Page 26 of The Librarian and the Rock Star

“Sure. Whatever.”

“You ignorant little bitch –”

“Hey,” Kelly said, coming up behind Paul and not quite hearing what he just said, but from her expression, she had heard the tone. “How’s it going?”

“Wonderful,” I said sweetly. “Paul was just telling me about his old band, and how they wished they had gotten big enough to play Kuebler Hall.” Kelly couldn’t miss the absolute death glare shooting from Paul’s eyes. He stood up quickly and left without saying another word.

“What the hell was that about?” she asked as she grabbed a cooler and sat down beside me.

“That guy is a complete asshole,” I said. “I’m sorry, I know he’s the band promoter, but he is genuine human garbage.”

Kelly nodded. “Yup. Very glad that someone else finally gets it.”

“He came over here to imply that I was a groupie, then informed me that he would not allow Jack to see me again. I mean, if it was a Yoko situation and I was wrecking the band, he has every right to his opinion. But to just roll in and lay down the law when I haven’t done anything is a bit much.”

Kelly nodded again, her dreads nearly swaying into her face. “Yeah, it’s a pretty lousy situation. He doesn’t like Vegas Mud Disco, so he’s doing a shitastic job. The guys somehow don’t see it. He actually seemed disappointed that tonight’s show sold out! I’ve hinted around it to the band, but it’s not really my place, you know? I’m just PR for the record company.”

“But you seem to really like the band.”

“Oh, I do! They’re great guys, with amazing music, and a solid fan base. But without backup from the big guns, I don’t know where they’re going to end up.” She glanced over her shoulder, making sure that nobody was listening to us, but lowered her voice a bit anyway. “You know when a group of guys has a horrible jerk friend that they make excuses for? It’s like that. Paul got the

m a couple of amazing shows, and some fancy photo shoots when he took over as their promoter about a year ago, and now they’ll forgive any horrible behavior. Paul acts like he’s obscenely busy with all of his other bands, but he only has the two.”

“A thousand nasty words,” I sighed.

“Huh?”

I giggled. “Sorry – that’s what I say when there are just too many curses to bother with.”

“Gotcha. I agree.” She took a generous drink of her cooler. “I can’t believe he’s been slacking so hard with their Montreal show.”

“When is that?”

“A week from tomorrow. They’re playing a huge concert hall and tickets aren’t selling very well. I’ve been doing everything on my end, but somehow I just don’t think things are being done on the ground there. I have a horrible feeling he’s trying to sabotage the show.”

“Why would he do that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do angry men do anything illogical?”

“Who’s an angry man?” Jack asked, bursting in with a giant grin.

“Certainly not you,” Kelly laughed. “How did it go?” She slid over so that Jack could sit between us, and I handed him his beer.

“It was great! It was a really sweet couple,” he said to me, then turned back to Kelly, “And we recorded a little video for them for their friends who missed the show because they’re having a baby sometime this week. We gave them a huge list of baby names and important parenting advice.”

“Like what?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, if it’s a girl, they should start her with drum lessons by age five, because Toronto is desperately in need of more female drummers. And if it’s a boy, start him on guitar early, so that he’ll always be popular with the ladies.” He chuckled to himself. “We may have gotten pretty silly. But if you hear of a kid named Rainbow Pipsqueak Electra someday, that’s all our fault.”

“Sounds like a hippie I’d end up dating,” Kelly laughed. “All right, have a great night, I’ll send you all the details for tomorrow’s interview. Great show tonight!” She gave him a little hug, then took off.

Jack looked at me oddly. “Um, Kelly and I are getting to be pretty close friends,” he said cautiously.

“Good,” I said. “She seems sharp, she’s a hard worker, and she’s keeping a good eye on you miscreants.” He looked at me for a second, then I realized his point. “Good grief, please don’t think I’m going to be jealous if you hug other women. Please – hug away! It’s healthy.”

He actually breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you said that.”

“I’m not the jealous type, and according to your promoter, I’m just a groupie anyway.” I tried to laugh, but he looked horrified. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, distracting him by sliding closer and snuggling beside him a little. “What was your favorite part of the show?”

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