by Claire Ayres
“Can you do the 27th? Luka has a big concert the end of that week and will be pre-occupied the closer it gets.”
“Absolutely, shall I come over about 7 pm?” Blair brings up her online organiser and starts typing it in
“That’s perfect. I’ll make dinner.” Jess sounds tentative. “I’m going to invite Mark to dinner on the 27th, then the guys can both tell you everything, the whole sorry story. Then you can do with it what you will. It’s not that simple, nor that complicated. I’m not going to try and persuade you one way or another I wanted to give you a heads up.”
“OK” Blair takes a moment, blows out a long breath to steady her voice. So much unsaid between the two women, Blair doesn’t know what to say or how to say it and merely settles with a shaky “Thank you.” Knowing hearing their side of the story will help, even if it doesn’t change anything.
“I’ll see you soon.” Jess hangs up and Blair does something she rarely does and dissolves into a flood of tears. All her determination to push Mark away becoming questions. Has she done the right thing? Should she talk to him about everything? Is his situation much more different than hers? It’s all starting to look like their situations are worlds apart and maybe he does deserve the benefit of the doubt.
After eating a late lunch Blair gets her head back into the game finishes working on the party shots then starts working on the band photo’s she has taken during the week. She’s astounded by how photogenic each of the five guys is, they’re the epitome of rock stars they don’t pay attention to their looks, yet it shines out of them their strength, their talent.
All of the band have been welcoming, well all except Liam, ironically as the one she knew he has been cold and aggressive towards her. She has a feeling it is connected to her pulling Quinn away the night they met. She’s tried to talk to him, wanting to offer Quinn’s number to him, he always says something rude and strops off. When she mentioned it to Heath he laughed and said “Welcome to the wonderful world of Liam”.
Aiden is the lead guitarist for the band, he’s the youngest in the band at 24, has naturally red hair which Blair keeps thinking she would kill for, and a full sleeve of tattoos down one arm. Rhys is the rhythm guitarist and has long brown hair, is well built, the oldest in the band at 36, and covered in tattoos from the neck down. Lars is the drummer, he has short dark hair and no tattoos and at 28 he’s one of the younger members of the band.
As Blair works through the photo’s she smiles at how much she’s enjoyed working with these guys, their video has had a fantasy theme, and next week will be the live sets with an audience which will be thrilling. The costumes they had this week were theatrical and intricate and made each of the men look dangerous and enticing.
After several hours she closes the lid on her laptop and yawns, it’s dark outside, and she wonders where Heath has got to. Taking her laptop to her room she goes to the kitchen and as she starts to pull food from the fridge her phone rings.
“Blair, it’s me.” Heath.
“Hello me.” She laughs.
“Sorry I haven’t been in touch, we got called in to see our people.”
“Eww people, that sounds awful.” Blair pulls a face and laughs. He laughs a full rich sound.
“We thought we would get some food and then go for a few drinks, are you coming?”
“Are you sure you want me cramping your style?”
“You do not cramp my style. Please come out to play!” He begs and I hear some of the others calling me in the background.
“OK, give me half an hour to get changed, and text me where you are.”
“I’ll send a car.”
“You don’t need to, I can use The Underground.”
“Na-ah. I’m sending a car.” His voice changes tone, implying no argument, his word is to be followed.
“Fine, I’ll be ready in half an hour.” Blair laughs and hangs up, a car indeed!
She puts the food away she had taken out of the fridge then walks to her room deciding on wet look black jeans, with a batwing top, and black stilettos. Keeping her hair and makeup simple, she finishes getting ready as her phone buzzes to say the car was outside.
When she arrived at the restaurant she was shown to the table where the guys were already waiting, a couple are missing and must be at the bar. Heath turned a huge smile on his face, opening his arms to welcome her.
“Damn, girl you look hot.” Rhys bellows out from the other side of the table.
“I second that.” From Lars.
Giggling, Blair embraces Heath. Who whispers in her ear.
“You look fucking incredible.”
“Thank you.”
As she starts to sit down. Aiden arrives back at the table with Liam who throws her a look of disdain.
“Damn, Heath, you better be tapping her ass or I’m gonna get in there.” Blair pulls a shocked face at Aiden’s audacity while at the same time giggling and feeling a little flattered at the compliments and nice rapport she has with these guys.
“Alright, enough, we’re here to have fun.” She says.
She orders a coke, strictly back on her no alcohol diet then looks at the menu to decide what food she wants.
“How was today?” Heath says gently, and quiet enough only she can hear. She turns and smiles at him, loving the close and easy friendship they now have.
“It was good, I got everything done, even edited a lot of the photos from this week.” She smiles excitedly at him.
“Really? I didn’t expect you to get to them this quickly.”
“Nor me, I was on a roll today.”
“I can’t wait to see them.” His eyes sparkle with excitement.
“Maybe later? Or tomorrow. They are really good.”
“You’re not modest at all are you?” He laughs
“Not when it comes to my photography.” She smiles.
“I’m the same with the music, I know it’s good, no point lying about it.” He pauses then looks at the guys. “Hey Guys, Blair has been working on the photo’s from this week’s shoot, wanna come over tomorrow to see what she has?”
This announcement is followed by lots of nods and Hell Yeah’s and Blair feel’s a distinct feeling of pride her work is valued. Lars who is sitting on the other side of her puts an arm around her shoulder and pulls her in for a hug.
“You’re pretty darn awesome, Blair, maybe we need to hire you to be our full-time photographer.”
“Woah, you’ve not even seen them yet. You all might hate them.”
“Nah, I have a good feeling about this,” Lars says while Liam scoffs in the corner.
“You got something to say, Liam?” Says Heath
“Not a thing mate. You seem to have put an awful lot of trust in a girl you met a week ago is all.”
“Are you sure you’re not jealous you didn’t keep hold of the girl you met a week ago?”
“Fuck you, Heath.”
“Hold it, guys.” Says Blair, glaring at Liam “I keep trying to talk to you about this and you keep brushing me off. It’s my fault you didn’t get her number or to say goodbye properly. If you want her number I can give it to you. I’m fairly sure by how pissed she was, she would like to hear from you.”
“What’s the fucking point?” He responds before taking his drink, downing it before standing and walking off.
Blair stands and follows him. Catching his elbow outside of the bathrooms. He spins around and pushes her up against the wall. For a moment they stare at each other their breath mingling, chests brushing. Her arms pinned against the wall by his hands and in a blink of a second Liam steps back.
“Sorry.”
“What the fuck is going on, Liam?”
“What do you mean?” He says rubbing his hands on his thighs.
“All the animosity? You’ve been a dick to me ever since the first night we met. I can give you Quinn’s number, she was pissed with me for dragging her away which means I’m 99% sure she won’t mind.”
He shakes his head
. “You’re right I’m pissed off you took her away. I’m more pissed off with myself though because even if she had stayed I would have only messed things up because I’m awful with women. I’m taking it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t know that Liam. Take her number you never know.” He hands his phone over and she puts Quinn’s number into his phone. “Take a risk, we don’t get many chances to find happiness.”
“Look Blair.”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful.”
“What do you mean?” she looks at him and a shiver runs down her back.
“Just, be careful who you trust, people aren’t always what they seem.”
He walks away and she stands alone for a few moments wondering what he means and trying to decipher the code in his words.
◆◆◆
A few hours later the six of them are in a bar and some of the guys have broken off chatting with friends or women who are making themselves known at the sight of The Blaze out on the town. Heath keeps a possessive arm tightly around Blair’s waist to ensure she doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, pulling her close and guiding her to a table where she takes a sit on the inside with Heath next to her a hand firmly on her knee.
“Sorry about all of that, it starts to get really tiresome after a while.” He says over the music.
“I never imagined it would be this difficult to be normal. Why didn’t you have this trouble in Bristol?” She says leaning close enough into him he can hear her.
“Who expects us in Bristol? Plus it was only the two of us, when we go out as a group it’s far worse.”
She nods and leans in again.
“Did you want to dance?”
Heath turns and smiles at her, a look filled with heat and lust.
“Definitely, come on.” He leads her to the dance floor, easily making a path to the centre before turning back and taking her into his arms. She wraps her arms around his neck and they start to move in time to the music. When she turns, her back is moving against his front and she hears the groan from his throat as his mouth comes down on her neck.
“You are something else Blair, something else entirely.” He whispers in her ear, running his hands up her hips her arms. He spins her around until they are facing each other again and brings his forehead down onto hers, staring her in the eyes.
As the song finishes, they stand staring at each other and Heath takes his chance, gently kissing her, and she responds, kissing him back. Again there is no spark, no fire and Blair questions her decisions. And she hears Dean in her head don’t go jumping into something with Heath. Blair suddenly pulls back, putting her hands on either side of Heath’s face.
“I’m sorry Heath, I can’t, I-I can’t.” She says.
“It’s him isn’t it?” He says annoyance sewn through his words.
“I think it is.” Blair responds, “I think this is all way more complicated than I ever realised.”
They head back to the table hand in hand. Liam and Lars join them and the guys start chatting. While they do Blair checks her phone and has a text message from Mark.
Mark: I’ve seen the paper and know you have moved on, I just wish I knew your reasons. I believe we could have been great together. I accept you don’t feel the same. Good luck Blair, be happy.
She hands her phone to Heath, hands shaking, her heart falling out of her chest.
“Heath, what’s in the paper?”
He reads the message and looks at her.
“Fuck, it’s what we got called in today about, I didn’t want to worry you yet.”
“What?!” She barely contains her concern, and surprisingly Liam shuffles closer and puts an arm around her.
“The paps they got pictures of you guys and now the papers are reporting you are a couple. It’s a matter of time before they figure out who you are, Blair.”
Blair wide-eyed, looks at Liam then at Heath before bursting into tears for the second time that day. Heath bundles her into his arms, telling her he is sorry, what good is sorry, if the papers figure out who she is will they also figure out all her secrets? With the tabloids involved rumours can spread like a bushfire.
“Heath, what do we do?” She asked
“Nothing. We can’t do anything except ride it out. Our team think it would be best for us to play along even if we aren’t together. To be a couple, they will get bored and go away.”
“Is it what you want?” She asks, Heath looks at her with conviction;
“You know what I want. I want you to be mine. No games, no pretending. If we have to play the PR game to keep people happy then I can do it, if you think you’re up to it.” He looks at her full of hope. She thinks of the message from Mark and knows whatever hope there had been was now completely crushed. Helping Heath seems like the best option, she would try and piece her own life back together when it was all over.
In answer to the question looming over the table, Blair leans into Heath, puts her hand on his far cheek pulls his face to hers and kisses him, slow and careful. He shifts next to her, wrapping arms around her body to pull her closer. She breaks away from the kiss and whispers in his ear.
“Let’s make this a bloody good performance then.”
Chapter Seventeen
Mark
I’ve spent twelve days picking through newspapers. Newspapers I would never normally buy, I’ve become addicted to watching the woman I want, become part of a couple with some famous douchebag. The real kicker was last week when the speculation came to an end. A photo of the pair of them arm in arm, her looking up at him and smiling. The statement he made said that he was “beyond happy to have a girl like this on his arm.” He had gone on some, it was clearly prepared, the long and short of it was he was announcing their relationship.
I admit to having thrown a fit when I read it, I needed to replace the glasses in my kitchen, and have stood on a few shards since then. My temper flaring at the thought of how she jumped ship with me after what we shared to shack up with some famous dude.
A knock on the door and Luka puts his head around the door.
“You ready?” Then he assesses the apartment, then me. “You look like shit man. You need to sort yourself out before dinner tonight.”
“I still don’t know why I need to be there.” I huff, pissed off about being dragged into this, about being expected to see her.
“I told you what Jess said. She was asking about you on the phone. There’s something bigger going on.”
“No there isn’t, she’s shagging this rock star dude, she’s not interested in anything I’ve got to say.”
“Maybe you need to force her to listen. People fuck up, doesn’t mean they can’t correct their route.” Luka elbows me. We both know what he’s talking about. Now Blair, there’s a different story. “Come on, we’re going to be late for rehearsal.”
We rush over to the concert hall. It’s full steam ahead this week, we have a concert on Saturday which will be our biggest of the year, then straight after New Year, we go on tour. I thank the music gods for my having music. I’m not sure I would have survived the past few weeks without it. All my emotion, my anger comes out in my playing. I know Luka sees it, the way he looks at me, questions me. I have to vent and my playing expresses everything in minute detail.
By the end of the day, I’m a sweaty mess, my arms aching and my back sore from being bent over and I feel far better than I did this morning. Quinn approaches and sits down next to me while I wipe down my Cello.
“Hey, Stranger,” I say.
“Hey, I wanted to check in. We haven’t spoken for a while. How are you?” She looks concerned and I know she’s been following Blair in the papers too, her own connection to the band tearing at her heart. I shrug.
“I’m trying not to get too angry.”
“I get that.” She responds. “Ellie, my housemate, thinks I need to get angry and tell her what a bitch she’s been. I don’t think that’s really my style.” She chuckles
“
Have you asked her to put you in touch with that guy?” I ask her.
“He text me, but what do I say? We’re from different worlds and now we’re on different sides of this thing between you and Blair.”
“What did he say?” Mark takes the phone she hands to him with a text showing
Liam: Quinn, Meeting you has been a highlight of my year. Can we get to know each other better?
“Quinn, love, he sounds pretty genuine. You should reply. Just see how it goes.”
“Do you really think so, I keep thinking that maybe it’s probably better this way.” She says although I don’t feel the conviction in her voice at all.
“I guess we’re both destined to lose out then Quinney.” She smiles, puts a hand on my shoulder.
“You guys had something real, don’t give up until there’s no hope at all.” Then she stands up and walks away.
I carry on packing my Cello up before Luka comes over.
“Come on then, we need to get back for dinner.”
“Bloody marvellous, I need to stop on the way.”
“Not another paper? Stop torturing yourself mate.”
“She’s not going to tell me what’s going on, this is my way of finding out.”
“You’re an idiot.” Luka starts walking and I walk alongside him. We stop pick up a paper and head back to the apartment. “See you at 7 pm, and don’t be late, Jess will freak.”
“Got it,” I say before going into mine to have a shower and change.
I turn on the shower then go back into the bedroom to take off my clothes, the paper is on the bed and I sit down to pick it up and see what Blair has been doing now. They’ve been getting further into the pages recently, obviously becoming less important news. When I find the story about them today I hold my breath, until now they haven’t used her name. Presumably, they’ve kept it from the journalists on purpose. Today there is a story revealing her identity, it talks about how she is a photographer, her age, there isn’t a lot there, more than I knew about her. I feel a tug, I know Blair is a private person, this will feel like a violation to her, she won’t like this, yet doesn’t this come with the territory of dating someone like him? They’ve chosen another picture which makes them look completely in love and my insides writhe with jealousy. How can she possibly look at another man like that after what we shared?