Page 14 of When We Fell Again
Levi, Jude, and Robbie were involved in their own pre-show warm-ups, my potential freak-out going unnoticed. Not for the first time that day, I wished for something stronger than the prescription painkillers I’d dutifully handed over to Lex earlier.
The lights went down and I let out a long, hard breath.
There was a brief moment of quiet, and I heard the low murmurings of the crowd. The anticipation got to them every time. That night, I didn’t know whose was greater—mine or theirs.
Levi turned to me, holding up a hand for a high five. “You ready?”
I forced a smile, which was more of a grimace as I lifted my left hand to reciprocate. “Born ready, mate.”
The rest of the band took the stage and took their places, leaving me alone for a moment.
Any doubts I had instantly disappeared the moment Levi ripped into the opening chords ofBeautiful Lullaby.The song was neither beautiful nor a lullaby, more of an ugly screamer of a tune and our most popular to date. A real grin spread across my face this time as I heard the crowd singing the lyrics to us, and I whirled across the stage to join in with them, all thoughts of the past forgotten.
Fuck, I love this.
CHAPTER6
Alexis
Anticipation prickledacross every inch of my skin.
Five years disappeared, and it seemed like yesterday that I’d last seen Idol Rev perform.
That I’d last seen Jordan Bowie perform.
No matter how much I wanted to ignore how he still affected me, my traitorous body had the opposite reaction.
The minute he stepped onto that stage, ripping intoBeautiful Lullaby,every fibre of my being remembered everything about the good times we’d had together. His stage presence, how he could command an audience, the sex appeal exuding from every single pore.
Pull yourself together, Alexis. You have to be the professional here.
Even in a simple black t-shirt that clung to his perfectly muscled body and dark blue jeans, he looked devastatingly handsome, as hot as I remembered. Even more so. The confidence that came with five extra years’ worth of performance under his belt and the way he had everyone in that room eating out of his hand almost made me swoon.
If I hadn’t been battling the head versus heart, professional versus ex-lover, I’d have been down the front with the other screaming female students, begging him to take me home afterwards instead of lurking in the wings, waiting for the show to be over.
“Here.” Claudia thrust a bottle of warm beer into my hand. “Apparently, they don’t have wine. Actually, they did have wine, but I’d probably be better off cleaning my toilet with it.” She pulled a face, reminding me what I was missing out on by not doing the Lissy Parker tour.
However, any alcohol to take my mind off what was currently going on not ten feet in front of me would help.
“They’ve still got it, haven’t they?” Claudia took a swig of her beer. “I mean, after everything that happened last year, I didn’t know whether they’d be able to perform again. But it looks like the break did them good. And Jordan’s clean now. Well, except for the prescription drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol. It’s good to see him out there again.”
I nodded, pretending to know exactly what she was talking about.
Of course, I’d been vaguely aware of what had gone on. Theo made sure we knew about the acts we were going to look after. But some details were sketchy. There had been mention of the tragic death of someone close to the band, but nothing specific about Jordan. I knew he’d dabbled with soft drugs—we’d shared several joints in the past—but I didn’t know what had gone on in the intervening years.
Claudia waved her beer bottle between the two of us. “So, what’s it like being here?”
“Can’t pretend I’m not disappointed not to be out on tour with a chilled-out folk artist, sipping wine and eating tapas in cute wine bars.” I forced a smile.
Claudia and I weren’t close, and I didn’t want to give Idol Rev’s publicist any more gossip than she needed.
“No. I mean you and Jordan. You were a thing, right?”
A thing.
Is that how you described an almost five-year romance that sent you to the highest levels of ecstasy and tore you right down to your bare bones?
I shrugged, trying to downplay it. “Yeah, we got together at uni. In fact, tonight is much like one of our first dates. Jordan playing a set and me sipping shit beer, waiting for him to finish.”
