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told Dan. “Where’d you find it, an S&M shop?”
    “Considering some of the places I’ve seen you wake up, that’s saying a lot.” Dan fitted the joint into an ornate roach clip. “If you’d come in at a decent hour you could have fought Ty for the other side of the bed, but you’d rather stay out all night fucking some frequent flyer.”
    “Why not? It’s preferable to sleeping next to your hairy ass.”
    “You could have stayed with the waitress,” Ty said, taking the joint from Dan.
    “Uh-uh. One of the golden rules. You wake up with a chick, next thing you know she wants you to meet her mother. Pass.” Quinn’s eyes were on the joint. “We have a lot of ground to cover today. It’s a little early for that, don’t you think?”
    Ty rolled his eyes and changed the subject. “Are we going to hit the Bitter End?”
    “We should.” Quinn took the roach clip from Ty and flicked the joint into an ashtray. “They liked our demo. Let’s go over there tonight and sweet-talk them.”
    “It’ll have to be late,” Dan said, “because our new guitar player called. We’re meeting her at six.”
    “Did you find out what happened last night?”
    “She just said she ran into some trouble,” Dan replied. “She offered to feed us to make up for it, though.”
    “Cool!” Ty exclaimed, but Quinn shook his head.
    “The last thing we want is to hook up with someone unreliable.”
    “She’s not, usually,” Dan said. “I’ve never known her to miss a gig.”
    “You also never answered when I asked you what she looked like,” Quinn reminded him.
    Dan radiated a heavy sigh. “She’s cute, okay? Just give her a chance, dude.”
    “Look, we can get by without a guitar. I can do those parts on keyboard. I can sing all the fucking songs, too, if I have to,” Quinn said. “I’d rather do that than play with some second-rater.”
    “I’m looking to do more than get by,” Ty broke in. “The whole point of coming here for another summer was to make some money. How are we going to do that with only half a band?”
    “She’s not second rate,” Dan insisted at the same time. “You think I’d hook us up with an amateur?”
    “But when you introduce a new element into an established band, it changes the dynamic,” Quinn said. “We’ve got a good formula, Danny. I don’t want to fuck with it.”
    “I hear you,” Dan said, “but I have a good feeling about this. Trust me, will ya?”
     
    Quinn looked up at the funky metal building, a type he’d only ever seen in SoHo. “Denise is still living in that loft, huh?”
    “Yeah.” Dan nodded, his long hair stirring in the breeze.
    “You should move in here, then, if you’re really serious about living with her,” Quinn said. “This would be a great place to practice. I bet the acoustics are good,” he added as they climbed the three flights to the apartment.
    Dan rapped on the door. They heard the clicking of multiple locks and the door opened. “Hi, sweet stuff,” he cooed as Denise’s round blue eyes peered through the crack.
    They went into the apartment, redolent with the smell of marinara. Quinn recognized Oda Solomon, the bartender from the Grotto, who was at the stove stirring the vat of sauce.
    Denise was smiling at Ty, reaching out with both hands. Her red hair stood up like a rooster’s comb. “Ty, it’s good to see you again.”
    “And you remember Quinn, of course,” Dan prompted as Ty squeezed her hands.
    “Yes.” Denise’s smile lost some of its warmth. “Hi, Quinn.”
    “Denise—always a pleasure,” Quinn replied, his tone polite but guarded.
    Denise led Dan and Ty into the other room, but Quinn lingered in the kitchen with Oda, who was now mixing tomato juice and Worcestershire in a glass pitcher. “Need any help?” he asked. “My Bloody Marys are famous.”
    Oda laughed, a deep sound that seemed to emanate from the bottom of her belly. “I’ll put mine up against yours any day. I’m a bartender,