Building The Empire Read online

  Book Four

  The Dancing Wolf Series

  Building the Empire

  By: Amy DeMeritt

  Building the Empire

  Book Four of The Dancing Wolf Series

  Copyright © 2017 Amy DeMeritt

  All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-1979389778

  ISBN-10: 1979389772

  This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Cover designed by Amy DeMeritt

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Coming Soon…

  Other works by Amy DeMeritt

  Chapter One

  I’ve always known that I want a big family with lots of children, but what I wanted to do for a living was always blurry in my mind when I’d think about my future. I’ve always liked science and thought that I’d go into biology, but halfway through my first year of college, I started to question if that was the right field. I felt torn between wanting to make dance a bigger part of my life, and wanting to follow a tug I felt to go into psychology. My family, wife, and girlfriends have been very supportive in all of my decisions and have been very helpful in figuring out what I want to do with my future.

  I changed my college major to psychology before starting my second year of college, but before I could even start the year, my dance career took off at lightning speed. I had to postpone the start of my first semester so I could go to California with my dance group to film two music videos, and while we were there, we received so many new job offers that we won’t be able to complete all of them. We received several offers that are way too good to pass up and will help secure a good future for my family and I, if I can perform them well.

  So, I’m having to take at least a year off from college so I can focus on my dance career. I want to be able to finish my degree, but this year will be way too busy and demanding with dance jobs that I just won’t be able to give any attention to my schoolwork to benefit from it.

  While we were in California, Jaime, Awenasa, and I met with Russel Stone, one of the dance world’s biggest tycoons, and his team. They’re creating a national TV ballroom dancing competition that they want Jaime and I to be the leading couple the other competitors will aspire to beat. Russel Stone is a man with a sweet face and smile, but eyes like a snake, and a mind of a fox. He’s very clever and knows how to manipulate people to do what he wants in a way that makes them think it was their desire to do that for him all along. I figured him out within minutes of being in his presence and I had to be very careful in verbally maneuvering around him in a way that didn’t kill our chance at getting the job, while still showing we wouldn’t be willing to do absolutely anything and everything he may possibly think of.

  The meeting included representatives from the many sponsors for the show and it was intriguing watching him in action when we weren’t the ones he was trying to “convince”. The companies had already signed contracts with him to sponsor the competition, but Russel was able to convince several of them to also will pay Jaime and I to model their apparel and endorse products for the sponsors commercial slots during the show’s season on TV.

  After we left that meeting, we had contracts for our lawyers to review from Russel Stone’s enterprise, four sponsors, and a modeling agency that will be shooting the pictures for billboards, magazines, and online ads. There wasn’t anything too concerning in the contracts, except that we’d have to submit to partial nudity if requested, so we signed.

  California ended up being a major victory for the entire group. We signed a contract to go on tour with Giz Anderson in the summer, which thankfully, does not interfere with the ballroom dance show. The music videos we did in California were released within a month of us filming them, and in just a couple days, we had offers for several other music videos and some live performances.

  Symone and I were supposed to do a couple’s dance in October, but we had to cancel because of how much work the group had. We were only home for a month before we had to pack up and get back on a plane. We’ve been gone for a full month again and I can’t wait to get home to my girls. We’ve just completed work on the fifth production in a month and I’m completely drained. We’ve been in DC, Florida, and New York in four weeks.

  We’ll have a couple weeks off, but then we have two projects while we’re home for Thanksgiving – one in Philadelphia with the squad, and a choreography event I’m doing. Sara won’t be able to schedule Jaime and I for any gigs in December because we’ll be busy with promotional photoshoots and commercials for the ballroom show and the sponsors we signed with.

  I’m looking forward to my babies being on fall and winter breaks from school so they’ll be able to travel with me for some of this. Awenasa has been with me the whole time, and it’s been wonderful having her with me, but I really want to share some of this with the others.

  They’ve been working so hard with school and trying to keep up with our original plans for the dance business and the website. We’ve uploaded more vlog videos than dance videos in the past couple months, but they’re still getting tons of traffic and our followers keep growing. The website launched just before I got home from California and it’s incredible. The website looks so professional that I got teary eyed when I brought it up on video chat with my babies. We sold out of several thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise within only a few days and Madison had to rush to restock to fill all of the orders. She came up with some really amazing merchandise and people love it.

  She had the graphics designer that made our logos and the website create an awesome poster from the wolf dance video we did in the woods. It’s a still shot of me standing in the woods with the “wolf Sara” laying at my feet and my shirt open enough to show my abs. The artist enhanced the image to make my blue eyes glow brighter, and she added dark clouds and lightning to the background to make me look fierce. I was surprised when they told me the poster was Sam’s idea. I was even more surprised when they told me how many of them they sold. It’s weird to think that my picture is hanging on thousands of people’s walls. The designer is working on a couple new posters because of how great the sales for that one has been. It’s a very low cost item for us to have produced with a very high return in value from the sales. Madison is also adding smaller sized prints that will fit in lockers for all of the posters because a huge percentage of my fans are still in school.

  I was able to do another choreography event in state in September, before I had to leave with the dance group to hop from one job to the next, and it went even better than the first. We arranged to host the event in a local high school so we could have a few dance schools participate at once, and it was a huge success. We had over six hundred students participate and we sold out of all of the merchandise we brought. After expenses for renting the school gym, st
ocking up on merchandise, audio equipment, and large brand banners to plaster the gym with, we brought home over fifty thousand dollars, just from that single event. I couldn’t believe it.

  They’re working on arranging a similar event in Delaware for when we go home for Thanksgiving, so Madison has had a lot of merchandise shipped to my parents so we’re prepared. My mom was shocked when she received the delivery and said it nearly completely filled my bedroom. It’s a lot, but if this event is as successful as the one we did in September, we’ll sell most, if not all of it.

  My girls have been amazing at getting the business up and running smoothly while I’m working on projects and choreography. I don’t think I could hire better people to run my business. The amount of money we’re bringing in is staggering.

  The contracts from the work with this TV show that Jaime and I are doing are more than enough to support us for a very long time once the payments hit the bank. So, if she wants to, Shannon will be able to quit her job at the hospital in a few months and focus on the dance business. She could quit now if she wanted to, because our dance business and the events and other gigs I’m doing with the squad are bringing in a ton of money, but I think she wants to wait till the money from the big contracts come in to ensure we’re secure for a longer period. Right now, our bank account has enough to cover us for a year or so, but after the payments for those contracts come in, we could be set for several years, without doing any additional work.

  “Kayla, what are you doing out here?”

  I turn and smile. Jaime and Awenasa are standing in the doorway of the balcony of our hotel slightly shivering from the cool night air. I lift my blanket and invite them to join me on the cushioned patio couch. They slide in on each side of me and wrap the blanket around us as they loop their arms in mine and lay their heads on my shoulders.

  “It’s only 3am. Why are you out here?”

  “Couldn’t sleep. Too much on my mind.”

  “Me too. I’m anxious to get home and enjoy a regular schedule again for a little while. Your sister didn’t secretly book us for anything else, right?”

  “She better not of. I don’t have time or energy for anything else for a while. I have to start working on choreography when I get home for the event in Delaware in a few weeks.”

  “How many people are you going to have at this one?”

  “As of yesterday, over seven hundred. I told Maddi to cap it at a thousand. So far, we’re up to four hour-long sessions, but if we reach the cap, I’ll be doing five sessions.”

  “Wow, that’s lot. I’ll be home that week visiting my family for the holiday if you want help.”

  “That would be great, but you have to let me pay you.”

  “Ok. When is your next one?”

  “I’m not sure. They’re trying to figure out if we’ll have enough down time to do one in December. We want to try to do an event each month or every other month so people stay excited and engaged. Not knowing the exact schedule for the ballroom show stuff is making it hard to plan. How’s everything going with your school?”

  “It’s good. The students and parents like the two instructors I hired to run things while I’m gone, but they’re excited for me to come back.” I smile and kiss her head. “Of course, they are. You’re an awesome instructor and you’re super famous now.” She laughs a little and kisses my cheek. “Thanks to you.”

  “You still awake, baby?” Awenasa lifts her head off of my shoulder and kisses my neck. “Yes.”

  “What do you want to do when we get home?”

  “After we spend some time with our girls, I need to get into the woods.”

  “Me too. All of these planes, hotels, and cities are making me feel caged. I really need a good hike in the woods.” Awenasa presses her lips to my cheek and then turns my face to her. She looks in my eyes with a calm serene smile and then kisses my lips. “We’ll pack a picnic and take the girls with us when we get home.”

  “That would be awesome.”

  “Hey, group meeting. Come inside.” We look up to see Sara is standing in the doorway yawning. “No. Sara, we go home this afternoon. You better not have booked us for another job.” Sara just smiles and walks inside. “God, damn it.”

  Everyone is standing around looking half dead in their pajamas yawning and wiping sleep out of their eyes. Sara moves the coffee table in the living room area of our suite hotel and pulls her phone out.

  “Ok, I know you’re all exhausted, but this one should be very easy. They only need one of us and it needs to be a very expressive lyrical dance with an edge. It’s for a rock band, so the music is very different from what we’re used to working with. Here, let me play it for you.”

  She turns the music on and I really like it and I recognize the group. They’re extremely popular and hit the top forty whenever they release a new single. The music is harsh and fast, but the lyrics are softer and slower. It’s a powerful contradiction of sound that makes me want to hear the song over and over again. This is going to be an addictive song when its released, so the dance needs to be just as powerful.

  “Who wants to take a crack at it first?”

  Everyone just looks at Sara with agitation very clear on their faces and their arms crossed on their chests. Sara smiles and runs her fingers through her hair.

  “Kayla, you first. I promise, this is the last one before we leave today.” I narrow my eyes at her and cross my arms. “Why don’t you do it?”

  “You, Jaime, and Jade are the strongest in lyrical dance. You look the most awake, so you can go first and give them time to wake up more.”

  “Whatever. Let me hear it again.”

  I step out into the center of the room unzipping my hoodie and toss it on the couch. I stand still, just listening to the song and feeling both the harsh edge of the instruments and the soft pleas of the lyrics. I let the music seep inside me and curl my veins to its melody to instruct my body in the dance it wants me to perform. I close my eyes and feel it deep inside me. Before the song ends, I have enough to start moving.

  “Start it over.”

  I’m not used to dancing to this kind of music, but I actually really like it. With each technique I use, I feel the music reach deeper inside me, bringing out strong expressive movements of emotion and frustration. My deep need to see my girls and have them in my arms comes out in movements of desperate longing and shattering agony. I’m able to relate so much to this song that it feels like it’s my own heart crying out and my veins and nerves are like my heart’s puppet strings to throw my body into a visual representation of how my heart aches and longs for my girls. I finish the song by crumbling to my knees, grab my heart, and hunch forward.

  “I am not following that.” I look up and Jade is wiping tears from her eyes. “Kayla, that was intense and beautiful.”

  I give her a small smile and stand up. Sara has her phone up recording and pulls it down with tears in her eyes as well. I look around the room and everyone is equally moved. Awenasa takes my hand and kisses my cheek with a look of sympathetic sadness in her eyes.

  “Can you do that again?” I look up at Sara and shrug a shoulder. “Sure. Jaime, do you want…” Jaime shakes her head. “No, way. That was the dance for this song. You felt that on a personal level and you were able to bring it to life. I won’t be able to do that. Not at that intensity.

  “Ok. When do I have to do this?”

  “In three hours.”

  “Nice. I’m going to lay down then.” Sara shakes her head. “Sorry, but you can’t. We have to get moving now. It’s a two-hour drive from here.”

  “Are you trying to kill us, Sara? I haven’t slept in almost two days.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. If you can’t do it, I’ll tell them, no, but I think you have it in you.”

  “I’ll do it, but you have to stop fucking doing this to me. I can’t keep giving my very last ounce of energy. I would have liked to be half alive when I see my family after being away from them for a month.”
r />   “Just get ready.”

  Sara takes Keira’s hand and walks out of the room. Everyone looks at me nervously before leaving the room to get ready. As Symone and Jaime walk passed me, they give me looks of deep sympathy and look like they want to hold me. I wrap my arms around Awenasa and bury my face in her neck, breathing her in.

  “Are you mad at Sara?”

  “No, I’m just tired and I miss our girls.”

  “Hey.” We look up to see Sara is standing in the doorway, looking awkward. “We good?” I nod once and run my finger through my hair, turning to look at her. “Yeah. Sorry I snapped at you.” She smiles and walks over to us. “I know I ask a lot of you, but I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you could do it. Believe it or not, I’ve actually turned down jobs this month because I knew we just couldn’t do them, and not just because of scheduling conflicts. If it makes you feel any better, this video will pay more than your share from the last three gigs combined. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have woken everyone up.”

  “That helps a little bit.” Sara smiles and ruffles my hair. “Ok, baby sister. Eat something. We leave in fifteen.”

  I actually make more money from my website and doing the choreography events than I do from doing the gigs with the group, but the gigs is what makes my own dance business popular and successful. People are drawn to my site and events because I’m “famous”. If I wasn’t in the spotlight, no one would be buying my merchandise or wanting me to teach them choreography. I like doing these different jobs though. It’s interesting working on different sets, meeting so many famous artists, and even meeting the fans is becoming less awkward and more enjoyable.

  I lay my head down on Awenasa’s lap to try to rest on the drive to the studio, but I just can’t sleep. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep till I see my girls again.

  I follow everyone in a bit of a fog as we’re led through the building and brought to a room to meet with the producers and directors. Sara shows them the video she recorded on her phone and they immediately pull out a contract and have me sign so we can get to work.