Angie by Candy J Starr Read Free Book Online Page B

pain.
    "You will tell Eric I made an effort to be nice to you?" Her eyes pleaded at me.
    And the bubble of hope in my heart died. T hat was what it was about. She didn't want to actually be nice to me, she wanted to be seen to be nice.
    In this woman's mind, I'd always be imperfect. If she made no attempt to look beyond the surface, what could I do? I might not be perfect to her but I'm a perfect Angie.
    Something inside me snapped, like a boat breaking free from its mooring. I had no obligation to please this woman. I'd wanted everything to be perfect but that wasn't possible.
    "I'm going to go out with your son," I told her , my voice firm and strong. "We are going to have a relationship and I'm going to be around for a long time. You can either accept that and be happy or you can be miserable but I don't want you making Eric miserable."
    And I really believed those words. The feelings I had couldn't be scared off by her and, if Eric was the person I thought he was, then maybe he wouldn't be either. He might choose me. I had to let him make that decision for himself, rather than running away and not giving him have the option.
    She glared at me for a moment then turned to leave. I knew my own mind. That not-standing-up-for-herself Angie could be booted out the door. I wasn't sure what she was thinking but I realised I no longer cared.
     
    -o-
     
    It seemed like the plane couldn't fly fast enough. The whole time, I wondered if it would work. Maybe I’d misread the signs. I do that sometimes. I think everything is going to be all happy, rainbow-flavoured then life hands me a shitty, poop-ball instead. My mind picked over every word he’d said, every gesture, analysing what he’d meant by them. It made it hard for me to swallow. I’d gone through about five of those mini cans of Coke. Just Coke, no booze because I didn’t want to land feeling all fuzzy-headed. Then I had to keep getting up to go to the toilet, which really annoyed the hell out of Hannah because she had the aisle seat.
    “Settle the hell down,” she said as I pushed my way passed her.
    “Well, you take the window seat!”
    I watched a fat man move down the other aisle. If I didn’t hurry, he’d get the only free toilet.
    “It’s okay, Angie. He’s crazy about you. Anyone can see that.”
    I shrugged, trying to look cool but the insecure part of me, which seemed to be the only part of me at that moment, did a happy dance. Then I smiled and raced down the plane to beat that fat man to the toilet.
    It took forever to get off the plane and even more forever to get into the city and find the hotel. We’d arranged to meet the guys at the venue but, when we waited to check-in to our rooms, I felt someone behind me. Really close, so that their body almost touched mine.
    I swung around, ready to punch that creeper out. I charged with the full force of my body behind my fist then had to stop myself when I saw it was Eric. I stumbled because all that momentum had to go somewhere, and almost fell face-first to the ground but his arms closed around me, holding me tight.
    I couldn’t hide my grin. I got back on my feet and tried to pull away from him but he didn’t let me go. He smiled back at me with that shy smile of his and the light from his eyes made everything around me glow brighter.
    I wanted to kiss him right there in the lobby but, you know, it was the lobby, filled with people. And the guy handed us our room key. But our eyes, our eyes did mighty dirty things to each other. There was definitely a lot of eye-sex going on.
    If he’d followed me to my room, I think I’d have thrown him on the bed and ravaged the fuck out of him but he waited for me in the lobby.
    “If I go to your room, I might not make it on stage tonight,” he said.
    That made me smile even more , even though we only had these few days together then I’d not get a chance to see him until the end of the tour.
    As I watched him play that night, I realised. I'd just began to