"You were worried that I wouldn't want to go?"
"Well, he's not a rock fan so the music will be dire." She shook her head, disapprovingly. Her expression was so serious he couldn't help but laugh aloud.
"We could convert him yet."
She smiled. "My family will want to know all about you. It might be a bit like the Spanish Inquisition."
He shrugged. "Now you sound like you're tryin
g to put me off."
"No," she declared. "I'm really pleased that you want to come."
"Good. It's a done deal."
They'd reached the venue. She glanced at the queue then at the sign over the doorway. "The Hub?" She frowned. "Why does that sound familiar to me?"
"The venue's had a lot of press recently, it's only been open a couple of months."
She was staring up at him, a furrow between her eyebrows. "No, it's something else." Her expression changed, her eyes lighting up. "That's it, the other courier, he gave us cards, me and Abby." She looked up at the sign again. "For this place."
Shit. It wouldn't ever have occurred to him. He struggled to find a response. What would Zac say, if it was him standing here? He'd find some clever way to shrug it off, but Nathan didn't feel clever, especially not right then. He felt awkward as hell, and decidedly shifty. That bothered him.
"We don't need to queue." He took her by the hand, bypassing the crowd and giving Steve, the doorman, the nod as he led her inside.
"Wow, this place is great. What is it, an old cinema?" She craned her neck, looking at the decorative coving on the ceiling of the entrance vestibule.
He nodded, relieved that her thoughts had moved on. If only he could forget it. It wasn't going to be that easy. He'd just been thrown from feeling mighty proud that she wanted him to meet her family, to feeling ashamed about the reason why he had befriended her in the first place. Instinctively his annoyance became focused on Zac, who was who-knew-where, having a bloody good time, no doubt.
Nathan had had enough of this. He'd got some serious thinking to do. He headed for the bar, ordering them in a couple of beers.
"What's up?" She peered at him when he handed her a drink.
He smiled. She was genuinely concerned for him. He'd never had that luxury before. What had he done to deserve this? Her caring streak spoilt him in ways he hadn't been spoilt before. "I'm okay. I've got to watch the support people, make sure they're doing their jobs. The band has had some interest from major labels and there will be scouts in the crowd."
"Okay, I understand." She squeezed his hand, snuggling against his arm. "It's fun to be here when they are on the verge of making it."
He finished his beer and nodded at the growing crowd on the floor. "Let's get closer." The place was filling quickly, the crowd growing dense.
She followed his lead and they moved into the crowd, closing on the stage, just as the lights lowered and the band came out. He nestled her in front of him so she was safe from the moshpit, and stroked her shoulders.
The music blasted out, angst-ridden, energy-fuelled stuff, the singer a longhaired, scrawny man with green eyes. He paced the stage and growled out to the audience, his eyes looking directly into the crowd with a challenging stare.
The crowd was moving in unison almost immediately, a good sign. Suzanne spooned in against his hips as she rocked to the sounds. He glanced down whenever the lights passed over her face. She was following the singer's dramatic path back and forth across the stage. He was pacing like a caged animal. Nathan couldn't help identifying with him and gave a wry smile. At the back of his mind, he vowed to make this odd situation right. He wanted to be with Suzanne, like this, but without the burden of guilt that was currently weighing heavy on him.
A whip of guitar sound licked out and locked them into the rhythm. They moved with it, her hips riding from side to side against his. It felt hot. It felt right, too. The music crashed and ground around them, the guitarists arched over in sheer concentration as they spun out the dramatic pace of the tracks. The crowd was rapt with the experience, a mass, at one with the sounds. There was a feeling of climactic release, of escape, in the building of the current song. The singer came to the front of the stage and his voice became solemn and low. As he let the final chords of the song free from his throat, he scoured the audience with his eyes, as if he could read their very souls.
As the next number began to take form, Nathan glanced over at the mixing desk, which was set on one side of the stage, and noticed that the soundman looked stressed. He hadn't noticed too many glitches—nothing out of the ordinary—but he'd promised he'd watch over it. Zac had wanted to do the best they could for the band.
Leaning down, he spoke against her ear. "I've got to go check on the sound, do you want to stay here?"
She nodded up at him, pulling him down for sudden kiss as she did so.
He made his way backstage and onto the sound station, glancing over the shoulder of the man at the controls. The guy gave a thumbs-up, but Nathan watched him through another track to be sure.
When he was satisfied, he straightened up and looked out at the audience, following the path of the moving spotlight that passed over them. His gaze found Suzanne immediately and she looked at him across the heaving crowd. She smiled in recognition, some message that didn't need to be voiced passing between them. They were becoming a couple he realized in that moment.
He stepped away from the stage and into the corridor that ran behind it, switched on his phone and scrolled to Zac's number. The voice at the other end told him the phone was switched off. He tried not to get irritated. He was already annoyed with himself because he'd lost his sense of humor about this. He knew Zac was busy in Paris, he just had to make a gesture towards sorting this or he'd go mad.