Page 96 of Replay
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The VIP yurts were easily located.Getting security on the entrance to the inner sanctum of the backstage zone to grant her entry took Alle a great deal of persuasion.Apparently a regular VIP pass wasn’t good enough.She ended up having to get Sally Kettering, Black Halo’s PR guru, to write her a note.It felt like being back at school and showing her pass to the hall monitor to prove she had permission to go to the toilet.
The yurts were arranged in a semi-circle, with slab paving pathways looping between them that lead to the gravelled area at the back of the main festival stage.Laminated cards blu tacked to the doors told you who they were assigned to.On another occasion Alle might have been more excited.There were some real rock ‘n’ roll legends here.Guys and girls she’d have hyperventilated over the notion of being metres away from, not so long ago.Presently, her only focus was Spook.She crossed her fingers, when she finally approached the trio of huts sporting the Black Halo name.The first yurt stood empty.The second, she heard voices inside.She was on the verge of turning the doorknob when she recognised Luthor’s voice.It sounded very much like he was having a full blown argument with Xane.
Oh-kay!Alle backed away slowly, treading carefully so as not to make a sound.Like they’d have heard her anyway over the noise they were making.Spook wouldn’t be in there with them, right?
The door to the third Black Halo yurt, stood slightly ajar, allowing her to peep into the interior before knocking.The space was roughly circular, with a complicated stove in the centre, surrounded by a wire mesh fireguard.There was a couch, a couple of hanging pegs, and a dressing table with a mirror, which she found Spook sitting at, his head bent to the task of re-painting his nails.The yurt was otherwise devoid of decoration.It was not as Ronnie had alleged, full of spiders, or particularly dark.In fact, it seemed to be outfitted with a myriad of daylight bulbs.
“Hey, you,” she said, giving the door a nudge with her foot so that it swung inwards.
Spook paused in the act of dipping the little brush into the bottle of black polish and lifted his head.“Hey.”
He didn’t sound pleased to see her.
“Am I okay to come in?”
He tilted his head.“Yeah, of course.”
Alle entered warily, but closed the door behind her.The last time she’d seen him, he’d been a raging lunatic, unable to claw enough of himself together to even attempt to explain the rage and panic burning him up.Not that an explanation was required.“Everything just got too much.”would suffice.Everyone saw red at one time or another.That wasn’t to say she didn’t want to know who that woman was, and if she had done the right thing going to fetch Xane.Also, had he been avoiding her because he knew her brothers were a bunch of fuckwits, or for some other reason, like embarrassment?
Well, two out of her four brothers.Ewan hadn’t actually done anything, and Theo had done his best to be polite.
She settled into the second plastic chair before the make-up mirror.“Have you been avoiding me?”she asked after a minute or two of watching him paint his nails.“Are you angry with me over what happened last night?”
“Why would I be angry at you?It wasn’t your fault,” he said, without looking up.“I should apologise to you for my behaviour.And thank you for getting Xane.”He raised his gaze only long enough to give her a nod and mutter thanks.
“My brothers—”
“I don’t hold you responsible for them.”
Maybe not, but she was certain they’d contributed to his breakdown.Alle nervously twisted her hands in her lap.“This morning, I thought… That is, why didn’t you find me before you left?”She’d been running all sorts of reasons through her head, but none of them provided an adequate explanation, and all of them wound up flashing neon light style warnings at her that she’d majorly fucked up.
“I’m a coward,” he said.Not what she’d expected him to say.
“Are you saying you were deliberately avoiding me?”
Spook sniffed, and then nodded.Nails done, he screwed the cap onto the bottle, and then spread his fingers apart and fanned them through the air.
“Why?”
Even now he was avoiding eye contact.
A loud thump sounded from the yurt next door, accompanied by the bark of two raised voices.Spook turned his head as if the noise were all the explanation she needed.
“It’s not good that they’re quarrelling before you’re due on stage,” she said, grimacing.She’d never thought about what it must be like to have to go out and give an amazing performance when you were pissed off with the people around you.Being a musician definitely had some downsides.Thank heavens her talents were on the production side, rather than performance and creation.
“It’s my fault,” Spook said.He rose, and made a circuit of the small room before returning to his original position and gripping the back of the plastic chair.“Alle.There’s something I need to tell you.”
Alle stood.Spook’s expression was solemn, so earnest.His blond brows pulled tightly together so the bridge between them was all wrinkled.
“It’s probably best if I don’t mince words.I slept with Xane last night.That’s why Luthor’s raging.I’m sorry.Yes, I’ve been avoiding you, because I don’t feel great about having to say this to you.”
For a second or two his words didn’t even make sense.Then incredulity kicked in.She didn’t smack him across the cheek, though the thought occurred to her.
“You and Xane!”Her head turned in the direction of the thumping coming from the neighbouring yurt.No wonder Luthor was steaming.And Dani… Sweet, lovely Dani.Was she with them too?She’d be so hurt.“But…” That was all she could make herself say.It didn’t make sense.Spook abstained from sex.They’d had long conversations about it.She’d been toppling his objections one by one.They’d got intimate.But he’d been weird about taking the final step.Not so, apparently, about doing it with someone else.
“Xane,” she reiterated.“I don’t understand.What do you mean you slept with him?Are we talking about a blowjob, or something?”
