Page 53 of Disciplinary Action
Once on the road, Cal laced his fingers through Gideon’s but remained quiet, playing on his phone one-handed, while Gideon quietly chastised himself for acting like a child instead of the forty-three-year-old adult that he was. It took forty-five minutes to get toBru’s Room, but it seemed like Gideon blinked and they were pulling onto the stretch of gravel that was their parking lot.
They stamped Cal’s hand at the door, indicating he wasn’t old enough to drink, and gave Gideon a long look when Cal took his hand without thought, head on a swivel as he took in the long bar that lined the wall and the numerous tables between the bar and the stage where Des stood at the mic, a guitar in his hand, belting out a Bon Jovi song.
He grinned when he saw Gideon, pointing to a table at the front. It wasn’t empty. Two women a bit younger than Gideon sat at the large eight top table. Gideon dragged Cal through the crowded and overflowing tables towards the two women. Though they were strangers, they waved excitedly when they saw Gideon and Cal, gesturing to the empty seats. Gideon left an empty seat between him and the pretty blonde woman because there was a half-filled glass on the table.
The woman leaned over, practically screaming as she said, “I’m Pam, JD’s wife, and that’s Christy, Dave’s girlfriend. You’re Leo, right?”
He hadn’t been Leo in so long, but the guys didn’t know that. “Yeah, this is Callum.”
She reached out her hand and squeezed Cal’s. “Nice to meet you, honey.”
Cal smiled, waving. Before anybody could say anything else, a heavily pregnant girl with long dark hair and a deep tan waddled across the room to collapse back into the empty seat between Gideon and Pam. “I cannot wait to evict this kid,” she said, clearly short of breath. She glanced in their direction and gave a big smile. “Leo!”
Leo blinked. “Melody? Holy shit.” Gideon gave the girl an awkward hug. “I haven’t seen you since you and JD got engaged…” He trailed off. “Wait.” He looked at Pam then back at Melody. “Did you and JD get a divorce?”
“No, we just picked up another wife,” she said, like she was telling him she’d popped over to the corner store to pick up eggs or a gallon of milk.
“Oh,” Gideon managed. “That’s… That’s great.”
Cal barked out a laugh. “You okay over there?”
Gideon pinched him under the table, but Pam and Melody were laughing. “Yeah, we get that reaction a lot. Especially now,” Pam said, rubbing Melody’s big belly. “But the three of us just work better together.”
“Is this your first?” Gideon asked Melody.
“Hah,” Melody said, “I wish. This little brat will be baby four for me, baby seven for us.” She pointed between her and Pam.
“Are you guys trying to create your own soccer team?” Gideon asked.
“JD wants us to be the next Partridge Family.” She laughed.
Gideon looked up at JD who was currently slamming out a beat on the drums. His long brown hair was now close cropped on the sides and long at the top, flopping into his eyes with every emphatic gesture. He had a full beard that appeared red in the stage lights and two full sleeves of tattoos. How had Des failed to mention that JD had turned into a baby breeding machine with two wives?
Dave’s girlfriend, Christy, was ignoring their reunion, her eyes on Dave, who was playing bass on the left side of the stage. He hadn’t cut his blond, curly mop of hair but had secured it into a ponytail. He was shirtless, showing off an eighteen pack and a belly full of random tattoos. Time had clearly treated him well. “Does he always play shirtless?” Gideon asked Melody.
She rolled her eyes. “Only since he met Christy. They’re still in that googly-eyed stage where they both only have eyes for each other.” She looked at Cal. “You know, like your boy over there who is staring at you like you’re Mick Jagger.”
Gideon glanced over at Cal and smiled. Cal flushed, like he wasn’t expecting Gideon to catch him looking at him. He captured his hand under the table and leaned back to watch the show. Des and the boys did covers of all kinds of songs from seventies classic rock to boy band songs of the two-thousands. The crowd loved them. It made Gideon weirdly nostalgic. Once upon a time, he’d been the band’s lead. They’d had big dreams of becoming famous, and every time they played the bars, they felt like grunge gods.
“How’s everybody doing tonight?” Des asked the crowd before taking a long slug from the beer he had sitting on the wooden stool beside him. “Everybody having a good time?”
The crowd erupted in excited screams and whistles. Cal laughed, clearly delighted by the crowd's enthusiasm. He seemed to really enjoy the music and just being out in public with Gideon.
“We have a special guest tonight. My best friend in the world has decided to take a break from being an egghead to come back to his roots. Maybe, if you guys scream loud enough, he’ll come up here and sing for us. What do you think?”
Gideon raised a hand as the spotlight hit him in the eyes. His heart slammed in his chest as the crowd lost their minds, screaming, whistling, clapping, and stomping. Cal included, looking so proud and excited that Gideon felt almost high from the adrenaline shooting through his veins. He hadn’t sang in years, not where anybody could hear him anyway, but Des had clearly set him up. If he refused now, the crowd would most definitely turn on him.
Cal clapped when Gideon stood, giving Des the finger as he made his way towards the steps.
“Please welcome to the stage, Leo Gideon.”
Des tipped the microphone towards him. Gideon took it, leaning close. “I’m going to fucking murder you the minute you walk off this stage.”
“Calm down. You know you’ve missed this shit. Besides, your boy is two seconds away from pissing himself with excitement. Do it for him,” Des said, clearly not taking Gideon’s threats seriously.
Gideon let out a breath and snagged Des’s guitar, checking it was in tune as he took a seat on the stool and adjusted the mic. “I’m a little rusty, sorry,” he said with an embarrassed laugh.
He did a few test chords on the guitar, risking a glance at Cal who gazed at him, eyes wide, hands clasped, looking for all the world like he was holding his breath. Here went nothing. He started playing the opening chords toEvery Rose Has its Thorn.
