“Just guys?” Quinn frowned. The cold was beginning to creep into his body, leeching away the warmth he’d built up inside of him.
“Figure of speech. About seven were chicks.” Damien scowled back at Quinn. “Women, girls, not male. Shit, one was a girl becoming a guy. I don’t care what bits someone’s got, they’ve just got to fit in with us.”
“And be dedicated to working through difficult times.” Quinn cocked his head, watching the two musicians exchange a look and a shrug. “Kind of like having to go through a bunch of shit, rehab, and then only now coming back to join the living?
“Why do you think you’re only now seeing Rafe, Damien?” Quinn asked. “He’s Sionn’s best friend. As close to Sionn as Miki is to you in a lot of ways, but he’s not really crossed your path, right?”
“Kinda weird,” Miki agreed. “They go out a lot, running or something. Right?”
“Yeah, every morning. Almost. And the gym.” Damien nodded. “I saw him a couple of times down at Finnegan’s before I got my marbles back into the bag, but we never did face time. He’d have known who I was probably if we had. Would have made the whole who-the-fuck-am-I shit go a lot faster.”
“Rafe licks his wounds. He always has.” Quinn rubbed at his arms, jealous of his cat’s burrow under the blanket behind him. “He’s avoided the family since he got released from rehab. Sionn’s been making his excuses, and Mum’s done with that. She’s about ready to go kick down his door and drag him out by his hair. If he talked to Sionn about wanting to audition, it’s because he thinks he’s good enough—strong enough to do it. Rafe wouldn’t waste your time if he thought he couldn’t be what you needed.
“Music’s all he had for the longest time. And even that was kind of yanked away from him.” A flare of unexpected anger kindled inside of Quinn, anger at the friend Jack Collins should have been to his bassist. “Did he crash and burn? Yeah, but we failed him too. All of us. The family, Sionn, and hell, even his friend Jack should have helped him climb back up, but Rafe wouldn’t let us. Well, I don’t know about Jack, but the family? Rafe knows we’d never turn our backs on him.”
Damien eyed Quinn, his stare dosed heavily with skepticism and doubt. “So I’m supposed to just ignore all the shit that’s happened?”
“No, but you can give him a chance. The audition might not work out. But if it does, you should be honest with him. Set lines. Set boundaries. Be a better friend than Jack was to him on the road,” Quinn replied. “Don’t be his babysitter, but be a friend to your lover’s, Miki. Just like he’d be a friend to you because of Sionn. If anything, he’d have more to lose than himself if he fucks up again. He’d be risking our family—his family—and that’s not something Rafe ever wants to lose.”
“I so don’t want to do huge tours,” Miki grumbled. “Dude, I just got to breathing again. I’m not sitting in a goddamn tour bus for four months at a time. Albums. I’m there. Some shows. Right there again. Longass roadwork? Not happening, and that’s where the drugs and shit happen.”
“No. Agreed.” Damien nodded. “The three of us don’t do anything but booze. He won’t get any shit from us. But now we’re counting fucking chickens before we’ve raided the hen house. We don’t even know how Rafe’s playing is. He could have gone to crap. Hell, we might give him a listen and say no. Then what?”
“Then it’s a no.” Quinn shrugged. “Look, did Sionn cross the line when he asked you about Rafe? Yes. But you’d do the same for Miki. If you knew Miki wanted something so bad he hurt inside, you’d do everything you could to make it happen for him.”
“Only reason Kane’s still around and not being chewed on by crabs down in the Bay.” Damien stumbled forward a step when Miki pushed him. “Being honest. Kane does things for you… to that pain you’ve got inside of you and makes it a little bit better. I’m good with that. Hell, I’m happy for that, but it’s hard sometimes, Sinjun. And don’t tell me it doesn’t go both ways.”
“Nah, it does. I’m just not the asshole who says it out loud,” Miki rumbled. “Look, you didn’t like any of the last squillion we heard. Why not give Rafe a try? What’s the worst that can happen? We have to go looking again? That’s pretty much where we are right now anyway.”