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Italic - inner monologue bold - past
Chapter nineteen - REAL LOVE GOES DEEP
Two and a half months later (March 1, 2008) - Houston, Texas
Justin sat on the tour bus just minutes away from the hotel they were going to be staying. He sat at the table by the window in front of his laptop checking his email. There was something specific he was looking for. A new track he worked on with Madonna titled, 4 minutes. It was a collaboration with him, Madonna and his good friend Timbaland that they recorded late last year. "There it is." He selected the email, preparing to download it to his hard drive.
After he downloaded the track, he opened it up with iTUNES.
One of his back-up singers sat on the opposite side of the table looking out of the window when she heard music all of a sudden. She quickly looked away to stare at him.
I'm outta time and all I got is 4 minutes Fricka, fricka 4 minutes, eh
"Who is that? Sounds tight." He glanced at her, chuckling softly.
"It's a track I'm on with Madonna." Her eyebrows raised at him.
"Really? How come I've never heard it before?"
"It's a new single. It's on her new album."
"Oh..." She nodded. "You know, she asked me if I wanted to join her on tour for her upcoming tour. I know you're finishing off this tour in another month or two so I was gonna take up that offer." He sat back in his seat while meeting her gaze. Kiley Dean was her name. She was one of Timbaland's artist in 2002. She worked on an album with him but it was never released. So she started singing back-up for other artists.
"Kiley, I have a proposition for you. You know I just launched my own record label early last year, right?" She nodded yes. "I know things didn't work out between you and Tim but I was wondering if you wanted to be the first artist signed to my label." A smile slowly formed upon her lips. "You got it all. The looks. The voice. The talent. I know you'll do great in this industry. Your voice is so powerful..." He paused, chuckling softly. "You deserve so much more than just being the person behind the scenes. And I wanna offer that to you. Now I know you always tell me that it doesn't matter whether you're in the spotlight or not. Music is what you love. I'm the same way. If this occupation didn't come with all the fame, it would be perfect. But unfortunately, it's not like that. You're giving up your personal life when you decide to become a famous singer. Maybe that's what you're afraid of? I don't know. But think about it. I haven't found an artist yet. My best friend was gonna start searching through YouTube. They have a lot of talent people on there."
"Justin, I'm..." She laughed faintly. "I'm honored you're even asking me to sign a contract with your label. You know me. I'm not afraid to take chances. Even though it didn't work out with Timbo, I've always known that it would eventually work for me. Whenever the time was right." Hearing that immediately made him think about Beyoncé and how they were seeing one another. How he was ready to marry her when the time was right. The only people who knew were her parents, his parents, and their close friends.
