25

I relax immediately with the hint of softer. Starting to really let go of what happened upstairs when faced with normal Alexi.

‘‘Was that a try at funny? Did you just make a joke?’’

I can’t help the smile of relief that washes over me, that he’s back to being just his bastard self instead of psycho self. His pupils are larger and I wonder if his no-show was him just giving himself time to come down and level out. Getting that crap out of his system so he could act less insane. He knows he must be more controlled, even in his own domain.

‘‘I do occasionally make them. So, tell me London, how’s first night show time coming along?’’ He drinks his booze in one shot and taps his glass on the bar to get another, the tender running obediently to comply and I just swirl mine around disinterested in getting a foggy head tonight when I must be on the ball. I was never a whisky fan at the best of times. All