Angie Read Free Page A

going well , then Spud whispered in Jack's ear and the two of them headed off to the bathroom.
    "Want to go and join them?" I asked Eric. I didn't want to be holding him back.
    Eric shook his head.
    Jack's friends sat at the other end of the table, not really paying attention to us. I think Eric knew them but didn't want to get wrapped up in their talk. Instead, he began telling me about the project he'd just started.
    "Isn't that tough, starting a new project when you ’re on tour?"
    "It's probably stupid of me," he said, "but you don't know how long this is going to last. It's the only project I'm working on, so I should have plenty of time in between playing."
    I wondered how Eric ended up in a band with Spud, even with Jack, because he was so different to them. Spud was all the stupid in the band and Jack was all the cocky arrogance while Eric had more than a lick of common sense.
    As more people joined our table, Eric moved his chair over until our knees touched. I didn’t know if he did it on purpose. I wanted to move my knee away but I wanted to keep touching him. The music had changed to some rock, thank goodness, an old Ramones song, and Eric tapped his foot in time with it. That meant he rubbed his leg against mine with every tap. The friction made me swell up with warmth inside.
    It was not the situation I wanted at all. I’d promised myself Eric was off-limits while his mother hated me. Eric-Mama was not the type of woman who’d sit back and let her son date a girl she didn’t approve of. She was the type of woman who’d do everything in her power to destroy that relationship – not just break it up but shatter it into tiny little particles so, no matter how hard you tried, you could never put it back into the love-shaped form it had been. That’s why she scared me. And that’s why I didn’t want this Eric thing to become a thing . Not until she approved of me, and it looked like that would be the day after we all went ice-skating in hell.
    Jack came back looking more cheerful than he had all night. He'd got us more drinks too and had just put them down on the table when Hannah rushed over, saying she needed to introduce him to some people.
    Sometimes , I thought that Hannah and Jack were the oddest couple around, that they were only together because of the whole opposites attracting thing – the rich girl and the bad boy rock star. But, at times like that, I could see how it worked. If Jack had been left to his own devices, he'd have spent the whole night drinking with Eric and Spud and his friends in the corner. He'd have never thought about networking or talking to the right people. Jack knew how to shine but Hannah was the one who focused that light so it shone in the right direction.
    Sheesh, I’d only had one drink and already I was getting all sappy over the Hannah and Jack love. I’d have to watch myself or I’d end up making a complete dick of myself before the night was over.
    When the guys from Monkey Bride turned up, everyone in the bar went crazy. Women poured out of every crevice to surround them and that wasn't even including the entourage they brought with them. Bastian, who'd just seemed like a regular guy before when he'd come into our dressing room, now walked through the bar as though he was something more than human. His long, leather jacket hung casually from his shoulders and flowed behind him. He had that rock star presence. People flocked to him, not just women but half the men in the room too. Like a little smidgeon of that glittery rock star magic would rub off on them and make them a little bit more special.
    But he acted oblivious to them, heading straight to the bar and ordering a drink.
    As he waited for the barman, a girl in red satin short shorts and fishnets lunged at him and attached herself to his lips. He grabbed her around the waist and moved her to one side.
    "The queue starts here, darlin' ," he said and took a swig of his drink.
    "Looks like the circus has