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There’s a proper way to drink absinthe. Most connoisseurs diluted it by dripping cold water over a sugar cube directly into the distilled spirit using specialty spoons and glasses. Drinking it straight was discouraged because it was brutally strong, tasted like fire with a dash of herbs, and the high alcohol content could fuck you up quickly.
Last year, for Sid’s 30th birthday, I’d gotten him fancy absinthe glasses, a set of slotted absinthe spoons, and an absinthe fountain in brushed steel to add some sophistication to our annual birthday ritual. It really did taste a hell of a lot better when it was prepared right.
The tradition started the day Sid turned 20. Our old band, Downward Spiral, was playing a gig that night, and none of us had a lot of extra money to spend on going out to celebrate. Somehow Curtis had a mostly full bottle of absinthe and we ended up passing it around that night until it was empty. It turned into an epic night of drunken hilarity and pandemonium, at least the parts we could remember.
Since that night 11 years ago, Sid and I never missed toasting his birthday with a shot of absinthe and I wasn’t about to break tradition tonight. I had a flask tucked into my inside jacket pocket with enough absinthe in it to fell an elephant.
A small group of us were in Vegas to celebrate Sid’s birthday. The girls arrived on Thursday to make it a long weekend. They’d done the girl stuff: spas, shopping, pool cabanas, shows on the strip, and whatever else they got up to. Most of the guys got in yesterday, but I didn’t get here until this morning. I didn’t want to leave Kody for too long.
The band only had two guys from Vector Security with us because we decided we wouldn’t leave the hotel. Ghost had been getting some attention in the hotel, but when Greyson Durant got here, it was ten times worse. Luckily, the security at The Venetian was able to work with our guys to keep us from being constantly disturbed.
My bandmates — Ghost, Knox, Ryder, and Sid — along with our manager, Donovan, and Greyson met up in a swanky cocktail bar while we waited for the girls to primp for the evening and join us.
We could hear them before we could see them as they’d been sucking down cocktails all day long. Ryder’s wife, Talia, led the pack with her old roommate from Ohio, Ellie, by her side. My sister followed with her friend, Lacey, on one side, and Summer, Knox’s girl, on the other. I could tell that Kaylie was already tipsy. She’d always been a lightweight, but between her pregnancy and caring for two baby boys, she hadn’t been out partying in a long time. I thought about telling her to slow down a bit, but that was Sid’s job now. Remi, the third person in the Remi-Ghost-Grey triad, followed behind the pack of girls along with Summer’s friend who lived here in Las Vegas.
We moved our loud party of 14 from the cocktail bar to the restaurant and a couple of hours later headed to the nightclub where we had bottle service at a premium private table set on a raised dais that was cordoned off with velvet ropes and just off the dance floor. The place was packed, and I was grateful we didn’t have to get our drinks from one of the three bars. We’d already collected plenty of champagne bottles, two bottles of different flavored vodka, a bottle of tequila, and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black — and that was just what I could see on my side of the table.
We were there for over an hour before I had a chance to talk to Sid. Kaylie was on the dance floor with some of the girls, including Lacey, who was watching over her, per Sid’s request. I knew Kay wouldn’t last much longer, so I plunked down in the seat next to Sid.
Leaning close so he could hear me, I shouted, “I’ve got something for you in my pocket.”
Whoa, that didn’t sound right, but I’d put away a decent number of drinks myself already.
Sid growled. “I’ve seen your dick, and I’m not interested.”
I frowned at his dumb joke. “I’m talking about the Green Fairy.”
“Is that what you’re calling your dick nowadays?”
“Go fuck yourself.” My words were harsh, but they lacked any bite. He knew I was kidding.
I pulled out the flask, keeping it low and under the table. Even though we’d already dropped thousands of dollars here, I didn’t want to get us kicked out of the damn club for sneaking in my own liquor. “It’s not your birthday without it, brother.”
“Fuck.” Sid grimaced. “Kaylie’s wasted. I can’t drink anymore. I’ve got to take care of her.”
“One shot. You have to or else it’s seven years of bad luck.”
“That’s bullshit.” Sid grinned. “But, I gotta do it. We doing a straight shot like the old days?”
I felt my pockets, pretending to look for something. “Yep. Forgot to bring the fountain.”
We both drained the last bit of alcohol from our glasses. Sid lowered his empty glass under the table. “Give me a light pour.”
“Pussy.” I unscrewed the cap from the flask and then poured a shot into both of our glasses before returning the flask back to my jacket.
We clinked our glasses together. “To another year. Happy birthday. Cheers, brother.”
He glanced out at the dance floor. “I’m a lucky bastard.”
“Yeah, you are.” I tossed the drink back and swallowed in one gulp. For a split second, I tasted the strong anise flavor and was tricked into thinking that the shot wasn’t as bad as I remembered. Very quickly, the burn started. I suppressed a cough, and it felt like fire was shooting out of my nostrils. Then the burn traveled all the way down my throat and into my stomach. It took close to a minute before I could talk again.
Sid shook his head. “Fuck, that went down harsh.”
I was much looser after that shot. I even went out to dance with the girls, dirty dancing a bit with Ellie, even though Donovan had been sniffing around her all night.
It was about an hour later when Sid dragged Kaylie back to their room. With the birthday boy gone, it wasn’t long after when Summer’s friend left, and then Summer and Knox quickly disappeared.
I made myself another drink and then sat back to relax a bit. The DJ was spinning non-stop electronic dance music made with stacking drum samples and drum machines. I’d been counting beats in my head all night and it was getting repetitive and frustrating. It was like an annoying earworm that wasn’t just in my head, so there was no way to ditch it. It wouldn’t go away until it felt like the synthetic beats were actually burrowing under my skin.
