See You at the Show (13 page)

“Thank you,” Daniel smiled at the guard, grateful he hadn’t wanted a longer conversation.

Sticking his hands in his pockets he started walking around an area full of people, most of them running backwards and forwards, shouting things at each other as he looked around, trying to see if he could find her amongst the throng of bodies.
 
And then he caught a glimpse of her.
 
You couldn’t really miss her.
 
She stood out from a crowd like nobody he’d ever seen before, but she wasn’t alone.
 

She was standing with her back against a wall, a tall and extremely handsome man standing in front of her, and she was smiling up at him as he slipped his hands up underneath her t-shirt, leaning in to give her a long, slow kiss.
 
Daniel watched, knowing he should look away but he couldn’t.
 
It wasn’t like it was something they were trying to keep private anyway, there were masses of people around.
 
But it still felt as though he was intruding on something and he looked away for a brief second.
 
But only for a second, and when he turned back she was wrapped in the arms of the man in front of her, both of them indulging in a kiss so deep it really did feel as though they should be somewhere more private.
 
The man was quite obviously Mark Cassidy, and it certainly looked as though they were well and truly together from what Daniel was witnessing.
 
So why did that make him feel so strange?
 
Why was his head suddenly all fuzzy and clouded with thoughts he couldn’t process when he hadn’t even had a drink yet?
 
For the first time in his life he felt a little out of control.
 
And he had absolutely no idea why.

***

“What’s up with
you
?
 
You’re gonna break that fucking guitar if you’re not careful,” Jack said, watching Johnny as he absent-mindedly plucked hard at the strings of his acoustic guitar, his eyes very much on Stevie and Mark.

“Nothing’s up with me.”

“Bollocks...Jesus, is she here again?”

Johnny looked around to see Billy and Ava sitting in the marquee behind them, Billy gently stroking his pregnant wife’s now huge baby bump.

“Quit bitching, Jack, will you?
 
She’s gonna have the baby soon then I’m sure she’ll want to stay home playing earth mother and we’ll all be back to normal.”

“When you say normal, does that include your mood going back to the way it used to be?”

Johnny looked at his band mate, who was lounging back in his chair, legs stretched out in front of him, a cigarette in his mouth and a can of lager in his hand.
 
Jack Warner played the rock star to the stereotypical letter sometimes, and if Johnny wasn’t so agitated he’d find it as funny as he usually did.
 
Today he just found it irritating.

“Fuck off, Jack.”
 
He started strumming the guitar again, staring out around him.

“See what I mean?
 
What is
wrong
with you?
 
Ever since
Ibiza
you’ve had a face on you.”

“That’s what Stevie said.”

“And she should know.”

Johnny looked at him again.
 
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jack shrugged.
 
“You tell
me,
mate.
 
You’re the one that goes off in a sulk every time her and Cassidy are off doing the deed.
 
Jesus, can you hear that lot out there?
 
I bet every one of them would drop their knickers for our front man, given half a chance.
 
Hey, do you reckon he’s gonna see if he can pull something posh tonight?”

Johnny stood up.
 
He’d had enough of Jack for one night.
 
He just wanted this gig over with so’s he could get back to the hotel and drink himself into oblivion.
 
He knew Jack was right; he just didn’t want to admit it.
 
There
was
something up with him, but he wasn’t going to tell
him
that.
 

He put his guitar down by the opening to the marquee and went inside, looking for a drink of something, anything, just to take the edge off what he was feeling.

“Are you ok?”

He turned to see Billy standing beside him.
 
Their mild mannered drummer always seemed to have a calming effect and sometimes Johnny wondered how he’d stuck it out in this crazy band for so long.

“No.
 
I’m fucking sick of
him
,” Johnny said, indicating towards Jack, who was now having a shouted conversation with Stevie as she continued to hang onto Mark.
 
Johnny wasn’t quite sure what was irritating him more.
 
“He’s really starting to piss me off, Billy.”

Billy handed him a bottle of lager and leaned back against the table, folding his arms and looking outside, following Johnny’s gaze.

“Why don’t you just tell her, Johnny?”

Johnny looked at him.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“You’re in love with her, aren’t you?
 
Stevie.
 
You’re in love with her.”

Johnny turned away, looking back outside where Stevie and Mark were still kissing as though the whole world around them didn’t exist.
 
And it hurt.
 
And that was a feeling he wasn’t used to.

“Don’t talk crap, Billy.”

“You might be able to kid Jack, and you certainly seem to be fooling yourself, but don’t lie to
me,
Johnny.
 
I’ve been there; I know what it looks like.”

“Know what
what
looks like?”

“Love.
 
The way you look at her’s changed, Johnny.
 
The way you act around her...are you still sleeping with her?”

“When she wants me, yes.
 
I can’t say no to her, Billy...just like she can’t say no to Mark.”

“So, you gonna carry on letting that happen?
 
I mean, given the way you feel…”

“You know nothing about how I feel, ok?”

Billy shoved his hands deep into his pockets and looked at the ground for a second before looking back up at Johnny.
 
“If you want to talk...”

“I don’t need a fucking counsellor, Billy, so back off!”

Billy held his hands up in surrender.
 
“Whatever.
 
I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, well, don’t.”

Billy started to walk away, but stopped and turned around, looking straight at Johnny.
 
“Look, just be honest with yourself, Johnny, ok?
 
Then you’ll know what you need to do.”

***

Stevie grabbed Mark’s t-shirt, pulling him closer to her, standing up on tip-toe to receive another of his long, deep kisses.
 
She couldn’t get enough of them today.
 
They’d spent a good couple of hours just having sex once she’d got back to the hotel but she still wanted him badly.
 
She still wanted to feel him next to her, his naked skin touching hers.
 
Mark Cassidy had reeled her in big time today and she was reluctant to let him go.

“Baby, baby, you are killing me tonight,” he groaned, his hands creeping up underneath her t-shirt, the touch of his fingers making her shiver as his mouth lowered down onto hers.
 
His lips were so soft as they moved roughly against hers, that familiar taste of cigarette smoke heavy on his breath but she didn’t care, she just wanted him to kiss her.
 
“We are so gonna fuck like there’s no tomorrow when this is all over.”

She smiled, running her fingers through his dark hair, pushing it away from his face.
 
“You’re gonna behave yourself tonight then?”

He smiled too.
 
The Cassidy special.
 
“Hey, no-one’s too sure of the ages of this lot here tonight, babe.
 
Too risky.”

“I suppose I should think myself lucky then.”

His hand moved lower, sliding down the back of her combat pants as his mouth hovered over hers.
 
“You’re gonna be
very
lucky, Ms. Stone.
 
Very, very lucky.”

“Promises, promises,” she whispered, closing her eyes as he kissed her again, sliding her hands up and down his strong, toned arms, his muscles hard beneath her fingers.

“I’d better go,” he said, stroking her waist, pulling her against him for one last kiss.
 
“Gotta job to do here, even if I can’t be bothered.”

“Give them your best, Mark.
 
You always give your best; don’t let this be an exception.
 
In fact, give them the full Mark Cassidy treatment tonight and I might just do that thing you’ve always wanted me to do but, so far, I’ve refused point blank to even think about.”

His face broke into that famous smile again.
 
“No kidding?”

She laughed, running her fingers over his tattooed arms again.
 
“No kidding.
 
Now go on, get out there and entertain those kids.”

She watched him run off, folding her arms against her, her stomach doing little somersaults she’d tried to discourage but couldn’t stop.
 
Where Mark Cassidy was concerned she should be forgetting all that kind of crap.

“That was quite a show you put on there,” Johnny said, leaning back against the wall beside her.

She looked at him.
 
“Nothing different from usual.
 
And shouldn’t you be getting ready with the rest of them?”

“In a minute.
 
So, you going back to the hotel with him tonight?”

Stevie started fiddling with the cuff watch on her left wrist, looking down at it as she did so.
 
“If by ‘him’ you mean Mark then, yeah.
 
That’s the plan.”

“Unless he gets sidetracked.”

She looked up at him again.
 
“He won’t.
 
Not tonight.”

“Why?
 
What you promised him?”

She smiled.
 
“Something
you’ll
never get the benefit of.”

Johnny knew she hadn’t meant that to be a cutting remark, but it had been.
 
“If he lets you down...”

She looked at him with the eyes of a believing child and it scared him a little bit.
 
Stevie never let her vulnerable side show, especially when it came to Mark Cassidy.
 
So why was she letting her guard down now?

“He won’t let me down.”

Johnny took her hand and squeezed it tight.
 
“If he does, you know where I am.”

She slowly let go of his hand as he walked away without looking back.
 
She was starting to think they were putting something in the water around here because everyone seemed in a strange mood today.

She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Is everything ok?”

A voice unlike any she’d heard around the back of this stage – or any stage, come to think of it - made her open her eyes and she turned to see who it belonged to.
 
A face she recognised but couldn’t quite place where from looked at her.
 
He had a lovely smile, and the most beautiful green eyes, but who the hell was he?

“Everything’s fine.
 
Thank you.
 
And you are?”

He continued to look at her, and she should have felt uncomfortable, but she didn’t.

“Sorry.
 
I should have introduced myself this afternoon.”

She narrowed her eyes.
 
“This afternoon?”

“When we bumped into each other.
 
You were busy setting up the stage for tonight and I sent your cables flying.”

“Oh...yeah.
 
Ok.”
 
She hadn’t really taken a great deal of notice this afternoon but looking at him now, she could swear she’d seen him somewhere before today.

“I’m Daniel Madison.”

She knew that name.
 
It rang a very distant bell, anyway.
 
But she was still looking at him with a slightly puzzled expression.

“I’m an MP.”

“Really?”
 
She cocked her head to one side, as if studying him further.
 
“Were you on TV the other day?”

He nodded and she realised that’s where she’d seen him before.
 
She hadn’t actually been watching it, the TV had just been on in the background when she’d been with Mark, but she knew she’d seen him somewhere before.

“What you doing here then?
 
This isn’t the kind of place I’d expect to see someone like you.”