You're Not Finished Yet Ch. 03

"That sounds reasonable," he said, "What else?"

"We'll give you all of the publishing on the first two albums," I told him, "And if they do well, which I know that they will, we want to split the publishing down the middle on the last three, and we also want half of the mechanicals. That way we can all make money from this little venture."

"I'm very impressed," Ahmet smiled, "Usually most bands jump at whatever they've been offered. It's very refreshing to talk to a group of young people who are as intelligent as you all are.

Until now, Sally Richardson had pretty much sat and silently listened to what all was being said. She showed what a true friend she was, and still is for that matter, when she smiled and said, "Excuse me, Mister Ertegun, but what about finance?"

"What about it?" he chuckled, "I'm very anxious to hear this."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that a big advance up front is not really necessary, as we are willing to take what comes on the back end," she politely, said, "That way, in the event that our music doesn't do well, which, I don't see that happening, you won't be out any money, save for the cost of studio time; and from what I understand, you more or less own two or three studios on Sunset Strip. Am I correct?"

"Oh, my goodness," he began to laugh, "It seems to me that you've all done your homework. Will there be anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," I grinned, 'But if you'd like to trade contact information with us, "I'll let you know if we do think of anything."

"That's perfect," he kindly replied, standing up, "I'll be in contact with you very soon; and once again, please allow me to tell you all that I'm very impressed with you all, and I look forward to when we can all meet again."

"Thank you, sir," I grinned; shaking hands with him, "It's been a pleasure speaking with you."

"For me as well," he smiled, "Until we meet again."

"Yes, sir," I smiled, "And thank you."

~~~~~~

After Ahmet left the club, I looked around at the smiling faces of everyone, and said, "Be back at our house tomorrow at the same time, okay?"

And after acknowledgement from everyone, we broke down, and loaded our gear out of the club, and then went home.

~~~~~~

Chapter Four

"Holy shit," Jennifer smiled, as she breast fed Abbey, "Can you believe that Ahmet Ertegun himself came to hear us play tonight?"

"Of course," Lynn giggled, kissing Abbey's little cheek as she suckled Jen's breast, "We're that good, baby girl."

"I'll tell you what shocked the shit out of me," I said," And that was when Sally spoke up. Hell, that's the most I've ever heard her say at one time...ever."

"Ouch," Jennifer suddenly wailed, "If I didn't know better, I'd think Abbey was growing teeth. Hell my nipples are getting sore as hell."

"Bull shit," Lynn giggled, "You never bitch about me biting them when we fuck."

"Oh, shut up," Jennifer smiled, her cheeks turning pink, "That's because you're such a slut when it comes to my tits."

"You're damn right I am," Lynn laughed, "I wish I had tits as big as yours."

"Oh, you will," Jen laughed, "Wait until Mark knocks you up with that big cock of his."

"Come on, you two," I laughed, "That seems to be all you two ever think about anymore."

"So," Jen asked, "What's wrong with that?"

"No shit," Lynn replied, her eyes suddenly beginning to fill with tears, "Don't you want me to have a baby, too?"

"Shh, it's okay, baby," I soothed her, taking her into my arms, "Of course I do, you know that."

"Good," she giggled, wiping her tears away, "Then after the release of our first album, I'm going off of the pill."

"Oh, no," I teased, "I've created a monster, two of them."

"Oh, no you haven't," Jen stood up, placing her arms around Lynn and I, "You have three girls who love you very much, that's all, baby."

"She's right, Mark," Lynn cooed, "We love you very much."

"And I love you, too," I replied, gently taking Abbey from Jennifer's arms and tenderly holding her in my arms, "All three of you."

~~~~~~

The following Monday at college was a busy day for me. I had four classes that day, and because Jennifer was at work, as was Lynn, Mom was more than happy to keep Abbey. Looking back, I remember how it was when Nana would keep me while Mom and dad were at work when I was little. And now that Abbey was in our lives, Nana, as well as Poppy, also made it a point to be at my parents' house when Mom would keep Abbey.

Jennifer and I were grateful for Mom's guidance when it came to raising Abbey. She was also very helpful when Jennifer decided to wean Abbey from being breast fed to eating baby food. I still remember the first time we fed Abbey her first taste of baby food. Actually I seem to remember that she wore more of it than she actually ate. But it was till very cute, and of course Abbey's Momma Lynn made sure to take a ton of pictures of it, too.

Speaking of Lynn, Jennifer and I loved watching her interact with our daughter. And with the exception of Abbey's blood relatives, I've never seen any other woman who was more affectionate, tender, loving, and gentle, than Lynn was with little Abbey. There was no mistaking the love that Lynn felt for our daughter, making the love that Jennifer and I felt toward Lynn run that much deeper.

~~~~~~

It was somewhere around ten days after our first meeting with Ahmet Ertegun that we heard from him again. He called the house wanting to speak with me, and when I answered the phone, I could tell by the tone of his voice that he had something special to talk about. We spoke for a few moments longer until it was agreed that he would be at our house in three days; and he wanted the whole band there when he made his presentation.

~~~~~~

"Hello, sir," I smiled, showing him into the living room of our house, "It's good to see you again, Mister Ertegun."

"Thank you, Mark," he kindly smiled, "It's good to see you as well, and please, call me Ahmet."

"Would you care for something to drink, Ahmet?" I asked him, once he was comfortably seated.

"Do you have any tea?" he asked, "It's been a long flight."

"As a matter of fact, we do," I grinned, and before I could ask her, Jennifer took off to the kitchen to retrieve him a cup of hot tea.

We spoke for a few moments of music in general with him, the whole band having already been there for about an hour before Ahmet arrived. Then he looked at us, and after having taken a sip of his tea, he set his cup on the coffee table and reached for his briefcase.

Then he pulled out a manila folder containing a recording contract, and smiling, said, "I've drawn up a contract that I believe will satisfy every request that was made the last time we spoke."

"We're very happy to hear that, Ahmet," I smiled, "But I hope you don't mind if we have our attorney take a look at it before we sign it."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Ahmet grinned, "I'd be very disappointed in you if you didn't."

'Would you mind if we took a look at it now, sir?" I politely asked, "Because to tell you the truth, we're all curious as hell to see it."

"Of course," he laughed, passing around a stack of paperwork, "I have six copies of it, one for each of you to read. If you'd take one and pass it on, please."

I took a moment to peruse his proposed contract; and as I read it, I found that he indeed had granted our every request. However, he wanted to give us each at least a five thousand dollar advance, which, in the rerecording industry, was a mere pittance in comparison to the amount of money we would each be receiving on the back end. Plus, it would come in handy with Abbey and everything involved in caring for her.

"I really like this," Lynn giggled, "Look, Mark; he's guaranteeing us at least three singles off of each album. Thank you, Mister Ertegun."

"Please, ma'am," he smiled, "Call me Ahmet, okay, Lynn?"

"Yes, sir," she stuttered, "Err, I mean, Ahmet," making us all laugh.

"Who's going to be our A&R representative?" I humbly asked, "Please tell me it's not going to be that idiot Darryl Peters."

"Darryl Peters no longer works for Atlantic Records," Ahmet proudly announced, "I'm going to handle you folks myself...if it is alright with you all that is."

"Are you kidding me?" I grinned, "We would be honored to have you represent us, Ahmet."

"Thank you," he humbly smiled, "And it is me who id honored, I assure you."

~~~~~~

Dr. Brown, the head of the music department at The University of Houston, put me in touch with an attorney by the name of Harry Patterson, who, as it turned out, was one of the best music business attorneys in the country.

Harry took one look at the contract that Ahmet had handed us, and said, "Good Lord, kid! I don't know who negotiated this for you, but whoever it was did one hell of a job. I've never seen a recording contract more solid than what I'm looking at right now."

"So," I said, "It's good to go, then?"

"Hell yes," he laughed, "You kids better jump on this while you can," and that's exactly what we did.

~~~~~~

And as I said earlier, my life came to a major turning point halfway through my senior year in college. As soon as the Christmas break was over, and right before the spring semester began, I found myself in Dr. Brown's office.

"We're supposed to fly out to Los Angeles and start recording in less than a week," I told him, "Is there any way that I can make this last semester up?"

"I'll tell you what, Mark," he began smiling, "Because what you're about to do is the reason you came to college to start with, this is what I'm going to do. You go ahead and go out to Los Angeles and record you guys' first album," then a sly smile appeared on his face, as he continued, "And if you have at least one single in the top ten, I will personally give you your degree, okay?"

"Are you kidding me?" I laughed, standing and half shaking his hand, half hugging him, "You've got a deal, Doc."

"I know you'll do well, Mark," he said, happy tears in his eyes, "I knew it the very first time I ever heard you sing and play."

"Thank you, Doctor Brown," I humbly replied, "It means a lot to me to hear you, of all people, say that."

"No problem, kiddo," he grinned, "Besides, it's not hard to tell the truth."

~~~~~~

Three days later we were off to Los Angeles, and with my Mom in tow to take care of Abbey while we were in the studio working, the record label put us all up at the, what was then brand new, Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. So what if it was a bit of a drive to the studio, Ahmet spared no expense with Pegasus, because he had that much faith in us, God bless him.

~~~~~~

We began recording our first album, which was self titled, because it was, like I just said, our first one. We worked our asses for off for eight hours a day, six days a week. And when given the opportunity, I took Lynn and Jennifer dancing, at least one night per week.

It felt good to be out in the L.A. nightlife, which also gave me the chance to show off my two angels to the world. I was, and still am, proud to be seen with, as far as I'm concerned, the two most beautiful women I've ever known. And the more she was around the tree of us, the more Mom began to understand the love that I shared with Jennifer and Lynn.

Aside of the fact that Mom had come to love the two of them very much, she now considered Jen and Lynn to be, and I quote, "The two prettiest daughters a woman could ever have". Of course they loved Mom as much as she loved them, and needless to say, that tickled my mother to no end. Still though, we were being given the opportunity to show Ahmet Ertegun, the president and owner of Atlantic Records, just exactly what we were made of, musically speaking; and if we weren't up to the job, then all the love in the world wasn't going to matter one way or the other.

~~~~~~

We were at the midway point of being finished with our album, when we first heard our music being played on the radio. It was one of the first four songs that I'd written back when Pegasus played at Jericho's the first time Ahmet heard us play.

The name of the song was "Wherever You Are" and it hit the airwaves at ten o'clock that first morning in February on Valentines Day of that year. To say it was a success was a more than huge understatement.

Requests for the song came pouring in all day; and within a week it was at number two in the top ten, reaching number one the following day, remaining at number one for a record fifteen weeks. And then it only dropped to number three staying there until the album was released a month later.

However, once the album was released, we achieved three more singles, that hit the top ten within three weeks after the album's release; and it turned out that those three singles were the other three songs of what I now called "The Original Four" that I'd written along with "Wherever You Are".

Of course along with the success of "The Original Four" came television appearances, and radio interviews throughout the greater Los Angeles area, not to mention up and down the southern California coast.

~~~~~~

Once we'd finished with all of the appearances and interviews, etc; Ahmet called us into his office for the purpose of discussing putting together a tour for the first album. I was all for it, as was the rest of the band. We'd all talked about it before hand, and were prepared to go on tour. But because of the success of our first album, we wouldn't have to go as an opening act.

According to Ahmet, we'd earned the right to be a headline act, which meant having our own tour bus, road crew, stage manager, the whole nine yards. And once a reasonable amount of shows had been agreed upon, we prepared to go on the road. Ahmet gave us six weeks at home to recharge and regroup, so that we would be prepared not only mentally, but physically to be able to handle the rigors of touring.

~~~~~~

Of course after our first night home, Jennifer and Lynn hit me with the idea of Lynn going off of the pill before we hit the road.

"If that's what you want to do, then I'm all for it," I gladly told Lynn, "I love you, but keep in mind that this first tour is the most important set of performances we'll ever do; and there will be some very stressful moments throughout the tour."

"I can handle it. Baby," she sweetly smiled, "I've you and Jennifer to lean on when time get rough, right?"

"You're damn right you do, baby girl," Jennifer tenderly replied, hugging her and kissing her lips, "Isn't that right, Mark?"

"Hell yes," I smiled, placing my arms around both of my girls, "I'll always be here for you, my loves...both of you."

"I guess that settles it then," Lynn giggled, pulling her birth control pills from out of her purse and then throwing them in the trash can, "When can we start trying to make a baby, baby?"

"Any time you want," I smiled, running my hand up the back of her skirt to find out the she wasn't wearing any panties, "Mmm, you nasty hot little thing."

"You're making my pussy wet, Mark," Lynn breathed, "You'd better be ready to fuck me right now."

"What're you talking about making you pussy wet?" Jennifer giggled, "Baby, your pussy is always wet."

"And your point is?" Lynn giggled, "Come on, you two...let's go fuck, right now," and we proceeded to do just that...all night long.

~~~~~~

The three of us made love every night, making sure that every drop of sperm that my balls produced was squirted inside of my beautiful Lynn's hot little pussy. We knew that we had succeeded in getting her pregnant when, with less than twelve days to go before we hit the road, Jennifer and I awoke to the sound of Lynn experiencing her first bout of morning sickness.

"I'll help her, Mark," Jen smiled, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom, "You go get Abbey up and feed her. There's bottle in the refrigerator and you know what to do."

Indeed, I did, because not only Jennifer, but also Mom and Lynn made certain that I knew exactly how to go about feeding my baby girl, Abbey. Plus, I so enjoyed looking into her bright blue eyes whenever I had the opportunity to feed her, she was so sweet at that age. Hell, she still is, but I'm getting ahead of myself again...

~~~~~~

Mom and Jen went with Lynn to the doctor; who confirmed that she was almost five weeks along the way. And that meant that she would be really be showing when we came off of the road four months from now.

~~~~~~

The following week was spent with Pegasus preparing to play in ninety-eight cities in a little less than one hundred and twenty days. The work was rigorous, but everyone pulled through with flying colors, even my beautiful Lynn, God love her heart. I know it was a little rough on her but she sucked it up and dealt with it.

We were all so very proud of her, but none of us were more proud of her than Jennifer and I, who made sure that she had any and everything she needed, whether it was ice water, coke, or in some cases, iced tea and Gatorade.

Mom and Dad, along with Jennifer's parents, both took care of little Abbey for us, leaving us one less thing to have to worry about. And so when our plane landed at LAX, or, Los Angeles International Airport as it was called back then, we were all ready to rock.

~~~~~~

Our first show took place at Pauly Pavilion, on the U.C.L.A. campus, man, what a show that was. Grace Slick, of Jefferson Airplane, opened the show for us and brought the crowd of over twenty thousand people to a frenzy.

And when Pegasus took the stage we knew that all six of our musical careers had been leading to this particular point in time. Because we all decided long ago that Lynn had the purest voice of all of us, she not only sang lead on the album, but did the same on stage, giving Pegasus its vocal signature that we all came to be known for.

No one was more proud of her that night than I was. After all, Pegasus had been of my making from the very start, all the girls agreed on that point. But to be able to see a long held dream of mine come to its true fruition that night, gave me a feeling like none I've had before, or since. God, we sounded so good that night, and the response of the crowd brought tears to eyes of each of us once the show was over.

~~~~~~

Our next show was at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California; and while it wasn't a big venue, it was just as important, none the less. The fans were jam packed like sardines to see us play, and I was proud that we were booked to play in a venue that people Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and The Doors, just to name a few, had played.

After that, we headed up to Montreal Canada from the Montreal Music festival. Talk about a great show, holy shit, there were people that were lined up for three blocks to get into the venue on the night of our performance. However, one thing we all had to agree upon, was how genuinely nice and kind the Canadian people were. Jennifer, Lynn and I had considered moving there once we retired, but that was till a long ways off.

~~~~~~

However, the show that was the most important show to every single one of us was when we played at the Hofheinz Pavilion on the University of Houston Campus. Because the U of H was our alma mater, almost every single one of the eight thousand, five hundred seats were filled by someone that we knew and/or had seen us at the many clubs we'd played around the greater Houston area.

I'll never forget that night either, as Lynn, dressed in tight white leather pants, with a form fitting tight, white linen blouse, as her long dark hair hung down to her hot little butt, strutted across the stage smiling, and into her microphone, said, "HELLO, HOUSTON! DO YOU REMEMBER US?" and of course the crowd went nuts.

Once the crowd settled back down, she spoke more softly into the microphone, telling the audience, "I see a lot of familiar faces out there tonight, and I can't begin to tell you all how much it means to us that you're here," the she allowed the audience to applaud us for a moment before she continued, "I want to introduce you to the person, well, the only guy in the band," she began to giggle, "And we think he's very special. Not only is he the guy that brought us all together, but he's also the father of Jennifer Bradley's daughter, little Miss Abbey Haynes as well as her sibling, the child that I'm carrying inside of me; and we both love him very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Mister Mark Haynes." Then she smiled and me and said, "Mark, stand up, baby."