Page 29 of All Right No
“Then do something. He’s your boyfriend.” She chased after Xane.
Ginny set her foot on the stairs. There were still angry rumblings coming from above, though they ceased as she climbed. When she reached the top, she found her needy, frustrated boyfriend sitting on a stool holding one half of a pair of maracas. Its twin lay on the floor by the drum kit. His new guitar, a sort of birthday gift in reverse from Xane, was on the floor beside a toppled chair and a microphone stand.
Shoot! So much for hoping this might be the day to sort her shit out. It looked as if Ash’s issues were far more pressing, again.
Ginny mooched over to him. “Hey, what’s doing?”
She ruffled his hair and pressed a kiss to his wrinkled brow.
“This and that,” he muttered.
“Artistic differences?” she asked, letting him know that she’d seen Xane’s stormy exit.
“He can’t get it right.”
“Oh!”
“He’s nailed it every fucking time,” Spook muttered, causing her to realise he was inside the sound suite and that she and Ash weren’t alone. “Xane isn’t the problem.”
“Fucking is. You must be as deaf as he is.” A nasty scowl contorted Ash’s otherwise handsome face. “He fluffs it every bloody time. Either he dawdles into the bridge or takes it so fast the whole chorus ends up rushed.”
Spook moved so that he stood in the doorway between the two rooms, his hand raised so that he clasped the edge of the door frame. “Bullshit! There’s not a damn thing wrong with Xane’s playing and you know it. The problem is your insistence on butting in every forty seconds to nit-pick over non-existent faults because you can’t deal with the fact he’s standing in for you.”
“That’s not true.” Ash turned to her, stretched out his hands beseechingly. “Seriously Ginny, this isn’t my fault. Xane keeps on ballsing it up.”
Ginny folded her hand around the fingertips of his left hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Spook rolled his eyes. “I know you’re a thing, but please don’t pander to his nonsense. We’ve lost the whole morning to this shit, and God knows when Xane’s going to be ready to return to it, and this, let’s face it, is merely the latest in a long, long line of crap you’ve slowed us down with. We could have had this demo done and dusted weeks ago if you didn’t insist on picking fault with everything.”
“Excuse me if I don’t want to put out shoddy recordings.”
Spook’s blond hair swayed against his shoulders as he bowed his head. “That’s not what this is about. This is your inability to deal with shit. Fact is, if you don’t like the way Xane’s playing it, you need to pick up that guitar and do it yourself.”
Ash kicked back his stool, and took several knee jerk steps in Spook’s direction. Quick as she followed, Ginny couldn’t move fast enough to get between them. They squared off, face to face.
“You know fine well that’s not an option. I can’t play, remember. My fingers are fucked. Iain fucked me.”
Spook shoved him backward to an arm’s length. “The only one fucking things up for you at the moment is yourself. You’re not making any effort to fix yourself. You’re just whiny and resentful. When was the last time you even tried to play anything?”
“He’s practicing,” Ginny leapt to Ash’s defence. He’d told her so, often.
Spook snorted. “No, he really isn’t. In fact, he’s not contributing in any beneficial way to the album. All he’s doing is making the whole process one gigantic nightmare. You need to butt out and leave Xane and me to do things the way we always have; the way it’s worked for four triple platinum albums.”
“You can’t stop me from being involved.”
“Ash.” Ginny threw him a warning look, fearful of how Spook might respond. “Let’s just all calm down a bit. What do you say to you and me taking a breather? I know you’re in a difficult place, and I think everyone knows that all you want is the best for them all, but this isn’t going to secure that for anyone. You’ve all been working hard, tempers are frayed. You need to step back and regain some perspective. You too, Spook.”
The blond man’s eyes glittered. “What he needs to do is put a fucking lid on his ego, and maybe do some of the exercises he’s been given instead of using his disability as a crutch to excuse behaving like an arsehole.” He kicked aside the wooden wedge holding the sound room door open and stepped backward so that it slammed between them.
Ash banged his fist against the wood, whereupon Spook stuck two fingers up at him. Rather than watch them wage a silent fight, Ginny tugged Ash towards the stairs. “Did you hear, did you see that?” he grumbled as they descended. “This is what I have to deal with day in day out. I’m working my butt off to contribute to Black Halo’s future, but the fact is they’re all desperate to be done with me.”
“Let’s get some fresh air and daylight. I’m not sure it’s good for you all, being cooped up in there without any natural light.”
Unexpectedly, Ash didn’t dig his heels in over their tactical withdrawal, and to her relief, there was no sign of Xane and Dani outside the building, just an azure sky peppered with clouds and a strong breeze rolling in off the lake. She led Ash down to the stone jetty, where he took a perch at the very end, and dangled his feet into the water. The cold water seemed to dampen some of his fury.
“Is this really the time to be pissing off your two best mates?” she asked after a few minutes had passed.
He turned his head, hand raised in order to shield his eyes from the sun. “So you think it’s my fault too. Gee, thanks for your support, Ginny.”
