by Meg Buchanan
“Why don’t you tell your dad you don’t want to do it? Why don’t you cut loose from him and try to make Stadium work?” She must have read his mind.
He exhaled loudly. “How?” he asked. It was the dream but none of them had any idea of how to make it happen. When Isaac had written ‘Train Wreck’ and they’d first performed it they’d had five minutes of fame. They’d done the radio interviews, had an article in the paper, but nothing had come of it.
He turned over, so he was lying the way she was. “I’d be letting Dad down. He’s expected me to take over since I was born.”
“But it’s not what you want, Luke.” She ran her hand down the length of his body. It brought back memories of last night. Maybe they could try a repeat performance now. He traced the line of her eyebrow with finger. She really was lovely even this early in the morning and with smudged mascara.
He heard the toilet flush and the bang the shower mixer made when it was on. Someone was up.
He shrugged. “Yeah. But maybe I’m just not good enough for what I want.”
“You don’t really believe that?”
He shrugged again. “It’s hard not to believe it. We’ve been doing this for three years and nothing’s changed. I think I’ll just do what Dad wants. Run the contract for him. Stadium can be my hobby.”
Someone banged on the door.
“Are you two getting up?” asked Adam. “We’re all heading out for breakfast.”
Luke looked at Tess.
“Yeah, breakfast sounds good.” She pushed the duvet off him. “Get up.”
Chapter Four
That night, they were all back at the pub again as usual. Tessa had watched Luke and the others get ready, and now they were up on stage in the middle of the first set. Saturday was always the biggest night, more people and most of them followed them back to the flat, and then they partied on all night.
Considering the tequila, she didn’t feel too bad. Probably plenty of coffee all day and the afternoon back in bed with Luke had helped with that.
She watched him. He started off low and quiet, his voice soft and husky, a smile on his lips, leaning towards the audience as he pulled them into the performance. Sad, haunting lyrics written by Isaac. Then Luke’s voice changed, a slight catch tugged at the edges of some words.
God he was good.
Everyone had been talking and drinking in the noise and the smell of the bar, but when Luke’s voice sobbed no one moved. They hung suspended listening and waiting for the next note. The strobe light by the stage echoed the music and made the sound more intense so it filled the room.
Stadium went to their break and joined the girls at the big table at the back. Luke noticed the man Tessa had pointed out the night before sitting at the next table. He glanced over at them and when they were all settled, he stood up, collected his phone off the table, slid it into the breast pocket of his jacket, grabbed his drink, then carried the chair he’d been sitting on over to them.
He placed the chair between Luke and Cole and sat down. Strange behaviour. Not the way fans behaved. And confident.
“You weren’t bad up there,” he said across the table to Luke. “How long have you been doing this?”
Luke shoved his hands in his pockets, so laid back he was almost horizontal. “Three years.”
“How did you get together?” asked the pushy bastard on the other side of the table.
“We started playing together at school. We’ve been here since then.” When this was over he’d go back to the flat and spend more time with Tess. Might skip the tequila, but they could still have fun.
“Do you play anywhere else?”
Luke shook his head, “No.”
The man leaned forward, cradled his drink in both hands. “Ever thought of doing it full time?”
Luke shrugged. “Who hasn’t?”
“You got an agent?”
Luke shook his head. This was starting to get interesting. That wasn’t the usual question from a fan.
The man fished in his pocket. He opened the cover of the phone and pulled out a couple of business cards.
“I’m Oliver Chapman. I’m an agent based in London. I like your sound and your look. I’d like to talk about my agency representing you if you’re interested. If you are, I know of three months’ work in Queensland that could start you off. A festival. One gig a week. They’re a band short. Interested?”
Luke blinked. Interested? It was like being offered heaven.
“When?” he asked.
“The festival runs May, June, July. That’s the tourist season up there. Then there’s more in the pipeline. It shouldn’t be too hard to get you something like this until you’re established.” He nodded at the empty stage.
Established. What did that mean? Luke hoped it meant their own concerts, maybe a recording deal. “May’s only three weeks away,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s right. They’d need you straight away. I have to talk to the man in charge first. But I’m pretty sure he’d go for it. Would you be interested if he was?”
“Yeah, of course,” said Luke. They didn’t have a contract with Harry. He mightn’t be too pleased if they took off after only giving him a couple of weeks’ notice, but he couldn’t stop them going.
Chapman tapped the business cards against the phone. “Have you got something I could show the promoter? A DVD, a CD, YouTube, headshots, anything?”
Luke rubbed his nose and looked at the others.
Isaac leaned in a bit. “Not yet. But it wouldn’t take too much to organise. When would you need it?” He sounded as interested as Luke was feeling.
Adam, Noah and Cole weren’t contributing, but they weren’t yawning and looking bored either.
“Next week?” Oliver passed a card to Luke and then one to Isaac. “I’ll be in Auckland at our branch there for another week. Give me a ring when you’ve got something I can use to sell you. We’ll get a contract sorted out and signed and go from there.”
Bloody hell, who would have thought this could happen?
“What do you think?” Luke asked the others when Mr Chapman had disappeared. The noise in the bar was deafening, and the crowd pushed against them, but it felt like they were in their own little bubble. Luke couldn’t quite believe Chapman could be for real. This was too much like a fairy-tale.
“If he’s legit. I’m in.” Cole pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Give me that card. I’ll see who this Oliver Chapman really is.”
Luke handed over the business card and waited for Cole to do his thing. He’d been going to make the checks on this guy a bit more discreetly than Cole was, maybe wait until he was at home, but if Cole wanted to do it here and now that was fine too.
Through the crowd he saw Harry signal that he thought the break was over. Harry could wait. He watched him weaving through the crowd like a mother hen. If they did go they’d be letting him down, and he’d been pretty good to them, taking a chance when Collins recommended them. But he’d been rewarded for that over the last couple of years and really rewarded in the last month.
If they did have the chance, it was time to move on.
He could feel the tension rippling through him. If this guy Chapman was for real, this might be the big break they needed. No way he was going to miss out on it, so he could take over his old man’s business.
“And?” asked Noah after a while.
Cole scrolled down to something he’d found. “Nearly there.” Then he held the phone up, so they could all see the website for the Chapman agency.
Luke could see a picture of Oliver Chapman.
“Scroll down a bit more.”
Cole moved the screen enough to see a few more faces. He seemed to have the right sort of clients.
“He looks legit,” said Cole.
Harry finally made it to the table. “Get back up there before we have a riot on our hands. I don’t pay you for drinking with your girlfriends.”
Cole put the phone back in his pocket and went
to get up.
“Hang on a minute, Cole.” Luke looked at Tessa. “Do you know someone who can take the photos?” Tessa nodded. “Tomorrow?”
She leaned forward, opened the red purse, and pulled out her phone. “It’s short notice but probably.”
He looked at Isaac. “Any of the stuff you’ve got recorded on your laptop good enough to turn into a demo?”
Isaac nodded. “I think so. We can listen tomorrow and pick out what we want. And I’ll organise with the sound guy to record what we do for the next couple of hours.”
Harry still hovered. Lucky the noise around them covered what they were saying. If Chapman didn’t work out, keeping this gig would be good, so it might be a good idea to keep Harry happy right now.
“Coming.” They all stood up. Luke looked at Isaac. “We can do the next number without you. Sort out the recording.” Isaac nodded again. He could see Tessa texting. “Any response?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Dominic thinks he can swing it. He’ll get back to me in the morning.”
Luke hovered. What if Dominic couldn’t do it? Maybe he should get Tessa to get something definite sorted tonight. No. If Dominic didn’t come though, it would be easier to get hold of someone in the morning anyway. “Good.”
Isaac headed for the sound booth and Luke followed Adam, Noah and Cole back to the stage.
“So, we’re going for it?” asked Noah.
“Yeah, why not?” Luke climbed up onto the stage. “If we can get something ready to show him tomorrow. I’ll call him Monday.”
“See what he has to offer?” said Cole.
Luke nodded. His eyes had been opened to a whole new world of possibilities, and he was planning on grasping them with both hands. “Yep,” he said.
They got to the flat and, as usual, half the pub crowd had beaten them to it. Tess, Adam and Noah were lucky they had tolerant neighbours.
Luke looked at the swirl of people outside, and from the heads he could see through the windows, it looked as crowded inside as outside. Or maybe they were all students and joined in with the Saturday night parties happening now.
They went through the ranch sliders into the lounge and sure enough, people shoulder to shoulder.
He nodded at the mass. “I think we should leave them to it,” he said to Tessa. “Let’s disappear.”
He lay back, hands behind his head, and watched Tessa kick off her shoes and wiggle out of her dress. She’d been bubbly and excited for him all night. She’d used her phone and videoed them playing up on the stage and couldn’t wait to show him the footage when they’d finished.
But now he’d had a chance to think about it, he realised nobody else seemed as enthusiastic about Chapman’s offer as he was. He’d expected Isaac to be hesitant but thought the other three would jump at the chance.
Tessa slipped off her bra and pants and hopped into bed beside him. Her body curled around his, and she rested her head on his shoulder the way she’d done a million times.
“Why do you think they don’t want this as much as I do?” he asked her. He wanted it. That’s why he’d get the head shots done and sort out demo tracks. Hell, he’d make a bloody DVD and a trailer if he needed to. He’d impress Oliver Chapman. He’d make this happen.
Tessa didn’t ask who he was talking about, so maybe she’d noticed the lack of enthusiasm after the initial interest from the rest of Stadium too. She tucked her hair back behind her ear then wrapped her arm around his waist. “I guess Isaac has Jess to think about. Since Isabelle’s death, he’s always really careful not to do anything that would upset her.”
“Yeah, I expected him to have to think about it.” Isaac had a wife and a house to consider, and he really couldn’t see him leaving Jess to cope alone. Isaac might decide not to come. But the others?
Chapter Five
Tessa snuggled in closer. Now her hand made circles on his chest. She could never just lie still. “Adam and Noah have nearly two years to go before they finish their degrees. Maybe they don’t want to walk away from that. Noah likes what he’s doing. When Dana comes here, engineering is all they talk about.”
“Yeah, well that’s because it took them so bloody long to decide to sleep together they had to do something to take their minds off not having sex.”
“I thought it was romantic.” Tessa’s hand drifted downwards.
Just habit, he thought. They were both too tired to try a repeat of last night. “Watching the sun come up instead of going to bed together isn’t romantic. It’s unreasonable torture.”
Tessa laughed. “How would you know? You’ve never abstained.”
He rolled on top of her. Slow lazy sex suddenly seemed like a good idea. Luke fiddled around between them and then slowly eased into her. She was warm and wet. “Why would I when I’ve got sex on tap right here?”
She shook her head. “Sex on tap. You romantic.” She brushed his fringe back. “And you’re not bothering with foreplay tonight?”
“Did it all last night.” He rested on his elbows and kissed her.
She snorted. “I don’t think it works like that.” She nuzzled his throat then moved to accommodate him. “As far as I know, Cole’s still waiting for Milly to come back.”
“If that’s true, he’s keeping himself pretty busy while he waits. It looks like he’s with Keira to me. And Amy before that, and whoever you had as a flatmate before that.”
“I still think he’s waiting.” She hooked her legs around his. “Did you know Milly came off her horse a few weeks ago?”
“How do you know that?”
“Email. She said she’d be all right and will be riding again soon.” They moved slowly together as they talked.
He rolled her over with him, so she was on top. “Cole is still working for Milly’s father.”
Tessa pushed herself up to kneeling. “Maybe he’s got an agreement with Milly.” The sheet fell away from her shoulders. At least slow lazy sex with Tessa meant the view was good.
He snorted. “You think Milly sat Cole down before she left and said, ‘You can screw anyone you like until I get back. Just don’t fall in love with them’?”
“Of course not.” Tessa rose up slowly then just as slowly lowered herself again. “I meant a tacit understanding.”
“Tacit?” He watched Tessa rise again and hover over him.
“They just understood that was what was going to happen.” She stayed poised above him. Maybe this was a bit slower than he wanted. “You know Luke, if you do go to Australia you’ve got things you’d be walking away from too.”
“What?” He reached forward, held her hips gently and lowered her down where she should be.
Even in that position she didn’t move, just stayed still, then arched back and braced her hands on his knees instead of collapsing forward like she usually did. She stayed sitting very still on his cock Maybe he should have tried foreplay. He gently tried to encourage her to start moving again. The time for slow and lazy was over.
She stared at him. “Me,” she said finally and rolled off him, then off the bed too. “I can’t leave. I finish my course in a few months, and I’ve been offered the perfect job.” Tessa walked over to the window and pushed the curtain back a little. The streetlights highlighted the long curves of her body.
“Who with?” She hadn’t said anything about a job offer.
Tessa shrug. “Munro. The firm I did the internship with during the holidays. They offered me the job this week. I was saving telling you until we could celebrate it properly.” She turned away from the window and looked at him a big question in her eyes. “What happens to us if you go?” she asked.
He pulled the sheet up. Good question. He had no bloody idea. Maybe Tessa was right. The decision to go to Australia wasn’t straight -forward for any of them. But anything had to be better than what his father had planned for him. Instead of his future mapped out, one logical step after another, he was leaving whatever the rest of them decided and whoever he had to leave behind.
The next morning, they all wandered down the road to have breakfast at the café by the river again. Noah with Dana. Cole with Kiera. Him with Tessa. Adam and Isaac on their own.
They ordered at the counter then went outside on the deck and pulled a couple of tables together and settled. Grass rolled down to the river bank, and the Waikato wandered sedately past.
Noah leaned back in his chair and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “The question is,” he said. “Do we chuck it all away just for three months work?”
Luke saw Adam and Cole nod.
Jesus, he’d been thinking about it all night and decided nothing any of them were doing was good enough to miss an opportunity like this.
“Chuck what away?” he asked. After Tessa fell asleep it had taken him a while to get all his ducks in a row, but now he had arguments ready for any objection.
He nodded at Noah and Adam. “You two have just started your master’s degrees, but I bet they can be put on hold for a year or two. Even if what you’ve done this year won’t count, you’re only a couple of months in.”
He nodded at Cole. “You still work for Milly’s dad, and you just sort of fell into that job. It can’t be enough to make you stay. And me and Isaac, Dad can do without us for a few years. So why not take the chance?”
A couple of plates of breakfast turned up.
Tessa took over and organised it. “Who ordered the bacon and eggs?” Luke and Noah raised their hands.
The waitress put the plates down in front of them. “I’ll bring the water, and your coffees are nearly ready.
“Thanks.” Luke picked up his knife and stabbed at the yolk of one of eggs on his plate. Who knew they were all so risk averse? No one seemed in any hurry to answer his question. Or maybe they were just hungry.
Coffee, hash browns, pancakes and maple syrup, and toast with little packets of jam and butter arrived, and he watched Tessa help get the food to the right people.
“Adam ordered the pancakes,” she told the girl. Tessa had on ripped jeans and a top that hugged tight around her breasts and left most of her midriff showing. Long blonde hair moved in the breeze. She smiled and waved her hands as she sorted out the orders. She was attractive and vivacious.