Page 2 of Down Beat

“Take it easy on the poor thing,” Emery tosses up from his position laid out, eyes closed. “If my head didn’t hurt so fuckin’ much I’d take a look at her, but I’ll judge by the voice alone she’s a pretty little thing. Probably not used to assholes like you, Rey.”

“I can show you to the exit, if you like,” she says with a smile.

Oh, she’s good. Young, but determined. “Nope. Pretty sure I can find my way out of here.”

“You couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag,” Toby scoffs.

He has a point: my sense of direction is shit at the best of times. Swear that’s some side effect of the tragic water incident; my inner ear has to be fucked or something. Still….

“Watch me.”

I smirk at the hostess and reach out to bop her on the nose with my fingertip.

She jerks backward, personal bubble violated, and allows me space to head for what has to be the door out of here considering we walked in the only other one.

“Rey.” Fuck.

“What, Rick?” The door handle mocks me with its brushed steel.

“Got our silver lining.”

I sigh through my nose and turn to humor him. He smiles at me like a puppy proud for remembering to take a shit outside. “I’m waiting.”

“We’ve got a venue for an intimate show day after tomorrow. IT put tickets up on the website while we were in the air, and they’re already 60 percent sold. We shuffle rehearsal times around, and we add this in as a fan bonus.”

“Rick,” I say, jerking my head to the side with a wink. “I may just keep you on, you dashingly handsome bastard.” Kris crosses the room and snatches the packet of smokes from my hand before busting through the door. “I’m off to find a sheltered spot to chain smoke with that moody fucker.” I thumb over my shoulder. “When I get back, you can fill me in on the details.”

The moron grins as Toby slings an arm around his shoulder, dwarfing him, and takes a swig of coffee.

Yeah. Rick pisses me off no end, but I can’t deny one thing about him: his old man is what keeps my name on the end of everyone’s tongue, and for that, I’d forgive the fuckwit for damn near anything.