Nikolai takes us to a grungy sort of pub. It’s nothing I would ever pick to take a potential client to, but the guys from Skate 32 seem to love it.
There's a band on the stage, but they’re not playing. They’re tuning and getting set up still.
“Nikolai!” A young woman with a Debbie Harry platinum-blonde bob waves from the stage, and something in me turns brittle and hard.
Ugh. Of course his friend with a band is female.
Nikolai is a total player. That’s why he’s so good at handling this random weird social event. He’s the kind of guy who takes out a different girl every weekend. Totally practiced at this sort of thing.
Nikolai finds us a table toward the back corner because he says it’s going to get loud. I position my chair on the end, as far removed from all of them as I can manage.
