See You at the Show (6 page)

“Are you two actually together then or what?” Ava asked, moving closer to Stevie at the side of the stage.
 

Stevie turned to look at Billy’s pretty, dark haired pregnant wife.
 
“In a way.”

“Doesn’t it bother you, though?
 
That he goes off with other women?”

Stevie was watching the band again, watching Johnny play the riffs they were famous for, putting his all into everything as Jack ran around the stage like some demented animal.
 
But it was Mark who had the crowd right where he wanted them.
 
Mark Cassidy - handsome, sexy and dangerous.
 
One hell of a front man.

“It doesn’t bother me in the slightest,” Stevie replied, shoving her hands in the pockets of her denim shorts as she watched Mark jump off the main part of the stage and run down to the barriers that held the crowd back.
 
The girls at the front were screaming like he was some member of a boy band, practically throwing themselves at him, and she wondered if he was picking one out, seeing who’s night he was going to make.
 

“But, don’t you want to settle down?” Ava was continuing to question her and she just wished she’d go away.
 
What kind of right did she have to start interrogating her anyway when she’d hardly said two words to her the whole time they’d been here?

“No, Ava.”
 
She turned to look at her again.
 
“I don’t want to settle down.
 
If I did I wouldn’t be doing this, would I?
 
And I certainly wouldn’t be with Mark.”

Ava looked her up and down, taking in her tattoos and her biker boots and her oil stained shorts from where she’d carried in the leads and cables they’d needed for the gig.

“Maybe you should get yourself some self respect, Stevie.
 
Then Mark might actually start treating you with some.”

Stevie stared at her as she walked off, cradling her baby bump and obviously on the search for a seat.
 
Ava really had no interest in the band, she just wanted to keep an eye on Billy.
 
Stevie had never clicked with her, never really spoken to her because they had nothing in common, and she tried not to let Ava’s last comment get to her because it usually took a lot to get to Stevie.
 
She’d developed a thick skin over the years, she’d had to.
 
But sometimes some things got through.

“You and her don’t get on, do you?” Dave Deacon, the band’s British-born manager said, standing next to Stevie as she turned her attention back to Mark, who was now back on the main stage and playing to the crowd in the only way Mark Cassidy knew how.

Dave Deacon was forty-eight years old and a bit of a veteran as far as band management was concerned.
 
With his dark hair, good looks and a body that belied his years he could quite easily have been a rock star himself but he’d taken the route of music management instead.
 
And he was one of the best in the industry, especially in the rock world.
 
Black Rock Diamond had wanted him on board the second he’d shown an interest, and he’d been as good as his reputation, guiding them to the top, giving them all the right advice, as well as trying to make sure nobody went too far off the rails.
 
A lot of their success was down to Dave, but there’d always been something about him that Stevie had never quite got.
 

“Whatever makes you think that, Dave?” Stevie asked, a touch sarcastically.

Dave ignored her.
 
“They’re incredible, aren’t they?”

She looked at him for a second.
 
“Yeah.
 
They are.”

“These stadium gigs are going to be amazing,” Dave went on.
 
“Do you think they’re ready?”

She looked at him again.
 
“What the hell are you asking
me
for?
 
Surely it’s
your
job to decide that so, are you trying to make some kind of fucking point here, Dave?”

“Mark.”

“What about him?” Stevie asked, looking back out at the stage as Mark caught her eye, throwing her the Cassidy smile.

“He needs to be focused.
 
He’s started to go off on tangents, Stevie.
 
He’s started to become a little more unpredictable.”

“And that’s my problem because...?”

“You make him crazy.”

She turned to look at him, right at him.
 
“He’s a crazy bastard without any help from me, Dave.”

Dave stared back at her, folding his arms.
 
And then he just walked away, leaving Stevie wondering what the hell had just gone on there.
 
And yet, at the same time, knowing exactly what he’d meant.

CHAPTER SIX

Samantha Madison adored everything about the life she had and the world she lived in.
 
She had a wonderful, loving and extremely successful husband, magnificent homes in various countries and a standing in the local community that made her one of the most popular and prevalent women in the area.
 
She loved the glamorous, jet-set lifestyle she and Daniel afforded – the holidays, the expensive hotels, the staff that meant she never had to drive herself anywhere.
 
She didn’t even have to cook if she didn’t feel like it.
 

Daniel gave her everything she wanted and she’d never had to work a day in her life.
 
Not for money anyway, because Samantha worked extremely hard in other areas.
 
She ran the local Women’s Institute, sat on the parish council, did a lot of work for charity.
 
She was constantly busy and never bored.
 
People always asked why she and Daniel had never had children, but the simple answer was that they just hadn’t wanted any.
 
They were both simply too busy and Daniel was far too ambitious to let himself be distracted by fatherhood.
 
She may be over forty now but she’d never heard her biological clock tick once, and even if it dared to start she’d just ignore it.
 
She was far too used to the life she had without a child encroaching on it.

The only thing that sometimes got the usually cheerful and upbeat Samantha down was the fact that she didn’t see half as much of her husband as she’d like to.
 
He wasn’t just an MP, he still had his businesses to run, and all of that meant he was away from home far more than she would have liked.
 
She sometimes accompanied him on the occasional business trip but Daniel usually preferred to go alone.
 
He wasn’t one to allow distractions to get in the way and sometimes he saw her as just that.
 
A distraction.
 
But that was who he was, a focused and very ambitious man, and that was why she loved him.

She’d met Daniel Madison at her twenty-first birthday party, a lavish and extravagant affair thrown by her parents at their modest stately home deep in the
Berkshire
countryside.
 
At the time he’d been at the very beginning of his immense success, a twenty-two year old entrepreneur striking out on his own with a first class degree from
Oxford
and a head full of ideas and ambition.

She’d fallen for him almost immediately.
 
With his movie star looks and gentle nature he’d seemed like the man she’d always been looking for but had never managed to find.
 
And the fact he’d been so driven had made him all the more attractive.

By the end of the party he’d asked her out to dinner.
 
A year later they’d been married in a huge and elaborate ceremony at her parent’s home, embarking on a marriage that had lasted almost twenty years and was still going strong.
 
She couldn’t have asked for a more perfect man.
 
Or a more perfect life.
 
Samantha Madison had it all and she saw no reason why it should ever be any other way.

What had been nice about the past few days, Samantha thought, as she bustled about the kitchen preparing breakfast, was that Daniel had actually been home for a while.
 
He spent most of every day, and a good chunk of his evenings, holed up in his office working but at least every night he came upstairs to their bed, and that was what mattered.
 
She’d never liked sleeping alone, even though it was something she frequently had to do.
 

She looked out of the kitchen window as she filled the coffee pot with boiling water.
 
It was a beautiful, bright, sunny June morning and when the weather was like this it always made her feel uplifted.
 
Having Daniel around also helped ofcourse, that was a bonus, and one she was making the most of because it wouldn’t last forever.
 
He’d soon be back off to
London
and she’d be on her own again but she wasn’t going to think about that just yet.
 

She took the coffee pot over to the kitchen table, placing it neatly in the centre as Daniel walked in.

“Good morning, darling.
 
Did you sleep ok?” she smiled, walking over to him and lightly kissing his cheek.

He smiled back, placing his newspaper on the table, sitting down as Samantha poured his coffee.

“I slept perfectly.
 
I don’t know where you got those pillows from but they’re better than any I’ve slept on in the best five star hotels.”

Samantha smiled again.
 
She did everything she could to make sure her husband was as looked after and cared for as he possibly could be so it was more than gratifying to know her work was paying off.

“My mother recommended them.
 
She said she’d never had so many uninterrupted nights of wonderfully rested sleep since she started using them, and you know how often my father’s snoring has kept her awake.”

Daniel laughed, thinking how beautiful his wife looked this morning as she placed a rack of mixed white and granary toast in front
 
of him.
 
He was a very lucky man.
 
Very lucky.
 

“Would you like some eggs and bacon?” she asked him, gently touching his shoulder.

He opened his paper and started scanning the business pages.

“Just coffee and toast will be fine,” he replied.

She sat down at the table and poured herself some coffee.
 
“I thought we might go out for lunch today,” she said, watching him as he read his newspaper, a look of total concentration on his face.
 
She didn’t want to ask what it was that was holding his interest.
 
She wouldn’t understand anyway even if he told her.
 

He looked up at her.
 
“Sorry, darling, did you say something?”

“Lunch.
 
I thought we could go out somewhere, make an afternoon of it.
 
It’s such a lovely day.”

“Oh, sweetheart.
 
I can’t.
 
Not today.
 
I’ve got a conference call at 11.30 and a pile of paperwork to get through.
 
I was just going to grab a sandwich at my desk.”

Samantha took a sip of coffee and smiled, trying to hide her disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said, folding his newspaper and setting it down next to his coffee.
 
“Things are just so hectic right now, you understand, don’t you?”

She nodded.
 
Of course she understood.
 
She’d been married to him for long enough to know how his life worked now.

“The rumours are getting stronger about Mitchell stepping down too,” Daniel went on, referring to the much talked about gossip concerning the Leader of the Opposition resigning due to personal problems.
 
It was all Daniel could think about at the moment.
 

He leaned forward and took her hand, squeezing it gently as he looked into her eyes, a look of almost child-like excitement in his own.
 
“If he
does
resign, Samantha - and it’s looking likely that he will - then I’m going to go for the leadership.
 
I’m going to do it, darling.
 
It’s what I’ve always dreamed of, you know that.
 
And I’ve got the backing, I’ve got people who’ll support me.
 
I just need to be focused and ready.
 
It could mean a big change for us, especially with a General Election looming.”

Samantha watched his face light up as he spoke.
 
The next phase of Daniel Madison’s career was about to take off and although she was pleased for him, ofcourse she was, she was also scared that this was going to take him farther away from her than he already was.
 
She should be used to it by now but sometimes she just missed him.

“Another time?” he smiled, squeezing her hand again before standing up, tucking his paper under his arm.