“Hey, guys.”Reese’s voice wasn’t as loud as I expected.The sound hadn’t been turned back on yet either.
Danny whistled sharply, and the sound carried through the room.
“We’re gonna take a short break, but we’ll be back.”Reese’s yell was much easier to hear.
A few people paused, but most shook their heads and left.
The hard set of Reese’s jaw was obvious from here, and I didn’t blame her.I made my way to the stage.If this were a proper show, if they were getting the attention they deserved, there would be security to step in my path, but no one stopped me from reaching the band.
Danny let his guitar hang around his neck, and stepped closer to me.I brushed my lips over his.“You sound good tonight.”
“Wesoundedgood tonight.”Reese grabbed her phone from the back pocket of her jeans.“I’m calling Todd.”
Todd was their band manager.
“I’ll go find someone to turn the lights off and the sound back on.”I squeezed Danny’s hand, and walked away.
More than a decade ago, before I had any idea who Plaid Peanut Butter was, Danny and Reese had been playing to packed clubs, and online video was the perfect Wild West for them to get their sound out to the world.
Todd got to them first.He convinced Reese she was the star of the show.That she’d do much better without Danny.She could have a full back-up band, record contracts… Todd sold her on the full package.
Each employee I found, I asked if they could point me toward the person who could get the lights and sound fixed in the lounge.All of them shook their heads.
I was careful to never say so in front of Danny or Reese, but her breaking up the band was the best thing that ever happened to me, and the biggest mistake she ever made.The fallout almost destroyed Danny, and I hated that, but I wouldn’t have met him otherwise.I was his salvation and he was my universe.
On the other hand, Reese had gotten herself stuck in a shitty contract she couldn’t get out of.One that prohibited any performances or recordings of performances, or basically anything with her singing voice attached to it, from being played unless Todd made the arrangements.
I finally found the guy who had been with the police.I was close enough to see his name tag.“Gordon, hey, how’s it going tonight?”
He looked startled to be addressed in such a direct and friendly manner.“Good?Can I help you?”
“Yeah.We need you to turn the lights off and the sound back on in the lounge, so the show can continue.”
“I can’t do that.”
Not what I expected.“Do you need manager approval?Who can I talk to?”
“No and no one.I mean I’m not capable of doing that,” he said.“I have to wait until our tech guy calls me back.”
“But you turned them off.”
He shrugged.“There’s an emergency switch.But no one here knows how to start them back up again.We had a new smart system installed a few months ago, and only our tech guy knows how to use it.”
I could yell at him, but it wasn’t his fault.“How much to let me take a look?”I wasn’t the most tech savvy person among our group of friends, but I’d been working with programmers for two decades, and had picked a few things up.
“I can’t do that.”
My wallet was already in my hand.“You sure?Hundred bucks?Two?”
He shook his head.“Not worth my job.You know this place has cameras everywhere.It’ll happen when it happens.”
“Not good enough.”I hated not having control of a situation, and if this guy wasn’t the person to give it to me, he’d tell me who was.“Give me your manager’s name.”
“There’s not one working tonight.”
That was either bullshit or stupid.I didn’t care which.I grabbed my phone.“Give me the number of the person you call in an emergency, then.”I was already swiping in the name of the casino, looking for high level contacts.“Or I’ll call Tony Beck directly.”
“No one on call,” Gordon said.