Helluva Luxe

by Essary, Natalie

  I took a drink from the flask. It tasted like lust.

  “Okay. What the hell is in this?” I said.

  Ash and Rorke exchanged a look.

  “Seriously. Not that it doesn’t go great with bacon, but you keep feeding it to me. I’ve kept my fucking mouth shut, because I’ve never been a barman who can’t call his drink, but come on now. You could market this and be loaded for life.”

  “Helluva Luxe,” Ash said.

  “Amen,” Rorke mumbled, her mouth full of bacon.

  “In liquid form?” I clarified.

  They both nodded.

  “And it ain’t for sale, Salem.” Ash bit into her taco.

  “Fair enough,” I said.

  “You want your own flask, you gotta pay your dues,” Ash said.

  “Oh yeah? And to you that means what, exactly?”

  “I’ve got a knife,” Ash said. “How valuable is your juice?”

  “Did you think you were drinking booze, Nick?” Rorke said and licked some salsa off her finger.

  I eyed her. Then I held out my wrist.

  They both cracked up.

  I pretended I didn’t hear the third person laughing. The one who sounded like she was coming from above us.

  We finished the pile of tacos, shared a smoke, and Ash disappeared. Rorke and I were sharing another when Switchblade Symphony came on, louder than the album before it. Made me wanna tear somebody’s clothes off.

  Rorke slid me a sideways grin.

  “She’s devious,” I said.

  “Thank god.”

  I had to change the subject, or I was going to have the bartender for desert. “The, uh, girl standing next to Naenia the night I got here, the possessive one who looked bored out of her mind.”

  Rorke nodded understanding.

  “That’s Zombarbie. Isn’t it?”

  “What tipped you off?”

  “The goggles. The hair. The body. The eyes. How’d she end up playing second fiddle. Again?”

  “She’s nobody’s second. You just can’t see it yet.”

  “So that’s her game.”

  “For now.”

  “And she and Naenia are…”

  “For now.”

  “Wow. What about Kendol?”

  “Yeah. About Kendol…” She kicked her boots up on my lap and settled back into the cushions. “You might wanna light another bone.”

  I smiled at her and unlaced her boots, pulled them off, and set them on the floor.

  “If you’re thinking of touching my feet, you aren’t gonna get the rest of the story anytime soon,” she said.

  “Oh? What will I get?”

  She dragged her toe up the inside of my thigh.

  Sweet mother of god. Fair enough.

  I reached for the bone and the lighter.

  The other bone.

  Chapter 27

  “He is sooooo not straight,” Chance said. “He’s not even bi. No dips in the nip, I promise you.” He flipped his shaker to show he meant business. “And he’s actually kind of an arrogant chauvinist once you get him going.”

  “No girls allowed?”

  “None. No doubt about it,” he said. “He’s got mama issues.”

  We were in the weeds so deep we’d need an Ewok to find our way out, and Kendol had wandered off to watch a band of hot Korean chicks smash their shit all over the stage. I swear they were singing about peanut butter. It was the only word in the song I could understand.

  “You’re positive?”

  “Rorke. I’ve got a pink bullet full of blow in my pocket that doesn’t belong to me and an invitation to an after-party in a penthouse. Not the after-party. His private one.”

  My mouth fell open.

  “Don’t I know it, baby,” Chance said. “He thinks I got it bad. And he thinks I’ll keep my mouth shut. Closet here, closet there.”

  “Fuck,” was all I could come up with.

  “No. Definitely not.”

  I started laughing, and he handed me the bullet. “Do something with this, would you? It ain’t my style.”

  “So, I guess this means Lily isn’t going home with Kendol tonight.”

  My earpiece clicked.

  “She’s staying here. She hasn’t packed,” Ash said. “And Kendol fed her some bullshit about looking good for First Class in case there were reporters flying back after the show.”

  “Jesus,” I muttered.

  Chance looked at me funny. “God talking to you?”

  “Tell Chance there’s another bud underneath his collar if he’d rather put it in his ear,” Ash said. And then she clicked off.

  “Your duds are bugged,” I told him.

  “Come again?”

  I reached around the back of his collar, and sure enough. “Here. Picard said to put this on. Congratulations, you’re in way over your head.”

  “Man, she is slick. I’m totally turned on.” He was shaking his head and grinning, fitting the thing in his ear. “She roughed me up a little after I got you Kate’s number. I didn’t suspect a thing.”

  “Go-go, Gadget DJ.”

  “If Sharper Image made stuff like this, they’d still be in business. Where’d she get the money?”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t worried about the money anymore. Actually, that’s a lie. I was starting to get a little worried about the money. But my boy looked worried, and we both couldn’t be up a tree at the same time. Somebody had to stay on the ground.

  I sighed. “Just because she can’t dig the sunshine, don’t make a girl shady.”

  “How long have you been waiting to use that?”

  “A while.”

  He was smiling again. “Honestly, Rorke. I don’t think I care how she got the money. I just want her to fix things.”

  “I know, hon. Me, too.”

  Zombarbie got called behind the curtain to blow out a blaze involving two hysterical models and one missing thong. The band finished up and Ash jumped on the board while the roadies cleared the stage. She dimmed the light over her head to a faint purple glow. Then she hit the fog machine and rolled out “Not an Addict.”

  The minute the song started, Chance looked up at the booth then over at me. He mouthed, “Oh shit. K’s Choice.” Then he made the sign of the big guns.

  I had to agree. I couldn’t wait to see what Ash was gonna do to top dropping fifteen feet onto the dance floor. But I knew she was up to something. It was a little early for the fog machine.

  Then Lily appeared in the booth.

  Ash wasn’t running the show this time.

  Lily walked up slowly behind her, floated like a ghost. She snaked her arms around Ash’s waist. I heard the rustle of fabric, and somebody’s heart sped up.

  It might have been mine.

  I couldn’t see them very well, but I didn’t need to. Every hair on my body got zapped. Chills started climbing up and down my arms. Lily had her lips on Ash’s neck, right under the tiny mic running a direct line through my brain.

  They crawled inside my head.

  Chance was mixing a drink for one of my girls, and his hands went still. He looked over at me. He was biting his lip so hard he was gonna break the skin.

  “I’m not taking this off,” he mouthed and tapped his earpiece.

  I shook my head. “Oh, hell no.”

  He started to laugh and we both looked away.

  Then I heard a moan. A very faint one.

  Heat climbed up my throat.

  “I can smell her on you,” Lily said softly. “I saw her take a taste of you, and I didn’t like it.”

  Ash said nothing.

  “I know I asked you to be her friend, but—” I heard a sharp intake of breath followed by an exhale. “You’re mine.”

  Someone was breathing harder.

  It might have been me.

  “I’m leaving in the morning,” Lily said. Several moments of breathing passed. “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

  “No.”

  “You’re supposed to be sayi
ng yes.”

  I heard a long ragged breath.

  “Lily, don’t go.”

  “Make me stay, then,” she whispered. “I’ll show you how.”

  Then my sound cut out, and the DJ booth went black.

  I looked over at Chance.

  He’d broken a sweat and sloshed liquor all over the bar.

  “I need a shot,” I mumbled. “And a cigarette.”

  “Me, too. And about three seconds to shake hands with the devil.”

  “There’s a camera in the walk-in, Chance.”

  “Shit. Now you tell me.”

  The song came to an end, and the next band started up without a beat in between. Chance banged a bunch of liquor bottles around and pushed a glass in my hand. Then he plucked a smoke from behind his ear and lit the wrong end. He was still vibrating.

  “Good grief, kid. Give me that. You’re gonna singe off your eyebrows.”

  “I’ve got a question,” he said. “How could Lily even think about—”

  “Leaving her behind?”

  “Yeah.” He sighed.

  “Fucking it all up for some idiot with a tungsten?”

  “Is that something from the triple-X shop?”

  “It’s a light.”

  “That’s all?”

  “My point exactly.”

  “This is about a redeye to LA. Isn’t it?” he said.

  “I think so.”

  “Kendol told me.”

  “What else did he say?” I asked.

  “They’ll be gone longer than a week. If Kendol gets his way, more like a month. He’s taking her to Paris, then Milan. It’s the fashion photog’s romance tour. Then they’re supposed to meet up with his folks, wherever they are. Barbados, I think. It was all arranged last minute by the travel agent he keeps in his ass pocket. Z is the only one who knows the details. And she picked up a rock for him today. Alone. He said he’s marrying Lily before they hit the beach.”

  “Which part of that are you making such a face over?”

  “I may not be the marrying kind, but I know for damn sure the sister doesn’t pick out the ring. And he seemed proud that his games are so easy to play.”

  I crossed my arms at him.

  “How do you do it?” I said.

  “Do what?”

  “Get so much detrimental information out of people. Kendol doesn’t open up to anybody. And he should know better than to trust you, come on. I’ve called him many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”

  “It’s my gift,” he said. “I’ve saved cats from bags the world over.”

  “Now that’s profound.”

  “Profundity is my other gift.”

  I just shook my head.

  “Kendol knew where she was all week, didn’t he?”

  “Well, kind of. He knew who she was with. Nobody knows where they were.”

  “Who ratted?” I said.

  “That, I don’t know. But a lot of people saw them take off on Ash’s bike. Evidently, they rolled through downtown with Lily sliding around on the seat like Michelle Pfeiffer.”

  “You mean…Cool Rider?”

  He nodded. “Lily wants a whole lot more than the boy next door.”

  “Stay away from the ladder, Chance.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I think I need a drink.”

  “You’ve got one in your hand, baby. It’ll be okay. We just gotta figure out a way to keep Lily from getting on that plane.”

  “Tie her to the bedpost,” I offered.

  “Now you’re talking,” was what I heard through my earpiece. Ash was back. I looked up at the booth. All I could see was her silhouette. And she was alone.

  Something flared up in my chest. It tasted like jealousy. I didn’t like it. I took a quick inventory. Not only did I feel jealous, but I also felt angry, afraid, nervous, excited, happy and a little frisky. All at the friggin’ same time.

  “Rorke?” Ash said.

  “I’m okay.”

  “You don’t look okay.”

  “I think I’m picking up more than just sound with this thing in my ear.”

  “Honey, that’s got nothing to do with your radio.”

  “What does she want from you, Ash?”

  Chance looked at me like I might’ve crossed a line.

  “What do you mean?” she said.

  “I heard Lily. When she said she’d show you how to make her stay she wasn’t…referring to the moment.”

  Chance eyeballed me even harder. It looked like a warning.

  “Lily wants me to lay down my trump.”

  There was a beat of silence while I tried to figure out what the hell Ash’s best card could possibly be. I’d always assumed she had extra decks stuffed down her pants.

  “She wants to hear that you love her,” Chance said flatly.

  Ash sighed. “Tell the kid what he’s won.”

  “I don’t think you should wait,” I said.

  “Why not?” Ash said.

  “I don’t know. I just don’t.”

  “If it doesn’t play, she’s out, Rorke,” Chance said.

  “Thus speaks the dealer of experience.”

  “You’re damn right, DJ,” Chance said. “He’s speaking at you really loud right now. Don’t tell Lily you love her. It’ll change everything.”

  “But you do love her?”

  They both just cocked their heads at me.

  “Unbelievable,” I said.

  Ash cleared her throat.

  “What Ash meant by that, is screw you,” Chance said. “You’re one to talk, Rorke. When’s the last time you said it to somebody other than us?”

  “Fine. But you better fucking come up with something else. Lock her in her room,” I said. “Rip off her wings. Push her from the landing. I don’t care. No fucking sister of mine is gonna marry a guy with a walking stick.”

  Ash literally barked, and I heard her choking on her beer.

  “What if I seduce Kendol?” Chance said. He didn’t look like he was kidding. “It would be so easy. I could cuff him in the penthouse of his fancy hotel and ditch him. He’s totally into me. Come on. Lemme do it.”

  By this point Ash was cracking up. I could see her shoulders shaking from across the room. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t freaking out over Lily leaving. But in her defense, I was pretty sure she just got laid in the DJ booth over the heads of several hundred people, so that explained her optimism.

  “Okay,” I said. “We’ve got, what? Two hours before Lily’s finale? Surely we can come up with something that doesn’t involve you peddling your manhood, Chance.”

  “Hey, if I’m not worried about my manhood, you shouldn’t be. This is about family. You should say thank you and pour me a drink, woman.”

  “He’s got a point,” Ash said. “You should let him cuff the twink. And I want pictures.”

  “Done and done.” Chance clicked his tongue.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I felt that from across the room,” Ash said. “I think it’ll work, Rorke. Kendol would never press charges.”

  “She’s right. He doesn’t like that kind of publicity. You’ve said so yourself. And it’s not like he’s gonna die. He’s in the penthouse. It’s perfect. Come on, baby.” Chance was pleading. “Family, yo.”

  “I haven’t seen you like this since Space Mountain.”

  “Dude, Space Mountain rocks.”

  “What about Z?” I said.

  “She’s done with him,” Ash said. “She wants out.”

  “What?” Chance started choking. “You gotta be kidding me. She’s into that guy? She could tear him apart. Wouldn’t have to lift a talon.”

  “The rumors about what he keeps in his pants are true,” Ash said.

  “I hope you’re talking about blow. Because I know he’s wearing more than two socks tonight,” I said. Ash started cackling and Chance accidently shot me with the soda gun.

  I looked down at my shirt. “Go get Z,” I told him. “Before I take a t
urn at you both with that thing.”

  He nodded and took off.

  “Ash, I’m gonna need you to teach Flipper here how to pour a Four Horsemen.”

  “Will do.”

  I sighed. “Damn it all, I wish we had Mofet.”

  “She’s closer than you think,” Ash said and clicked off.

  I leaned against the bar and rubbed my face too hard. A couple of my regulars were looking at me funny, so I swallowed it down and kept pouring. I couldn’t afford to lose it. But I really wanted to.

  Chance reappeared minutes later with nothing but a grimace. “Z’s not back there.”

  “She’s around here somewhere.”

  “I can’t find her. One of the models said she went upstairs.”

  “When?”

  “Thirty minutes ago.”

  “What? No way,” I said. “We would’ve seen her if she went up the stairs. And what would she be doing up there?”

  “Looking for Lily?”

  “Lily’s not up there.”

  “Maybe the model meant the stairs to the booth.”

  We both whipped around.

  Sure enough. Z stood at the top of the stairs, watching Ash flip through her books as the band finished an encore. Ash had turned the red light back on. It was still smoky up there, but I could see them clearly.

  Which meant Lily could, too. Wherever she was.

  “Shit, star eight! Star eight!” Chance and I fell all over each other to get the sound back on.

  Z walked up to Ash and leaned on her elbows like the deck was the hood of a Spider. The zipper on her catsuit seemed to be descending as the night progressed.

  Ash pulled her headphones off one ear and lit the cigarette dangling from her lip. She was eyeing Z lazily, and her expression was…appreciative.

  “Did you get it?” she said.

  “Of course.” Z was practically purring. “Quite an opening act you’ve got there.”

  Chance nudged me, and mouthed, “Two birds, one bone.”

  I snorted, so he gave himself a point.

  Ash took the cigarette from her lips and slid it to Z. “How long until it’s ready?”

  “Half an hour, tops,” Z said and exhaled.

  “I get the only one, or the deal is off. And then some.”

  “I wouldn’t dare,” she said. “I’m all yours.”

  “What the fuck?” Chance mouthed. His eyes were huge.

  I looked at him like he ought to know better.

  “Get on the mic and thank the band,” Z said. “Do that thing you do.”