Page 7 of Wild Tonic
After a few more minutes, Clem concluded her call and put her phone face down on the table. She leaned across and kissed him on both cheeks. “Sorry about that. My business partner had some questions about the concept for the ad campaign for our new lingerie range. It’s lovely to see you again.”
Nate’s mind flashed him with an image of Clem in lingerie. He shook the thought away, now wasn’t the time. Not within the first five minutes of them having an actual date. “You too. I guess you got back okay from the wedding?”
“Only just! Drinking a bottle of tequila wasn’t the best plan, I felt horrific on the journey home.”
“If it’s any consolation, I did too. On top of the beer I drank, it was a pretty lethal cocktail.” Nate reached for his beer, taking another sip and observing Clem across the top of the glass. “You, um, didn’t tell me who you were. I found your picture in a magazine on the train.”
Clem laughed, a bright, tinkly tone that sounded totally genuine. “Neither did you. I found out you were part of a band. Pretty successful by all accounts, maybe not my kind of thing though.” She reached for her wine glass and drained the remains of the first, then went on to start the one Nate had just bought. “I can’t exactly see me getting down and dirty at the Wilde Park Festival. Me and my friends go to one down in the West Country though. It’s much smaller and well, basically we know everyone that organises it as we’ve been going there since school.”
She smiled at the memory and Nate realised how young she was compared to him. School for her was probably only a year or so ago, whereas he struggled to remember what he did for his A Levels.
“Do you think your band would play there?”
He had no idea of the festival that she was talking about. “Don’t know.” He shrugged. “We’ve recently done a UK tour and played pretty much everywhere you can think of.”
“Oh, right. Do you do many gigs?”
“We’re taking a break and going in to the studio soon to work on some new material. You should definitely come and see us when we next play though.”
“Sounds cool.” Clem took a large gulp of her wine. “I can’t believe you came all the way here tonight just to see me.” She smiled and Nate remembered exactly why he had. That smile won him over once again, her blue eyes sparkling at him.
His own mouth curved up into a smile. “I think you’re worth it.” He glanced discreetly at his watch. He was still determined to catch that last train home, no matter what inviting looks she threw at him. “Tell me a bit more about you. I’m sure you don’t spend all your time chatting up random blokes in hotels.”
“How do you know that? I might be a honey trapper.”
She could trap me anytime, thought Nate. He felt like he was already well on the way there. One night and several days of messages later. It shouldn’t be possible to fall so quickly. Perhaps it was because Clem was the antithesis of everything he had been attracted to in the past.
“You said something about a lingerie campaign?”Oh yes, Nate, that’s such safer ground.He mentally punched himself.
“Oh, that? It’s nothing. I just wanted you to have to think about me in lingerie.” Clem gave him a broad wink.
She crossed her legs and Nate’s eyes were drawn to them. He thought she’d had good legs when he’d first seen her, but seeing them encased in tight denim was another thing. His thoughts drifted again as he imagined those legs wrapped around him. “Then you’ve done a good job. I can’t get that image out of my head.”
The corner of her mouth quirked. “Seriously though, I’m involved with a fashion label. We do pretty simple stuff: a few t-shirts, jewellery and now we’re doing a few lingerie pieces.” She looked down, her finger running around the rim of her glass. “And I do a reality show,Pretty Rich Things. I doubt you’ve seen it.”
It appeared Clem was almost embarrassed as she admitted that to Nate. “Yeah, I saw that in the magazine too. I kind of recognise it from somewhere; maybe I’ve inadvertently watched it when drunk.” The name of the show was still bugging him. He really should have asked Alik about it before now.
Trying to regain his attention, she tapped him on the knee with her foot. “I’ve got a PA tomorrow night, something for the show. I guess you do them as well?”
Nate shook his head. If he was totally honest, he wasn’t completely sure he knew what that was. “No, I don’t think we do. We do a meet and greet thing after gigs sometimes.”
“I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to come along with me?” asked Clem. “It’s in a club in Windsor. Late, like around eleven. I can’t promise it will be all that exciting, but you’ll get to know me a bit more. If you’d like to, of course.”
His answer was almost instant. “Sure, I’d love to.”
Chapter Six
The following afternoon, Nate and Alik got together for their overdue jam session. Since the tour finished and the band had made a triumphant return to the Wilde Park Festival, they had barely seen each other. Nate and Richey had been working on new material together and Nate was keen to share the results with Alik before they went back into the studio with Dev.
Over the past few months, the quartet had pulled together an arsenal of riffs, beats and lyrics that were unmistakably Blood Stone Riot. Whatever came out of their session in the recording studios had the potential to be legendary.
Alik came over to Nate’s flat, which had once been his before he’d moved in with Caro. Sometimes, Nate felt a bit like the poor relation, renting a flat from his best friend while everyone around him was settled. Even Dev and Yulia were living together now.
Absentmindedly, Nate wondered where Clem lived. Somewhere in London probably, given where they’d met last night. They’d messaged late into the night after he’d got home, and he knew she was shooting something for the show that afternoon, so he’d promised to give her space until he saw her later. He was already looking forward to it.
“This is good stuff, Nate,” said Alik. He had an acoustic guitar balanced on his lap and he followed along as Nate was playing. “Raw, passionate, angry. Did you guys get as far as lyrics?”
“Richey’s got a few things jotted down. He thought he’d wait until the studio to work on them with you.” Nate was always pleased to hear Alik’s approval. Sometimes he still felt like he needed it.
