CHAPTER 30
DAINE
“Any luck?” Blaze asked, as we stripped off our clothes in the dressing room of Cowboys.
“Nope,” I replied. “Just the three of us again. Fox is on his way.”
“He’s taking this way too hard,” Blaze said. “There’s gotta be something we can do.”
“I don’t know, man,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’ve tried everything. Food, booze, I even bribed him with a trip to Mexico. We got all that cash together, might as well do something fun with it. He gets out of bed to eat and piss and that’s it. He just lays there in the dark like a fucking mushroom or something.”
“This isn’t like him at all,” Blaze said.
“I know,” I shrugged. “Maybe he just needs time. I’ll give him a day or two to lick his wounds, but then I’ll blast a firehose into his bedroom or something.”
Fox walked in, shaking his head.
“Richie’s a mess, man.”
“Yeah, we were just talking about that,” Blaze said. “He’s gonna lose a lot of money tonight, there’s three bachelorette parties booked.”
“I stopped by his room before I left the house. He told me he’s going to quit. That he’s never coming back here.”
“What the hell?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “He sounded pretty serious. Should we tell Barry?”
“No, not yet,” I said. “Is Barry still pissed?”
“Oh, yeah,” Blaze said. “He said if we ever call in like that again at once, he’s going to fire us.”
“Whatever, he knows we’re all he’s got, unless he wants to get stuck with the end of his lease. Fuck him. I don’t care what he thinks. If I didn’t need the money myself, I wouldn’t be here, either.”
“Well, we gotta make the best of it,” I shrugged. “It’ll all be over soon.”
“Any thought on what you’re going to do?” Fox asked.
“I talked to my pirate. He’s going to see if they need help. I’ll keep you guys posted.”
“I’ve got an audition at The Man Cave next week,” Fox said.
“What!” I cried. “You do? Good for you, man. When did this happen?”
“This morning. I can’t afford a gap in employment. Who knows what Barry’s going to do? Maybe he won’t last another six months. I wouldn’t put it past him to just randomly lock the doors someday without even telling us first.”
“That’s a good point, brother. Good for you,” I said. “Let me know if they need anymore guys. In the meantime, let’s get this show started, shall we? I’m on first tonight, since Richie’s gone.”
“Break a leg,” Blaze said.
I walked towards the door and stopped when I heard a knock. I was surprised to open it and see Tillie standing there.
“Tillie!”
“Hi, Daine,” she said, smiling shyly. “I hope I’m not bothering you. I’m looking for Richie. I was hoping to have a quick word with him before I went back to LA.”
“Oh!” I replied, smiling, happy to see her. “Richie’s not here.”
“Oh, is this his night off?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “He’s pretty down in the dumps.”
“Why?”
“You haven’t talked to him?” I asked.
“No. We had a date last night, but he never showed up or called. I was a little worried about him, but I thought maybe he just changed his mind.”
“He stood you up?” I asked. I’d been out all night and thought Richie had been with Tillie and come home early. I didn’t realize he never showed up at all. “I’m so sorry, Tillie. Here, come in.”
I pulled her into the dressing room, where she was promptly greeted with warm hugs from a mostly naked Blaze and Fox.
“Richie stood her up last night,” I said. “That bastard.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” she said. “If he’s not feeling well…”
“He should have called. That’s rude as hell,” I said. “He didn’t get the loan he needed to buy the club, Tillie. He’s really down on himself right now. It’s not you. In fact, he was really smitten with you. I haven’t seen him act like this about a woman in a very long time, if ever.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, thoughtfully. “Now I understand. Will you tell him I said goodbye? My plane leaves in an hour.”
“Of course,” I said, touching her hand. “He really does like you, Tillie. Stay in touch with us, okay? And if you ever come back, let us know. We can go dancing again!”
“I’d love that,” she said, beaming up at us, with a lingering twinge of sadness in her eyes. Richie’s a goddamned idiot, I thought. It was obvious Tillie liked him, and he’d spent so much time alone lately, no wonder he was devastated by the first big blow. But to blow off a woman like Tillie? He’d truly gone off the deep end.
“Tillie, I’ll make sure Richie calls you, okay?” I promised.
“That would be nice, thank you, Daine,” she said, heading for the door. “You guys have a nice show tonight.”
“Thank you, Tillie,” I said.
She turned back, pausing before smiling back at us.
“You guys showed me a great time, thank you. It truly meant a lot to me. More than you know.”
“You’re welcome, honey,” I said, waving to her as she disappeared.
“Richie’s a fucking idiot,” Blaze said, as I turned back to him.
“Massively,” Fox agreed.
“Completely,” I nodded.