She sighed. “Y’know, I used to love this place for the childhood memories and now all I remember are the shooting or memories here with the band or me and Sully. I just can’t do it anymore. Ok, I’m talking to a realtor Monday.”
He grinned. “It’ll somehow work out, Kit. Y’know, you should call Henri Valois. I bet he would lease this place from you for a year or two in a heartbeat without a second thought. It would give him a place to hold his huge parties.”
She raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Now that’s the best idea you’ve had all day. Gimme a minute. I’m gonna go call him.”
Spencer shook his head. “No. First things first. Let’s get Finely to have Sully take a drug test. C’mon, let’s go call him. Then you can call Henri.”
* * *
Sean pounded on Sully’s door, not pleased with the directive that rolled down from corporate. Yet one more thing on his personal list that solidified his choice to resign as their tour manager. He heard laughter inside the room as he pounded again. “Sully! Open it up.”
Sully threw the door open, beer bottle in hand, snickering, hair disheveled, wild-eyed, while several roadies sat at the dining room table in his suite playing cards and passing around a joint.
He looked at Sean and reached forward to gently shove him. “Dude, you really need to relax and have some fun.” He raised his eyebrows, chuckled and chugged his beer. “What’s up? Wanna come in and play some five card stud with us?”
Sean observed him closely and knew he was high. Not only could he see it in his eyes, he could see that lines had been laid out on the coffee table in his suite. Three out of the five were gone. He nodded to Sully. “Come with me, please.”
Sully frowned. “What? It’s midnight. I’m winding down from a show. Whatever it is can wait. I’m not doing any interviews tonight nor am I calling home.” His carefree expression faded and he swallowed hard at his silent realization. “I don’t have anyone that wants to hear from me tonight.”
Sean remained stoic. “Right. This is coming in from headquarters. C’mon, let’s go.” Sully rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed him out.
As he started proceeding down the hallway with Sean, he noticed it was lined with partygoers and other groupies. He was so high it all seemed like a big circus to him and he started laughing.
When he noticed Sean was still moving forward, totally focused and serious, he playfully shoved him again. “Man, you’re really no fun.” He extended his arms out and motioned to the spectacle lining the hotel hallway. “Look at this. It’s a playground. You could have so much fun! There’s nothing for you to manage right now. C’mon, why don’t you blow off some steam? I think she likes you!” Sully raised his eyebrows, pointed to one of the groupies that was smiling at them and gently nudged Sean toward her.
Sean ignored Sully, reached his hotel room, opened the door and led Sully in by his arm. Danny and Jay were in the room waiting, arms folded in front of their chests.
Sully chuckled. “What’s up? Why the serious faces?”
Jay moved to block the hotel room door while Danny walked up next to Sully and seized his arm. “C’mon.”
He tried to wriggle free, but his brother was too strong and kept him in place. He frowned. “Hey, I fired you!”
Danny shook his head and kept his firm grasp on his brother’s shoulder. “I was reinstated by headquarters with back pay.”
Sully glared and felt his anger bubbling up. “What the fuck is going on?”
Sean seized his other arm and they led him into the bathroom where Sean had laid out a drug test. Sully took one look at what lay before him and desperately tried to wriggle free.
When he realized he wasn’t going anywhere, he became desperate and pleaded. “No, don’t make me do this. No.”
Danny felt no empathy for his youngest sibling. “You should have thought about that before you started using again, Pat. You know the drill. You’ve been here before. We’re not leaving until we get this settled.”
Sully complied remorsefully, solemnly making his way through the experience, knowing he was in deep trouble. He didn’t know who was involved or why this was happening now, but he sensed it wasn’t good.
Once Sean had what he needed, Sully didn’t immediately leave. He waited until Sean came back out. In a moment of lucidity, he glared. “You said this came down from headquarters. Did my wife order this test?”
Sean stared at him. “I can honestly tell you that no, she did not. She resigned as your manager and is no longer on the management team, remember? It was ordered by headquarters, KMK upper management. We’ve had some problems here on tour and they’re concerned. Diamond Records has expressed their apprehension about your performance and KMK assured them it would be handled.”
Sully shook his head in disbelief. “Spence ordered this?”
Sean sighed, avoiding the question, and started guiding Sully out. “Best for you to head back to your room. Get some rest, we’ve got lots of promos tomorrow. Do your best to show up coherent and not bloody loaded.”
Sully stared at Sean. “It was Spence. Damn.” He shook his head regretfully. He knew there was something bigger brewing that he couldn’t figure out and his denial took over. “Ok. I’ll call him tomorrow. I’ll let him know that things are going well.”
He met Sean’s eyes. “I’ll reassure him that it’s not affecting my performance. I’ll call Jonathan at Diamond too. Yeah, yeah. I’ll get
