Page 30 of Replay
“No,” Spook reiterated his objection, with considerably less force this time.The same weary lethargy that had beset the rest of the band seemed to be falling over him.Fighting all the time sapped the will, and the last eighteen months had been one long battle after another.It made him miss the early days when their line-up had never been in question, and alliances were set in stone.
Alle had sidled up to him.“Do you have something against my brother?”she asked.
“He’s allergic,” Ash piped up like it’d been him Alle had directed the question to.“To brothers.They bring him out in a rash.”
“Hilarious,” she drawled in response, adding in an efficient eye roll.“Spook?He’s not Marshall.”
Hesitant, he took a moment to consider his words, only replying when she started fidgeting with her shirt cuff.“Alle.I’m sure your brother’s great.That he’s a lovely person, and he’s talented.I just can’t… It feels like an invasion.Now, perhaps that’s me, my issue.Paranoia.I just think his presence here is weird.I’d lay money on him and your other brother having spoken and concocted this.So… Yeah.”He gave a shrug.“Doesn’t make me want to welcome him into my inner circle of friends.”
Interestingly, she nodded.“Okay.I get your reluctance, but did you need to be quite so brutal about quashing him like that?He’s going to be pissed now, and what good is that going to do?Especially, if, as you suspect, he’s purely here to spy for Marshall?”
“Are you suggesting I apologise?”
“No.I’m… Maybe.I’d just really prefer it if you didn’t make enemies of all my brothers.They may be pains in my arse, but I do love them.”
Ash, who had missed the drama in Cannes, but who had been filled in on the details, watched their exchange with guarded interest.“You know he’s usually Switzerland,” he heard Ash say to Alle when he went to fetch a bottle of water.“If his hackles are up, it’s probably for a good reason.Maybe you need to have a good ol’ catch up chat with your brother.”
“I intend to.”
“Now,” Ash prompted her.“I need him to focus, and he’s not going to do that with you here.”
Alle sniffed, and looked about to protest, but Ash shook his head at her.
“Even putting the issue of your brother aside, you screw with his equilibrium too much.Hang out after the show.I need his attention fully focused on this now.”
When Spook returned to the front of the stage, Ash was alone.He looked up through his long eyelashes as Spook hunkered down.“You okay?”he asked softly.
Spook shrugged.“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just checking.And maybe dial down the anti-brother missiles.It’s the other one, not him that stirred shit.Believe me, it helps if you can get on with your lady’s family.”
“What if I don’t want to get on with them?”
Ash sighed.“Do you have a screw loose?”
