See You at the Show (8 page)

“Give it here, Warner.”
 
She grabbed the camera out of his hands.

“Hey, what you doing?”

“We’re going into self-production,” she smiled, winking at him as Mark dragged her away.
 

Johnny squeezed past them, catching her eye as he sat down next to Billy, and Stevie couldn’t help noticing how tired he looked.
 
She hadn’t spent half as much time with him as she should have done and she missed that.
 
She missed their chats, their nights in at his flat with just the music and each other.
 
She was too busy trying to keep Mark in line right now to think about that though, and Johnny would understand.

“Mark, where are we going?
 
The beds are over there.”

“There’s not enough room on those things.”
 
He pulled her into the separate sitting-room area near the back of the bus, kicking the door shut, wasting no time as he pulled off his t-shirt to expose a body that sent most women crazy.
 
And Stevie was no exception.
 
She just knew how to keep it in check in front
 
of him.
 

“I can’t do this on my own, Stevie,” he said, pulling her closer.

“Oh, you can, Mark.
 
I’ve seen you plenty of times.”

“Yeah, well, I’d rather have you with me now.
 
You’re making me crazy.”
 
His fingers stroked her waist, pushing down her low slung denim shorts to touch her hips, and she closed her eyes as he kissed her neck, his lips brushing so lightly over her skin it was sending tiny shivers right through her.
 
“Strip for me, baby.
 
Take it all off, and strip for me.”

She smiled, running her fingers lightly over his rough jaw line.
 
“Only if you promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“No groupies after the gig, Mark.
 
Come back to
me
.”
 

The thought of being in
Manchester
again was making her feel slightly uneasy, for reasons she had to keep to herself.
 
Anyone else knowing, anything that could damage the life she had now, well, she just didn’t want to risk it.
 
She couldn’t.
 
And it wasn’t often that Stevie Stone felt like this but being back in a city where a lot of things had happened, things she didn’t really want to think about; a city where guilt hung over her, it was making her feel unsettled.
 
So she needed him.
 
She needed to be with him.
 
And if that was selfish then so be it.
 
She never asked him for anything, but while they were here, in this city full of memories and hidden secrets, Stevie needed Mark.
 
Probably more than she cared to admit.

She looked at him, into those deep, dark eyes and she knew that if he chose not to do this for her then she was going to be lost, because Johnny wouldn’t do.
 
He wouldn’t help.
 
She only wanted Mark.

“Come back to me and I’ll give you all those things any wide eyed groupie could possibly give you, and a whole lot more.”

He smiled that famous Cassidy smile, running his fingers along her hipbones as he kissed her slowly, his tongue touching hers as she pressed up against him.

“Think of me when you’re on that stage,” she whispered, feeling that familiar rush flood through her as it always did when she was about to be with him.
 
“Think of me, naked, straight out of the shower...naked and wet, waiting for you.
 
You won’t
need
anyone else, Mark.
 
I promise you that.”

“Jesus, you know how to reel a guy in.”

“How do you think I got
you,
Cassidy?”

“Then I’m coming home, baby.”

“Good,” she smiled, backing away from him slightly, taking the camera out of his hand and pushing him back onto the sofa.
 
“You want a ride, you’ve got one, Mr Rock Star.”

She placed the camera down where she hoped it would catch most of the action and turned to switch on the music system behind her.
 
The sound of Black Rock Diamond’s new album filled the small space, and as Mark’s distinctive voice came crashing out of the speakers she started to give him exactly what he wanted.
 
A slow, sexy, verging-on-the-dirty strip, just for him.
 
And the camera.
 

His eyes never left her as she took it all off like a professional, but this wasn’t totally alien territory to her.
 
She’d had to pay her way through college with other jobs when the promotions work and modelling hadn’t been paying enough, so she knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew how to make men want her within seconds.
 
It was easy for her.
 
She called it a talent.

Totally naked, she stood in front of him, touching herself slowly, running her hands over her own body, teasing him to the point where he was almost crying out for her but making him wait was something she loved to do.
 
It put
her
in control, made
him
have to wait for something, and Mark Cassidy was never used to waiting.
 

“Jesus, Stevie, come on.
 
You’re killing me here.”

She leaned forward, in true porn star style, legs apart and completely straight, as she unzipped his jeans and took him in her hands.
 

“Looks like my rock star is rock hard,” she smiled, running her fingers lightly up and down him.
 
He threw his head back and groaned.

“If you don’t fucking sit on me now, Stevie, this is gonna be over before we’ve done anything because I am so close, baby.
 
So fucking close.”

“You want me now?”

“I want you right now.
 
Jesus…”

She slowly slid down onto him, sitting astride him, taking him in her hand once again as she guided him inside of her, and it was a feeling she craved.
 
Mark Cassidy inside her.
 
He felt right, he felt warm and comfortable and right.
 
He fitted her perfectly.

She arched her back as he held her by the hips, pushing her down onto him as he pushed deeper and she cried out loud, she had to, she couldn’t help it.
 
He did this to her, he made her not care; he made her not worry who was watching or listening.
 
When they were together it was only the two of them that mattered and that was ok with her.
 

It took just minutes for the inevitable climax to hit, both of them reaching it together, crying out loud and not caring who heard, and when it was over, like he always did with her, he stayed inside for a few seconds longer as he caught his breath.
 

“We have got to make videos of us fucking more often,” he said, still holding onto her hips.

She stretched out, her arms high above her head, and Mark groaned again.

“You have got the most incredible tits.
 
I could look at them for hours.”

“Just look?” she asked, smiling at him, knowing exactly what she was doing.
 
She could play Mark Cassidy so well, he was easy.

He reached out and touched her breasts, gently running his fingers over them and she moaned quietly.
 
Yeah, she could play him, but it was always to her advantage.
 

“No.
 
I could never just look,” he whispered, moving his mouth closer to hers, their eyes locking together.

She kissed him slowly, running her tongue over the roof of his mouth, behind his teeth, wanting one last taste of him before she got up.
 
“You still coming back to me then?”

He nodded, reluctant to let her go for some reason.
 
Mark Cassidy didn’t do needy but he needed
her
.
 
He needed Stevie Stone.

“I’m coming back to you, baby.”

“My rock star boyfriend,” she smiled, stroking his face as he looked at her, those dark eyes boring into her.
 
Were things changing between them?
 
Sometimes it felt like they were.
 
Did she want them to?
 
She didn’t know.
 
She didn’t really want to think about it.

She climbed off him, switching off the video camera and turning the music down, aware that his eyes were still on her.
  

“Is something happening here, Stevie?”
 
He came up behind her, slipping his arms around her, and she leaned back against him, closing her eyes for a second, just letting him hold her, something she didn’t do often enough and she didn’t know why because it felt good.
 

She turned round and smiled at him.
 
“No, Mark.
 
Nothing’s happening.”

So why did that make him feel something he couldn’t explain?
 
He watched her pull her clothes back on, leaning against the wall, folding his arms.

“You coming?” she asked, running her fingers through her hair, shaking it out.

“Give me a minute.
 
I could do with a smoke and I don’t want to do it in front of Ava.”

She smiled again, kissing him gently.
 
“Is that Mark Cassidy showing his sensitive side?”

“Like hell.”
  
He pulled her against him, his hand resting on her arse.

“Good.
 
Things are crazy enough around here without
you
going soft on me.”

“Mark Cassidy ain’t ever going soft, honey.
 
In any way.”

“Ok, baby.” She kissed him again, suddenly wanting to stay right where she was but something in the back of her mind was telling her to walk away from this.
 
Now.
 
So she pulled away slowly, leaving his arms, walking out of the room without looking back at him.

He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes, pushing a hand through his hair.
 
What she did to him, he couldn’t explain.
 
He never over-analysed anything, never questioned his feelings, but wasn’t that just what he was doing now?
 
There was something going on in his head that he wasn’t sure he could control anymore.
 
And it was all down to Stevie Stone.

***

“Is that out of your system now then?” Johnny asked as Stevie threw herself down opposite him.
 
She ignored him.
 
“What Mark Cassidy wants, Mark Cassidy gets, huh?”

She looked at him.
 
He was staring out of the bus window as it sped along the motorway, his mood resembling something close to petulant.
 
Or maybe he really was just tired, after all, wasn’t everybody?
 

“That’s not the way it works, Johnny, and you know that.”

He turned to look at her.
 
“Have you ever been in love, Stevie?”

“Where the hell did
that
come from?”

He’d never once asked her anything like that before.
 
It was a subject neither of them had ever felt the need to talk about and God knows why he was bringing it up now.

“
Have
you?”

Johnny watched her reaction closely.
 
Something had changed in her eyes when he’d asked that question, but whether it had anything to do with Mark he couldn’t quite work out.

“No.
 
No, I haven’t been in love.”
 
A lie.
 
”Can we change the subject now?”

She leaned over to grab a cigarette from the box lying on the table in front
 
of a now sleeping Jack.

“Not even with Mark?”

She lit the cigarette, leaning back in her seat, forgetting that Ava was still in the vicinity.
 
She suddenly just really needed one.

“I’m not in love with Mark.
 
I’ve never been in love with Mark.”
 
She looked at him, pushing a hand through her hair and away from her face.
 
“Is this going anywhere, Johnny?”

He shook his head.
 
“Maybe I just don’t understand you two as much as I thought I did.”

“What the...Johnny?
 
Where are you going?”

“To grab some sleep before we get there.
 
I’m shattered.”

Stevie watched him make his way to the bunks, throwing Mark a strange look as he arrived back out front.

“What’s up with
him
?” Mark asked, slipping into the seat next to Stevie.

“Beats me.”
 
She smiled at him as he leaned in for a quick, hard kiss.
 
“You feeling a bit calmer now?”