Chapter 22
Dying with Unresolved Feelings
Chapter 22 Dying with Unresolved Feelings
May has arrived, and the number of customers at Wild Beast House has stabilized. The handsome men's team has been recruiting, adding many new members.
Martin didn't join because he won.
Martin had no psychological barriers to Hart and his colleagues' profession, but he believed that effort and reward should be proportional.
A hundred dollars for a dance song? A bartender's tips for a night would be more than that.
On Saturday night, Martin finally met the person he wanted to see.
Kelly Gray was watching a Tarzan performance by the circular stage when she left a bunch of tips and came over to the bar.
Martin was mixing drinks. He waved to her briefly before continuing with his work.
After seeing the two female customers off and tossing the tips he received into the cardboard box at his feet, Martin gave Bruce a wink and walked over.
Kelly Gray's short hair was dyed flaxen, and her trendy dress made her look a few years younger. She was sitting on a high stool, tapping her fingers lightly on the bar, and looking Martin up and down.
She had just watched a male dancer performance and felt that Martin Davis was more suited to the circular stage.
"Are you a bartender?" Kelly Gray asked, puzzled.
Martin smiled and said, "The manager and bartender are too busy with customers lately."
Kelly Gray said, "It's nice here, I've found the Los Angeles vibe."
"This is what we like, and what we're fighting for, isn't it?" Martin's words clearly placed him on the other person's side. He was prepared: "Want a drink?"
Kelly Gray said, "I have very discerning tastes."
Martin cleaned his hands and fetched a new cocktail shaker: "A cocktail you can't get in Atlanta."
He added ice, lemon juice, Aperol, and Yavana, and finally bourbon whiskey. He shook the shaker vigorously for ten seconds, poured the liquid into a chilled glass, and then garnished the glass with a delicately folded paper airplane.
The bright orange liquid is quite like a work of art.
Martin gestured for them to try: "Paper airplane, please."
Kelly Gray picked it up and sipped it slowly. After a while, she said, "I'm sure I've never had it before."
Martin asked, "You've tasted a lot of cocktails."
"I spent a few years in Los Angeles and met a good friend of mine who was an alcoholic," Kelly Gray casually remarked. "I've tasted quite a few drinks with her."
She raised her glass slightly to Martin: "A very distinctive wine, I like it."
Martin replied, "It's an honor."
A female customer came over and asked, "Aren't you a dancer? Don't you go on stage to dance?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not," Martin replied politely.
Martin turned around and saw Kelly Gray unable to suppress her laughter. He shrugged and said, "There's nothing we can do. Every night someone misunderstands, and there are always people who have fantasies."
Kelly Gray asked, "Should I bring you up on stage?"
"Yes," Martin said with a helpless expression, "Being born with such good looks can easily lead to misunderstandings. Does being good-looking mean you have to be a dancer? Prejudice is harmful."
Kelly Gray had been in a good mood these past few days, and now she was in an even better mood, raising an eyebrow: "You are indeed very good-looking. If you were a dancer, I would invite you to dance a song."
Martin joked, "I won't be giving it away for free."
Kelly Gray took another sip of her bright orange cocktail and looked around. "Your club is nice."
Martin told the truth: "I'm just a manager; the boss is someone else."
Kelly Gray suddenly asked, "You don't have any male customers here, do you? How do you know Andrew?"
She looked directly into Martin's eyes, and Martin calmly replied, "I'm still an actor."
Kelly Gray laughed: "You have so many identities."
"Poor bastard, multiple jobs mean more income." Martin wouldn't be stupid enough to lie about something like this: "I'm a member of the Marietta Community Theatre Troupe. I started working on film sets when I was sixteen. I recently participated in the filming of a plantation movie. Andrew was the casting assistant, and he happened to cast me as a corpse. We hit it off and chatted for a while. Andrew mentioned the Freedom Society and told us to keep an eye on them and call him anytime if anything happens."
Kelly Gray, who had confirmed this with Ella, said, "This is a film I've invested in as a package deal."
"You invested in it?" Martin asked. "Ms. Gray, can I tell you the truth?"
"Please speak."
"This show is really bad." Martin, who is playing a bartender and actor, knows that to make an impression, he must show his personality at the right time: "After the hero saves the damsel in distress, having the two main characters announce their love in front of two corpses is really terrible."
Kelly Gray laughed again: "If I'm not mistaken, you're one of the corpses?"
Martin declared righteously, "The most handsome, and also the most pathetic, corpse in history, I lie on the ground, dying with my eyes wide open."
"You rascal," Kelly Gray laughed again, "it's been a long time since anyone's talked to me like this."
She took out $10 and placed it on the bar: "The paper airplane is yours, I'll pay the tip."
Martin confidently asserted, "This drink is worth $10."
Kelly Gray added, "There's also a chat section."
The two chatted for a while longer before Kelly Gray got down to business: "Tomorrow, contact my assistant and go see the lawyer. On Monday, the Liberty Society is holding a press conference, and the House of the Beasts is part of it. You'll be representing the House of the Beasts in the lawsuit against the Methodist Society."
Martin, having already secured Vincent's agreement, said, "No problem."
Kelly Gray stood up: "The club did a good job."
Leaving the club and getting into the back seat of the BMW, she took out her phone and dialed a Los Angeles number: "Good evening, Louise the Drunkard, it's me, Kelly. Today I discovered a cocktail I've never seen before called Paper Airplane. You've never heard of it either? Aren't you coming to Atlanta with the film crew in a while? I'll take you to try it."
Behind the club bar, civilized people finally escaped from their busy lives.
He found Martin: "Dude, no wonder Hart wanted to call you Dad."
Martin quickly denied it: "Don't slander me, I have no son."
On Sunday morning, Martin met with a lawyer from the Liberty Society on behalf of the club, and then attended a Liberty Society press conference on Monday.
(End of this chapter)