Flirting With Magick (3 page)

“God, they’re all HOT.” Kate verbalised my thoughts. “Which one’s
your cousin?” As I negotiated my view in between the overzealous
bouncing of a midriff bearing, ponytailed blonde in front of me, I scanned
over the band. The singer had curly brown hair, dark, droopy, puppy
dog eyes, and appeared lost in his own world as he tenderly caressed
the microphone. As I recalled, Luke was a blue-eyed blonde. The onl
y one fitting that description was the guitarist. He was tall, with fresh-
faced, angelic good looks, which were toned down by the tattoos peeking
out below his T-shirt sleeves. He seemed to be the main reason for the
female interest. I caught him relishing in the attention, winking at a
particularly pretty member of the audience. The bass guitarist had jaw
length, jet-black hair, which contrasted with his porcelain skin and eyes
of such a striking green I could see their colour from where I stood in
the back row. He presented a mysterious image with his all-black outfit,
pierced brow, and lack of interest in the crowd. I found his apparent
indifference extremely sexy. The drummer was difficult to see behin
d
my cousin, but I managed to glimpse a pleasant, freckled face and a
cheeky smile.

“That’s Luke, the guitarist.” I pointed him out to Kate.

“Are you kidding?” I felt somewhat insulted at her incredulity that
he and I shared the same genetics. I was about to offer that he looked like his
father to whom I was not related, when she continued, “Obviously, good
looks run in your family.” I laughed, but was touched by the compliment
.

As the last song drew to a close, I wondered how I was going to get
Luke’s attention through his horde of fans. I decided to buy another drink before everyone headed for the bar and wait until he appeared reasonably available.

“Abby?” My pre-planning proved ineffective as thirty minutes later
I was still making my way back to Kate, expertly sidling through the
crowd when I heard my name being called. Whirling around, I caug
ht
the good-looking blonde guitarist giving me a smile that I realised hadn’t
changed in twenty years. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of
glittery faced girls look me up and down before turning back to each
other in disgust. One of them was the midriff baring, ponytailed girl
—
obviously one of Luke's biggest fans.

“Luke. You guys were great.” I motioned to hug him, but the glasses
I held rendered me unable.

“Here, let me help you.” He took one of my wines as someone
placed a beer in his other hand. “Are these both for you?” He gave me
a grin, which I soon learn was a common look for him.

“I’ve got a girlfriend with me.” I explained, embarrassingly only
realising his joke once my mouth was open. “I’ll just go get her,” I added
quickly to cover my mistake.

“We’ve got a table over there.” He gestured to the far end of the
room where his fellow band members and another man had assembled
. “Join us.”

I swore that every woman in the pub shot noxious looks at Kate
and me as we squeezed in between cheeky drummer and mysterious
bassist. Luke took the opportunity to give me a hug. “Guys, this is m
y cousin, Abby and…”

“Kate.” Kate confidently scanned the table as introductions were made, while I nodded politely in her shadow.

“
This is Nathan, Daniel, Silas our manager, and Scott.” Luke pointed
to the drummer, singer, manager, and bassist respectively.

“You were great!” I gushed, a little too earnestly. “Have you been
playing long?”

“Since high school,” Scott, the bass player, replied. He flicked his hair back from his eyes and presented me with a sexy smile. Looking at him up close, he no longer appeared as gothic and detached as he
had on stage. He had a friendly and approachable demeanour, whi
ch
instantly put me at ease. And I was mesmerised by the way the barbell
through his brow bobbed incessantly as he chatted. Squashed next to
him around the tiny table, I became pleasantly aware of his thigh pressed
against mine.

“We’ve just scored a record deal, so we’re doing the pub rounds
at the moment." Luke nodded towards Silas for confirmation. “We
should have an album out by the end of the year, and then we’ll do a national tour.”

“So all that guitar playing in your room has paid off, hey?” I thought
of the dismissive way Aunt Marie used to talk about it. I doubted she’d
be so contemptuous when Luke started playing sold-out stadium shows
and bought her a new car.

“I bet that’s not all you were doing.” Nathan, the drummer, punched
Luke on the arm.

The evening wore on with Nathan’s hilarious tales of typical high-
school boy exploits and battle of the bands wins and losses, and I
managed to pull out the “naked under the sprinklers” story after a fe
w too many rounds.

Scott, it turned out, had been Luke’s best friend since primary school
,
and they started the band, which was called “Reckless Choice,” in high
school music class. Through a long process of auditions and unsuitable
former members, they managed to recruit Nathan and Daniel, who I
thought was
born
to be a front man with his outgoing, almost arrogant
manner. I learnt he was a bit of a ladies’ man, and his latest squeeze was an attractive soap opera actress. He kept checking his watch anxiously
, before finally announcing he was off to meet her.

Eventually the wine became too much for my bladder, and I excused
myself to go to the bathroom. On my way back, I noticed the pub had
t
hinned out, with most patrons having moved on. A familiar face at the
bar caught my eye.

“Hi, Robbie!” I exclaimed to the TV host I had met only a week
earlier. As I did so, I missed the step up to the bar and suddenly found
myself face down on the carpet, with the contents of my handbag flying
everywhere. I managed to compose myself enough to keep talking
(albeit a little too quickly), whilst picking up my belongings (why, oh why can’t I clean out my handbag more?).

“I’m Abby... From Lancer Morris... well, not anymore, I finished
yesterday... we met about a week ago.” I stood up. He replied by pointing
to a lipstick tube and a tampon that had rolled under a barstool. “Um,
thanks.” I picked them up, trying to ignore the stickiness of the floor, while
wishing it would actually open up and swallow me. He then pointed to
some loose change that had rolled all over the floor in different directions.

Shit.

“
Don’t you know how to help a lady out?” Scott appeared, glarin
g
at Robbie. “Or are you just an arrogant turd?” He said it loudly enough
to elicit a number of disgusted stares toward the TV host.

Robbie silently turned his back, downed the last of his drink, and
motioned to his two friends who were chatting up some jailbait at the
other end of the bar. “Shit band anyway,” he muttered under his breath
before slinking out of the room.

“Are you okay?” Scott crouched next to me and dropped some of
the rogue coins into my bag.

I picked up a condom from under his feet. “Um, I don’t have this because I intend using it. My friend put it there. I don’t actually...” I
began, then popped it irritably back in my bag, and turned to thank him
,
feeling my cheeks grow red as I realised his face was only centimetres
from mine. I could smell the masculine aroma of pine scented soap
mingled with the smoke and beer of the pub and see the smoothness of his recently shaven skin. As our eyes met and my heart skipped a beat, the previous night’s spell fast tracked its way through my head. Could it be working this quickly? Could it be him? I held my breath, unsure of what to do or what his next move was, but not wanting to spoil the moment.

“Hey, Scotty. We’re dying of thirst over here.” Nathan, who had impeccable timing, broke the magic. Scott stood up, pulling me with him. He ran a hand through his hair and placed his order at the bar while I headed back to the table, my knees still shaking.

Damn.

As he sat back down, I suddenly realised with horror the potential
consequences of the last few minutes with the TV host.

“Scott, do you know who that was?” I asked, a little shaken.

“Who? That dickhead in the bar?”

“That was Robbie Myers. The host of 'Hottest Hits Now.' He introduces
new bands. What if I’ve stuffed up the chances of you being on his show?
Oh God, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, love.” Silas interrupted my drunken panic as
he moved to leave. “He doesn’t control what goes on the show. Besides,
blokes like that are a dime a dozen, and by the time
Reckless Choice
is on
there, he might have already been replaced three times over.” Silas said
goodbye, my fear dissipating as I took in the reality of the situation.

“I thought I’d seen him before.” Scott mused. “Hey, it’s not your fault
you fell over. He’s the arsehole who’s too stuck up to give you a hand
.”

“Yeah, fair enough. Thanks, by the way.” I wouldn't be surprised
if the incident ended up on some celebrity gossip blog next week, the
thought made me smile. I looked into his eyes, noticing that the striking
colour was due to the way an amber pigment near his pupils fanned out
to mix with blue. I felt a flutter in my stomach, and my cheeks burned
again as I tore my gaze from his face, down his arm
—
taking in the swirly
tattoo on his bicep
—
to the glass he was holding. His fingers were tapping
against the smooth surface, and I was wondering what it would be like to
have those bass playing fingers between... Oh God. I pushed the thoug
ht
from my mind. My bed had been free of company since Josh left. Was
it any wonder I was feeling a bit frisky?

Kate was effortlessly lapping up Nathan’s attention. Meanwhile,
bare-midriffed, ponytailed girl and her friend had taken advantage of the
two vacant seats to desperately try to keep up a conversation with Luke.

“Either someone’s going to miss out or Luke’s in for a fantastic
night.” I whispered to Scott. Luke couldn’t handle the pressure off stage,
and he loudly
announced a
nother round of drinks, ensuing further giggles
in support of our little private joke.

“Do you want to get out of here? Get a coffee?” Scott asked, watching
me swallow the last of my drink, while I was really trying to gulp dow
n
my excitement as my pulse started to race. Was he asking me out? I’d
had all the alcohol I could take for the night and was grateful for the offer of a change of scene. We left Luke and Nathan in the more than capable hands of Kate and the glittery midriffed girls and drifted out into the icy night.

A small café was still bursting with light, and we wandered into
the welcoming smell of sugary chocolate icing and strong espresso.
Finding a table in a cosy corner, we ordered our coffees, and I suddenly
realised, with growing dismay, that I had the mysterious, sexy stranger
all to myself. Without our friends to look to for support and the distracting
buzz of the pub, we found ourselves in an awkward moment.

“That jukebox was doing my head in.” He finally shattered the
silence. I caught him running his hand through his hair again and
wondered if it was a nervous gesture.

“I know what you mean; seriously, how many times can you hear
“Khe San” and “Sweet Home Alabama” in an hour?”

He laughed as the waitress arrived with our lattes, his full, pink lips
pulled back over his perfect teeth. I pictured those lips on my neck,
working their way down... what the hell was the matter with me? Did
my innocent love spell turn me into a raving nympho? Or had it just been too long since I’d been in the presence of an attractive man?

“So what do you do?” He broke through my thoughts.

“I finished a job yesterday, so I’m having a week off before I start the next one. I’ll be running the front office—some secretarial work,
supervising the reception, that kind of thing. Do you know Lancer Morris
Management?” He nodded. “That’s where I was. I’ll be starting at Ava
lon
IT, a software distribution company. It’s completely different than looking
after actors and entertainers so I can’t tell you much about it.”

After the initial moment of awkwardness, we managed to talk over
three more coffees and into the wee hours of the morning. I discovered
that when he wasn’t recording or performing, he worked for a musical
instrument retailer, hoping to be able to quit soon so he could concentrate
on the band full time. He was proficient in guitar, bass guitar, and piano
and, up until recently, used to teach all three.