Page 34 of Wild Tonic
“See? I knew I was right!” Nate was triumphant. “Now who wants drinks?”
As he waited by the bar, Nate’s attention was drawn to the act on stage. It wasn’t necessarily the sort of thing he would listen to voluntarily, but it wasn’t bad. The guitarist definitely had some talent. He took the drinks back to the others, grabbed Clem’s hand and pulled her closer to the front.
“Hey, these guys are pretty good,” he said.
Clem smiled at him. “Do you really think Gail would book someone that she hasn’t personally listened to and approved? She’s very picky you know.”
Nate laughed. “Which is why there is no way in hell that Blood Stone Riot would ever play here.”
He put an arm around Clem’s waist and pulled her close to him as he sank into the music being played. He noticed that a few people were looking over in their direction and waving to the act on stage, dismissing it as them simply recognising Clem.
When the band finished up their song, the lead singer grabbed the microphone and went to the side of the stage that Nate and Clem were on.
“It seems we have a rather proficient guitarist in our crowd this evening!” he announced. “We were wondering whether you’d do us the honour of joining us for a couple of songs, Mr Nate McKenna of Blood Stone Riot?” He pointed in Nate’s direction.
Almost as one, the crowd turned to stare at him. He tried to smile and winced inwardly. This wasn’t what he’d expected at all. “Ah, it’s okay, guys, thanks for the offer, but I’ll leave you to carry on.”
“Go on, please!” Clem gave him a gentle push of encouragement. She took his beer from him and kissed his cheek.
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it. One song.”
The crowd cheered as he made his way to the low-rise stage. The guitarist handed over an acoustic guitar and Nate accepted it. He checked the tuning and chatted to the singer as they decided what to do.
“Okay, so I don’t sing, I just play,” he said, accepting the mic from the singer. “I think you might recognise this as a Blood Stone Riot song, which…” He looked at the guy who confirmed his name. “Bobby reckons he knows the words to. Although he sounds nothing like Alik Thorne.”
Nate flexed his fingers and began the intro to ‘Bleed Like Cyanide’. It was one of the few of their songs that could easily be converted to acoustic and he loved to mix it up. He sought out Clem in the audience, who winked at him. As he played, he thought that this was the last thing he expected to be doing that weekend. Performing was clearly in his blood as the same buzz of adrenaline he got from a fully plugged in Blood Stone Riot show fizzed through his frame. A rush of happiness hit him as he observed Clem watching him, a broad smile across her beautiful face. When he agreed to come to Westbourne Deane, he hadn’t expected any of this.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Clem’s heart swelled with pride as she looked at the concentration on Nate’s face as he plucked the strings of the guitar. If she was honest, Blood Stone Riot was pretty far out of her comfort zone as far as music was concerned. But, seeing him totally in the zone, doing what he did for a living, in front of her and her friends was pretty amazing.
“Wow, he’s good, Clem.” Leona materialised beside her. “Liam is so jealous.”
“What’s he got to be jealous of?”
“You, your new famous boyfriend, how happy you are.”
Leona was right, Clem was happy. After all the drama with Liam and his serial infidelity, she wouldn’t have thought that a chance encounter at a friend’s wedding would have led to this. She hoped Nate felt the same way. He wouldn’t have come all the way down to Westbourne Deane if he didn’t, surely?
She felt her mouth curve into a smile. “I am happy. This is so…” She searched for the right word. “Easy. After we both found out who we were, I didn’t think it would be like this. You know, the fame thing. I can honestly say, these last few weeks with Nate have been the best ever.”
“Don’t let Liam hear you say that. He thinks the trip to Venice is the best thing you’ve ever done.”
The weekend that Liam had surprised her with a weekend in Venice, shortly before she found out he’d been sleeping with two other girls, had been wonderful. Everything had been perfect, right down to the rose petals that were strewn across their bed. Then she discovered the messages on his phone, in particular the ones from Anastasia Green. Not wanting to spoil the weekend, Clem had kept her discovery to herself and confronted Liam about it as soon as they touched down at Heathrow. With a delay before they were able to get off the plane, she had made him explain everything and by the time they disembarked, they were no longer a couple. That had been a couple of months before the wedding. Clem had spent that time single, drowning her sorrows in wine, gin and fast food, up until the final bridesmaid’s dress fitting, when she couldn’t do up the zip of her gown. A crash diet, an intensive exercise regime and no alcohol had brought her back to her optimum weight in no time. She vowed there and then not to get involved with a cheat ever again.
She turned her attention back to the stage, watching Nate’s movements and seeing him whip up the audience. As she looked around, she saw people had their phones out and were snapping pictures and videos that would no doubt be uploaded to the internet later. Clem knew that the WD Fest committee were a bit precious when it came to making the festival too big and too attractive, so she hoped that Nate’s appearance wouldn’t go viral.
“This guy is fantastic!” said a teenage boy to Clem’s right. “He should have had a slot to himself. Do you know who he is?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” Clem couldn’t help but beam as she said the words.
“He’s hot too,” added the girl around the same age, who stood next to the boy. “I’m so jealous… just kidding.”
“Looks like you’ve got competition,” said Leona.
As Clem surveyed the crowd, she noted that a lot of the women were seemingly entranced by Nate’s performance. She couldn’t blame them, he was having that exact effect on her as well.
“What are you up to after this?” asked Leona. “Me and Alfie were going to go and see a band in the Guildhall. God knows what happened to Liam. I think I saw him with Anastasia and her crew.”
