Bad Boy vs Millionaire (11 page)

I
swung at him again but he grabbed my hand. My stomach twisted with all the emotions building up in me.

“
You say that but you've done nothing to prove it. I can't give you a fancy apartment like this. I have nothing. I can give you nothing. Maybe I never will be able to.”

“
You're one to talk.” I stepped away from him, folded my arms.

“
What do you mean?”

“
The apartment, your father gave it to you. You weren't too proud to accept that.”

Jack
stared at me for moment then, to my surprise, he laughed. His laughter crackled, dry and lacking in actual humour.

“
You believed that bullshit story? The apartment is Eric's. That whole story is just something I tell chicks.”

Somewhere
behind my eyes, lights flashed red with blood pulsing from my brain. I didn't answer. A story he told chicks? I was just another chick sucked in by his stories?

“
Fine,” I finally answered.

“
Fine,” said Jack. And he walked out the door.

I
turned to Tamaki.

“
You can leave too. I want to be alone.”

When
I had the apartment to myself, I threw myself on the bed and sobbed. Everything was a nasty mess.

Sheesh,
I had some work to do, convincing Hannah to even go to this gig. She'd told me about the fight with Jack and all that nasty business but she was still their manager and had to be here. I didn't want all that responsibility again. Responsibility is balls and gets in the way of fun.

“
This is not a time to run away,” I told her. “This is a time to fight. Make sure they know you are there and you aren't backing down. If you aren't around, of course they are going to sign up with The Man. Can they do that, anyway? You have the contract.”

I
stood on Hannah’s balcony, smoking a cigarette and watching all the little ant-people scurrying around on the street below.

“
I've thought about it. If they want to get a new manager, I'm not going to stop them. What's the alternative? Fighting them every step of the way? I've already done that. Why can't things just be easy?”

I
mashed my cigarette into the plate ashtray and came inside. The ant people could look after themselves.

“
Hey, at least you have a super awesome apartment and two hot guys fighting over you. I have nothing.” I had to say that because nothing is more annoying than listening to someone bitching about their life when their life is so much better than mine.

Hannah
smiled then and put her arm around me.

“
I don't think you have nothing.” She grinned. “What about Eric? What's going on there?”

I
screwed my nose up at her.

“
Not going to happen.” I flopped on the sofa.

“
Why not? The two of you seemed to be getting on so well. You look so cute together.”

“
Blerk. Cute. It's not going to happen because he had a thing for you.” I didn't look at her because the whole Eric having had a thing for her thing kinda annoyed me.

“
No, he didn't.”

“
Yes, he did. Are you like Queen of the Oblivious People?” I punched her on the arm. Shit, a blind man could've seen the way Eric crushed on her. For all her vanity, Hannah never seemed to notice the effect she had on men. They just crumpled around her. I mean, she was obviously totally hot in a mainstream, model type way but she also did this thing with her eyes that seemed to drive guys nuts.

“
He seems to be over me now. We never even watch Korean dramas together anymore.”

“
Because you are too busy watching Japanese dramas with Tamaki? Or maybe too busy having your own real life dramas.”

“
Even if he did have a bit of a crush on me, what does it matter?”

“
It matters. I could never go out with someone who had the hots for my friend. It's like being second prize. 'Oh I can't get the hot chick, I'll settle for her quirky friend' kind of thing. I don't want to be settled for. If someone can't like me straight up, then don't bother liking me at all.”

“
That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?” Hannah gave me a look of smarmy superiority, like she knew she was right and I was wrong. I don't like being wrong.

She
got up to make coffee. Which was awesome because I really wanted coffee and it was like I’d mind controlled her.

“
What do you mean?”

“
I mean, you only had eyes for Jack Colt for all that time. Maybe Eric feels like he's the quirky friend being settled for.”

Ouch.
That really hit me. I was totally wrong. Hannah was totally right. My crush on Jack had been completely different though. It was a rock star crush, not a real person crush. I'm sure Eric would realise that… or maybe he wouldn’t? Since he was in the band with Jack, he might totally see it as a real person crush.

“
Anyway, you wear second-hand clothes all the time so it's not like it's much different.”

I
rolled my eyes. She had so little understanding of the important things in life. Clothes don't get to pick and choose. They have no input into the decision making process. Like those boots that obviously were meant for me, they could've been sitting in that shop all the time thinking, “I want to be picked by Angie. I need to be picked for Angie. The only feet I choose are Angie's feet” but in this world, those boots could've ended up on any feet. Anyone at all is free to go into the shop and buy those boots. Luckily the gods and the stars aligned and the boots and the feet that were meant to be together, actually became united. Like some kind of magical Disney dream with sparkles. But so many boots, and so many feet don't have that kind of luck. It is a once in a lifetime thing, a Cinderella story without the annoying doofus of a prince.

“
Anyway, his mother hates me. Hates me with a passion. She'd kill Eric if he dated me. Then she'd kill me. We'd both be dead and there'd be no dating.”

“
Eric-mama is lovely. She just needs to get to know you.”

“
She loves
you
. If you dated Eric, she'd be over the moon. She looks at me like I'm a freak.” I'd thought that maybe, if I were more like Hannah, if I got rid of the piercings and my crazy hair and I wore a pretty dress, she might like me and accept me but then it wouldn't be me she'd be accepting, it would be a totally other person. You can't change the core of your being just to have some guy's mother like you.

“
So, that means you have to go to the gig. To help me. With Eric.” I gave her my most beguiling look and she nodded. My mind control powers were on fire.

Anyway,
all thoughts of love aside, the gig was nuts. We were back at the Seaview band room, the place they'd played the first night I met Hannah. The guys had been playing much bigger venues than that shitty dive but they'd agreed to play as part of a week-long birthday celebration. I don't think anyone at the place had realised just how big Storm had gotten. There had been a massive queue even before the doors opened. All the old regulars and all the new fans. Hannah had paid a couple of students to do all the merchandise sales so we all we'd had to do was set up and then check back on them a few times to make sure everything was okay.

When
the doors opened, the room was bursting at the seams. I think they'd let in a shitload more people than the room's capacity. While the punters were paying, they weren't going to turn them away. Hannah and I sat in the crappy backroom, wondering how we'd get through the crowd to even check on the merch sales.

“
You know, the first time I came here, I was so angry that the bouncer wouldn't let me into the band room.” Hannah looked around at the graffiti covered walls and the ripped couch propped up with bricks on one side. “It's actually not nearly as awesome as I imagined.”

“
One day we'll have luxurious back stage areas with flashy shit. I dunno, maybe waitresses and real furniture and fancy stuff like that. And tags! VIP tags. That will be cool as.”

Hannah
sucked in her lips, not saying anything. I'm so freaken tactless. Of course, she'd not be overjoyed about potential awesome in the future when she might not be around to enjoy it.

Then
the guys turned up and we were all business. Jack gave Hannah a look then turned his back on her. She pretended not to notice but I could see her hands shake.

I
offered to go to the bar and get their drinks rider even though it'd be a massive crush to get there. The place was so badly designed, I had to get through the narrow passage outside the band room, filled with amps and drum kits and other assorted shit that needed to be off-stage, then through all the people in front of stage to get to the bar crush. I guess that normally wasn't a big deal because the room wasn't that full but that night it was hell.

I
wiggled and squirmed my way through the crowd, letting the buzz of anticipation flow through me then I managed to scoot to the side of the bar and get the barman's eye. I grabbed a couple of six packs and a bottle of scotch for good measure. Better than having to come back a second time. I balanced the six packs under one arm and held the whisky bottle in the other, holding on tight so no scumbag could knick it.

Getting
back with the drinks made it a lot harder to wiggle through and I considered jumping up and running across the stage when some oaf got in my way. I tried to knock him but he didn't move. Seriously, the guy looked like a complete jerk in his white polo shirt. Really? Who would dress like that to see a band? Only a clueless, corporate dork.

I
was about to dig him in the ribs with my elbow to get passed when he turned. Tamaki? Sheesh, what was he doing here? This would be maximum trouble. I smiled hello.

“
Have you seen Hannah?” he asked.

Surely
she wouldn't have invited him. She'd been bitching about the whole Jack/Tamaki situation so it's not like she'd want to throw fuel on that fire.

“
She's working, she's pretty busy right now.” I yelled over the noise. “You should wait here for her. I'll tell her you're here. Actually, wait by the sound desk.” I gestured at the sound desk so he'd know where to go. “It's easy to find and it has the best acoustics.”

He
nodded and started to move off. At least that'd get him out of Jack's line of sight when he was on stage. The last thing we wanted was an altercation.

I
dumped the drinks backstage then pulled Hannah aside so I could tell her.

S
he totally freaked. Totally.

“
We have to get him out of here. This is so not good. What the hell is he doing?”

“
Settle down,” I told her. “I've got him waiting for you at the sound desk. You can go hang out with him there, out of sight of Jack. He's dressed like a total dork though. Maybe get him a band shirt to wear so he fits in.”

“
Poor Tamaki. He probably had no idea what to wear.”

Hannah
frowned and I wondered how he'd gone from being the worst in the world to “poor Tamaki” so quickly. Then I remembered that night I first met her. She'd been wearing some kind of going to cocktails outfit with no idea either. Still, being sympathetic would be no way to get rid of him. If she did indeed want to get rid of him.

“
Let’s go find him,” I said.

Then,
holy fuck, as we walked out the band room door, we almost smashed into Jack Colt with his tongue down some groupie's throat. They were all hands everywhere and almost dry humping. I tried to push Hannah so she wouldn't see. But she saw. I watched the range of emotions play out over her face. I mean, I've never actually seen someone be tortured by having say having red hot pokers pushed up their butt but I'd imagine that their facial expression would be something like Hannah's. I wanted to hug her and tell her that everything would be okay but I couldn't. I couldn't say it would all work out in the end and that she'd have her happily ever after, walking off into the sunset moment because who can guarantee something like that?

“
Come on,” she said, setting her mouth into a tight line. “Let's get out of here.”

“
It's nothing. He does it all the time. Remember that night… it's to give the fans a thrill.”

Although,
to be fair, I wasn’t sure if knowing he did that all the time made things better.

“
He knew I was there but he did that anyway. He
wanted
me to see. He planned it.”

Her
voice came out tight like she didn't want the feels to spill out. I didn't think Jack was that manipulative ― a dick but more an unthinking dick than any kind of planned dickery ― but there was no telling that to Hannah. She marched through the crowd, knocking people out of the way. When she got to Tamaki, she smiled. I figured the best plan would be for me to be somewhere else. Let those crazy kids sort out their own business.

I
caught up with Kris and Danielle and got a spot. Nowhere near the front in that crowd but with a decent view of the stage. Sweat beaded on my skin from the heat radiating off all the people squeezed against me. I wanted a drink but couldn't even think about pushing to the bar again, when Kris offered to go. Hell yeah. She was my angel. She got back just as the band went on stage.

They
slammed into the first song, Party Dress, which was now a crowd favourite. All around me people screamed and pumped the air. A grin stretched over my face like it always did when Storm played. As they went into their second song, I noticed there was something a bit off. Not anything major but Jack was not in top form. He missed a note here and there and forgot the start of the second verse, repeating the first one instead. They'd gotten to the point where they were so tight but he was just… even his moves seemed forced.

Of
course, most of the punters were half cut and didn't even pick up on it but Eric frowned.

They
played a few new songs that quietened the crowd down then a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song that got everyone fired up again. The crowd heaved as a mass, knocking into us and sending Danielle flying to the floor but a few people pulled her back up again. You can't let shit like that get you off guard. She hadn't even spilt her drink.