Bad Boy vs Millionaire by Candy J Starr Read Free Book Online Page A

would they be cheering like that?
    Then it was just a blur where my brain stopped functioning. It froze and there was nothing coming out. I shared the microphone with Eric and hoped I was singing the right words in the right places.
    Then it was over. It was just me and the guys on stage with cheers and screams.
    Eric put his arm around my shoulder.
    “ Are you okay?” he asked.
    I nodded, not trusting my voice. But, with his arm around me, I remembered these guys were just “the guys”, not rock stars but the same guys I hung out with.
    We ran off the stage and into the back room. The couple from the support band were curled up on the dirty old couch but Spud ordered them off it. Main band privileges. I thought he was being a wanker but was glad he’d done it. They perched themselves up on an amp behind the door and didn’t seem to mind anyway.
    Spud and Eric settled themselves on the couch and I propped myself up on the arm, next to Eric. I had a beer with them in the back room, still buzzing from my stage debut and wanting to make the most of it, then realised I needed to get into stand-in manager mode and went to check with the barman to find out how the night's takings had gone.
    He said he'd tally it up and pay us out tomorrow if I wanted to swing by. Sounded good to me. I didn't want to have all that money on me.
    When I got back, a woman skulked around the band room. From the back, she looked like just another groupie but then she turned and I realised she was bad news ― junkie thin with stringy black hair hanging over her face. She scratched her arm in a telling way and looked disoriented. I figured I should get rid of her.
    Before I could get to her though, Jack came out of the band room and, grabbing her arm, led her out to the back alley. What would he be doing with a woman like that?
    I headed for the bathroom, because I really needed to go to the toilet and not at all because the toilets backed onto the alley. And, while I was there, totally accidentally, could overhear them talking. I mean, I had to stand on the toilet lid and open the window behind it a crack. But it was accidental, okay, not at all eavesdropping.
    “ You gotta ask him, Jackie. He'll listen to you.”
    The woman's voice rose to a desperate pitch but I couldn't hear Jack's answer.
    “ Jack, Jack, say you'll call him. Jack. Jack. Pumpkin Pie.”
    If she hadn't sound so crazy, I'd have laughed at the Pumpkin Pie. Who was she? She looked vaguely familiar but I don't think I'd seen her at a concert before.
    “ Jack, it's the last time, I swear. I just really need ―”
    I couldn't hear any more because someone had walked into the toilet and the noise from the bar drowned out their conversation.
    “ … why do you even ask me these things, Mum?”
    That was Jack. Mum? She was his mother? Holy crap. I had to grab on to the wall to steady myself.
    Their voices got quieter and I stood on tiptoes to hear better.
    Then someone thumped on the toilet door.
    “ You done in there? Hurry up, there's a line out here you know!”
    I'd have told her to quieten the fuck down but, if I could hear Jack outside, he'd be able to hear me and I didn't want to him to know I'd been listening in. Actually, I had a lump in my throat of bile rising from my stomach. I really should not have been listening.
    As I stepped off the toilet, I heard Jack's voice even over the music.
    “ I told you, NO!”
    I rushed back to the band room, hoping Jack wouldn’t realise I’d overheard him. I sat back down on the arm of the couch and was about to tell Eric what had happened.
    Before I could say anything though, Jack slammed into the room.
    I’d seen Jack angry before. I’d seen him looking like he hated the world. But I’d never seen him like this. Anger and frustration radiated from him in waves.
    “ Jack,” I said, hoping I could say something to defuse the situation.
    “ Not now, Angie.” His voice cut like razor blades.
    Spud handed him a beer. Jack closed