Know Me (Truthful Lies Trilogy - Book One) by Rachel Dunning Page B

your
own?”
    “Plenty of it was.”
    “ Dass what I told him. Yeah, so that means he’ll
definitely wanna talk about releasing a single. You
interested?”
    “ If it pays, sure.” Getting a record deal
has never been my goal. Making music has always been. That and
paying the rent.
    I remember the two Gs again. The earth
shifts. I lean against my kitchen counter.
    Xavier says, “You still doin’ those kiddie parties for dough?”
    “ It pays the bills.”
    “ I guess. Well, each to his own. We all do
what we have to to survive, eh?”
    I don’t comment. Xavier’s been talking to
me again for less than two days and he’s already getting on my
nerves.
    “ Anyway, chiquita, there’s big things
coming, so you might wanna take on less work for now.”
    “ I’ll take on less work when I get the
gigs.”
    “ You always played it safe, didn’t you? I
guess that’s a good thing. Would’ve helped if Savva had done the
same. Anyway, what’s done is done. Send me your account info. Randy
wants to pay you tonight . He said
you’re the hottest news of the underground scene right now. And he
wants dibs on you.”
    “ Tell him I appreciate it, but the
landlord’s knocking, and realty developers are kicking me out my
home. So, first come first serve.”
    “ That old fart? Fuck ’im. You tell
him—”
    “ Xavier, stay on track here.” Xavier really
knows nothing about Mr. Bernstein. Few people do. And his constantly
blasé comments about Savva are really starting to piss me the fuck off!
    “ Fine. Well, I’ll pass the message. But
don’t go gettin too much of a big head. One set you did. I’d take what Randy can throw your
way.” I tense my teeth. If Xavier wasn’t the way in for me here,
I’d be slamming the phone down. Then, on a total one-eighty, he
says, “Look, Blaze, about them haters online. Fuck ’em. Haters are
always gonna hate—goes with the territory, comprende?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ Best is to ignore them.”
    “ I’ll try.”
    And that’s the thing that always confused
me about Xavier. The Yin
and the Yang. One minute sweet as a rose, the other, vile as a
festering wound. Not the same as Tolek, no. Because I do believe it’s the chemicals
screwing with Xavier’s mind that make him this way. Doctor Jekyll’s
potion. (And, you gotta ask yourself, was Robert Stevenson really
referring to A Certain Corn Flake from California when writing about a potion that “removed
inhibitions”?)
    “ OK, chiquita. I gonna get me some rest. I
been up since yesterday morning. Damn, you played a fine set. Do
something for yourself tonight. Hey, you wanna grab some coffee
some time? You know, you, me, some music, some X, hmm? Like old
times?”
    Urgh! “Xavier...look, I appreciate the gig. But don’t
expect this to be more than it is.”
    “ We’ll see.”
    Part of me wants to jump down the phone
line, wrap my hands around him and say, No, we won’t see, you fucking
punk! The other part of
me tells me not to overreact, tells me that this is just the way
Xavier is.
    “ Lemme know when Randy wants to
meet.”
    “ Will do.” A pause. Then, Hyde goes away
again and Jekyll comes out: “Look, Blaze. I’m...I’m sorry . You know.
About... About everything, OK? I really am. No one expected it to
happen, or for it go so far.”
    It’s as if someone just winded me with
a whoosh of a
punch in the gut. Trembling, I say—no, I whisper : “Yeah, rearview regret. But...thank—thank you,
X. I appreciate you saying that.”
    He sighs. “OK, babe. We just gotta move
on, no?”
    I wish I could. “Yeah. Look, Xavier, after you
tell Randy ‘first come first serve’...uhm...also thank him for me.
From the bottom of my heart. Really. A lot. And, er, thank you again, OK?”
    “ I knew joo was a softy underneath all that riot grrrl
bullshit.”
    When I put the phone off, Declan (who is
now chilling on my beanbag with a copy of Nineteen
Eighty-Four ) says, “That
sounded intense.”
    A tear almost cracks