Reprise (20 page)

“We’ll discuss this while my face is buried in ‘em, right between ‘em, while you ride me like I know you like.”

She slapped him. Hard enough that the palm of her hand stung. Matthew then succeeded in pulling him out the side door to the alley. A cold draft blew through the room before the door shut behind them, and as Mal sighed and turned to find a place to sit. That’s when she saw Gail in the doorway from the stage.

Shit.

“Gail,” she said stupidly, not sure what else she had to say.

“I fucking knew it,” the younger woman said, shaking her head as her lip trembled. “I fucking knew you’d fucked him.”

“It was a long time ago.” Lies, of course. But Gail and Hal weren’t her business. Their drama was their own. She hadn’t helped anything but...

Okay, she was a terrible person.

“No, it wasn’t. But that’s okay. I’m fucking done.” And with that the little dark-haired pixie turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

“Gail, Gail don’t!” V went after her, and all Mal could do was sink into a chair. Jesus. From a really great show to this high school bullshit.

She was too fucking old for all this.

“You guys are on in three,” a voice called from the stage, and she looked up at the club owner. He looked around the room, confused, his dark brow furrowing on the dark complexion of his face.

She had no idea what to do. It was just her and...

“I’ll be right out,” she said, getting to her feet again.

“And the band?”

“They’re coming,” she assured him. “I always start the second set on my own.”

His eyes flicked over her, up and down, then decided he believed her. She followed, picking up the acoustic guitar from its stand while the DJ’s music was still thumping. She jacked in and approached her mic, suddenly nervous.

She never performed alone to a group this young and raucous before. This wasn’t really her gig, she wasn’t strong on the rock stuff. She had an acoustic guitar for fuck’s sake. But she decided to explain herself, maybe that would get the group on her side.

“Hey there. My name’s Mallory. As you can tell, I’m the tits of the group.”

The crowd laughed and somewhere a dude yelled out, “Can we see ‘em?”

She laughed but didn’t answer. “Other than the blessings I have physically, I also really like playing guitar. And I really like songs that make me feel like I’m somewhere else. So for just a moment, I’d like to play you something a bit slower. But grab a partner, someone you wanna hold close, and join me for some Janis Joplin. Okay?”

Someone hollered their agreement, but she was already strumming out the start of
Me and Bobby McGee.
The room grew quiet, a few throats were cleared, and then she started singing.

By the time she hit the second verse Matt was at his drum kit and he added some understated percussion. V joined in on bass and they finished the song on a high note. There was a moment of silence, and then the group erupted into a loud cheer that Mal honestly hadn’t been expecting. She was grinning as she turned back to Matt. He was grinning at her, then nodded to V. “
Poor Pitiful Me
,” he shouted over the noise, and she nodded her agreement.

Matt counted them down on the cowbell, then she added her Gibson. The crowd was already clapping before she even began with the first line. “
Well I laid my hand on the railroad track, waiting on the Double-E...
”

V joined in for backup on the chorus, and to her surprise, he was really, really good. She didn’t think she’d really noticed his voice before.

The crowd was hopping again. They were happy, and if they noticed the slightly folksy-turn the music had taken they gave no sign of minding. By the time she’d finished
You’re No Good
Hal was back on stage. He gave her a shaky smile but he took over the rest of the set and they didn’t lose their group at all. It was amazing.

For the last song they broke out the CCR,
Proud Mary
. It was fast, a great way to end the show. Hal was back in fine form...right until the moment he collapsed.

The mic hit the ground in a loud boom, and Mal was already rushing forward. She put Bobby to the side and crouching next to Hal as the room grew completely quiet.

“Hal? Hal, come on. Wake up.”

He was clammy to her touch, coated in sweat. He seemed to be breathing. Shallow, but it was there. She looked up into V’s face. “I don’t know what to do.”

V pushed her out of the way, putting his head to Hal’s chest as Matthew shouted for someone to call 911. “He needs help,” V mumbled, straightening Hal on the floor.

Mallory helped best she could. She got Hal’s arms out to the sides and helped him straighten his neck while Matt straddled his stomach. He started chest compressions, and when he looked at her she realized he needed her help. He needed her to breathe into Hal’s mouth.

So she did. She waited, and after every three chest compressions she puffed into Hal’s mouth, willing him to start breathing.

The room had grown terribly quiet, and the murmuring of the crowd was impossibly low for the size of the crowd. But all she could hear was the
absence
of sound from the body on the floor.

When he stirred at first she thought she’d imagined it. Then his head moved from where she held it and he coughed, just the slightest bit. “Oh, thank fuck,” she whispered, smacking at Matt to let up on his chest.

“Hal? Hal, you back with us?”

When the recognition flooded into his eyes it was like the lights coming on. He was just
there
. “Fuck. What happened?”

Mal settled on her ass, breathing in relief. “Thank God.”

“What happened?” He repeated, voice rough and raspy.

“You tell us, man. You collapsed. Your heart stopped.” Matt dropped to the opposite side, pulling up one eyelid.

“Shit,” Hal muttered, covering his face with both hands, still splayed on his back.

“What happened?” Mal asked quietly, moving closer. “Before you came out again. Can you remember?”

Hal dropped both hands, head turning her way. “Gail. Fucking Gail gave me something to help pick me up, she said. I was pissed, starting to come down again. She had these little orange pills—”

“Shit man,” Matt muttered, pushing his hair out of his face. “Sunshine? You shouldn’t do that shit. It’s strong.”

“What is it?” Mal asked, this name completely foreign to her.

“It’s Oxy, but it’s, like, homemade.” Matt shook his head. “We should get him to a hospital.”

“No,” Hal sputtered on a cough, sitting up. When he did there was a smattering of applause. “No hospitals.”

“There’s an ambulance coming, man.”

Mal put a hand on Hal’s shoulder. “Your heart
stopped,
you idiot. You have to go in and make sure everything’s okay.”

“No insurance,” Hal reminded her, shaking off her touch and getting to his feet. “Remember? Starving musician.”

“We’ll try to cover it.” That was V, hanging back but watching intently. “It’s too important, man.”

Hal was stubborn, and Mal and Matt stood as he was shaking his head. “I don’t want to fuck with the tour.”

“Idiot,” Matt cut in, roughly shaking his shoulder. “Go to emergency. Let them hook you up to that EKG or whatever. See what’s going on. If it’s nothing, good. But if there’s something else wrong that this shit complicated even more, you gotta know. Like...
yesterday
.”

“Hal, please,” Mal added quietly. “This is scary shit. You were
out
. Matt said it; your heart stopped. What happens if it does it again and we’re not here?”

He was being railroaded, he knew it, and Mal couldn’t care less if it bothered him. More than protecting his wounded ego, he needed to get this taken care of.

When the sirens grew close enough to be heard he sighed, pushing his hair back from his face with both hands. “FUCK!” he shouted, then nodded. “Fine. I’ll go in, let them take a look at me.”

“It’s probably nothing—” V began but Hal cut him off with a hand wave.

Mal moved closer to Matt. “Where’s Gail?” she whispered, not wanting Hal to hear.

Matt frowned. “No idea. Backstage?”

Mal turned on her heel and stalked to the door off the small stage, down the two portable wooden steps and into the stink of musty furniture and days’ old beer. The room was empty. She strode to the far door that opened into the small parking lot that was just for unloading deliveries and equipment.

As the door swung open and the hit the wall with a loud bang Gail turned, cigarette in hand, her eyes red rimmed. She’d been crying? Oh, fuck this crazy twat.

“What the
fuck
were you thinking?” Mal spat.

“What?”

“Don’t give me that shit. He’s drunk and high so you give him fucking Oxy?”

“I didn’t give him shit—” she stopped as Mal knock the cigarette from her hand. “What the fuck?”

“You are so fucking
fired.
You’re dangerous and insane and I don’t want you anywhere near us.”

“Fuck
you
!” The reply was brilliant. Exactly what she’d expected. “Listen,
Mom
, it might be okay in
your
mind that you’re fucking my boyfriend—”

“Boyfriend,” Mal reiterated. “Sure. Boyfriend. Let’s go with that. Pretty sure you’re only interested when he can get you something you want. So what’s he getting right now? Cardiac arrest? That’s a shitty deal.”

“I know you have to spread for younger guys because that’s all that there is out there—after all, everyone your own age is likely married. But you’re actually the bitch in this case, Mallory.”

Mal shook her head. “Fucking a guy is one thing. Almost killing him is an entirely different thing.”

Gail poked her in the chest with one boney finger. “If you think for one minute you can get me fired you’re out of your mind.”

“What did you think would happen if you gave him that shit?” Mal asked.

“I didn’t give him anything!”

“Fucking liar. What were you trying to accomplish? You
wanted
to hurt him. It couldn’t be any more obvious.”

Gail laughed. “He deserved it.”

Mal’s mouth dropped open. “You are a fucking piece of work. You’re walking home.”

“Whatever. I’m not going anywhere. You’re the only one that’s redundant in this group.”

“Get your shit and get out, Gail.”

They both turned in surprise, but Matt held his gaze on Gail. “Matt, listen—”

“No.” Mal had never heard this kind of resolve from Matt before. “You just admitted you gave him what he deserved. You wanted to hurt him. You can’t be around us anymore. You have to go.”

“Go get Hal.” The bitch was starting to sound worried.

“No. He’s in an ambulance, headed to the emergency room. Because of you. So get your shit and go.”

Gail’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger. Then she turned on Mal. “You bitch. This is your fault, you ugly old whore. If you weren’t fucking him—”

“That’s why you did it?” Mal actually had to laugh. “You are as fucking crazy as I always thought you were.”

In a tiny blur of dark hair, pale skin and bared teeth Gail launched herself at Mal, hands up. One caught Mal’s cheek, at least three nails raking her skin. it stung, but mostly she was so shocked as her head spun the other way she could only gasp.

Another hit to her chest, both hands pushing at her. It knocked the breath out of her and she went back on both feet, but caught herself in time. Just in time for Gail to tackle her to the concrete.

Somehow she didn’t crack her head. Must have a strong neck or something. But now the crazy little psycho was raining down tiny and pathetically weak punches on her chest. Mal’s arms had come up to protect her face by instinct, and she used both hands to push the girl away. It worked. The nut only weighed about ninety-five pounds. 

Mal scrambled to her feet, and Gail tumbled the rest of the way to the ground but sprung back up like those boxing clowns that kids play with. Matt was on her, arm around her waist, holding her back.

Never having been in a fight before, Mal took no notice of any kind of conflict decorum and cracked a slap across that bitch’s face that knocked her mouth around to her ear.

“Jesus! Mal!” Now someone was holding
her
back, and she knew it was V but she fought his hold anyway.

“You better fucking pray he’s okay!” she screeched, knowing that the despair in her voice made it sound like she was stiff competition in the crazy bitch category but she honestly didn’t care. Her blood was racing too fast, pounding her pulse in her ears, making her entire body taught like a piano wire. “If this has hurt him—”

“Fuck him!” Gail wailed back, tears rolling down her face. “I love him. And this is what he does to me! Fuck
him!
”