In the Devil's Company

A strange thing happened in this room filled with people who should all be having a good time right about now. A heavy, noticeable awkwardness clouded the air. Matt was giving me a hard look that suggested he was deep in thought.

“Why don’t we uh liven this little shindig up with our good pal, Alcohol?” Jimmy suggested, approaching me and tugging me into the kitchen. Val got up to turn some music on and small chitchat resumed.

I drew in a deep breath before beginning my round of interrogation. “Jimbo, I can’t believe you guys are here! But…why?” I asked.

“Duh, you live in Vegas and we’re playing in Vegas tonight…we couldn’t pass you up again. It’s been too long, Claire.”

“You guys did one helluva job surprising me, that’s for sure!” I laughed.

“Good, you better be surprised. It was such a pain in the ass trying to park that huge tour bus somewhere else.”

I reached up into the cabinet containing all the glass bottles of liquor, unaware of Jimmy staring at my exposed back, eyes slowly rolling down toward my behind. I missed his looks of regret and jealousy while I chose between Bacardi and Tequila.

“Think you can work with this?” I asked, holding out the Bacardi bottle and putting what was left of some UV Blue next to it.

Jimmy was a mastermind when it came to mixing drinks. And trust me – my mouth and mind were quenching for the burning taste and numbing sensation that his drinks tended to bring.

“I can work with anything you got,” he replied, wiggling his eyebrows seductively.

Jimmy and I weren’t “just friends.” We dated for about three years, until my senior year. Of course, he was a little older than me, but Matt couldn’t have been happier to see me with someone he could trust.

But things became too complicated for either Jimmy or me to deal with, you know, band formation and college, respectively. Undoubtedly, we’ve probably stayed closer than Matt and I ever have.

But the feelings couldn’t still be there between us so many years later, right? I was “happily married” and he had a girlfriend. And it was because of these reasons that I always just assumed that any kind of sexual joke or seductive maneuver was just a joke on his part.

Made sense…right?

He quickly got to work, remembering the crowd of waiting people in the next room over. He poured some vodka into a few glasses before lightly dropping in some juice he’d grabbed from the nearby refrigerator.

I watched with interest as he skillfully mixed the drinks individually and slammed them down onto the black marble countertop as he rushed onto the next one. He was such a talented person; sometimes it honestly blew me away!

I squeezed my way in between the counter and his chest so that I could get a better look…clearly trying to see over his shoulders was a difficult task. “Could you,” I began to ask giving him a pouty face as I leaned my head back to look up at him, “show me how you make those?”

He pretended to deliberate his answer for an extended period of time before smiling. “Normally, a magician never reveals his secrets, but I guess for someone like you, I’ll let it slide,” he laughed.

I cheered and listened to his narration as he continued to fill and mix liquids in the small glasses. For just a brief moment, so short in time, I felt happy again…almost completely forgetting about Ronnie altogether…well until Jimmy caught me off guard and spun me into a tight hug.

I tried to hold it back, I really did, but the feeling of my bruised skin bumping into his stomach so suddenly submitted me into an unanticipated world of pain. He backed away concerned.

“My God, Claire, are you ok? I know hugs can be weapons of destruction, but damn…”

My mind completely tuned out and went blank. I couldn’t think of anything to say, which gave him plenty of room to plant a healthy plant of suspicion. His fingers flew almost knowingly to the edge of my shirt and gently lifted upward to reveal the nastiness of Ronnie’s “artwork.”

His eyes widened in shock and remained locked on the greenish-yellow spot. “Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice shaky and just barely over a whisper.

My heartbeat began drastically picking up speed as my mind entered freak out mode. I can’t tell him about my situation with Ronnie…that needs to stay inside the house.

Surprisingly enough, Ronnie never threatened me about telling anyone else, probably because he was always too drunk to think clearly.

No, there’s an ulterior motive here, on my behalf.

If I told someone about my problem, then they’d always be worrying about me and wondering if I’ll live through the next night or end up in a hospital somewhere. It’s already bad enough that I have those concerns. I couldn’t possibly impose them on someone else. I’d feel far too…guilty.

“Oh,” I stammered, “it wasn’t a ‘who,’ per say, more of a ‘what.’” Wow, smooth. That didn’t sound sketchy at all.

Jimmy’s shock expression was slowly dissipating and transforming into one of confusion. “What do you mean? What happened?”

“I…well, uh…I was on the treadmill the other day and thought I heard the phone ring. I mentally debated whether I should go answer it, and kinda forgot I was standing on a moving object and well, lost balance landing on my stomach,” I lied.

To my relief, Jimmy let out a bit of a forced laugh and shook his head. “Wow, Claire, that’s a whole new level of clumsiness, even for you.”

I felt my cheeks turn bright red as my face seemed to be on fire, out of embarrassment. The way he was looking at me…so intensely…I couldn’t help but react like that.

I’ve known Jimmy for years now, and there was one thing that was nothing new to me. I had a crush on him…still do. Sometimes there are just certain things he says or does that just drive me crazy in what feels like an inappropriate fashion. I am married after all…but I just can’t forget about how I feel about him.

“Anyway, the drinks are done,” he said suddenly, dragging me from my subconscious and reminding me that it was time to return to reality.

I nodded and helped him carry the shot glasses out to the living room, absently forgetting to tug my shirt down all the way.

“There they are!” Brian announced, breaking the very apparent and awkward silence that had filled the room, aside from the music playing in the background.

“Man, I could go for a good drink,” Zacky laughed as he reached for one of the glasses and quickly guzzled down its contents.

I almost felt kind of bad for Jimmy…it took us a good fifteen minutes to get all these drinks ready, yet it only takes the consumer fifteen seconds to finish them.

Knowing that this was about to be a very…painful experience, I grabbed two glasses for myself and downed them consecutively.

Matt, who had looked so happy when I first walked in the door, took on a different appearance now as he held his still full glass in his hand. His eyes were dark, and I could tell something very grave was on his mind right now.

I tried to smile in his direction but he turned quickly and pretended to strike up a conversation with Val. What the hell did I do?

The next hour or so consisted of everyone growing a little tipsy and recalling random memories from high school. Of course, Brian had to bring up the time when he and Zacky came over to my house, supposedly looking for Matt, but ended up seeing Jimmy and I alone together if you know what I mean.

Ronnie’s face turned bright red and I could easily deduce that he had reached his boiling point for the day. “Well, that was a great story, but shouldn’t you guys get going soon? I’m sure you have some prep work to do before the show starts,” Ronnie said, clearly wanting this crowd of people out of the living room and fast.

Matt didn’t say anything, but was the first to stand up, eyes still trapped in my direction. Why was he staring at me so much? Something tells me it isn’t exactly because he forgot what I looked like.

Everyone followed suit and said their goodbyes as they made their way to the door. Matt was the last to leave. He pulled me into a close embrace, still silent. As he reached the door, he paused and turned around. “Take care of her, man…or else I’ll take care of you.”

Ronnie’s eyes darted over to him in narrow slits as the distasteful sound of a subtle threat reached his ears. Matt didn’t intend to give him any time to respond. He slammed the door behind him, leaving me alone with Ronnie.

“Looks like someone has some explaining to do,” he whispered menacingly in my ear as he stood behind me with his hands roughly resting on my shoulders.

Uh-oh.

*Matt’s POV*

“Great show, huh?” Brian asked as he joined me on the couch in our bus.

I nodded, slightly unable to offer a proper answer. I couldn’t take my mind off what I saw today. At first, it was just a small spot on her stomach – which Jimmy confirmed to be a “gnarly bruise.” But there was more.

She had been at work teaching for a couple of hours. Make-up only lasts for so long, and in the time that she was with us, well, that was about the time that her cover-up was reaching its limits. In certain lights, her blue and purple bruises seemed to be illuminated, making my heart ache.

The thing that confirmed all my suspicions, aside from Ronnie’s on edge attitude, was a small scabbing that lined her lower lip. I’ve had my fair share of fights, believe me, I know what it’s like to get punched in the face.

Claire was a nice girl, always putting others ahead of herself, and to be perfectly honest, the only logical person who could’ve done this to her would be…Ronnie.

“You’re quiet,” Brian pushed.

I gave him a sideway glance. “Just have a lot of things on my mind.”

“About Claire?”

The glance turned into a full-blown stare. “You saw it too, didn’t you?” I said quietly, almost ashamed to have to be discussing this.

He nodded, “Of course, man. I just didn’t want to say anything…”

“We have to do something about it.”

“No, we need to get her away from him, at all costs. Look, we’re halfway through the tour. We’re going to be going all over the country, there has to be some sort of solution out there.”

“Yeah, you’re right!” I said enthusiastically.

Claire needed to know that we knew and that we’re going to help. I scrolled through my contacts and selected her name, anxiously listening to the phone ringing.

On the last ring before entering voicemail, the phone was answered. And the voice on the other line sounded nothing like the Claire I knew.