Page 17 of Muted

Clearing my throat, I draw both of their attention toward me. “Thad, we’ve been reevaluating to mix things up here to see if we can bring in more people.”

He interrupts me. “Who’swe?” His question is incredulous, like I’m referring to Susu and myself.

I roll my eyes and decide not to answer. “One of the things we’ve been noticing is that our dueling nights are becoming stagnant, and we aren’t bringing in as many people as we used to.”

This is entirely a lie, but it’s the nicest way I can say ‘when you suck, we all suffer’.

“And…” he drawls, seemingly unconcerned.

“And,” I bite out, “we’ve decided to make some changes if everyone is willing.” I glance quickly at Susu, so she knows I’m speaking about her. “I’d like to try out a third pianist on dueling nights, see if the change will inspire a little excitement, especially with our regulars.”

When Thad’s head whips to glare down at Susu, my head follows, and I clench my jaw when I see her paling under his anger. She doesn’t look to me for help, she just keeps him in sight, like if she looks away, he’ll disappear and pop up behind her. Susu views Thad as a threat and I fucking hate that I’ve put her in this situation. I should have had her step out to speak with him. I know how temperamental Thad Toussaint can be.

“Susu, would you like to step out for a moment so I can talk with Thad?” She turns her head toward me without taking her eyes off her neighbor on the couch. His attitude is pissing me off and I need to put an end to it. “Thad!” I snap out, then hiss, “Enough, man.”

His distraction is enough to release the hold he had on her, and she shoots to her feet and scurries out of the office without hesitation.

Crossing his arms across his chest, he falls against the backrest of the couch and pouts at me. The man fuckingpouts. “How does Vance feel about losing a night? Because I’ll be honest, I’m not in love with this idea.”

Yeah, this really isn’t going to go over well, but I refuse to lie to him. “Vance isn’t going to lose a night. He’ll still play Thursday through Sunday. I want Susu to take over either Friday or Saturday night for you. Those are our biggest nights and maybe having two different sets will bring our guests back more than once.”

Three… two… o—

He shoves himself off the couch before planting his hands on his hips and yelling, “Are you fucking kidding me?I’mthe only one losing a spot? Why wouldn’t you just have her play a night with me and a night with Vance? Three for him, three for me, and two for her?”

Holding up my hands to calm him down, I try to explain. “Look, Thad. You and I both know that Vance is the main talent here. People come to see him. We’ve also not—”

“You keep sayingwea lot. Who the fuck iswe?” Again, this piece of shit interrupts me. I’d give anything to just fire him and kick him out, but I don’t have an answer from Susu yet, and I can’t justnothave a second player at a goddamn dueling pianos bar. Christ, I’m fucking up.

“We, as in me, Cliff, Vance… it doesn’t matter, Thad. The point is, when you’re off, we lose money. You’re not showing up for practices, you’re late constantly, and you’ve become incredibly unreliable. Maybe the schedule is too much for you?Youtellmewhat you suggest I do?”

“Not fucking fire me! That’s a ridiculous idea!” he shouts and this time, when I roll my eyes, I growl in irritation along with it.

“I’m not fucking firing you, Thad. I’m talkingonenight a week.”

Apparently, Thad doesn’t see it that way and I watch as his face turns purple from his fury. “So, you’re going to take money out of my pocket so that deaf bitch can take my spot? What, you think you’ll win points by advertising that a fucking wo—”

I’m in front of him in two steps, my face so close we’re almost nose to nose. “Not another word,Thad.” The way I say his name is uttered with enough warning that heshouldknow I’m not fucking around.

The drama king doesn’t take the hint. Instead, he spins around and wrenches the door open, letting it bounce off the wall before it slams back into him. I feel a brief amount of pleasure when he growls in pain before he storms into the bar on a warpath.

I close my eyes when I see Susu standing only feet away, clearly having heard the insults Thad spouted behind closed doors.

Thankfully, he doesn’t say a word to her, just marches toward the stage. My relief that he’s going to deal with the plan even though he doesn’t like it is short-lived. Yanking his bag open, he pulls out the set binder and lets it fall at Vance’s feet; the papers flying out in every direction.

Vance deserves all the credit because he doesn’t even flinch as Thad throws his temper tantrum. “Enjoy doing this with mediocre talent, you fucking snob.” Spinning back to face me, he smirks like he’s got one over on me, and maybe he does because I still don’t know if Susu is even willing to play.

“I. Fucking. Quit.”

Thad Toussaint does a literal hair flip—which is humorous because he’s balding—and struts out the door.

Vance quirks a brow at me. “So… how’d the meeting go, boss?”

I feel a headache pulsing through my temples from dealing with the ‘talent’ in this place. Turning my back on him, my eyes crash with Susu’s.

She looks terrified when she swallows nervously. That blush that erupted across her cheeks is long gone, replaced by an almost sickly green color.

I take a step closer, ready to beg for her to step up and fill in, now that we’re fully down to one pianist. Her jerky nod in agreement overwhelms me so much with gratitude that I take another step in her direction.

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