Page 26 of Under the Ink

The party got loud again, and two of the roadies fell out of the door down the hall as if the room had reached capacity and vomited them out. But, while laughing and yelling, they made their way back inside.

“Stupid asshole,” one of the guys said.

“Takes one to know one.”

“What—are we in second grade?”

“I thinkyouare.”

With a grin, Sage said, “Gotta love the effect of alcohol on a person.”

“You know all about that, yeah?” Naomi said.

He eyed the brown bottle in her hands. “Takes one to know one.”

“Aren’t you clever?”

With a shrug, Sage returned to his story. “Anyway…I told Johnny I didn’t know shit about anything, so he had his manager hire a lot of the crew, including my drum tech. And Jimmy got hired the same way you did.”

“Seriously? From a recommendation from Mr. Karlson?”

“Yeah. I mean…why mess with success? So Jimmy was with me for my first two tours from start to finish.” Thinking about the night Jimmy died made Sage dwell on it all over again. What he wouldn’t do for a beer of his own…

“And he, um, passed away last weekend?”

Remembering that whole night, Sage felt completely sober—and sad. When he thought about Jimmy in the abstract, the emotions were nostalgic, tinted in rose. But the reality was their partying ways had cut the man’s life way too short. And, whether he wanted to admit it or not, Sage had played a part in his demise. “Yeah.”

“How old was he?”

“Not that old.” He kept waiting for Naomi to askthequestion—but she didn’t. So he decided to simply tell her. “He died of a drug overdose.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine it would be easy to lose a friend no matter what, but—”

“Yeah. It really sucks. It feels like maybe it could have been prevented.” But he wasn’t going to say anything else; the guilt was already a ton or two on his shoulders…meaning shifting the subject might be a good idea. “And if any of the guys tell you what Jimmy used to do for me after every show, don’t worry. I won’t expect you to carry on withallhis job duties.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sage chuckled. Was he actually going to tell her this?

Yeah…he was. It was the only way to find out if she could really handle his shenanigans or not—because even though this job was deemed temporary, if she worked out, Sage would want to invite her to be his permanent drum tech—with or without thedutieshe’d alluded to.

“Let’s just say Jimmy hooked me up every night.”

The scowl on her face said it all. “With drugs?”

Unable to help himself, Sage laughed hard. “Drugs?No!Women.”

Her voice was as dry as the desert. “With women.”

Why the fuck did he care what Naomi thought about him? As he’d thought moments before, she might be just a flash in his life before moving on, so there was no reason to not be blunt and honest, whether she liked it or not. “Yeah. Maybe you’ve been living off planet for a while, but a lot of the chicks who attend our concerts are huge fans. Groupies.”

Her expression wasn’t getting any softer. And yet he plowed ahead anyway.

“And these ladies want a little taste of a rock star. Don’t ask me why. Mine isn’t to question or judge their behavior. Anyway…every night, Jimmy would pick a couple of gorgeous gals out of the line of women wanting to meet the band—he knew my type—and we’d go party. I took one woman and he took the other.”

Now her expression was that of smelling a gallon of milk gone sour. “You make them sound like you found them in the meat section of the grocery store.”

Sage had to fight not to smile. “Yeah—if the grocery store came tomewanting to hop in my cart and go for a ride.”

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