“This isn’t some bullshit story you’ve heard, is it? People talk a lot of shit.” I’d done enough speculation about Alex myself but I’d have never thought of him killing someone. Drew had to have the wrong end of it. He’d overheard something and got it wrong or he’d gotten it mixed up. Alex could be cold-blooded but not that cold-blooded.
“It’s true facts, Jackson. You can look it up but there won’t be Alex’s name attached to it. Just that the guy died in a car crash. But my friend told me. He went to school with Jake’s sister. Jake is the dead drummer. Their family hate the heck out of Alex now. Not only did he kill the brother but he got away with it. He said everyone in town knows, or at least suspects, but no one says anything because most people work for Alex’s dad or someone in their family does. You don’t talk bad about that family.”
I went behind the bar and poured myself another drink. This was a gruesome story.
“Ever notice how Alex doesn’t drink much. It’s because he is scared to. He was drunk when he drove the car. They were on their way home from playing out of town. Alex drove home even though he was totally shitfaced and smashed the car into a tree. Rod, that’s my friend, says if he’d gone the other way, they’d have tumbled right down a huge cliff and the lot of them would’ve been killed. He says that Jake’s family should be grateful for that much but I think they’d rather have Alex dead too.”
Shit, no wonder the guy acted like he did. Other bands hung out together. They were friends, even when they were enemies. At least at the start, you hung out together, sharing the dream, working your guts out for each other. Because you had nothing else, just the five of you and, if one failed, you all failed. You fought over songs, you got at each other’s throats but you were there for each other. It was a team effort. Later, that might all turn to shit but that’s how it always started.
But not Alex. Alex’s band were there for one reason and that was to play. There was no socializing after gigs, no fooling around. Fabian, the bass player, said it was like working as a session muso. You turned up, you got paid well, and you did as you were told. Alex had final say over it the entire process. He did the songwriting, he arranged the songs, he prepared the setlists.
“Hell, he’d even tune my bass if he thought he needed to.”
That wasn’t a band. That was a solo artist.
Explained a lot.
“His parents told him he had to get out of town, start afresh somewhere. They wanted him to take over the business but Alex came here instead.”
We heard footsteps on the stairs. Drew grabbed his guitar and began playing random chords. I sat back in my chair and tried to look like I’d not heard a thing about Alex.
It wasn’t Alex though, it was Sally. Man, she had a heavy step for a girl.
“What’s up, guys? You’d have thought I was a ghost coming up those stairs by the looks on your faces. I’m just setting up for the soundcheck. You’ve got another half hour. You’ll be finished by then?”
I almost wished I’d not heard about Alex. It’d change the way I looked at him. I’d warn Drew not to mention a word to Carlie about it. And I sure wouldn’t be telling anyone.
Chapter 26 Gina
“YOU COULD BECOME A nurse,” Jackson said. “You’re really good at it.”
I’d been readjusting the splint on his hand.
“Not likely,” I replied. “Having to empty people’s bedpans, yuck.”
“I dunno, I think it would be kind of hot if you emptied my bedpan.”
I slapped him on the arm for that. “That is the wrongest thing you’ve ever said.”
Jackson laughed. He was just teasing, I hope. I mean there are some limits to things I would do for him and that was definitely one of them. I’d gone to his apartment to help him shower and then we’d fooled around for a while. At least he had full use of his right hand so he didn’t need help with going to the toilet.
“You looked scared there for a moment,” he said.
“Well, no wonder.”
“I can’t help it, that look you get on your face is so pretty. You really are the most beautiful woman on this earth.”
He said things like that to me but I never believed him. All I’d heard all my life was that I was awkward and weird-looking. My nose was too big and my chin too pointy.
“Maybe, if you had surgery, you’d look alright,” Mum would say. Like I could ever afford surgery. I wasn’t that concerned about my looks anyway. I’d never had anyone I’d tried to impress until now, and Jackson didn’t seem to care.
“You’re just saying that,” I replied.
“Seriously, no. I don’t think you even realize.”
“Ha, look at Carlie and Violet. They are both good looking. Me, I’m kinda plain and boring.”
“You are most definitely not boring. Just because you don’t look like them doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful. Don’t believe what your mother told you. She was a bitch.”