Spook put his hand out for the guitar, which Xane willingly relinquished. He could play passably well, but he couldn’t do half the stuff Spook could do, and it all took him rather more effort.
“You need to detune by a semi-tone.” He set about doing just that. “It just gives it that extra meat.”
It certainly did, especially when Spook added a few signature flourishes.
“Maybe you throw your energies behind the lyrics, eh?”
So far, aside from the chorus, they’d been working with sound forms rather than words.
“What are you thinking?”
Xane threw another log onto the fire. Translating what was in his head into a form others could comprehend was the most challenging bit, also what was in his head was rather a delicate topic. If Black Halo’s last album had been all about his relationship with Steve Matlock, then what was percolating at the moment was wound up with his emotions towards the man peering at him expectantly now. “Passions. Anger. The sort that’s grown so old and become so entrenched it can barely recall how it was birthed. Now it’s too stubborn to do anything more than stew with resentment.”
“Okay,” Spook remarked dubiously. Maybe it wasn’t what he’d been picturing. “And?”
“And, it’ll come when it comes. Play what we’ve got again.” He listened with his eyes closed. “It needs something in the middle to switch it up a gear. Try going to the E rather than C minor.”
“Yeah,” Spook agreed as his fingers did the work. “Gives it an uneasy eerie feel.”
“Good, I want it to leave a chill. The sort that convinces you that your heart’s composed of glass and likely to break if you breathe too hard.”
“Like there’s not enough heartbreak in the world. Maybe we ought to try something more upbeat.”
Xane cackled in reply. “Not sure that’d be playing to either of our strengths.”
“Maybe not, but speaking as someone who’s feeling a little fragile, I think I need a break from this.”
“Yeah, okay. Small doses, I guess.”
They sat for a while not saying much. Xane eventually did the washing-up. Spook dozed in the armchair, until Xane settled another brew beside him. “What did you do with the money?” Spook asked.
Xane blinked. “Is that what you’ve been thinking about?”
That earned him a shrug. “You never said. I just wondered.”
“Well, nothing yet. I doubt the buggers have even coughed it up. It’s probably still bouncing about between the lawyers. Something you want to do with it? As far as I’m concerned, it’s yours.”
“I’m not sure. Maybe use it to help some of the poor sods out there who don’t have a bloody insane friend with near limitless resources on their side. I am grateful, Xane. It’s just tough to think about, you know? And I wonder how much difference it’ll actually make. People are really good at clinging to the crap in your life.”
“We’re all good at that.”
“I’m not sure how much a court ruling is going to change things. The fact that I was even accused, that’s what people will think about and associate with me going forward.”
“Nah. The important people will move on with you. The only fuckers who’ll dwell on it are the ones trying to generate headlines. And after the eyewatering pay-outBang!have been slapped with, they might think twice about it.”
“You can’t sue every bugger that badmouths me.”
“Watch me.”
That got him to crack a smile, and even manage something approximating a chuckle.
“You’re a fucking good friend.” Spook reached out to him, and Xane slid into the span of his arms. This was what he’d wanted to do since arriving. Just hold him and not let go for a while. Reassure himself of his safety, while simultaneously letting him know there was someone he could cling to.
“We’re gonna make it through this, right.”
He wished he could go a step further than that, roll back time and erase Siv and her psycho family from existence. He’d do it in a heartbeat if he could, even if that meant sacrificing Black Halo and their entire history to the cause. Anything to steal the pain from Spook’s mind.
Eventually, he had to break it off. What was the length of the average hug, about ten seconds in length? When you were straying towards the multiple minute mark, you had to ask yourself some serious questions.
