The Lady and Tay

by Dawn Burton

  “And you’re pimping my arse out as a bargaining chip?”

  “Yep. Shower then quick bath?” It was more of a command than a question, as she walked into the bathroom.

  He followed her with a smile on his lips. It was official. He was totally pussy-whipped, and he was loving this woman for the rest of his life.

  Chapter Five

  Once dressed, they headed downstairs, clearing up the breakfast debris.

  “I didn’t get very far in my hash brown challenge,” Annie frowned. “We can reheat them out there and the kids’ll devour them.” She turned to hug Taylor. “You sure you’re ok, Taylor? Tay? Can I call you Tay?”

  “I’d love you to call me Tay. And yes. I’m feeling so much calmer. Thank you.”

  “So, what happens if it happens again? Do you know you’re having a panic attack? What are the signs, and what should I do?”

  “I know inside but I can’t always say the words to let others know. But you spotted it yesterday because you said I didn’t look right and were asking me if I was ok. I literally feel like I put a mask over my face, like a hard ski mask, and I just sit there and pretend to grin, like a scared chimp. You saw through that. If Con’s there, he’s good at spotting it as well, so he’ll usually just drag me into fresh air somewhere and help me breathe through it. There’s a whole cycle of me running through what happened over and over manically, before I can get it under control and slowly come back down. So, if you spot it, get me to fresh air and then just breathe with me and hear me out until it passes.”

  “Has it ever happened on stage?”

  “Luckily no. I’m usually really focused before I go on, so there’s no space for my mind to wander, but it did happen when we came off stage a couple of months ago as the venue photographer tried to push his camera into my face. We had to cancel the planned meet ‘n’ greet which pissed a lot of people off and made me feel I was letting everyone down.”

  “Hey, there’ll be none of that. If you’re having a panic attack or a bad mental health day, you cannot control or help it.”

  “Everyone’s really good and supportive. It’s more just what I think of me inside.”

  “Yep. I understand that one. I know how it feels when your mind and your body are disconnected. I spent years in ‘disassociation’, as the therapists liked to label it, just to survive what I and those around me were doing to me. It takes a lot of strength and energy to force them back together until they snap apart again.”

  “Hey, I don’t like the sound of this. Will you tell me your story?”

  “Yes, but not right now. I’m too mangled and we’ve got a meal to sort out. Are you staying? Do any of your guys want to come, or do you have plans? We’ll eat around 1ish and then it’s a chill out afternoon of film club for everyone else while I read, then a trip to the pub.”

  “Sorry if I’ve mangled you. Well, my plan is to stick as close as possible to you, to touch you whenever I can and to look at you whenever I can, so I’m staying if that’s alright. I’ll message the guys, thanks. I think Adie was going down to London to see his daughter, Mia, for a few days, but Hilly, Con, and his wife Sasha might be free.” He messaged his group, then helped Annie carry the hash browns out into the main lobby.

  They had several pairs of interested eyes turn to look at them, but Taylor suspected it was more because Annie had a guy with her, than any of these young kids knowing who he was.

  “You’re Taylor Anderson, aren’t you?” piped up one of them. Oh, ok, maybe they did then.

  Annie replied, “Yes, he is, and Taylor’s going to be around a bit from now on, ok?”

  “Cool, my dad liked you.”

  Ouch! Taylor smiled politely, “You’ll have to tell him I said hi.”

  “He’s inside for beating my mum up so I don’t see him no more.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “Don’t be. We were better off without him until she got her new bloke and kicked me out. They’re all a bunch of cun-”

  “Wesley!” Annie warned.

  He rolled his eyes, “We’re not allowed to use that word in front of Annie.”

  “I know, I got told off by her yesterday for it.” That broke the ice and the kids sniggered, feeling that Taylor was one of them for getting in trouble as well. Two of the lads shifted up to make space for him.

  “And why can you not use it, boys?” she waved a kitchen knife around.

  “Cos they are things of beauty, not an insult,” several of them chimed together. Clearly a conversation they’d had many times.

  “And don’t any of you forget it. Right, get chopping.” She pushed the knife at Taylor and indicated the peeler and bag of carrots. “And that includes you.”

  Taylor eyed the veg suspiciously. “I haven’t peeled a carrot in donkey’s years. How do you want them cutting?”

  “Kem, please can you show Tay, the international rock star, how we prepare our carrots?” She smirked and turned away, putting the hash browns on a tray in the oven and turning it on. She disappeared into a walk-in larder and returned with flour and eggs. “It’s chicken, guys, but Yorkshire puddings?”

  Choruses of ‘yes’ filled the room, and Annie hugged Will who was sitting on the worktop, looking half-asleep. “Thank you for filling in for me. Stick some music on and then your work is done.”

  “Nah, I’m awake now.” He slumped his head forward onto Annie’s shoulder and Taylor felt a slight stab of jealousy at their closeness. Will glanced over and smiled, “I’d better stop that before your boyfriend kills me with the daggers from his eyes. Don’t worry, I am gay, I promise. I’ll prove it to you if you want.”

  Taylor grinned and shifted in his seat, “Nah, it’s ok, thanks. And don’t stop on my account. I’ll get used to it.” He chopped and peeled as he watched Annie make a batter mix, put the hash browns onto the table for the kids to eat, then make stuffing balls. He wondered how someone so clearly upper-class, a Lady no less, was so at home in this environment. She was dancing as she worked, singing along word and pitch-perfect to every song in the playlist Will had put on, covering all sorts of genres with her deep and powerful voice. She was so fucking sexy.

  Gradually the kids got used to Taylor and started asking him questions about being in a band, touring the world, writing songs, and the veg was done before he knew it.

  He wandered over to the stage on the other side of the room and picked out an acoustic guitar, coming back, tuning up and sitting to play along with Annie as she sang. It was a perfect, simple morning and there was nowhere else he wanted to be right now. Wherever she was, was where he was from now on. He pushed the thought of the tour away. They’d deal with that at the end of the week.

  The only slight glitch was when Blurred Lines came on, and Will immediately jumped on his phone to move the playlist on, “Sorry, boss.”

  She was quiet for the next song, coming to sit next to Taylor, her eyes masking whatever was going on in her head.

  “You ok?” he asked softly.

  She smiled sadly, “Bad memories of that song.” His sense of unease about her story was growing; he just wanted to protect her from whatever it was.

  “Annie?” One of the girls stood in front of them.

  “Kayla?” she smiled at her.

  “I filmed you two doing a couple of songs. Can I put it on my Insta story? And do you want them for the Watch House channel?”

  “It’s up to Tay. Not a problem if it’s a no, but do you prefer to keep your private life strictly private? We have a YouTube channel for here that we put videos on, and then link to on various social media, mainly from the Saturday morning music workshops, but also if we have any good performances on Friday and Saturday nights, but like I say, it’s really not a problem if you want us to keep you out of it?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. I doubt anyone’s that bothered about me anyway!”

  “I’m sure you’re downplaying your effect, but thanks. Will, can you do the business?”

  They moved to the
stage, just messing around singing and playing songs, passing a happy hour or so, learning how they worked well together, something instinctive kicking in about who would sing which bit. Annie had a tendency to go strong all the time, so Taylor did the more restrained parts of a song before she took over to bring the songs to life.

  Taylor’s phone buzzed. “Con’s here.”

  “You better let him in then.” Annie talked him through the gate access, and they headed to the front door to greet them.

  The men hugged, Con drawing back to check Taylor’s face, “You ok, dude?”

  “Yep, I am. All thanks to you and Annie.”

  “Any time mate, you know that.”

  Taylor turned to Annie, “Annie, I know you met Connor last night, but this is his wife, Sasha. Sash looks after us on tour, sorting clothes and makes us look less shiny on stage. Sasha, meet Annie. I’m hoping she’s going to be around as much as we can work it over these next few months.”

  The women hugged. Sasha hooked her arm through Annie’s as they walked back to the stage. “I can’t tell you the number of nights I’ve lost my husband to Tay’s bed. Usually because Con gets too drunk so Tay looks after him, or like last night, if Tay needs looking after. Either way, if I need one of them, I usually only need to find the other one and they’re there. It’ll be lovely to have you around to balance the male to female ratio slightly. If Mia and Em come, we’ll balance the band at least.”

  “Em, is that Mia’s mum? Tay mentioned they come out sometimes to visit.”

  “Yeah, they’re still friends and do a great job of bringing up Mia.”

  Annie and Tay worked together to sort out more teas and coffees, then Hilly turned up and the introductions began again. “Annie, I don’t think you met Hilly properly, did you? This is Nahil, our bass player, or Hilly as we all call him. Hilly, meet Annie.”

  Hugs, kisses and more hot drinks done, the guys moved naturally towards the stage, picking through the instruments like at a toy shop, Hilly chatting animatedly to Will about sound levels. They sang, and played, Annie joining in in-between keeping an eye on the dinner, and then it was time to dish up.

  Annie sounded the fire alarm in three short bursts, clearly the signal and within minutes the kitchen was full of excited chatter and bodies finding seats. She directed anyone who was around to help, including Tay and his guys, to put plates and cutlery onto the tables, get jugs of water, tip the steamed veg into several dishes, put one Yorkshire, two potatoes and two stuffing balls onto every plate, while three of the kids were tasked with carving the chickens with various degrees of success. It was organised chaos but a real feeling of everyone chipping in and working together to help. Tay loved it, and he snapped a photo of Hilly sorting the stuffing balls, uploading it to the band’s social media account. He frowned, noticing a load of new notifications and realised Kayla’s videos of him and Annie had been picked up by their fans already. Shit, he’d better warn Annie, but Kayla beat him to it, rushing in from her flat and screaming that she’d gone viral.

  Annie smiled at him and shrugged. “Right, phones away, everyone. Let’s eat.” Everyone did as they were told, and the next half hour was spent in friendly chatter, playlist on in the background, and a level of contentment Tay hadn’t experienced for so long. Food eaten, everyone queued up to put their plates, cutlery and glasses away in the dishwasher, thanking Annie with a hug or a smile. Annie nominated those that hadn’t helped prepare the dinner to assist with tidying up the kitchen, putting the pans in the other dishwasher, wiping down the table, hoovering the floor, and finally it was all done. Some kids went back to their flats, but most seemed to gather on the sofas, facing the stage.

  Annie nodded towards them, “It’s the Sunday Social film club now!”

  “But you hate films!”

  “And I do, but it seems there are lots of other weirdos like you who do like them. It’s Star something today, Wars or Trek. One or the other. Same thing anyway, aren’t they?”

  Tay stared at her with widened eyes, clutching his heart dramatically, “Annie, there’s a big difference between the two. Please tell me you know this.”

  She screwed her face up and shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Con sucked his breath in, shaking his head, “Man, this’d be a deal breaker for me. Sorry, dude. It was nice while it lasted.”

  She put her head to one side, a smile on her lips.

  Tay frowned, “Lady Annabel, my love…I…I’m sorry. I just don’t think this is going to work out between us.” She stepped forward in front of him and pulled her top forwards and down, to flash her impressive tits at him and him alone. “On second thoughts, it’s nothing we can’t overcome,” he shrugged.

  “So, anyway, as I was saying, Will puts a film onto the big screen and everyone stares at it in a trance, while I read my book in peace with a glass of wine. Speaking of which,” she reached into a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of red, “Tay, can you help get drinks for everyone. Red wine, anyone? Or there’s white or Prosecco, or beers, or soft drinks, in the fridges. Who wants what?”

  Annie and Tay got the drinks as they all moved onto the sofas, Annie with Kindle in hand. Will stood with his phone, pressing things, and a big screen descended at the back of the stage as he moved the microphone stands and equipment to the sides. He pressed another button and blinds came down over the windows to the courtyard.

  Annie pulled out a pile of blankets from a cupboard and dumped them in the middle of the floor. She picked out an extra-large purple blanket and came over to her and Tay’s sofa, lying down in front of him, then spreading the blanket over them. His hand automatically moved up under her t-shirt and came to rest on her breast, gently rubbing her nipple with his thumb as the film started.

  He nudged her, “Star Wars, my darling, Star Wars.”

  “Whatevs. Same thing.” She yelped as he pinched her nipple, bucking her arse into his groin.

  “Oof, careful, you’re gonna start an automatic reaction down there, that you’ll just have to see through.”

  “Ready when you are,” she whispered, wriggling her arse against him.

  “Shhh! Be quiet at the back there,” shouted Will. “And hands above the blankets where we can see them!”

  “Don’t you dare move them, Anderson!” Annie retorted. “I’m very comfortable right now. Hurry up and get on with your stupid film thing, you lot.”

  The next hour and a half passed companionably, Annie reading while Tay watched the film and gently explored her under the blanket.

  Chapter Six

  Film over, the band decided to return to their hotel and check out, Annie joining them. After a brief chat, it was decided Tay would get his stuff and move into Annie’s for the week, while Hilly was going up to Leeds to see his family, and Con and Sasha were heading to London for a few days. They all wanted to come to Annie’s for Friday night though, so arranged to come back on Thursday or Friday to stay at Annie’s, before travelling to Heathrow on Saturday afternoon and flying out; Tay messaging Adie to see if he wanted to come back to Annie’s to join them.

  Annie felt the panic rising at the thought of Tay leaving her on Saturday, but pushed it away for the moment, as Con hugged her tight while Tay was at the reception desk, “I’m so happy Tay met you. He deserves to be happy and when his head’s in the right place, you couldn’t find a nicer, kinder man. Please, call me any time if you wanna chat or ask a question, or if you can’t track Tay down when we’re on tour. Because as Sash said, he’ll probably be with me or I’ll know where he is. I’ll set the four of us up as a WhatsApp group and we’ll keep chatting so you know what we’re up to.”

  “Hey, O’Mara, stop hogging my girl, and give her back to me.” Tay returned to them, pulling Annie in close.

  Final farewells said, Tay picked up his suitcase and they walked to a bar near the cathedral, sitting on bar stools as close as they possibly could to each other.

  Annie checked her phone, “Shit, Watch House has got 200 new Instagram fol
lowers! And there’s a whole bunch of comments on our videos. Most of them nice…ah…oh…a couple of them, not so nice.”

  Tay winced, “Sorry. I hope they don’t give you too much hassle.”

  She shrugged. “Fuck ‘em! Don’t worry, I understand they’re your fans and me giving them the middle finger wouldn’t reflect well on you, but in my head, I’ll be telling the shitty ones to fuck off. Just as long as you know that.”

  Tay leant in, “Just between me and you, I sometimes say that in my head too. I fully accept its part of the job, and when I’m in promotion mode, I fully expect it. But when a fan took a photo of me at Charlie’s funeral and posted it on bloody Facebook, that crossed a line for me. Luckily they were well and truly roasted by our loyal fans, so they did the job for me.”

  “That’s awful, Tay. A real invasion of privacy.”

  “Well, let me know if anything happens to you and I’ll get our press guys to protect you.”

  They kissed, then Taylor became aware of a group of people looking at him from across the bar. He tried to ignore them, but he saw someone get up with a smile on her face and approach them, phone in her hand. “Sorry,” he whispered.

  “Hi there, Taylor? Could I get a photo with you please?”

  “Sure,” he smiled, slipping into professional mode.

  Photo taken, small chat made, the woman left them, but Tay felt on edge now. “Shall we just go home?” he asked.

  “Home. I like the sound of you saying that,” Annie grinned at him.

  They caught a taxi to take them the short distance with Tay’s suitcase, then headed to the bedroom for him to unpack his few items for the week.

  “Do you usually stay at that hotel if you come back to Coventry?” asked Annie.

  “Yeah, just because it’s central for seeing our mates if we go out. I have a base in London, but I’ve never really settled there and have mainly lived out of rentals and hotels around the world since forever. My parents live in Coventry, in Earlsdon, and there would be room for me there when I come here, but I just…feel like I regress a bit, you know, living with my parents? I love them and all, but I turn into stroppy teenager, and it tends to cause issues with my sister, and we just go in an endless loop of talking about Charlie, which upsets them, and so it’s just better to see them for a couple of hours and then have some distance.”