The Lady and Tay

by Dawn Burton

  “I think we should allow ourselves toilet breaks. Maybe five minutes every hour, on the hour?”

  “I sometimes need longer than five minutes, sweetheart…”

  “Urgh! I don’t wanna know!” She grinned, and pushed herself up from his chest, her eyes still closed tightly. “We should probably do formal introductions now we’ve discussed our…arrangement. I’m Annabel; Annie,” she held her hand out to him.

  He stalled, taking her hand and shaking it, but not wanting to bring his baggage into this spine-tinglingly amazing conversation. Would she even recognise his name if he said it? It was a double-edged sword. If she knew him, she might have assumptions about his history, but if she didn’t know him, how did he then explain about his fame without making her feel awkward for not knowing him. He hated it. Hated introducing himself for the cringe-inducing conversation that usually ensued. “Nice to meet you, Annie. You mentioned your kids when I was displaying my stalker tendencies and eavesdropping on you. All joking aside, I’ll totally go with whatever you need to approach this carefully, however long it takes. How old are they? How many have you got?”

  She threw her head back, eyes still shut, and laughed. “God, you’re so sweet. Erm, I’ve got 17, soon to be 18, of them! Ranging from 16 years old upwards. I provide a safe environment for kids coming out of care or who grew up in vulnerable home situations, to experience independent living in secure accommodation if they have either found employment or are studying. That’s the official spiel, anyway. A bit like sheltered flats for old people, but for young adults. I employ a couple of live-in support workers so there’s always someone around for them, but I still like to gather everyone for breakfast and Sunday lunch, whenever possible. It’s chaos, particularly in the morning to try and get everyone out of the door, but I love it! My part of the house is separate to theirs, but with lots of communal living and eating space to come together.”

  “Wow.” His head spun and he couldn’t think of anything more eloquent to convey how impressive she was. “But you’re so young? To be giving so much back already?”

  “Feel free to patronise me a bit more.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come across that way.”

  “I’m an old head on young shoulders and although I grew up extremely financially privileged, I didn’t grow up with love so I know how it feels to live life without parental love or healthy physical touch, so I’m always grabbing every kid and hugging them for any slightest achievement, unless of course I know or they’ve indicated there’s a reason not to touch them, in which case I find other ways to embarrass them with my whole-hearted support.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry to hear about you, and I want to know your full story if and when you feel ready to share with me. But just so you know, I am more than willing to offer myself as a physical toucher and whole-hearted lover and supporter of you, every day, for the rest of our lives together, if that helps?” He cocked his head and grinned, not that she had opened her eyes yet. “So how old are you? Just so I can wince at how old I am in comparison?”

  “26. But don’t think for a minute that you’ve got away with your introduction. Name? Age? Occupation?”

  He screwed up his face. He had no idea of how much of a twat this conversation might or might not make him sound. “Erm, I’m 42. And my name’s Taylor Ander-”

  She shrieked and opened her eyes wide in horror, pushing herself back off his lap onto the seat next to him. “No. No. Oh fuck no. You’re Taylor Anderson, aren’t you? Oh fuck.”

  He felt the weight of all his past mistakes come crashing down on him, scrambling to hold her hand and put this right. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I don’t-”

  She frowned at him, holding her hand up to his chest, pushing him back, but a smile starting to break out. “How. Fucking. Disappointing.”

  He was confused. She’d reacted as though she knew who he was and didn’t think much of him, but why was she smiling, and why was he disappointing?

  She narrowed her eyes. “Is this a set-up? Has he put you up to this?”

  Taylor shook his head, “No, I don’t know what you’re on about. Who?”

  She looked around the bar slowly; her eyes coming to rest on his old school friend, Davy, who was leaning on a nearby pillar with a massive grin on his face. She crooked a finger at him in a ‘come here’ movement, and he pushed off the pillar, making his way over to the table. “You ok, Lady A?”

  “What the fuck have you done, Davy?” She turned her gaze back to Taylor, bunching his shirt up in front of his chest “And just tell me if you are in on this, shithead?”

  Taylor shook his head again, wishing he could magic up the right words instead of just looking like some head-shaking idiot. “I promise you, I don’t know what’s going on here. I take it you know Davy?”

  She ignored him, choosing to raise her eyebrows at Davy instead, evidently waiting for some sort of a response from him.

  Davy held his hands up in the ‘surrender’ position. “I promise, this is all you two, and nothing to do with me! I will admit that me and Paul,” he gestured behind him to indicate their friend Paul was also around somewhere, “may have conspired to arrange this evening’s activities so that our group was coming to your house later, Annie, to celebrate Jason’s birthday, and we were hoping that by getting the two of you into the same room at the same time, it might cause sparks to fly, but I promise you that this, here and now, is nothing to do with us. You two have made this happen. I didn’t even know you’d be here, Annie, when we arranged meeting for drinks.”

  “Well, I wasn’t planning on coming out, but then I got a text earlier to say my lot were out, so I thought I’d come before getting ready for tonight.” She turned her head back to Taylor. “So you promise this isn’t a set-up? You weren’t in on this?”

  “In on what? As far as I was concerned, we’d just negotiated to spend the rest of our lives attached together, and then you find out my name and suddenly you’re telling me it’s disappointing to meet me?”

  She smiled, “Yes, it’s disappointing because this twat here has been telling me for the past year that I absolutely must meet his old school friend Taylor Anderson, lead singer and guitarist of Audial, and that we’d be absolutely perfect for each other. And the more he went on about you, the more I was determined to never meet you and to not like you if I ever accidentally did. It got to the point where I told this twat here that if he ever mentioned Taylor fucking Anderson’s name again, I would chop off his balls and shove them down his throat. And if he ever made me meet Taylor fucking Anderson, I would slap Taylor fucking Anderson in the face and spit on Taylor fucking Anderson’s shoes. So it’s rather disappointing to meet Taylor fucking Anderson and realise that this twat was right, and Taylor fucking Anderson is indeed someone I might want to spend the rest of my life attached to.”

  Taylor felt such a wave of relief flood his body that he couldn’t hold back the tears from hitting his eyes, blurring his vision so now that it was him with his eyes shut. He reached out to her, and she folded into him, their lips touching soft and gentle to the cheers of those around them. She stuck her middle fingers up behind her at everyone.

  “Ignore them,” declared Taylor loudly, “they’re just a bunch of cunts!”

  She stiffened and pulled back from him. Fuck! He was such an idiot. Why did he use that word in front of her? He knew most women found it offensive. He started to apologise but she cut him off, her eyes flashing angrily. “If you want to talk about my beautiful, inviting, enticing cunt that you want to sink your cock into, I have no problem with the word. If you think you can use such a lovely word in front of me as an insult, to mean something negative and nasty, then think again. This is your only warning. Use that word in that way in front of me again and you will never get near my cunt for the rest of your life. Do you understand?”

  He swallowed. Wow, she was a bit more direct than most women he was used to. “Yes. Yes, I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t think.”

>   She looked around their booth. “That goes for all of you. Obviously no-one else is in with the chance to see my cunt, but use it as a swearword and believe me, I will fucking cut you down.”

  Taylor smirked to see his motley crew of band members, roadies and friends, most of whom were a similar age of him, obediently nodding, agreeing to whatever came out of this dark angel’s mouth.

  Luckily Paul chose that moment to come rushing up and throw a microphone towards Annie. “Maroon 5, Moves Like Jagger, Christina bits?”

  “You know I sound like her fucked-up, 20-a-day cousin who’s been on a JD and coke binge for a fortnight?”

  “Yeah. Perfect. Get ready.”

  “You sing?” asked Taylor, surprised.

  “Yeah, but just karaoke, not like you.”

  Davy shook his head. “How many times have I told you, you’re fucking brilliant, Lady A, and Taylor-Boy here is gonna have the shivers when he hears you. You’re a proper singer.”

  She just scowled at him and dismissed him with a wave, launching back over to her side of the booths to grab her drink before handing it to Taylor and jumping back over to sit on his lap; her confident ownership of his body pleasing him immensely. “Is that his nickname for you, ‘Lady A’?”

  Davy cut in, “Not a nickname. She is a lady, a proper titled Lady. Let me introduce you to Lady Annabel Spencer.”

  “Spencer? As in-”

  She waved her hand dismissively again. “Yes, yes. Very distant relative. Never met her. I was only a baby when she died, but pretty sure my father never met her either. Don’t know William or any of the others, but been at the same events as Harry a few times in my younger days and said hello to him, not that that means anything. Not that any of having a title means anything, but it’s a tool, you know? I dust off my tiaras and it opens doors and get things done that I can use to my advantage for my charity work. I’m sure you of all people understand what a blessing and a curse notoriety of any sort can be?”

  He put her drink down and held her face between his palms. “I understand,” he said simply. They stared at each other, sharing their stories without words. He rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks, wanting it all, wanting her, wanting to be alone with her, but she cocked her head, broke eye contact to listen to the music and smiled at him before pushing up and off his lap, rising to stand on the side where the booths joined and launching immediately into the Christina Aguilera part with perfect timing.

  His body erupted into tingles at her voice, and his mouth literally fell open. He glanced over at Davy, who nodded and smirked back in a ‘I told you’ manner. She was powerful; gravelly and raw for a woman but oh-so-fucking sexy, and she was right, she did sound like a bad girl gone even badder, as though she’d just got out of bed after a night of wild sex and debauchery. A mix of Chrissy Hinde and Debbie Harry rock-chick, but he could hear a hint of Tracy Chapman and Etta James sultry soulness if she developed it properly. She strode forward to the end of the booths and jumped down, walking towards the bar and then gracefully climbing up using a stool, to pick her way along the bar as she sang. She turned to look directly at Taylor as she sang the ‘but if I share my secret / you’re gonna have to keep it / nobody else can see this’ bit, pulling at her dress and winking at him as she writhed down to her heels and back up again.

  He blushed, he fucking blushed. Him, a hardened rock star with all manner of experiences buried deep inside him, blushing like an innocent at her. He fucking loved it!

  His band mates were pissing themselves laughing affectionately, but he didn’t care, rising to his feet and pushing roughly past them to follow her like the love-sick puppy he was, as she disappeared around the corner of the bar, heading towards the small stage near the entrance. His skin prickled as he noticed she’d also captivated a good portion of the men in the bar, and they too were gravitating to where she was. No, his hackles raised in warning, back off lads. She was his.

  He stood mesmerised, never breaking his gaze from her as she sang to him, to the room, to Paul, back to him. The song finished and he raised his hands in applause. Paul whispered something in her ear, and she shrugged and nodded. The opening bars of Alannah Myles’ Black Velvet rang out and she started, strong, low and fucking sexy. It was perfect for her voice, and the smile on Paul’s face probably indicated he’d deliberately chosen this song to show her voice off to Taylor. He didn’t care. He’d give Davy and Paul huge big sloppy kisses for bringing them together.

  Talking of the devil, Davy came up behind him, slapping him on the shoulder. “I know she’s young, but she’s not like others of her age. Get over that and get some of the old Taylor-Boy confidence back, and the two of you are gonna be explosive. Do you understand why I had to get you two together? She wouldn’t come and see you in concert because she had this bee in her bonnet about meeting you, and you, well, you don’t often come home these days, do you?”

  Taylor felt a stab of guilt. He’d not been a very present friend recently. “Sorry.”

  “S’ok. Just know there are still people who care about you and want you to be happy,” Davy said gruffly. “Anyway, so we had to force Jason to have his birthday celebration here in Cov to get you back. Annie opens her house up on Fridays and Saturdays, so we arranged we’d go there and just see what happened when you were both under the same roof, but you beat us to it.”

  Taylor pondered his words as Annie came to the end of her song, and he clapped her enthusiastically. Jason, Paul’s brother, had been a part of Audial’s live set-up in the early days, although in the past five years, he’d been having moderate indie success as a solo artist. He lived in London now, as did most of their friends, so it had struck Taylor as odd that he was having drinks back in Coventry, but it made sense now. He felt a wave of love for his friends, hugging Davy. He felt a soft touch on his arm.

  “Can anyone join in this love-in, or is it invite only?” Annie grinned at him.

  “You’re on the permanent guest list, sweetheart,” Taylor joked, pulling her in as Davy quietly backed off and left them to it. “You were fucking amazing! Have you thought about taking this further?”

  “Oh, I’m not that good. Besides, it’s all X-Factor shite now, isn’t it? And that’s not me. I have ideas for lyrics and music, but no understanding of what to do with them; how to turn them into something more. And being brutally honest, the charity work and supporting the kids are what’s important. This is just a hobby to dip in and out of.”

  “Hmmm,” said Taylor, “if only you had found a new friend within the industry, who, in a few months’ time when he’s finished touring with his album, will have lots of time on his hands, and be in need of a new project? We could take it slow, see if we could write some songs, maybe sing together, just see what happens.”

  “Is that all you are to me; a new friend?” she teased, not sure if he meant what he said, so keeping it light.

  “No, sweetheart.” He took his face in her hands again. “I’m your best friend, your lover, your husband, and the father of your children. If you’ll let me be. If you’ll say yes?”

  She felt her heart speed up. Shit, that was fucking hot. He was fucking hot with his laser-beam blue eyes locked on her. And he was absolutely serious by the sounds of it. “Yes,” she breathed, leaning into him as he bent his head to kiss her.

  Their lips barely touched before one of her group came running up with a phone, Katy Perry’s Roar blaring out as the ringtone. “Sorry, but your phone has rung four times now.”

  “Shit, sorry. I’d better take it,” Annie winced.

  “S’ok.” He held her other hand as they walked back to their table, listening to the one-sided conversation that clearly wasn’t good news.

  She finished the call and sighed, typing something into her phone. “I’ve got to go. One of my boys has been arrested. Probably going to be let off with a caution but I need to go to the police station to sort it. Taxi on its way. I just hope we’re all sorted by the time you get to mine later. What time are you
coming over?”

  “No idea. Davy?” Taylor looked to his mate.

  “It’s just gone 7 now, meal booked at 8, getting to yours about half nine, ten-ish? We thought that’d give you enough time to meet and let the sparks fly!”

  Taylor grabbed their coats, “Let me walk you out. Can I come to the station with you? Keep you company?”

  “Yes please to waiting with me for the taxi, but no, don’t worry about the rest of it. Just stay and enjoy your Saturday evening. It’s going to be a lot of waiting around, and I’d rather do our small talk tomorrow morning in the comfort of my own bed, than sitting on a cold hard plastic chair in a police waiting room,” she winked. Their table roared with laughter and catcalls. “I’ll meet the rest of you all properly later, I promise. Bye boys.”

  Taylor held her coat and helped her into it, then offered his arm for them to walk out together. The cool March air assaulted their faces as they swapped numbers and stole furtive touches under their coats, trading gentle sweeping kisses across cheeks, foreheads and necks.

  He saw a brief flash of something across Annie’s face, hesitation maybe, and she swallowed hard. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I…I need you to know something. I’m very confident sexually-”

  He laughed, “Yeah, I got that. It’s cool.”

  She swatted at him. “But I don’t do one-night stands. I’m going into this believing what you said, believing this is forever. I know we can’t predict that and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t. But my starting point is that this is more than a one-off. So, if you’re not in the same zone, then please, be fair, do the right thing, and tell me now.”

  “Sweetheart, I absolutely meant everything I’ve said. They weren’t just lines. I want forever, with you. Whatever happens tonight is just the start of the first chapter of our story, and I can’t wait to see what our next week’s, next month’s, next year’s, next decade’s stories are going to be.”

  She exhaled heavily and smiled shakily. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”