Dee
Pete and Ferdie turned up the day before we played. I’d booked them rooms in the same rundown hotel where I was staying, and we sat around rehearsing until some burly guy bashed on our door.
“Shut up the fucking noise or I’ll smash those fucking guitars into kindling.”
He wasn’t joking either. He looked like he’d be able to do it one-handed. Ferdie’s lip trembled even though the fool didn’t even have a guitar, only a temporary “drum kit” set up on the bed.
We took a break and Ferdie made us coffee with the kettle he’d bought. Pete and I both had sparse and empty rooms while Ferdie had bought all the home comforts with him. That’s why we rehearsed in his room.
“So, why this town? This club? There are a lot of places closer to home,” Pete asked. “And we could sleep in our beds.”
I shrugged but he wasn’t so easily brushed off — and anyway, better to tell him now than have it come as a shock. He was going to know about Alex sooner or later.
“Okay, do you know who owns this club?”
“Some old fuck who knows nothing about music? He has sweat stains in his armpits and his shirt doesn’t fully cover his beer gut.”
“Wrong. Not even close. Alex Dressner.”
“Why, Dee?”
“Because.”
He shook his head. Ferdie looked from me to Pete and back again. Of course, he knew about Alex and Jake but he’d not been part of that. He’d only heard the stories. He handed us mugs of coffee, even gave us paper napkins, and sat on the creaky bed. I sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, while Pete had the crappy chair.
“So, you have an ulterior motive. Maybe you should’ve discussed that with us before dragging us down here. We have lives too. If it’s about the band, that’s one thing but if it’s a personal vendetta, that’s different.”
“It’s not just my vendetta, Pete. You were friends with Jake. You know what happened. Don’t you feel anything? Alex is a murderer. He can’t get away with that. Are you with me on this or aren’t you?”
Pete didn’t answer, though, he just stirred his coffee, around and around, as though the only thing that mattered was making sure every single little grain of sugar was dissolved. If he thwarted me on this, the band would be over. I loved playing but I did it with one purpose and one purpose only. I had no dreams of rock glory. Keeping Jake’s music alive was a side benefit but, if I didn’t have plans for Alex, I’d be happy serving coffee and making sandwiches.
“I’m happy with whatever you plan,” Ferdie said. “I love this band.”
I shot him a big grin. Pete kept on stirring. There’d be no bottom left in that mug if he didn’t quit soon.
Once, Pete would’ve backed me up on anything but, just before I’d left town, he’d asked me on a date and I’d said no. After that, he’d changed towards me. He was still into the band but seemed to argue with me whenever he could.
I had an ace up my sleeve.
“Holden King said he might come watch us play.”
The spoon clanged against the side of the mug and Pete’s head shot up.
“If you are joking about that, I will kill you. Holden King. What? Why? How?”
I folded up the napkin into increasingly smaller triangles. I’d tease this out.
“Seems he’s dating the barmaid at the club. We got chatting… You know how things go…”
“Hell, why aren’t we rehearsing? Screw that old guy. If comes knocking on the door again, I’ll deal with him.” A light shone in Pete’s eyes.
Pete made up for all the ambition I lacked. He had dreams, big dreams. I didn’t want to screw him over to get my own way and, who knew, the more we played and the more people saw him, the more chance he had of being picked up by a bigger band, one who would make it, when my revenge plans were fulfilled and I could retire.
“Nah, let’s give it a rest for now. We have sound check tomorrow and what we don’t know now, we won’t learn in a few hours.” I took a sip of my coffee, happy to be in agreement with Pete again.
Pete gave me a sideways look. I shook it off, though. Pete cared about the music and not much else. Not obsessively like Alex but he definitely had his sights on fame. He sure wasn’t shy about the groupies he pulled either.
He’d give me those looks sometimes, but I ignored