Rock Revenge: Alex's Story (Access All Areas 4)

The set had gone even better than I’d expected. In just the few weeks since they last played, Dee’s band had improved beyond recognition. The raw power remained but it’d become directed and focused. The band was more cohesive too. I’d made a smart decision.

By the end of the night, they’d won the crowd over. Dee was the woman every man fantasised about. Pete had been an idiot, telling her to show more cleavage. Any fool could see that she had the perfect balance, hot but with a certain aloofness at the same time. She didn’t need to flaunt it or work it too hard. Just the way she swung her hips as she played or the way she gazed out at the audience was enough to make every man hard.

As she moved away from the bar, she caught my eye. For once, she didn’t look away. She walked towards me but Sally intervened, wanting to talk to me about the bands.

“Ask me about it when I come in tomorrow,” I said, trying to brush her aside.

She didn’t move though. “We need to settle this now,” she said. “The opening band says we paid them wrong. They are getting all antsy about it. And they say the other bands drank their rider.”

She gripped hold of my arm, clutching me tight.

“And that’s what I pay you to do. If you can’t figure it out, I’ll get someone else to do the job.” I unwrapped her fingers and ignored the pained look on her face. I had no time for her complaints.

By the time I got rid of her, Dee had gone. I figured she was backstage, so I followed her there. Halfway though, I hesitated. It was better to let her come to me. As much as I wanted to deny it, this thing between us was tangible. It smouldered beneath the surface of everything we did.

It’d be a helluva challenge to get her to change her mind about me but she was worth the effort. I’d have to work slowly and carefully though or she’d kill me.

When I got backstage, Holden and Carlie were chatting to Dee. That worried me. What would she say to them if they asked about me? She wasn’t the type to badmouth someone behind their back but she also wasn’t the type to hold back.

Pete and Ferdie sprawled on the couches, making themselves comfortable. I walked over to join in the conversation. There was no awkward silence, no indication that they’d been talking about me.

Dee leaned against the edge of the table and, when she saw me, she shuffled a little as though to make room for me to sit. I stood apart, though. I didn’t want to force things. For once in my life, I was unsure of myself.

When Carlie and Holden went to the bar, she turned to me.

“I’ve been working on the song,” she said.

I raised my eyebrows. “That’s good.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “It’s a bit crap.”

“They always are. Start with crap and turn it into something. Once you have the basics down, you have something to work with.”

She smiled. “Thanks for the other day. I’m not sure…”

She didn’t finish that sentence. I really wanted to know what she wasn’t sure about. Me? The song? Life itself? But she’d work that out for herself. The tension cracked and sizzled between us. We weren’t touching but I could feel the pressure of her hands as they pressed against the table edge. I could sense the tickle of hair hanging in her face. My lungs filled each time she inhaled.

“When are you playing again?” she asked.

“Saturday night, actually.” I didn’t tell her, of course, but Saturday night was the night the record company guy was coming to check us out. I didn’t want to think about it too deeply. I had been considering releasing stuff independently until I’d received that call. It was an option. I’d even contacted a few publicists. I didn’t need a big company backing me, but it did seem a much safer option. A stamp of approval.

“I might pop along,” she said. “I never really got to listen too much last time.”

I grinned. She sure hadn’t.

The distance between us didn’t seem so insurmountable when she smiled at me like that. I wondered what it’d be like dating a girl like Dee. Even though she wasn’t a kid anymore, how much of that tough front was real. Without Jake around, had she run wild? I couldn’t imagine it. Underneath it all, she was still pretty innocent.

A lock of her hair floated down over her face and I longed to reach over and tuck it behind her ear, but I knew that wasn’t a thing I could do. This peace between us was fragile.

Pete called Dee over to him and she reluctantly moved off. The swing of her hips as she walked was truly a great thing. Before I got a chance to speak to her again, Carlie came in, full of fire.

“Sally’s in the toilets downstairs, crying. What the hell did you do to her?”

Everyone in the small room stared at me.

“Nothing. She’s just being over-sensitive.”

“Well, you should go down and talk to her. She’s really upset. She said you are going to sack her.”