Highway Song: A Smokey's Roadhouse Novel (20 page)

Rex
’
s expression turned dark.
“
I
’
ve just about had it with your attitude,
buddy
. You don
’
t know who or what you
’
re messing with. You want to keep your pot, fine. You can clear your shit out of the bus and hang out a thumb. You
’
re not with the band anymore.
”

Kirk half-stood, and Rex turned on him.
“
And you can go with your fucking asshole-buddy for all I care. Get the fuck out of my sight, before I go in there and ask the bikers to put you out.
”

Ike stood, knocking his chair over, and strode out with Kirk on his heels. The others sat frozen, staring at Rex like he
’
d grown a second head.

“
What the fuck, man?
”
Cole said.

“
Cole, I
’
d hate to lose you. But there
’
s room for only one leader in this band, and that
’
s me. I own the name, and I wrote the original songs, so I call the shots. There
’
s trouble brewing in that back room. If you want to hang around and find out who wins, fine. But anyone who wants to go with me had better fucking decide whose side they
’
re on, and quick.
”

“
I
’
m with you, bro,
”
Axel said. He looked at Cole.

“
Well, sure,
”
Cole said.
“
No problemo, jefe.
”

Mark nodded, and Rex shook his hand.
“
No more dipping into our funds to buy contraband.
”

“
No problem,
”
Mark said.
“
There aren
’
t any more funds to dip into, anyway. If you want to know, Ike threatened to kick my ass if I didn
’
t.
”

“
Well, I
’
ll kick your ass if you ever do again.
”

“
How are we gonna make it to Salt Lake with no more cash?
”
Axel asked.

I
’
d been watching the conversation go back and forth, but it was my turn to speak.

“
With my money,
”
I said.
“
But I have a condition.

Rex
’
s mouth dropped open.

“
Obviously, I
’
m going to have to give you all of it to get us anywhere,
”
I said.
“
I need a new fund to start over. I can sing. Who can play rhythm?
”
I hoped Rex would step up. He may not be the best, but neither was Kirk. Rex could sing and play at the same time, if he
’
d admit to it. We still needed a drummer.

“
Come on,
”
I said.
“
We can
’
t sit around here. I
’
ll prove it when we get outside.
”

With that, we all stood and left the bar, where the shouting was still going on in the back. Rex caught up with me and grabbed my hand. I stopped to face him.

“
You know, we still have a fighting chance to get to Seattle, if we can find Joe,
”
he said.
“
I haven
’
t seen him today. We need two drivers, though.
”

“
What about the disabled bus?
”
I asked.

“
Let the damn bus company handle it. We
’
ve got a competition to get to. Can you really sing?
”

“
You
’
ll find out,
”
I teased. I hummed a few bars of
“
Piece of My Heart.
”

“
That
’
s not our wheelhouse, sugar.
”

“
Listen. You need to stand out. You appeal to good ol
’
boys with that Southern Rock. Add my blues and folk rock to it, and you
’
ve got a fusion sound that will get noticed. Without a drummer, you don
’
t have a chance anyway. Why not take the risk?
”

“
You have a point. Guys? Want to take a vote?
”

FIFTEEN

Rex

I
thought Axel and Cole would shoot down the idea. Instead, they wanted to hear her sing. Right out there in the parking lot, she busted loose with the song she
’
d hummed. I wasn
’
t just surprised
—
I was blown away. Any time you have someone covering a song, the audience is going to be comparing it to the original, and not many people could stand up to Janis. But Amy somehow took the screech out of it, while keeping the intensity every bit as poignant as Joplin
’
s original. If her voice hadn
’
t been better than Janice
’
s, I
’
d have wondered if Amy was her reincarnation.

I wasn
’
t the only one who thought so. Cole had a tear in his eye. This girl had known pain, more than most, and every bit of it went into that lament. I fully expected it to echo off the distant hills, and that was just her
a cappella
solo. When we put the band behind her, it was going to be spectacular. There was just one problem. Well, two. Obviously, we didn
’
t have a drummer. But I couldn
’
t play rhythm guitar worth a shit. We needed both of them.

Once more, we were in the soup for the competition in Seattle, if we could even get there. It would take time to arrange for studio players to fill in. It would take time to rehearse together, and for Amy to find her place with me singing lead. Unless
…

I spoke to Mark, and he immediately started working on getting the musicians we needed with some phone calls. We could work out the singing. Amy and I could work up a duet or two on the drive, and for the most part we
’
d take the solos separately. Her music and mine were close, but different. She sang folk rock and blues, I sang Southern. The fans weren
’
t that different, though. If you took my circle and her circle and laid them over one another, I reckoned we
’
d gain the edges, and the middle would be a solid majority of fans of both styles. It could work.

Just as the five of us went on over to the bus to get our stuff ready to transfer, Ike and Kirk came out, carrying their instruments and duffel bags. Joe opened the cargo compartment for them and each of them got out an effects box. Ike was going in for something else when I stopped him.

“
Just a minute. Kirk, that unit belongs to the band. If you recall, I bought it out of band funds when you joined. And Ike, nothing else in there is yours. Get out.
”

Kirk looked pained.
“
I thought I paid you back.
”

I waved Mark over and asked him. He shook his head.
“
Every time I tried to hold a payment out of his pay, he told me he needed to wait until next time. Next time, same story. He hasn
’
t paid a dime.
”

Kirk shot Mark a poisonous look and dropped the unit in the dirt. We
’
d have to get someone to look at it before we tried to use it again, to make sure none of the circuitry was damaged. I told Mark he
’
d better let the substitute musicians know they
’
d have to bring their own effects. While I was talking to Mark, Ike and Kirk disappeared inside the bar. I didn
’
t see where they went from there.

Sometime during our turn-out of the bus, Axel said,
“
Hey, look.
”
We peered out the windows as Jake and his crew filed out of the bar, mounted their bikes, and roared off to the east, with a panel van that had no back windows following them. The rest of the bikes stayed put. It was about time for lunch, so I asked Amy, who had the least stuff to unload, to go in and see if we were welcome.

She came back a few minutes later with a smile.
“
Smokey says come on in and get some grub. He
’
ll fill us in.
”

We all trooped in, the morning
’
s work making us hungrier than usual. The other bus would be here any time now, and we
’
d left the broken one spotless to preserve our deposit. We weren
’
t responsible for the fire.

Inside, we didn
’
t see Ike or Kirk, but we did find Smokey holding court at a couple of tables pushed together for the club. He had a couple of his members push another one up for us, and told us the food would be out shortly. We were apparently his guests, and this was more a meeting than anything else. Amy disappeared into the kitchen. Everyone hushed their talking to others when Smokey cleared his throat.

“
I
’
m gonna go over a little history for our guests, and then we
’
ll have a formal vote. Anybody got a beef with that?
”
he asked, looking around the table and holding the gaze of each person there for a second or two. No one even twitched.

“
Okay. Rooster and I started this club thirty-five years ago, and we thought we was hot shit. Most of you know what
’
s happened since. We
’
ve made a decent living on two businesses. This here roadhouse is half mine and half belongs to the club.
”

I jerked in surprise. I thought Smokey was the sole owner. Smokey nodded at us and went on.

“
The other business is none of our guests
’
business, so I won
’
t get into that part. What I want to say is, this ain
’
t just a biker club. We
’
re in business together. And while our businesses ain
’
t somethin
’
a church might get into, they
’
re legal. They ain
’
t much else we can do out here, neither. That
is
legal, I mean. So it ain
’
t much of a surprise that ever
’
now and then, one-a the young
’
uns gets the idea we should do some-a that heavy shit, like dealin
’
drugs or gun-runnin
’
.
”

This was the most I
’
d ever heard Smokey say at once, and from his obvious discomfort, it was a rare occurrence. I was fascinated. What was the other business? But it sounded like we were getting to the crux of the matter. Rooster began to look uncomfortable, too.

“
We got a crisis on our hands, now. Y
’
all in the band kinda brought it to a head, but it ain
’
t your fault. It was comin
’
, sooner or later, anyway. We just had five of our younger members resign, and unless we miss our guess, there
’
ll be a territory dispute comin
’
up. Maybe sooner than we
’
re ready for. Are y
’
all gonna be able to get outta here today?
”

My mind flashed back to Jake and the four with him leaving a few minutes earlier. It was a moment before I realized Smokey had asked me a question.
“
Uh, yeah. Unless we have more bad luck. The new bus should be here any time now.
”

“
Good. I
’
m not sure y
’
all are safe here, and we
’
ve got our own shit to take care of. We can
’
t be babysittin
’
y
’
all. My advice is skedaddle, soon as you can.
”