Page 1 of Electric Touch

Chapter One

This is my chance to have sex with someone famous.

The problem is, I don’t fit in with this crowd. It is so far removed from my usual social circle, and I’m already regretting coming here. I followed the brief and dressed the part in a slinky, sequined dress. It has a modest neckline, the real showstopper being the low back, which leaves me bare to the top of my butt. It is out of my comfort zone for sure, but if I want to be noticed, I have to do something I wouldn’t normally do.

I am the girl men’s eyes skim over with interest until a better prospect comes along. The dark-haired, half Greek girl with a voluptuous Sophia Loren silhouette. I have never and will never be stick thin like the beautiful girls surrounding me. It isn’t in my genetic makeup. Besides my long mane of black hair, my most distinguishing feature is my pale green eyes. They’re my Irish father’s eyes, a man I’ve never met.

Mama has talked about the Irish folk singer she met during her two-month trip through Europe my whole life. She took a gap year, and stopped at the small town of Ballyvaughan in County Clare where she met my dad. They spent what she calls, ‘a magical five days’ together, but they never exchanged contact information before he left for the next stop on his tour. Mama returned to Greece, not knowing she was pregnant. All she knew was his first name and his band was called Leannán, she didn’t even have a picture of him.

To this day, she has never tried to track him down. I think she knows the reality would not live up to the fairy tale in her mind.

As an adult, I don’t buy into it. How can any woman fall in love with a man after just five days? One who has a lifelong effect on her. Her obsession with Galen’s memory has taken a toll on all of her subsequent relationships.

Mama is beautiful and free loving, a romantic who believes in following her heart wherever it takes her. She doesn’t hurt anyone intentionally, it’s just the way she is, and when she leaves, they still love her.

I don’t feel the same way about Galen. I love Hank, Mama’s second husband because he treats me the same as his own child, my half-sister, Ariella. He still loves Mama and will do anything for her. In a way, she is his Galen.

As much as I love her and she loves me, we are total opposites. I am academic, methodical, and want to know the reasoning behind everything. I have never left the world of education, choosing to go into teaching when I graduated.

One thing she instilled in me over the years is my self-worth. Believing I could be anything I want to be, always telling me nothing can stop me from reaching for the stars. The difference between us is, where Mama made a wish to the universe, I studied hard and went after my goals. So far, I’ve led an amazing life.

But things change. Fate threw me a life altering curve ball and my priorities shifted. My career as a professor at Hunter College isn’t my sole focus anymore. The list is.

I’m jolted out of my musings by the others, shuffling about in excitement. They are all vying for the attention of the five people walking onto the set. Elbows are flying left and right, so they can get to the front of the group.

Crap on a stick, I didn’t expect the band to be here today. Truth is, I’m not expecting anything to come of this. My best friend signed me up when she heard about the auditions. I don’t expect to get any further than being in this room with all these gorgeous girls, they are way more likely to be picked over me.

Thinking like that won’t get me anywhere, I have to project confidence, as though I want to be here. That is only half the battle, the rest is outdoing these beautiful model lookalikes.

“Okay ladies, I want you in groups so we can work as quickly as possible. We don’t have the band for long. We will do a few tests on camera with them. When you’re told to move, do it. We don’t have parts for everyone. If we ask you to leave, please do so by heading to the exit on the left.”

“In other words, they’ll kick you in the ass on the way out.” I hear someone mutter.

Two members of the band are looking our way. Jack McQueen, the drummer, and Dylan Jameson, lead guitarist. I rise on my toes to see Ciro Fuentes, the rhythm guitarist, who is sitting on the floor, focused on his phone.

Then there is Nash Jameson, the lead singer. He looks as if he wants to be anywhere but here, not making eye contact with anyone. While the girls around me titter and try to get their attention, the audition team is watching to see who is behaving professionally. And noting who is only interested in being around the band. I pay attention and keep eye contact with them as they pass. Only then do I watch the band, checking their body language, to seeing who might be receptive to me, or tell me to get lost.

Although they aren’t going to be useful to me today, I take the time to study the female members of the band. Alessa Valentyn is Ukrainian and the bass player. Her hair is styled in an edgy asymmetrical bob, brown at the top, fading to purple at the end. She wears blue-tinted glasses and looks really cool in them.

Riley Edgeley is the keyboardist for the band. She is blond and beautiful, sadly she is typecast as the eye candy. She and Nash are childhood sweethearts, they’ve been together for years.

Fifty girls are vying for a part, with only ten spots. The premise of the music video is an industry party and the brief was a cocktail dress and heels. We have to have neutral make-up, with no false lashes and our hair down and wavy. They want a room full of clones which, I think, won’t make for an interesting music video.

Within ten minutes, thirty women have been dismissed. Only a couple put up an argument, the rest leaving disappointed but dignified. I somehow pass the first eyeballing. If Sasha was here, she would be yelling at me to loosen up, or I’ll be out on my rear end next.

Two new women come over and introduce themselves as producers. They ask questions about our experience, background and why we are here. I am last in line, so listen to the questions and answers, most of which are generic, boring responses. How much they love the band is popular, yet unoriginal. The producers look as if they are losing interest the closer they get to me.

Everyone’s attention is drawn to the band when Nash storms away, after a brief but loud argument with a man leaning on a cane. Nash doesn’t leave the room, but turns away. Riley stays where she is, perhaps she knows to leave her boyfriend when he is like this?

I watch Nash as he stands to the side, fuming at whatever caused the argument. The man with the cane is their manager, Declan McCoy and he is glaring at Nash, who really looks like he does not want to be here.

The more I look at him, the more my heart gallops. He is an attractive man, with dark hair and brown eyes. He is tall and slim in a lean, but sexy, muscular way and his arms are on show in the white sleeveless T-shirt he’s wearing with his dark jeans. He has mussed up hair and hasn’t shaved for the audition, not that he needs to follow a brief today. I can’t help but stare, he is so good looking, it’s painful. Nash is off limits because he’s in a long term committed relationship, and it’s reportedly unbreakable. It will not work with him, the other three men are far better options.

Red Alert is a new band, originally from North Carolina, where they were touring small venues until Bliss Records scouted them. This music video is for the third single on their debut album, the previous two singles have been big hits, moving steadily up in the billboard charts. They have also recently been an opening band for BreakNeck. Now, those guys are huge, like mega rock stars.

I like Red Alert’s music. Liking their music and seducing one of them are two very different things.

Nash grabs a bottle of Mountain Dew and unscrews the cap. As he tips his head back to drink it, our eyes meet over the bottle. I don’t look away as he lowers his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, his gaze focused on me.

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