by Sofia Grey
As before, they were last to get off the bus. He stood and took Callum from her, and hoisted the boy in his arms, before taking Daisy’s hand and leading her outside. It was his pretend-to-be-a-happy-family deception, and one they’d done many times already in the past few weeks.
There was no point asking about the change in plans. Tanner wasn’t chatty by nature, and was positively tight-lipped when it came to security arrangements, but she trusted him.
He spoke briefly with a casually dressed guy, accepted a set of car keys, and then strapped Cal securely into a toddler seat. “Sorry, Daisy,” he said. His regretful smile looked genuine. “You can repeat the tour another time. We’ll be back at Jordan’s soon, and can have lunch there.”
“Okay.”
They hadn’t gone far, when Daisy’s phone chirruped with a text from Sylvie.
Hi Daisy. How’s the tour? Seen anything good yet?
At two years younger, Sylvie seemed more like a friend than her employer most of the time. Daisy tapped a swift reply.
Hi. J & T got twitchy, and we left the tour. J split – with a woman!! – and we’re on our way back with T. How is rehearsal going?
Sylvie replied straight away.
Rehearsals suck today. Chaz & I escaped for lunch, but got nailed by fans. Who was the woman???
Lucky Sylvie, having lunch with Charlie. Daisy replied.
Juli Someone. Don’t know who she is. Jordan gave it the okay, though. What time you all home?
Charlie had made a vague promise to take Daisy out tonight, and she crossed her fingers that he remembered.
Should be home by 18:00 if we’re lucky... Keep your fingers crossed...
Daisy laughed aloud. She was already doing that.
Most of the fans went crazy for Alex, but Charlie had something special. While Alex had been famous for dating dozens of gorgeous women in his single days, he was a reformed character since marrying Sylvie, and they were adorable with each other. Charlie however, typified the eternal bachelor. The nickname One-Night-Charlie had clung to him for years, and Daisy knew why. He was a player with a capital P. Women trailed after him everywhere, and he had a string of exes that read like a model agency listing.
Would Daisy be classed as an ex? They’d slept together at Christmas, following a party. And she knew it would be a one-off. Charlie was like quicksilver—impossible to hold on to. She thought back to that magical night. Could she elevate herself from a one-nighter to a fuckbuddy? She travelled with the band, and she was on hand and readily available.
It wasn’t what she wanted.
Daisy wanted a proper relationship with him—dates and hanging out, cooking dinner together, sex obviously. And she wanted him to herself. Every time she saw him parading yet another beauty, the full knowledge that he’d have a new playmate in his bed that night crucified her.
So the big question—the six-million-dollar question—was if Daisy couldn’t have what she wanted, would she take what crumbs were available?
*
The restaurant manager came to Charlie and Sylvie’s rescue and called them a cab, but their excursion took way longer than expected, and AJ was pissed off when they made it back to the stadium late. Charlie watched as Sylvie soothed her husband’s temper. It was amusing, how much his old friend had changed since meeting Sylvie. Under her thumb, for sure, but happier with it. Sylvie had stepped in as bass player when AJ’s brother, Sam, died, and now the band was going from strength to strength. They’d taken Callum’s adoption in their stride, and Charlie respected the hell out of them for that.
He still missed the old days, though. Non-stop parties with AJ and Sam, and wall-to-wall chicks. AJ had been the best wingman. They had their pick of girls. Even shared them sometimes, but not anymore. Now AJ only had eyes for his wife, and that was how it should be. Charlie was the only singleton in the band, and it was a lonely place to be.
Nah. He was tired, that was all. His current maudlin state had nothing to do with Daisy.
The last round of acoustic tests went okay, and they pushed on with the rehearsal. There were only a couple of numbers to go, when one of the supporting bands turned up. They knew the guys from Enmity from the last time they played in New Zealand, and AJ was happy to call a break for ten minutes.
Jon, the lead singer for Enmity, asked if Charlie was up for a party tonight.
When he said he had plans, everyone stared.
“What? Can’t I have plans?”
“I’ve never seen you turn down a party, dude.” Mick grinned. “So what are you doing instead?”
Charlie shrugged, unwilling to talk about Daisy. “Busy. What of it?”
AJ joined in. “We’ve been in Wellington three days, and you haven’t scored a girl yet? You’re slipping, man.”
“Yeah, right.” Charlie refused to be drawn.
It was Sylvie’s turn to wheedle it out, and she stared intently, a frown on her pretty face. Was she going to say anything? She glanced at AJ, but turned and addressed the group. “Come on, guys. I’d like to get home in time for dinner.”
Everyone drifted to their positions and prepared for the last numbers. He’d dodged a bullet there. Sylvie probably guessed he planned to take Daisy out tonight, but he wasn’t sure AJ would be pleased. If his friend didn’t know, it wouldn’t hurt him, right?
There was something about Daisy. She’d gotten under Charlie’s skin. It started as a typical drunken one-night-stand, but man, it’d been amazing. So good that he’d considered staying in bed with her, instead of slipping away in the dead of night, and he’d been avoiding her for weeks. Tonight would be their first time alone again, since then.
*
Jack was impressed by Juli’s spirit. She didn’t whine or make a fuss, even with a bloody hand and a pair of scraped knees. She followed him down the hill, slow and steady, pausing for water when he said, and then carrying on. When he asked if she was coping, her of course sounded outraged. By the time they reached the highway with a railway station in short walking distance, she was pink in the face and limping, but she still didn’t complain.
He slowed his pace and headed toward a wooden bench on the platform. “Take a load off, while I go check out the timetable.” They were in luck. A train was due in the next five minutes, and would go through the pretty village of Plimmerton, where he was staying with Jordan and his entourage.
Juli sat with her head bent, fanning herself with her hat. Perspiration dotted the back of her neck and along a patch of red skin on her shoulders. She’d caught the sun, for sure.
“The next train will be here soon. I’ll have to give you a rain check on that coffee.”
She lifted her head and squinted into the sunshine. “It’s okay. If you can get me to my hotel, that would be great.”
Yeah, no. “I’ll take you back to Jordan’s till we decide what to do next.”
Her mouth formed a surprised O, but any question was stalled by the hum of an electric train approaching.
They only had a few stops to go. It wouldn’t be long before they were back in Plimmerton and he didn’t have to look after Juli anymore. That was a shame. He liked her. Liked her more as the afternoon wore on.
“You’re a total hardass,” he said with a nod.
She gave him the side eye. “Never mind that. Who were those men?” She asked the question in a husky voice that excited him more than it should. “And why didn’t you want them to see you?”
Jack pulled a mock-worried face. “Can’t tell you, or I’d have to kill you.” Why they were looking for Juli was a mystery, though. One he hoped to figure out soon. “Okay. I’ve got a question for you. Exactly what do you do at TM-Tech?”
Her green-eyed gaze flicked to his, a hint of a smile playing on her face. She gave a regretful shake of her head. “Sorry. Can’t tell you, or I’d have to kill you.”
Jack laughed aloud. “Ha. I guess I asked for that.”
She turned to gaze out at the stunning scenery. The train climbed slowly up t
he hillside, opening up a series of vistas of the ocean. “It’s so beautiful here.” She looked at him fully. “Are you going to tell me anything?”
He gave her a sunny smile. “Anything, like what? Maybe that you should have thought about using sunblock on that fair skin of yours? It’s gonna be sore later.”
This merited a glare. “I wasn’t planning on hiking down the hillside. Otherwise, I would have.”
Jack looked away, to hide his grin, and took the opportunity to check his phone. No signal here either.
“So?”
Add persistence to Juli’s list of qualities. His change-of-subject tactic wasn’t working very well. “Hmm?” He made a point of re-reading text messages and successfully ignoring her question.
“I give up.” Juli stared out of the window.
Right now he had nothing but questions. He hoped Jordan would be able to fill in some of the blanks.
Chapter Four
The house was quiet when Daisy and Tanner returned with Callum. Daisy fed Cal and put him down for a nap, then decided to fix lunch for herself and Tanner. Staying here, in this enormous beachside house Jordan had rented, was amazing. A housekeeper came in, to prepare breakfast and dinner every day, and left a mountain of food ready to eat.
Browsing through the fridge to decide which of the delicious-looking salads to eat was no hardship. Daisy could get used to living like this. She preferred the informality to the hotels they stayed in during the earlier part of the Event Horizon tour. The fact that the beach was only a few steps away was an added bonus.
She filled two plates with an assortment of chilled food, added freshly baked bread rolls, and then poured glasses of juice for them both.
Tanner was fielding a phone call while working his laptop, so she left the food nearby, and left him in peace. She’d sit on the sunny deck to eat her own and maybe read that new paperback Sylvie lent her.
The book was good, but the hero reminded her of Charlie, and her thoughts drifted back to when she hooked up with him.
It was Alex and Sylvie’s belated wedding party, held at a B&B a few miles from their house, and it was Daisy’s first chance to speak to Charlie outside of the studio. She knew his reputation but wasn’t prepared for the force of his charm. They’d danced for ages, with Charlie holding her close and fiddling with the spiky ends of her hair, declaring it felt softer than it looked. She’d had a few drinks, and any doubts about getting involved with him had dissolved.
He took her hand and led her outside. It was December and freezing, but with his arm wrapped around her shoulders she was warm, tucked snugly into his body. Together they stumbled down the gravel track toward the nearest beach. With only moonlight to guide them, and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore, they giggled like teenagers. And there, standing on the damp sand in the near darkness, he kissed her. Their bodies pressed so close together that she heard his heart beating and felt his pulse beneath her fingers when she twined her hands around his neck.
“I want you, Daisy,” he said.
“Here?” She laughed aloud. “I’ve never done it on the sand before.”
He grinned, a flash of white teeth in the dim light, and then nuzzled her throat. He slid cold fingers beneath her satin shirt and made her tremble with anticipation. “I wasn’t planning on frostbite. How about somewhere warmer?”
When he nibbled her skin like that, she’d say yes to just about anything. “Back to Alex’s?”
“You read my mind.”
They sat next to each other in the cab, thighs pressed together and hands entwined, but they said little. Daisy worried that, if she spoke, it would break the spell.
She was going to sleep with Charlie Jones. He was such a player. He could have any woman. Would he be disappointed in her?
It didn’t seem so. The minute they closed the front door behind them, he kissed her with an intensity that made her knees turn to jelly. Lost in her memories of Charlie, Daisy closed her eyes. It’d been so good. Did he think the same?
“Daisy.”
She blinked in the bright sunlight and looked to see who called her name. It was Jack, with Juli from the tour bus.
Her reminiscing was over.
*
Juli had all but fainted within yards of this massive house where Jordan was staying with his family. The world greyed around her, knees buckling, and then—thank you, God—Jack took her arm and helped her into a shady seat on a wooden deck. The combination of heat and sunshine, lack of water and a long, long trek down the hill had sapped every ounce of her strength.
It took a determined effort to try and speak sensibly. To say she felt foolish would be an understatement.
Jack crouched by her side and spoke to someone she couldn’t see. “Hey. I need the first aid kit, hot water, and some iced water to drink.”
“Of course,” said a woman’s voice. A few minutes later, she reappeared with the things Jack asked for.
It was the girl with the bright-eyed toddler. Juli groped for her name. Daisy.
“Have a drink,” said Jack, pouring her a glass of water. Ice cubes bobbed in it, along with a sliver of lemon. It was the best thing she’d seen all day. “Let’s check out your knees,” he continued, “and then I’ll apply a better dressing on your hand.”
“Wow,” said Daisy. “What happened?”
“I fell over. Has the tour finished already?”
“No. We dropped out early too.” Daisy scooped up the little boy and blew a raspberry on his neck. He squealed with laughter.
“I’m confused,” said Juli. “I thought Jordan had a daughter?”
“He does. She’s called Poppy,” said Daisy. The child looked up at her eagerly, and Daisy brushed his hair back from his face and spoke to him. “Poppy will be here later, pumpkin.” Turning to Juli, she continued. “We’re staying here with Jordan and his wife. My employers are friends of theirs. It’s less complicated than it sounds. This is Callum, and I’m his nanny.”
Juli managed a smile. “Nice to meet you again.”
“Would you like anything to eat? We’ve loads of food.”
Juli’s stomach rumbled at the idea, and Jack chuckled.
“I think that’s a yes,” he said.
It was tempting. “What happens now? Do we have a chat with Jordan, and then I go back to my hotel?”
“That’s the plan,” said Jack. “He could be a while, so we may as well eat, once I’ve patched you up. Don’t know about you, but I’m kinda hungry.”
“Okay.”
“We’ve got Greek salad and fresh crusty bread rolls,” said Daisy. “And the most divine locally-cured ham. I’ll bring out a selection, and then you can help yourselves. Tanner’s working inside if you want him.”
It looked as though Juli was staying, whether she liked it or not. At least until her boss appeared.
*
Charlie heaved a sigh of relief. The rehearsal from hell was over, and they were all set for the concert tomorrow.
Sylvie was nearby, fiddling with the strap on her bass guitar, and from where he stood, Charlie could tell something was wrong.
“Sylvie? You okay?” he asked.
“Oh God.” She clapped a hand to her mouth and hauled the guitar strap over her head. “Take this,” she said, her voice muffled, and shoved her beloved bass at him.
He complied, and moments later, she bent over a waste bin at the side of the stage, hurling the contents of her stomach.
Shit. “AJ,” Charlie shouted. “Need you here.”
Racking the guitar took seconds, and then he grabbed a fresh bottle of water and pressed it into Sylvie’s hands.
AJ was there, along with a roadie with a folding chair and a handful of paper towels.
“Syl? Talk to me, babe.” AJ held her hair back, worry written all over his face. “Please, tell me you didn’t have dodgy seafood for lunch.”
“We didn’t,” Charlie replied, since Sylvie was busy rinsing her mouth and spitting into the bin. “She had
veggie noodles. I had chicken.”
“I’m okay,” she whispered, then took a swig of water and swallowed it. “It’s probably just nerves. I feel okay now.”
Nerves? Unlikely. She’d only been touring with the band for a few months, but she’d never freaked out before a gig so far.
AJ pressed his fingers to her forehead. “You feel warm.”
“I’ve been standing in the sun. It’s hot out here.” She drank some more and took a couple of deep breaths. Her cheeks had colour in them again.
“We should get back. We’ve finished now anyway.” AJ still looked concerned.
Sylvie nudged the bin away with her toes, before standing and smiling at her husband. “I’m good. Really. And I’m ready for dinner. I’m starving now. Can someone get me some crisps? Or a sandwich?”
“You just puked in front of the entire crew, and you want to eat again already? Why don’t you wait until we get home?”
She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Spoilsport,” she murmured. “I need to brush my teeth. Give me a few minutes, to freshen up.” She disappeared off stage, a roadie trailing behind.
AJ turned to Charlie. “Was she okay earlier? What did you guys do?”
“She was fine. We had lunch, got mobbed in Wagamama, and came back. Didn’t even have coffee.”
“Okay.” Raising his voice, AJ called to one of the many gofers in the crew. “We’re leaving in ten minutes. Get a car, please” He glanced at the stinking bin and grimaced. “And somebody get rid of this.”
“She said she’s fine, man. Don’t stress.”
“Easier said than done. You haven’t been smoking, have you?”
Charlie held up his hands. “Nope.” Not yet, anyway. He had a nice stash waiting in his bedroom for later. “This is just my naturally chilled self. We only have to get through tomorrow night, and then we’ve got a week before the Christchurch gig.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll go check Syl’s okay.”
It didn’t take much for AJ to go caveman these days. Was this how guys behaved when they got married? All über-protective? It was another reminder that staying loose and single was preferable to any kind of commitment.