Page 30 of Electric Touch

“Compliments of the band.” She straightens up and heads away.

“Oh. My. God. You are so going to screw him.”

My cheeks flush. I’d been relieved when I never got a part in the music video. And now, I’m here and it is an actual possibility again.

Yet, I don’t want to anymore. Not that I don’t want to have sex with Nash Jameson. Who wouldn’t? The man is beautiful, whether he finds it offensive for me to call him that or not. He’s a work of art, and so out of my league. And rebounding from his ex-girlfriend, who was the love of his life. It doesn’t feel right to take advantage of that.

One night shouldn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but I don’t want one night. In our few interactions, I got to like his personality as well as his looks. And he is giving me guitar lessons. It will be weird if we have sex. I also feel like I’m tricking him. He’s asked about the things Apollo has me doing and I lied about it. It will be wrong to sleep with him after that, won’t it?

The lady returns with our champagne and a few people look at us. I duck my head, not liking that people are watching. Being the centre of attention has never been something I’m comfortable with.

After another twenty minutes, a man comes out on the stage to introduce the band. There is no support band. Sasha grips my hand in excitement. I can’t help but feel it too and smile as the curtains pull back.

There they are. The stage is in darkness. There are soft red lights behind and low to the ground. They highlight each band member in a halo of red. You can’t see their faces.

Everyone around us cheers, but I watch Nash. Dylan and Ciro are on either side of him. Alessa is behind Ciro and Riley’s behind Dylan. Jack’s drums are up on a dais, so he is overlooking everyone from centre stage.

The cheering continues as a low hum starts from Alessa’s bass. I hold my breath, recognising their most recent song, the one I auditioned for. It’s not a heavy song, but not quite a rock ballad either, it’s called Lovesick. I’d read somewhere Nash wrote it for Riley. Wow, this must be hurting. Every time he has to perform this song, it will remind him of their broken relationship.

When Jack’s drums kick in, a couple of beats later, Dylan and Ciro’s guitars join. Right as Nash opens his mouth to sing, the lights go up. All the band members appear in an explosion of light and sound.

I can’t take my eyes off Nash as he moves across the stage to stand right in front of me. He’s looking out over the crowd as he puts everything into the lyrics. I freeze as his eyes lower and search the front row. They pause on me, and Sasha grabs my hand, squeezing so hard she could break bones. I maintain eye contact with Nash. His face is lit up fully. There is no missing when he winks at me, before walking to the other end of the stage.

Dylan is now in front of us, shredding on his guitar. His head tips back, but he’s moving to the beat. I wonder whether there will come a time when I can play like that. His fingers fly over the strings and fret, and I congratulate myself on knowing everything he is doing. I did homework after our first lesson and want to surprise Nash. I can’t help it, it’s ingrained in me to learn everything I can.

Ciro, on the other side of the stage, doesn’t move. He looks lost in the zone, his head down, like he’s avoiding looking at the crowd. Alessa doesn’t move much either, but her head is bobbing up and down to the beat. When Nash walks over, she leans into him, making the crowd shout and cheer.

It’s only then I notice Riley. She’s watching Nash and Alessa as they lose themselves in the music.

“This is amazing!” Sasha says and gets out of her seat, pulling me up too.

“Oh no, people behind can’t see.”

“They’re up too, Tia, come on!”

I look back and see everyone in the theatre on their feet.

The song ends and they go straight into Blissful Truth without a pause. Nash is magnificent. There is no other word for it. He has a tight black t-shirt on, ripped black jeans and black boots. His hair is messy, falling down over his forehead.

“He is so fucking hot!”

I glance at the woman next to me. I concur. But I have a secret smile knowing he invited me here. Now I’m on my feet, I lose myself in the music and begin dancing and singing along. Nash keeps passing by and he looks down at me every time. So much so, the woman beside me looks over, but I don’t make eye contact with her.

After their fifth song, they take a brief break from playing and Nash talks to the crowd.

“Hey guys, how are you all doing? Thank you so much for coming. We never thought we would be in a theatre like this, performing to so many amazing fans. It’s a dream come true. We appreciate you so much and want you to know what it means to us you’re here tonight.”

He looks right at me as he says that, and again, Sasha nudges me with a laugh.

“I wrote a new song, especially for tonight. It won’t be released as a single, so it’s exclusively just for you all. This is Tulip Mania.”

The crowd scream. Nash steps back and turns to face Jack. Together they count in the beat, then start to play. I watch Nash as he sings about my favourite flower.

He wrote a song about it? I’m shocked as hell to realise that is a massive turn on to me. On the bridge of the song, just Alessa and Dylan play. Nash steps up to the front of the stage. He looks up at the ceiling as he sings. I need to sit down, especially when his eyes lower to me. He sings and holds the last note. Then the rest of the band kick back in and he runs to Jack and climbs the front of the dais, while Jack does a heavy drum solo.

When it ends, the crowd goes wild, and I join them. I want him to teach me that song.

They perform a few more songs, then head off stage, but return to do two more as an encore.

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