See You at the Show (23 page)

Daniel put the ‘phone down and smiled.
 
She’d been out of the country for a few months now and it had felt like too long.
 
When she wasn’t around it gave him too much time to think and if he thought about what he was doing it scared him.
 
It was wrong, it was dangerous but he couldn’t leave her alone.
 
She was like some kind of drug he needed in order to function now, just knowing she was in his life made everything seem easier to handle.
 
She gave him a kind of energy he’d never felt before and now he didn’t know if he could do without it.
 
Sure, he felt guilty, but less so as time went on and he wasn’t sure whether that was an altogether good sign.
 
Not when this General Election was just around the corner.
 
He couldn’t afford anything to leak out into the press, he couldn’t afford a scandal because that’s what it would be.
 
A married party leader and a rock roadie – it had tabloid headline written all over it and it could destroy everything he’d worked so hard to achieve.
 
But on the other hand, Stevie was a woman he wasn’t willing to give up.
 
Whatever the consequences.
 
He’d never lived his life quite so close to the edge before but he was finding it more than just a little exhilarating.
 
She was an incredible woman, Stevie Stone.
 
And she was a woman he wanted more than he dared to admit.

***

Mark was losing her and it hurt.
 
She still slept with him, she still hung out with him, she was still in his life, but she was moving farther away from him and he felt helpless.
 

He didn’t know who she was seeing, but he knew it wasn’t Johnny.
 
If it was it might be easier to take, easier to fight for her but the fact he had no idea who this man was made it both frustrating and painful.
 
She was doing a fantastic job of keeping it a secret and there was nothing he could do.
 

He still loved her, and he was still finding it hard to cope with the rush of feelings he was experiencing but if he acted on those feelings he’d lose her, she’d told him as much.
 
And he didn’t want to lose her.
 
He just wanted to know who she was with, he wanted to see what he was up against.
 
And then he could work out just what kind of fight he had on his hands.

***

Samantha wasn’t stupid.
 
Daniel may think she was but she was a lot more observant than he was giving her credit for.
 
All this time she’d known how distracted he’d been and she’d thought, at first, that it was all down to work and everything he’d had on his mind.
 
That hadn’t been an entirely wrong assumption, of course.
 
He
did
have a lot on his mind.
 
It just wasn’t all to do with work; she was convinced of that now.

She’d suspected something for a while.
 
The way he’d been acting, the more time he’d taken to spending away from home and the fact he was making love to her less and less when he
was
home.
 
It was, at times, as though he didn’t want to be near her anymore.
 
He’d changed.
 
Maybe in front of his colleagues, and certainly when it came to interviews and TV appearances, he was the same old Daniel.
 
But nobody else knew him like she did.
 
So he should have realised she’d sense even the smallest change in his behaviour.
 

He was having an affair.
 
She was certain, more than certain.
 
She didn’t know who with, he was very good at leaving no clues, but she hated the way he’d made her so suspicious.
 
She’d started going through his pockets, looking through his things for the slightest give-away but so far she’d found nothing.
 
Sometimes she hoped that was because she was getting everything out of proportion and he wasn’t really having an affair at all, but she had a feeling she wasn’t wrong.
 
Someone was slowly taking her husband away from her.
 
And she wanted to know who.

***

Daniel opened the door and she pushed him inside, grabbing his jacket collar, kicking the door shut behind her.

“Did anyone see you?” he asked.
 
She shook her head.
 
“You look incredible.”
 
He slid an arm round her waist, pulling her close.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, mister.
 
I’m beginning to find this whole suit and tie thing really sexy.”
 
She started to loosen his tie, sliding it off his neck and throwing it aside, pushing his jacket back off his shoulders.
 
“However, I’d much rather you took it all off and showed me that bad side of yours.
 
All politician’s have a bad side, don’t they?”

He wanted her so much it was crazy.
 
More often than not he could take or leave sex -
  
he and Samantha had never been the kind of couple that spent a lot of time in the bedroom anyway, but since meeting Stevie he couldn’t get enough.
 
But only with her.
 
Only with this incredible, Swedish fantasy.
 
Only with her.
 
He couldn’t even think of making love to Samantha anymore, he couldn’t think of being with anyone other than this new and exciting woman and that worried the hell out of him.
 
He didn’t recognise himself sometimes, and he didn’t know what he was really feeling now, or maybe he did.
 
And he just didn’t want to admit it.

“I can
have
a bad side.
 
If you want me to.”

“Oh yeah.
 
I want you to.”

That accent of his was becoming something of a turn on for Stevie.
 
So perfect and proper.
 
But the things he could do with that mouth weren’t proper at all, and she needed him like crazy today.
 
She just wanted to play with him for a bit first, though
               

He leaned forward to kiss her but she put her fingers to his mouth, smiling, shaking her head.
 
“In a minute.
 
Have some patience, ok?”

“Patience?
 
It’s been months, Stevie.
 
Months since I’ve touched you, and all I’ve done is dream about this, about being with you.”

“I know that.
 
I know.”
 
She took his hand, leading him into the living room.
 
“Ok, Mr. Party Leader.
 
You can kiss me now.”

He laughed.
 
He was fast getting used to her straight talking ways and her forthright manner.
 
You never knew what you were going to get next with her and that’s what he found so fascinating, so exciting.
 
Predictability used to be something he’d needed, but not with Stevie.
 
Predictable wasn’t something she was ever going to be.

He pulled her against him, his hand gently touching the side of her face as he lowered his mouth down onto hers in a kiss he’d waited months for.
 
Just touching her lips again, holding her close, it was a feeling he’d craved ever since she’d left on the tour, and she held onto him, wishing her stomach wasn’t doing the millions of somersaults it seemed to be performing right now, wishing she felt strong enough to deal with this but all she wanted to do was stay in his arms.
 
She didn’t want to be anywhere else.
 
Not even with Mark.
 
Maybe she was using Daniel as someone to run to, to escape the increasingly complicated situation with Mark but, Jesus, if she thought
that
was complicated then what the hell was
this
?

“I have missed you so much,” he whispered.
 
“You have no idea.”

“I’m sure you’ve had a lot to keep you occupied.
 
The General Election, hiding this from your wife...”

“Stevie...”

“It’s no use pretending it isn’t there, Daniel.
 
You’re married, and if anyone found out about us...”

She didn’t know why she’d mentioned this now, when he was only five minutes through the door.
 
It wasn’t like her to feel this way.
 
She’d never done needy, she’d told him as much just a few months ago, but now she found herself feeling something she’d never felt before – jealousy.
 
She was jealous of Samantha Madison, because
she
had Daniel totally.
 
Stevie only had him on loan.

“I’m sorry, Daniel.”
 
She looked at him, pulling herself together in a second.
 
She didn’t do this, she never did this.
 
“Let’s not talk about all that, ok?
 
Right now it’s just me and you and I want it to stay that way.
 
Just me and you.”

Daniel pulled her closer, kissing her again, pushing all thoughts of Samantha aside.
 
He had to.
 
But it was getting easier.
 
Every time he saw Stevie, every second he was with her it became easier to forget his real life.

“Just me and you,” he whispered, losing himself in her as he always did.
 
Escaping to that world she always took him to.

“You ready for the reunion then, Mr. Politician?”

He watched as she took a step back, pulling off her t-shirt, and once again he felt that head-spinning dizziness as everything else faded into the background and nothing else seemed to matter.
 
He was about to make love to everything that was bad for him.
 
With consequences he hadn’t even begun to consider.

***

Dave sat down beside Johnny, putting a pint in front of him.
 
They’d spent the whole day, and the majority of the evening, in the recording studio and now most of the guys were just winding down in the pub next door with a few drinks before it all started up again tomorrow.

“Thought you’d have headed home by now,” Johnny said, swinging his feet up onto the table.
 

“I wanted a word.”

Johnny looked at him.
 
“What about?”

“Is Mark around?”

“No, he’s gone home, surprisingly.”
 
He turned his attention back to the magazine he’d been reading.
 
“You’ve probably gathered he’s not in the best of moods and socialising doesn’t appear to be high on his list of priorities right now.
 
What do you want, Dave?”

“Him and Stevie...what’s going on there?”

Johnny shrugged.
 
“The usual.
 
They just go round in fucking circles, you know that as well as anyone.
 
Look, do you have a point here?”

“Does he know who she’s seeing?
 
Behind his back?”

“She’s not doing anything behind his back, Dave.
 
And is this going anywhere?”

“It’s Daniel Madison.”

Johnny looked at him again, narrowing his eyes.
 
“Who?”

“The man Stevie’s seeing.
 
It’s Daniel Madison.
 
He’s the Leader of the Opposition, a very prominent businessman.
 
Possibly the next Prime Minister of this country.
 
And someone who shouldn’t be going anywhere near Stevie Stone.”

Johnny tried to take it all in.
 
Stevie was involved with a politician?
 
But not just any old politician by the sounds of it.
 
No wonder she’d been keeping it to herself.

Dave threw a newspaper in front of him and Johnny picked it up, looking at the picture on the front page.
 
A picture of a man he recognised from somewhere.

“That’s him,” Dave said.
 
“That’s Daniel Madison.
 
Not really her type you’d have thought.”

The guy from the private birthday party.
 
That’s where Johnny had seen him before.
 
He was also positive he’d seen him backstage at one of their Wembley Stadium gigs last year too, talking to Stevie.
 
When the hell had all this started?
 
And why would she go for someone like him?
 
He was the complete opposite of everything she stood for.
 
He was so far away from Mark.

“What’s this got to do with you anyway?” Johnny asked, throwing the paper back down on the table.

“Because what she’s doing is affecting this band.
 
She’s got Mark’s head in a fucking mess, he’s off his game and that’s not good.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with you.”
 
Johnny didn’t really feel much like talking about Stevie.