Still

20.

Chapter Twenty

Two long weeks had passed.

Jourdan entered the board room and took a seat next to his manager, Matthew. It was like meeting after meeting with him at this point. Originally, he was to be pushing out his first single, but things came to a halt after the news broke. The label felt that a single during this would just tank and they weren't going to allow that to happen with him after the success of his first album.

Once he left Houston, he met with his team and explained the situation to them. Rightfully so, he'd left out Maia's name, not wanting her to receive any backlash from this. He knew how the industry worked. Had he given them a name, they would've just used the information to throw all of the heat on Mai, just like his friends had done.

Instead, Jourdan just had them release a public statement on his behalf to dispel the rumor. With the information that they had, he was being truthful. They had inaccurate information and explaining the situation would not have mattered. However, just like the media worked, they continued to try and feed off something.

"Good morning, everyone," the chairman of the label, Brian Reynolds, spoke as he entered the room. There were several others in the room, but the main focus was Jourdan. Everyone spoke pleasantries back, watching him as he sat down, opening the Manila folder.

"How are you, Jay?" Brian asked.

Jourdan placed his hands on the long table, leaning forward in his chair. "I'm doing well. How are you?"

Brian tilted his head a bit. "I'd be much better if this would all go away. I think we're all in the same thought process, no?"

Jourdan smiled. "Definitely. We've already put out our statement."

Brian nodded his head. He released a deep breath, looking to Jourdan. "Unfortunately, that statement did nothing. As much as we would like to move on and start releasing some of that music you have, we're at a standstill."

"I can't help that the media won't let it rest."

"We're in the business of where there's smoke, there's fire. So with that, we have to recognize that there's someone out there that may know what happened. Anyone come to mind?"

Jourdan thought about it for a moment. The only person that he'd ever told about the situation was his mother and he was positive she would never do anything to jeopardize his career. Maia would never want anyone to know what happened and she had reassured him that the parents didn't know it was him, either.

"No," Jourdan answered truthfully. "There were less than a handful of people that know the real story."

"Have you spoken to each of them?" Brian asked.

With a nod to his head, Jourdan answered, "Yes. None of them could have done this."

"Okay," Brian replied, "but how are we going to get you out of this shit? You were supposed to release a single last week. That's on ice right now. Your statement was like not saying anything all. We went from good press with you and the....Maia girl to your world being stopped."

Jourdan leaned back in this seat. He hated where the conversation was going. He had no thoughts on what should be happening right now. He could see that they were desperate and wanting to get something out there.

"Why is Maia silent?" Matthew asked, causing Jourdan's ears to perk up. Her name was being mentioned too many times already. "I've had your assistant working the blogs and checking everything out and the one thing that they noticed was that your friends were silent."

"Maia's silence is nothing new," Jourdan answered. "It's almost as if people forget that Maia just came back in the picture. She's going through shit."

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I just try to put myself in that position of a friend. If my friend was going through something like that, I'd speak up immediately, because I know my friend."