“Dennis. I think the doc needs to check his brain again.”
“I’m serious.”
“Ugh, bloody hell. Are we really having this conversation?” Sebastian says, rolling his eyes. They are crowd around me, staring me down. “Listen up. It’s all of us or nothing. We said it when we started and we meant it.”
“Maybe we were stupid.”
“Smarter than you’re being right now,” Marius mumbles under his breath.
“It’s never been about the money, Jizztits. It’s been about this.” Seb gestures to our little group. “Always. And I don’t need a big stadium to play my music. I have a fawning fan in Cadence. And I have you guys. And also, my rugged good looks, and gigantic dick. If we never go on stage again? I’m good. The reason we want you to get better so bad? It’s because playing music or not playing should be a choice you get to make, not have it made for you. So, if it’s meant to be, we’ll set the world on fire again. We did it before, we can do it again.”
I sit back. It feels like it should be a victory; getting to go home was one of the major milestones in my recovery.
But right now, all I can think about is Noemie.
Think about how much she’s helped me in the last few days. How much I’ve come to care for her. How much I desire her, want her.
She must be so fucking confused right now.
“I gotta go. I have to talk to her.”
Again, Dennis stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, can I maybe have a chat alone with Jez for a minute?” he asks the guys.
“Ugh, I knew he was your favorite,” Brad grumbles as he grabs his bags of potato chips and wanders out of the room.
“Well you didn’t think it was you, did you?” Sebastian taunts him, pushing him in the back as they leave.
Dennis closes the door behind him before coming back to stand next to me.
“Jez. How much do you know about this girl?”
I didn’t expect that question. “Why?”
“Well, you’ve been here for about three months and we’ve managed to keep it completely out of the radar. You’re friends with this woman for a few days, and suddenly, paps are swarming.” He raises his left eyebrow, as if I should be reading more into what he’s saying.
“What are you suggesting exactly, Dennis?” Already I feel the back of neck tingle in an involuntary defense of Noemie .
“I’m not suggesting anything, I’m just saying, keep on your toes. Maybe you should just lay low for a while?” Dennis has had to deliver a lot of news to us, both good and bad, in the decade he’s been managing us. And we’ve gotten into a lot of trouble that he’s had to get us out of. But rarely does he look nervous. Like he does right now.
“Is that all?” I don’t want to talk about this anymore. If there’s something to say, he should just say it. I don’t appreciate the speculation about her.
But all he says, is “Jez.”
“Thanks for the warning, Dennis, but I think I’ve been at this for long enough to know when I’m being played.”
“I don’t mean that, I just mean, look, you’re vulnerable. I honestly think we’d all feel better if you maybe waited for a while after you left here, let things die down, and then you can get in touch with her again. There’s no reason you can’t.”
“Seriously, Dennis, I’m going to have to ask you to end this discussion right here. I’m not going to talk about this for another minute longer.”
He holds his hands up in surrender, “Fine. I… just looking out for you.”
“I know you are. I know. And I appreciate it. You’ve always looked out for us. And I know you’ve had to do things above and beyond since I got in the accident. I mean, taking care of everything so I don’t have to be bothered by it. I appreciate it.”
“I know you didn’t want to deal with it.”
“And I still don’t. You just do what needs to be done. I don’t care. I just care about me getting better and that what happened, doesn’t happen again to someone else. That person should not be behind the wheel ever again.”
“Got it. We good?”
I smile at him, to relieve the tension, even though it’s still knotting my stomach. “The best. Now get out of here. I need a nap. Before I return to the real world.”
Dennis pats me on the shoulder and gives me a long look before leaving.
I wait until I see him get on the elevator before I step out into the hallway. I have to see Noemie, she must be so confused. I don’t even really know what I’m going to tell her,
Being here, in the cocoon, we’ve gotten to know each other so well in ways that don’t include knowing each other’s life stories. But I can tell you how she feels about how soap operas change actors for the same role, or whether or not cheese should ever come out of a can, and what she wants to name her second born. I know how she eats everything with a spoon, because she likes to scoop and not stab her food. I know the things that matter.
And she knows the things that matter about me.
Me being famous and part of the Rock Chamber Boys should not matter.
But it does. And I guess it’s time she learned about it, and heard it from me. I owe her that.
I nod my head to Frank, the bodyguard at my door and he waves as I step towards Noemie’s room.
Just be honest with her. But she needs to know, I tell myself.
There’s a ding of the elevator and just as I’m about to take another step toward her room. A tall, good looking guy steps off it.
A guy who looks very familiar.
A guy I never wanted to see.
A guy coming to claim his girl.
The guy from the bar.
Noemie’s boyfriend.