deserve it…everyone does.” I reassured him, even though I knew he didn’t need it. He knew he deserved this, he knew all the lads did; it wasn’t a matter of if they made it big, it was just when. Now that it was happening, we were all on a long road to success, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. We didn’t speak much on the way back towards our apartment, not even after we crossed into the Sheffield city limits.

“Were here,” Oli announced as he pulled the van outside of our building and shut it off. I groaned as I hopped out of the vehicle, my limbs popping in protest; he giggled.

“Getting old?” he teased, as he grabbed my hand and let us towards the front doors.

“Apparently so,” I seethed as my back popped again. It had been doing this ever since that night were I fell on those rocks; it was a constant pain, not like I would ever say anything though.

We made our way into the elevator and Oli hit the button for the 8th floor; I grinned as I noticed no one else was in the small space. I slipped out of his grasp and in turn I pinned him onto the back wall before kissing him. He roughly kissed back, his arms snaking around my waist and his body coming at much closer to mine.

DING

I pulled away from him as the elevator door swung open, in good timing too as a mother with two young kids entered as we departed. Oli laughed a little too loud, which earned a strange glare from the woman as the door closed; I waved awkwardly.

“Oh that could have been bad.” I chuckled as we came to our door and Oli fished in his pocket for the key.

“Could have been horrid, what a mood killer, eh?” he found the key but as soon as he went to unlock the door, it slid open. He raised an eyebrow as he waited for me to go inside, I thanked him by kissing his cheek.

“Definitely a mood killer, did you shut the door when we left?” I asked curiously, as I tried to switch the lights on. For some reason the blackout curtains in the room were drawn, and the light switch was not working.

“Yeah…Josh…” Oli closed the door quietly, and stood beside me protectively;

“What’s-“

“SH.” He placed a finger on my lips, then grabbed onto my hand. We stood deathly still, but I still didn’t hear anything.

“Oli…there’s nothing wrong…maybe we blew a fuse? I could have drawn the curtains too…I was so tired this morning.” I walked into the living room much to his dismay, and opened the curtains; nothing was out of place.

“See we’re fine!” I exclaimed as I looked around the apartment. He nodded, but his face was still unsure;

“Alright.” He added in defeat, as he stalked into the kitchen. I began to tidy up a bit,

“Ugh…the food in the fridge better not go bad…should we call maintenance?” he called back to me, I sighed.

“In a few, they may notice if other people lose it too…just give it a bit.” I called back, “Oh…and I'm going to take a shower, let me know if you need me babe!”

“mkay, love. I’m going to run to the store and grab some candles.” Was his tired reply, I smiled to myself as I entered our bedroom; I moved the curtains open, allowing some daylight to illuminate the room. I entered the somewhat dark bathroom, and silently hoped the hot water was still on. I stripped off my shirt, and tossed it on the floor before moving the shower curtain out of the way, I nearly screamed but a hand covered my mouth and dragged me into the cold tub. Someone had been in our house, and now they had me in a deadlock in the bath tub, they grunted as I struggled against them.

“Stop!” The thick voice cut me off as something sharp pressed against my throat…a knife.

“Don't scream,” Was the man’s reply, as he dragged me out of the tub and shut and locked the bathroom door, turned on a flashlight.

“I know who you are…” was all I managed to whisper out, the man quietly chuckled.

“Really?” the man had a ski mask over his face, and a dark jumper covering his skin, but there was no doubt in my mind who it was.

“Jona…” I breathed out heavily, he growled in frustration and sunk the blade harder into my skin, I gasped as I felt it cut through a bit.

“Don’t you think about screaming…look I just need to talk to you…” Talk to me? Are you kidding? He broke into mine and Oli’s apartment and…oh shit Oli!

“Don’t worry…he’s fine…I'm not here to hurt you or him…I just need to talk. I'm sorry I cut your throat…it was an accident.” An accident? Are you fucking kidding me?

“I know what you’re thinking…but I knew you wouldn’t talk to me any other way…so I took it to an extreme…I'm sorry.” He apologized like he had just stepped on my toe, not like he had broken into my home. Yet again, he did have a knife and I was feeling a bit vulnerable at this point,

“Oli went to get some things at the store…can we talk in the living room?” That way if I scream someone will hear me, right.

“Yeah but we need to hurry.” He ripped the mask off of his face and opened the door, making me go first. I felt his eyes hungrily staring at my bare skin, it was anything but pleasant.

“Sit.” He demanded as we came by the sofa, I silently obliged and he sat right next to me. I felt his arm grab onto mine as he flipped it over, I tried to pull it away but his grip was firm.

“Josh…did you do this to yourself?” he asked in disbelief, but I didn’t give him an answer.

“Please don’t do that again,” he pleaded. Why was he being so friendly? Last time I checked, he had forced himself on me, hurt Oli, and broke into my house! This was anything but a casual encounter!

“Kay.” Was my curt reply as I directed my eyes to the floor, he sighed.

“Josh…its time you knew the truth about Oli.” He breathed out, something in his tone wasn’t sitting well with me.

“What do you mean?” I questioned, curiosity getting the better of me.

“Oli’s parents didn’t just kick him out…” he paused, letting the information sink in.

“Okay?” I asked in an annoyed manor, shooting him a dirty look. He sighed again and gripped onto my hand.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked in a harsh tone,

“Yes, tell me.” I played along, but in all reality...I was still curious as to what he had to say.

“His parents were killed…and Josh...I have a good reason to think Oli killed them.”

Now I knew what they meant when they said curiosity killed the cat.