took to my room. Poor lassie was barely out the door when the H-bomb went off. I just hope she didn’t look back.’
I remembered Rory being with two young girls in the bar and vaguely recalled him snogging one around the time my eyes were closing.
‘The wee blonde one?’ Angus asked.
Hooray! A bloody question!
‘No, her pal. The blonde one went home about half-twelve.’
‘So why’s Heike kicking off?’
‘She’s ripping into me for the girl being too young. She was eighteen and we’re in Newcastle, for fuck’s sake. That’s the local equivalent of thirty-five.’
Angus managed a laugh, but Rory’s joke couldn’t disguise the annoyance he was feeling.
Rory took another sip of espresso.
‘All right, she might have been seventeen,’ he admitted, ‘I didn’t ask to see her ID, but neither did the bar staff. So what’s it to do with Heike?’
Angus looked pained.
‘This isn’t about you, though, is it?’ he said.
Rory sighed and shook his head.
‘No, I guess not.’
Who it
was
about no one said, but I could tell they weren’t only referring to Heike. There was a flavour of ‘not in front of the children’ about their reticence, like they were sparing rather than excluding me.
I’d had enough of it, though.
‘Sorry, for those of us who missed the first two seasons, can you bring me up to speed? Who are we talking about?’
Glances were exchanged, like they were wondering what to do. I don’t know if the problem was that I didn’t have clearance for this intelligence or just that a girl was messing with the man rules. But they understood that there was no way out.
‘Maxi,’ Angus said.
So that was it. The ghost at the feast: the person nobody ever talked about, especially around me. Maxi: Alistair Maxwell, Savage Earth Heart’s original fiddle player. I think I must have known this subconsciously, hence my remark about the first two seasons.
‘What about him?’
They shared another of those troubled male glances, though mostly it was Angus I could see, and he was the one truly on the spot, as he apparently knew a lot more about it.
‘He and Heike were an item, once upon a time. Way back. Before the band, even, but the fallout had a long half-life.’
A too-long pause to take this in and a look of confusion betrayed me.
‘What?’ Angus asked.
‘Nothing. I just—’
‘Thought she was gay?’
‘Well, I’m sure I read…’
‘What, you disappointed?’ Rory asked, a little too knowingly for my liking. ‘Don’t worry: you could still be in there.’
‘As far as I know, she is,’ Angus said. ‘But these things are never simple.’
‘Hell of a thing to have on your sexual CV,’ Rory added. ‘Turned Heike Gunn to the muff side. No wonder Maxi flings it about.’
‘Flings what about?’
‘His dick. Last tour, he was nailing anything that didn’t struggle, and I’m the one taking the grief for it.’
Angus nodded.
‘He was shagging like it was the Olympic trials,’ he confirmed. ‘Heike took it sore every time she saw him going off to his room with yet another young girl.’
‘Or girls.’
‘We weren’t in these nice big hotels then, either. Some of the places, you could hear everything. Maybe Heike thought he was waving it in her face or something, I don’t know. It was two or three years since they’d been together, but you know Heike: in her mind, everything’s about her.’
‘So she fired him for
that
?’
‘No,’ Angus answered. ‘She fired him because he was turning into a liability.’
‘I think “fucking nightmare” is the term you’re looking for,’ Rory added. ‘You’d never expect it would be the fiddle player who became a rock cliché, but that’s how it was.’
‘Safe to say Maxi became less interested in the music than in the lifestyle that went with it,’ Angus said, his understatedness lending it all the more weight given he was only awake right now thanks to the cocaine in his system.
‘Less interested?’
I remembered Rory being with two young girls in the bar and vaguely recalled him snogging one around the time my eyes were closing.
‘The wee blonde one?’ Angus asked.
Hooray! A bloody question!
‘No, her pal. The blonde one went home about half-twelve.’
‘So why’s Heike kicking off?’
‘She’s ripping into me for the girl being too young. She was eighteen and we’re in Newcastle, for fuck’s sake. That’s the local equivalent of thirty-five.’
Angus managed a laugh, but Rory’s joke couldn’t disguise the annoyance he was feeling.
Rory took another sip of espresso.
‘All right, she might have been seventeen,’ he admitted, ‘I didn’t ask to see her ID, but neither did the bar staff. So what’s it to do with Heike?’
Angus looked pained.
‘This isn’t about you, though, is it?’ he said.
Rory sighed and shook his head.
‘No, I guess not.’
Who it
was
about no one said, but I could tell they weren’t only referring to Heike. There was a flavour of ‘not in front of the children’ about their reticence, like they were sparing rather than excluding me.
I’d had enough of it, though.
‘Sorry, for those of us who missed the first two seasons, can you bring me up to speed? Who are we talking about?’
Glances were exchanged, like they were wondering what to do. I don’t know if the problem was that I didn’t have clearance for this intelligence or just that a girl was messing with the man rules. But they understood that there was no way out.
‘Maxi,’ Angus said.
So that was it. The ghost at the feast: the person nobody ever talked about, especially around me. Maxi: Alistair Maxwell, Savage Earth Heart’s original fiddle player. I think I must have known this subconsciously, hence my remark about the first two seasons.
‘What about him?’
They shared another of those troubled male glances, though mostly it was Angus I could see, and he was the one truly on the spot, as he apparently knew a lot more about it.
‘He and Heike were an item, once upon a time. Way back. Before the band, even, but the fallout had a long half-life.’
A too-long pause to take this in and a look of confusion betrayed me.
‘What?’ Angus asked.
‘Nothing. I just—’
‘Thought she was gay?’
‘Well, I’m sure I read…’
‘What, you disappointed?’ Rory asked, a little too knowingly for my liking. ‘Don’t worry: you could still be in there.’
‘As far as I know, she is,’ Angus said. ‘But these things are never simple.’
‘Hell of a thing to have on your sexual CV,’ Rory added. ‘Turned Heike Gunn to the muff side. No wonder Maxi flings it about.’
‘Flings what about?’
‘His dick. Last tour, he was nailing anything that didn’t struggle, and I’m the one taking the grief for it.’
Angus nodded.
‘He was shagging like it was the Olympic trials,’ he confirmed. ‘Heike took it sore every time she saw him going off to his room with yet another young girl.’
‘Or girls.’
‘We weren’t in these nice big hotels then, either. Some of the places, you could hear everything. Maybe Heike thought he was waving it in her face or something, I don’t know. It was two or three years since they’d been together, but you know Heike: in her mind, everything’s about her.’
‘So she fired him for
that
?’
‘No,’ Angus answered. ‘She fired him because he was turning into a liability.’
‘I think “fucking nightmare” is the term you’re looking for,’ Rory added. ‘You’d never expect it would be the fiddle player who became a rock cliché, but that’s how it was.’
‘Safe to say Maxi became less interested in the music than in the lifestyle that went with it,’ Angus said, his understatedness lending it all the more weight given he was only awake right now thanks to the cocaine in his system.
‘Less interested?’
Similar Books
