“You think they make those in a size seventeen?” He opened a door labeled “employees only.” “Welcome to the Château Moderne,” he told me as it closed behind us.
This new area was nothing like the front. That was trying desperately to be cool and sleek, dark and sexy. The employee room featured fluorescent lights, a crusty microwave, an old coffee maker, and a wobbling table surrounded by plastic chairs. I sat in one of those and Stone took another, and I realized that he was staring it me in a way that was…unflattering.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked, and preemptively wiped my nose with a napkin from the plastic box on the table.
“No, I was just thinking how different you look when you put all that shit on your face. I’m used to women dressing this way, but I liked it better the other night when you had on your gym clothes.”
“Well, I’m not wearing this for your benefit,” I told him. I was dressing for Dax and that was even worse because it was humiliating and silly.
“It was just an observation,” he said. “He’s not here to see you anyway.”
I got up. “I wish you’d led with that fact when I came in.” Where was he? According to his latest posts, this was one of his nights.
“He got fired when he showed up a few hours ago,” Mr. Flip Phone stated. “Deb and two other women got into a fight over him, and the owner didn’t like that. Dax was spending so much time screwing everybody that he wasn’t selling any bottles. I don’t mean me,” he added. “He never tried anything on me.”
“What…he was…” I sank back down.
“He’s a shitty promoter and not only here, but at every club where he’s supposed to be working. He’s either in the VIP trying to act big or he’s off with a woman. Or two.”
“Screwing…”
Stone, Mr. Flip Phone stared at me again. “Did you really think it was just the one blowjob on the night you caught him? Really?” He shoved the napkin box closer to me.
“I didn’t know…” I gulped. “Please don’t say anything about how I’m crying again. I don’t mean to.”
“Yeah, I get that.” He waited for a moment as I fought it off, and he stared at me as I did. “You really cared about him,” he stated, and he sounded surprised.
“Yes, of course I did! We were together for nine years, since I was eighteen.”
“And in those nine years, you never noticed that he’s a complete and utter ass waffle? Didn’t you say that your grandma tried to kill him?”
“No, my grandma didn’t try to kill him! She only wished for his death, but she never acted on that. Of course I noticed that he clashed with a lot of people, including her. I didn’t always like the way he acted…I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you,” I said. “Dax isn’t here and I need to find him.”
“Why?”
“Again, that’s not really your business, but I want to talk to him about that song and see if it is supposed to be about me. We alsoneed to discuss what you had told me before, about the rumors he’s spreading,” I explained.
“Why?” he asked again and I didn’t understand.
“Are you asking for clarification because you didn’t hear me?”
He pointed at his head. “I have ears, Camille Carpenter. I heard you fine, but I don’t know why the hell you want to do those things.”
“A few months ago, I had a problem at work. People were gossiping and telling lies about me and Dax knew that,” I explained.
“Yeah?And?”
“And he saw how much it hurt my feelings and how upset I was,” I responded but now Mr. Flip Phone was shaking his head.
“So what? You think he cares about his feelings? He was shit-talking you from one end of the city to the other. Did you convince yourself that I was lying when I told you about that?”
“No. Well, I had more time to consider things,” I said. “I was with him for a long time and…I don’t know.”
“I looked you up,” he told me. “You really are a lawyer. You seem to have a real career, too.”
“I am and I do,” I stated.
“Then how can you be so damn oblivious?” he wondered. “You think that you’ll have a nice conversation and then Dax Miststuck is going to stop being a meanie?”
