See You at the Show (50 page)

She smiled too, she couldn’t help it.
 
“I think you’re a fucking crazy American.
 
But, you know what?
 
I love that you’re a crazy American so yeah,
 
let’s do it.
 
In your words, let’s get fucking married!”

He picked her up and swung her round again, sitting her down on the edge of the bar, the music turned up even louder as an impromptu celebration party suddenly got under way around them.
 

“You won’t regret this, Stevie,” Mark said, stepping between her open legs, his forehead resting against hers.

“Yeah, well, I’d better not, Cassidy.”
 
She slipped her arms round his neck, kissing him slowly, feeling herself falling under his spell with every movement of his mouth on hers.

“You fancy a real rock star wedding then?”

“Whatever a real rock star wedding is,” she laughed, suddenly feeling a ridiculous excitement building up inside her.
 
She’d just agreed to marry one of the world’s sexiest, most unpredictable rock stars and she felt stupidly happy, when just months ago she would never have even considered it.
 
But a lot had happened since then.

“And about making
L.A.
our base?”

She shrugged.
 
“Let’s do it.
 
Why not?
 
Like you said, we could all do with a new start.”

“I love you so fucking much, Stevie Stone.
 
So fucking much.”

“Yeah, well, you’d better, mister.
 
Or there’s gonna be trouble.”

He smiled that Cassidy smile, letting her go and jumping back up onto the bar as the sound of Black Rock Diamond and his own incredible voiced thumped out of the bar’s huge speakers.
 
Mark Cassidy was back where he belonged, putting on a show as people flocked around him – a true rock God.
 
And Stevie had just agreed to spend the rest of her life with him.

“Did you know that was coming?” Johnny asked, walking over to her as she slid down from the bar, rooting around in her pocket for her ‘phone that had just started ringing.

“Of course I didn’t.
 
Mark wouldn’t have planned that, Johnny.
 
That would’ve come completely out of nowhere.”

“So, you believe he’s serious then?
 
I mean, that was some proposal.”

Stevie looked at him.
 
“It shows he’s putting me first and that means something, coming from him.”
 
She looked down at the caller ID on her ‘phone and a sudden strange, tight sensation crossed her chest as she saw the name flashing up on the screen.
 
“I’ve got to take this, Johnny.”

“Stevie…”

But she’d gone, running through the crowded bar until she hit the street outside, because she needed to be alone to take this call.

She leaned back against the wall, finding it hard to get her breath back as she finally answered the ringing ‘phone, looking around to make sure nobody was within earshot.

“I didn’t know you had this number.”

“I can get anything, Stevie, you know that.”

She closed her eyes as his voice came down the line.
 
That clean, ultra-polite English accent that had once said things to her that would have shocked his
Westminster
colleagues, even more so if they’d known what he’d been doing when he’d said them.

“What’s happening here, Daniel?”

“I need to see you, Stevie.”

“Jesus, Daniel, come on…I’m in
L.A.
!”

“So am I.”

Her stomach flipped over and she opened her eyes, her heart starting to beat so hard and fast it made it difficult to breathe.
 
She hadn’t expected to ever hear from him again.
 
Ever.
 
So hearing his voice now was both confusing and painful and she didn’t really know what to do.
 
Or what to think.

“It’s all sorted, Stevie.
 
Security, discretion, it’s all in hand because I need to see you.
 
I really need to see you.
 
I’m at my house here in
Los Angeles
.
 
I’ll give you the address…”

“Now?
 
I…I’m out with…I’m with Mark, Daniel.
 
I can’t just…I can’t…does it have to be now?”

“Now would be better, yes.
 
I know it’s late, but…”

“Daniel…Jesus, what’s going on here?”

“I don’t want to talk on the ‘phone, Stevie.
 
I just really need to see you in person and it really needs to be tonight.
 
I’ve got to fly back to
London
tomorrow and I need to do this now.”

“Do what?
 
You’re sounding like that crazy man you were when I first met you.”

“Can you get here, Stevie?”

She sighed, closing her eyes again.
 
His timing was way off but she couldn’t ignore him.
 
She should, but she just couldn’t.
 
She hadn’t thought she’d ever see him again and she’d almost got used to the fact that those loose ends would never get tied, but now – now he was here and she had the chance to say everything she still needed to say.
 
She couldn’t ignore that.

“I suppose so.”
 
She looked around for a cab, listening as he gave her the address of his
L.A.
home.
 
“Ok, I’m not that far away.
 
I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Somebody will meet you outside.
 
You’ll know who it is.”

“I fucking hate this cloak and dagger shit, Daniel, you know that.”

“I know, but please, it’s necessary.
 
I’ll see you soon.”

She didn’t know what she was doing as she climbed into a cab and headed for Beverly Hills, all she knew was that Daniel Madison had just called her and told her he needed to see her so what else was she supposed to do?
 
She hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye, and because of that she’d never really settled.
 
Maybe this could be the chance she needed to get closure on the whole episode and move on.
 
With Mark.
 

She grabbed her ‘phone out of her pocket as it started ringing again, pressing “
answer
” before she’d even looked to see who it was.

“Did asking you to marry me make you feel the need to run off?”

“Mark…I’m sorry, baby, I’ve just got to…I’ve got to go somewhere.”

“Where?
 
It’s almost
midnight
, Stevie; where the fuck could you possibly need to be at this time?
 
Except in my bed.”

She smiled.
 
She should just tell him what was going on, but seeing as she didn’t really know exactly what that was herself how could she?
 

“Just trust me Mark, please.
 
I won’t be long.
 
It’s just…it’s just something I’ve got to sort out, that’s all.”

“Is everything ok?”

There’d once been a time when either of them disappearing like this wouldn’t have been an unusual occurrence, but so much had changed in such a relatively short space of time.
 
It didn’t feel comfortable behaving this way anymore, and part of her wanted to just tell the cab to turn around and go back.
 
But the bigger part of her needed to know what Daniel wanted.
 

“Everything’s fine, baby, really.”

“You still want to marry me then?”

“Yeah, I still want to marry you, Cassidy.”

“Ok…I’ll see you back at home.
 
We can have our own private celebration then, huh?”

“You got it, handsome.”

She ended the call and sat back against the seat, feeling guilty for lying to Mark for the first time in her life.
 
Things really were changing, and boy, were they taking some getting used to.

***

Daniel had never felt so nervous.
 
Well, ok, maybe he had.
 
Just before he’d made love to Stevie for the first time he’d felt more nervous than this, but this was bad, because this time he had absolutely no idea what her reaction would be.
 
And the answer she gave him would determine just what it was he was going to do next.
 

The doorbell ringing caused a fresh wave of nerves to wash over him and he took a second to compose himself before he walked out into the hallway, slowly opening the huge wooden front door.
 
And there she stood, still as beautiful in that wild, almost dishevelled way of hers in a strapless black top that showed off her incredible array of tattoos, skinny jeans and the ever present biker boots, her short, white blonde hair falling over one eye as she looked at him.
 

“Well?
 
Am I coming in or are we gonna do this on your doorstep?
 
Because I’m almost sure you don’t want the neighbours to get wind of this.”

“Oh God, yes, sorry.
 
Come in, please.”

She looked at him as he closed the door behind her.
 
Whatever was going on here he was as nervous as hell.
 
“You gonna tell me what this is all about?”

“Are you…are you ok?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

He moved closer to her, but she stayed exactly where she was.
 
“I just…I’m sorry, Stevie.
 
What’s happened…what you went through…”

“I’m over all the talking, Daniel, so let’s not go there, ok?
 
I’m fine.
 
Everything’s fine.
 
Are we gonna move out of the hallway or what?
 
I could do with a drink.”

“Sorry…yes, we’ll go into the living room.”

She followed him into a surprisingly small but cosy reception room that may well have been in a home in
Los Angeles
but it looked very much like it belonged in an old English country house.
 
Stevie guessed it had the mark of Samantha Madison written all over it.
   

“Erm, would you like a beer?
 
Or…or I’ve got wine or a nice Scottish whisky…”

“I couldn’t care where it comes from, Daniel; just pour me a glass, will you?
 
And then tell me what’s going on here.
 
What do you want?”

He looked at her as he handed her a tumbler of whisky, his eyes locking onto hers. “I want you.”

She stared straight at him, not moving as he stood there in front of her, reaching out to gently touch her face and she flinched slightly, but she didn’t pull away.

“You can’t
have
me, Daniel.
 
That was made perfectly clear.
 
Angus was right all along, you and me - it was never going to work.”

“I can’t have you if I want to stay Prime Minister, that’s true.”
 
He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
 
Just touching her made him feel alive again, looking into those amazing blue eyes was like falling straight back into that wonderful heaven she took him to.
 
And he’d missed it.
 

But she suddenly pushed his hand away, walking away from him and over to the table where the various bottles of spirits were laid out, pouring herself more whisky.
 

“Just tell me what the fuck is going on, Daniel, because I haven’t got time for this.”

She was confused now, and angry, although she couldn’t quite work out why.

“I love you, Stevie.
 
I never stopped loving you.”

She swung round to look at him.
 
“And what about Samantha?
 
Aren’t you back together?
 
Because that’s what all the papers are saying.”

“I never stopped loving you, Stevie.
 
I have tried, believe me, I have tried to make it work again with Samantha but I just can’t do it.”

She knocked most of her drink back in one.
 
“That’s not my problem, Daniel.”

“Come back to me, Stevie.
 
Please.
 
I love you, so much.
 
I love you.
 
It just isn’t going to work with Samantha, not anymore.
 
Not after you.”

She shook her head, suddenly feeling unexpected tears well up in her eyes as she looked at him.
 
It was strange, and a little bit upsetting seeing him again because she’d loved him too.
 
She’d really loved him.
 
But she couldn’t stay in that world.
 
It wasn’t her, it never would be.