See You at the Show (14 page)

“Someone like me?”

“You’re not exactly a biker type, are you?”

He had to laugh.
 
“No.
 
Far from it.
 
This party, it’s for my Goddaughter.
 
That’s why I’m here.”
 
But that wasn’t the only reason.
 
Not now.

“Right.
 
Thought your type wouldn’t hang around these gigs if it wasn’t for some good reason or other.”

“My type?”

She looked at him with those incredible eyes and he felt that feeling in the pit of his stomach again.
 
The one he couldn’t explain.
 
The one that was confusing the hell out of him.

“The posh type,” Stevie said, looking away and fiddling with her watch again.
 
“What do you want, anyway?”

Daniel didn’t know.
 
He didn’t know what he wanted; all he knew was that he wanted to stay here, talking to her.
 
And he had no idea why.

“I want to see you again.”

The words just fell out of his mouth, as if someone else was saying them.
 
He’d had no control over them, he hadn’t even realised he was saying them until he’d started to hear them.

Stevie looked at him as if he was mad.
 
What the hell must she think of him?
 
Why had he said that?
 
He didn’t know.
 
He didn’t really know
what
he was doing anymore.
 
All he knew was that now the words had come out, he’d meant them.

“What did you say?” Stevie asked, putting her hands in her pockets, still staring at him.

“I want to see you again.” Daniel couldn’t break the gaze, he couldn’t look away from her.

“You’re kidding, right?”

He ran a hand through his hair.
 
Every conceivable alarm bell was going off in his head and he knew he should be turning and walking away from this but he couldn’t.
 
He didn’t want to.
 
Despite a million reasons why he should already filling his confused head.

“No.
 
I’m not kidding.”

She continued to look at him, those eyes of hers searching his face for something.
 
Some kind of explanation.

“What the fuck
are
you?
 
Some kind of stalker?
 
You’re fucking crazy!”

She started to walk away from him and he almost panicked, desperate to keep her here beside him.

“No, Stevie, please!”

She swung round and stared at him.
 
“You know my name?”

“One of your colleagues told me.
 
Listen, please.
 
I...I don’t know where this has come from, I really don’t.
 
My head’s all over the place and I know I’m not thinking straight but...but I do know one thing.
 
I know I need to see you again.
 
I...I don’t know why, I have no idea what’s happening here but, please...please listen to me.”

She shook her head, staring at him.
 
“This is crazy.
 
You’re
crazy.
 
Forget it.”

And all he could do was watch as she ran off in the direction of the stage, leaving him wondering just what the hell had gone on there.
 
And where he went from here.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Black Rock Diamond were doing five nights at Wembley.
 
After that they were taking a short break before a series of European gigs, and finally, a North American and Canadian tour.
 
When all of that was over it was back into the studio to work on their fourth album.
 
It was a busy time but Stevie knew the guys wouldn’t have it any other way.

She was just happy that being back in
London
meant she could at last sleep in her own bed in her own flat.
 
She had a modest but comfortable home in
North London
, somewhere that was both her haven and a place where some of the best parties she’d ever thrown had happened.
 
It was very much a lived-in flat, with wooden floors and painted walls of various colours, assorted rock memorabilia strewn all over the place, and she loved it.

Most of her friends lived close by, which suited her just fine because she never liked to be alone for too long.
 
Johnny lived just a stone’s throw away, and Mark’s more elaborate
U.K.
based rock star pad was only a mile or so from her place, but she never really liked staying over there.
 
There were always paparazzi or fans hanging around outside and anyway, she preferred her own space.
 
She was much happier when he stayed over at her place, which he’d done last night.
 

He was in the shower now.
 
They’d been in there together not ten minutes ago and she smiled at the still very fresh memory.
 

Switching on the TV she pulled herself up onto the breakfast bar and dug a spoon into a pot of blueberry yoghurt, only half watching the screen as they started talking politics, something she’d only ever really had a passing interest in.
 
It wasn’t until she heard a vaguely familiar voice that she looked up.
 
Daniel Madison.
 
The posh guy from last night.
 
He was being interviewed about something and she squinted slightly as she tried to read the caption on the screen as he spoke.
 
Was she reading that right?
 
He was a candidate for the forthcoming Opposition Party leadership?
 
This guy had ambition, she thought, absent-mindedly playing about with her yoghurt as she continued to watch the interview.
 
He really did have lovely eyes; you couldn’t help but notice that.
 
But he’d acted really strange at that party last night.
 
Really strange.
 
He’d said he wanted to see her again and that had come out of nowhere.
 
For someone like him to even look at someone like her was strange in itself, but his behaviour had been unexpected.
 
But then, she didn’t really know anything about him, did she?
 
He might act like that all the time for all she knew.
 
Some of these politicians could be really strange, she’d read enough stuff in the papers.

She continued to watch as he smiled at the presenter who was interviewing him, handling himself like a typical politician.
 
Not that she really had any idea what a typical politician was like anyway, but she assumed Daniel Madison was as close to one as she was ever going to get.

Putting her empty yoghurt carton down on the breakfast bar, she cocked her head to one side as she watched the screen, watched him talking with the ease of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.
 
He was coming across as strong, confident and in total control.
 
Not at all like the confused and bewildered character he’d been when she’d seen him last night.
 
She still had no idea what all that had been about.
 
It had been almost surreal.
 
She couldn’t seem to forget about it though, which was strange.

“What you doing?”
 

Mark’s voice brought her back to reality and she looked up as he walked into the kitchen, all Rock God sexiness in just his jeans, his damp hair all rough and tousled.

“Watching breakfast TV.
 
Nothing important.”

She opened her legs slightly to let him step between, her arms slipping round his neck as he kissed her slowly.
 
He smelt of lime shower gel and coconut shampoo and she closed her eyes and let herself be lost in him for a few minutes.

“Watching you do what you did last night, baby...I could dream about that for decades.”

“I don’t break promises, Mark.”

She was only wearing one of his t-shirts and his fingers slid slowly up her legs, stroking her inner thighs with his thumbs, making her moan out loud as his mouth moved down to her neck.

“Was that a one-time-only deal?” he asked.
 
“Or do I get a repeat performance?”

She wrapped her legs around him, smiling as she felt him grow harder against her.
 
“That depends on you, really.”

He looked at her, smiling that amazing smile and she really wished she was stronger where he was concerned.
 
He was a weakness she could do without, but she’d never give him up.
 
It would take so much to make her do that.
 
So much.

“I’m going to get ready,” she said, kissing him quickly then pushing him away, sliding down off the breakfast bar.
 
“I’ve got to get to the stadium soon.”

He wasn’t letting her go that easily though, grabbing her round the waist as she tried to get away.

“Mark!” she laughed, struggling to break free from his grip, but failing.
 
A little bit deliberately really.
 
“Come on, I’ve got to go.
 
I’m going to be late.”

“Five minutes, baby.
 
Come on.
 
I’m not gonna see you all day and I hate that.
 
I hate being without you.”

She turned round in his arms and looked at him.
 
That had been a very uncharachteristic thing for Mark Cassidy to say.
 
He’d never admitted to anything such as missing someone before.
 
Never.
 

She kissed him gently, letting him wrap his arms around her and hold her tight for a second, but she was the first to pull away.
 
She didn’t like the way things seemed to be changing, it was unsettling her.
 
For so long everything had had a natural order, a pattern, a way of ticking along and everybody knew where they were.
 
Now Johnny was acting strange, she had weird politicians hanging around her, and Mark – Mark was almost saying that he missed her.
 
And that wasn’t the way things worked in her world.

She took his hand, still looking at him.
 
“Just give me a second, Mark, ok?
 
Give me a second, then come upstairs.”

He didn’t say anything, just watched as she almost ran out of the room.
 
He leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes and pushed a hand through his damp hair.
 
Jesus, what was wrong with him?
 
She’d been in his life for years but he’d never felt the shit he was feeling now.
 
They were rock’s wild couple - Stevie Stone and Mark Cassidy, always together, no matter what, with no commitment and nothing tying them down.
 
He’d thought it was always going to be that way, that nothing would change.
 
But something in the back of his mind was telling him life had stopped being that easy, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with that.
 
He wasn’t sure at all.

***

Daniel had got through the interview on auto pilot.
 
He knew he’d said the right things, he knew he’d done ok, but he had no idea how he’d managed it.
 
His head was still all over the place, his mind on other things.
 
No, it was on
one
other thing.
 
Stevie Stone.
 
He couldn’t get her out of his head.
 
He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
 
She had an attitude from hell, used language that made him flinch but she was the most fascinating and intriguing woman he’d ever come across.
 
To say she was beautiful was an understatement.
 
She was more than that, she was stunning.
 
With so little make-up and outfits that Samantha wouldn’t even dare consider she was an enigma to him.
 
And he needed to find out more, even if he couldn’t explain why.

Walking into his office at the House of Commons, he smiled at Amy before heading straight to his desk, closing the door behind him.
 
He wasn’t really in the mood for small talk this morning, not even with Amy.

Sitting down behind his desk he flicked on the TV, the ever-present news channel jumping into life as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, putting his head in his hands and closing his eyes.
 
He had to try and get his head together because, right now, he couldn’t even think straight.
 
Then only thing he was certain of was that he needed to see her again, Stevie; he needed to get to her, but how?
 
And what the hell was he going to do if he
did
see her again?
 
This was ridiculous.
 
He’d never felt so out of control of a situation in his entire life.
 
In the space of twenty-four hours his whole world had been given a shove in a direction he wasn’t at all familiar with and he couldn’t settle until he got whatever it was out of his system.