Page 54 of For Eva

“Eleven thirty.”

Eva gasped and bolted upright. “Holy shit.”

“What?”

“Shit, shit,shit.”

“What?”

She pressed her hand to her forehead. “I…Fuck. Keith called me earlier this morning and asked me to tell Joe to stay close to Eric after what happened last night. But I ran into Eric first and tried to talk to him about it. He flipped out on me and took off, so I came up here to regroup before talking to Joe. I must’ve fallen asleep and—”

A knock at the door silenced her. I trudged over to open it, and there was Keith standing in front of me, his brow creased and mouth turned down. “Have you seen Eric?”

“No, man, I haven’t.”

“Is Eva here?”

He didn’t wait for my answer before pushing past me.

“Keith, hey, I was just going to talk to Joe,” Eva said, flipping on the nightstand lamp, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.

“You haven’t spoken to him yet? I thought you were going right after our—” He threw his hands in the air. “Whatever, doesn’t matter. Eric isn’t in his room. Not in the lobby or the restaurant. You have any idea where he is?”

Eva’s face twitched as she fingered the ends of her hair. “I saw him earlier. I told him about Joe and he, uh…he wasn’t happy.”

Keith pursed his lips. “What does that mean,not happy?”

“He took off. Outside. I’m not sure where he—”

“You let him leave this fucking hotel, Eva? We pull out of here in two hours.”

Eva started to tremble as she wrung her hands together. “I’m sorry, this is all my fault.”

He sucked in a deep breath and clenched his fists. “I honestly don’t give a shit whose fault it is. We’re going to find him.Now.”

“There’s, um, a bar—a few bars—down the street,” Eva said, her voice quavering.

Keith nodded. “Fine, let’s go.”

We rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence and were immediately hit with a gust of wind and a spray of rain as we opened the double doors leading to the sidewalk. We headed down the block to a lit sign jutting out from a brick building, but the place was closed. The next joint was also a bust, and by the time Keith swung the door open at the third bar, I was beginningto worry we’d have to go on stage the next two nights in Denver without a lead singer.

We rushed in, damp from the rain, and I squinted my eyes in an attempt to adjust my vision to the low lighting. To my left was a dark wooden bar where a few patrons were seated. As we made our way farther into the bar, I spotted Eric. He was seated between a man and woman, all of them laughing as they slammed shot glasses on the bar.

I motioned for Keith and Eva to stay back as I continued forward and placed my hand on Eric’s shoulder. I wanted to turn him around and beat the shit out of him, but I had to keep my cool if I was going to get him out of there.

“Hey, man,” I said.

“Danny!” He shifted in his seat and patted me on the back, attempting to pull me closer to the bar. “Get in here and drink with us!”

“Tempting, dude. But we gotta go. Bus is heading out soon.”

“You gotta meet my new friends,” he slurred, motioning to the people on either side of him. “This is, um…” He trailed off as he pointed at the brunette to his right.

“Tracey,” she said, offering me her hand. “And that’s Vince.” She motioned to the man on Eric’s left, who nodded in acknowledgment and turned back to the bar.

Eric smiled, the alcohol seeming to have erased the anger Eva had endured earlier that morning. “Yeah, Tracey and Vince.”

The bartender placed another round of shots in front of them, and Eric knocked his back quickly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

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