Cold Comfort (20 page)

“Nah, I’m good, thanks,” he replied, and I
released the breath I’d been holding.

“What will you do if she freezes
completely?” I heard Matt ask him.

“She won’t.”

“You sure about that? Has she ever done
anything remotely like this? I don’t imagine she has. This is a big deal for
us, let alone a girl that’s only ever sung for her friends.”

“She’s a natural,” Cat said with complete
certainty. I felt a warm glow in my stomach at his belief in me. He’d never
wavered, not once. I hoped I could live up to his expectations.

I must have actually dozed off because the
next thing I knew Cat was shaking me awake. “You drooled all over my jacket,”
he said, smiling fondly at me and grabbing my hand to lead me out the car.

“Hey, hold up there,” Matt said before he
could open the door. “There are loads of girls waiting outside,” he said,
pointing at the groupies who were already screaming from behind a cordon as
they waited to see their favourite band.

“Yeah, so?” Cat said, looking irritated.

“You planning on subjecting Delilah to
their abuse right before her first performance? You know they’re not going to
be pleased their favourite rock star has a girl in his life. No need to rub it
in their faces straight away. Let her follow us in with Eddy. We can sign a few
autographs, and she can slip into the foyer behind us – you can meet her in
there.”

“I want her with me,” Cat said petulantly.

“Yeah, well, I’m thinking about her, not
you, mate.”

“He’s right, Cat,” Eddy chipped in. “I’ll
keep her safe.” Cat looked at them and then me. I could feel my eyes were wide
with fear. I didn’t want anyone shouting at me right now.

“Yeah, alright,” Cat agreed finally. “Wait
for me in the reception, babe,” he said, kissing me quickly on the lips and
then clambering out the car with Henry and Matt on his heels. The roar from the
crowd was immediate. I watched from the window as he sauntered towards the
women, who looked ecstatic to see him in the flesh. He started signing things,
at which point Eddy opened the door again and we climbed out. Automatically I
put my arm out for him and he took hold, then we walked up towards the
entrance, avoiding the screaming fans altogether. No one even looked up at the
girl in the black mini-dress and denim jacket or the guy in glasses and black
skinny jeans as we scurried towards the rotating door.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief as we
walked up to the entrance, only to become tense again as a security guard
stepped in front of us.

“We’re with the band,” Eddy said in his
boldest voice. I would have laughed if I’d had any saliva left in my mouth to
make any sound at all.

“Sorry, but that’s what they all say,” the
guard said with a grimace. “Names?” We offered our names and he seemed
surprised when he actually found them on the list he held, moving out of the
way to allow us entrance into the foyer. I mentally thanked Wayne for his
organisational skills as we walked inside. Cat arrived about five minutes later,
clutching a pair of knickers. He immediately scanned the area, relaxing only when
he saw me.

“Yours?” I asked, nodding down at the
knickers in his hand.

“What? Oh, no,” he said with a grin,
looking down at them. “Here,” he said to Wayne, who was lurking behind him, as
he handed the lingerie over. “Let’s get going.” He grabbed my hand and pulled
me towards the lifts. Wayne handed us all passes as we waited for the lift to
arrive, while I tried to quell the growing wave of panic that threatened to
engulf me. Everywhere we went people pointed at us – well, at Cat. He
seemed oblivious to the attention, but I found it overwhelming.

“We’ll get set up, and then there will be
an interview with the DJ. We’ll do that, then the old song, have another chat
and then we’ll do ours. After that it’s the cover so you get to sit back and
admire me again,” he said with a grin as he kissed me. I heard the gasps around
us as people watched him be affectionate towards me. Suddenly people weren’t
only looking at him, they were looking at me too. Wondering who I was, no
doubt. I wanted to assure them it was okay, I was no one.

Eddy and I were put into a room they called
the Green Room to wait while the guys set up and were offered drinks. I
gratefully grabbed a big bottle of water and sat sipping it as the people
around me chatted easily with one another. No one bothered me. I suspected they
had me down as a hanger-on, just part of the entourage. I was okay with that. Then
it was time to move into the studio where we’d perform, and my anxiety ramped
up to a whole new level.

The boys performed ‘Sicken Me’, a popular
song off their first album – Terrible Racket. I’d watched as Cat had
chatted easily with the interviewer. He was charming and articulate, and I
could see again why so many women loved him. “You okay?” Eddy asked me,
clasping my hand as the DJ segued to another track while we prepared for the
next song. I couldn’t even form any words. I could feel the band looking at me
nervously as Cat manoeuvred me into position in front of the microphone. I hadn’t
warmed up vocally at all. I’d barely made a peep since we’d arrived. I had no
idea if I would make a single note when the song started.

“So,” I heard the DJ say as the record
finished. “We’re getting loads of love for you guys via text and email. They’re
loving ‘Sicken Me’. Selma in Bury says ‘love these guys, sounding good today’,
and Arthur says he saw you in Manchester and you’re awesome live. I can vouch
for that. But now you’re going to sing something new for us, is that right?”
she asked Cat.

“Yeah, it’s a bit slower than our normal
tracks, and I’ve invited a friend of mine, Delilah, to help us out. It’s called
‘Eternity’. I hope you like it.”

I heard the opening bars of the song start,
and I nearly ran. I wanted to, but Cat tapped my leg and mouthed ‘look at me’,
so I did. I stared into his big blue eyes and felt peace for the first time
that day. And then he started to sing. His voice was so beautiful, and as he
sang to me I was mesmerised all over again. When the part came for my harmony I
couldn’t have stopped myself from joining in if I’d wanted to. Everything
vanished around us and I saw no one else in the room, only him. We sang as if
every word had meaning for us – which they did.

As the final bars faded away the room broke
into cheers, and I blushed as Cat beamed at me with pride. “Oh my god, the texts
just blew up,” the DJ gushed. “There’s an amazing reaction to that song. People
want to know when they can get hold of it.”

“You can download it today,” Cat informed
her, ever the professional, as I sat there dumbstruck once more. I had done it,
I had sung live with him on the radio. And people had liked it. As the DJ
played another song and the guys got ready to do their cover, I moved back to
my seat beside Eddy. But this time people kept coming up to me, telling me how
much they’d enjoyed the performance and what an amazing voice I had. I smiled
and thanked them, feeling awkward given all the attention. It was only when the
record finished that I got a break from all the people.

Then the boys started singing their cover,
and suddenly I was the focus of scrutiny all over again, but for different
reasons. I should have guessed when Cat said the cover was a surprise that he
was up to mischief. As the opening bars started I realised what he had done. It
was ‘Hey There Delilah’ by the Plain White T’s. As he sang ‘Oh, it’s what you
do to me’, he looked directly at me. “I guess the cat’s out the bag now, then,
quite literally,” Eddy said, laughing quietly as people looked over at me. Cat
had managed to do the musical equivalent of peeing on my leg, so now everyone
knew we were a thing. The fact that the notorious womaniser from Cold Comfort
was lavishing attention on a single woman – well, that was not going to
pass by unnoticed. I felt a shiver of fear as I worried what the consequences
of him outing us would be.

The time immediately after the radio show
was a complete whirlwind. When we emerged from the building the crowd had quadrupled
in size. This time Cat insisted on holding my hand as we walked back to the
waiting car. I kept my head down after a couple of the girls threw hateful
looks in my direction, Cat on the other hand smiled and waved like the visiting
rock royalty he was. “I love you, Cat, fuck me,” I heard several women scream,
ignoring my presence by his side entirely. The paparazzi were also now out in
force, taking pictures of the both of us. “How long have you been with Delilah,
Cat?” they asked. It sounded so odd to hear them talking about me, and using my
name, as if they knew me. “What attracted you to her first, Cat? That sweet
body or her crazy good voice?” another questioned. Cat’s hand tightened on mine
at that.

We ignored everyone, saying nothing, just
ploughing forward with the help of a couple of the band’s security team, until
finally we reached the car. Cat opened the door, and I climbed in with him hot
on my heels. “Fuck, that was crazy,” he said, but I could tell from his level
of excitement that he loved it all. “You did amazing, baby.” He pulled me
against him as the car moved swiftly away.

“You helped me,” I admitted. “I thought I
wouldn’t be able to do it, but you got me to focus on you, and then it was easy
to sing. I didn’t think about anyone else but you.” He kissed me softly. “Why
did we leave without the others?”

“It was getting too crazy. Wayne thought it
would be better to get us out of there quickly. He got another car for the rest
of them. We’ll meet them at Matt’s.”

“Are we going back to Cambridgeshire
tonight?” I asked hopefully.

“Not sure,” he answered somewhat evasively
as he fiddled with his phone. “Wow, they loved that performance. It’s already
gone viral. We’re trending, babe.”

“You’re trending. I’m just the backing
vocalist.”

“You’re more than a backing vocalist, love.
I think we’ve got a hit on our hands. I’m going to be busy finishing the rest
of that album, because the label’s going to want it out as soon as we can get
it done. Then we’ll be on our American tour.” The realities of living with a
rock star hit home hard.

“You’ll be on tour. I’ll be at university
finishing my degree,” I reminded him. He looked at me as if I had just stepped
out of a spaceship.

“We’ll need you to perform that song on
tour with us,” he said. “You’ll be on tour too.”

“Well, maybe I can come for some of it,
particularly if it runs over the holidays. But I need to get my degree. It’s what
I’ve been working so hard for. What my Mama used all her savings on.”

“Well, let’s see how things pan out, shall
we?” was all he said before kissing me. It was more than the kisses of gentle
reassurance he’d given earlier. This was a kiss that acted as a precursor to
more. By the time he took his mouth from mine my mind was on needing him inside
me as soon as we could make it happen. His fingers dropped between my legs and
slithered under my lacy thong, finding me already wet and wanting. “What do you
need, Delilah,” he breathed into my neck.

“You,” I gasped as he started to play with
me.

When the car pulled up we practically
sprinted inside the house, ignoring the press that had beaten us there. We
headed straight to the room we had been given the night before and within
minutes Cat had ripped off my knickers and opened his jeans to reveal his
massive erection. He fumbled in his pocket until he found a condom, rapidly
opening the wrapper and rolling it into place before lifting me up again, back
against the wall, his hands holding my thighs, and lowering me onto him. My
legs wrapped around his waist as soon as he was inside me, my arms holding
tight around his neck. Then he started to thrust, gravity creating extra
friction as he hit me in all the right places. A picture bounced from the wall
and landed on the floor, glass shattering, but we barely paused, too caught up
in our drive for satisfaction. Finally it was too much, and I slid into my
orgasm with relief, hearing him follow shortly after.

Exhausted after all the exertion he turned
us around and we slid to the floor, a sweaty heap. “Mind the glass,” I reminded
him from my position on his lap, giggling at the thought of us needing to go to
hospital to get glass taken out of his butt.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day,” he
groaned. “You looked so hot today, and then when you sang…”

“Thank you again for helping me through my
nerves,” I said, kissing him.

“You’ve got nothing to be nervous about. You’re
what they call a natural… and you’re all mine,” he said, heaving both himself
and me off the floor and chucking me onto the bed, where he proceeded to show
me what he’d been thinking about all day.

*

When we finally emerged, the room
downstairs was heaving with people. “Finally,” Wayne complained when we walked
in. “I thought you were going to take all fucking day about it.”

“Good idea,” Cat said, spinning around and
pretending to walk back out the door.

“Cat, seriously, mate, don’t do this to me.
You’ve lit the fucking touch paper with that performance earlier. People want
to see you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, so what are we
talking about?”

“The label’s speculating you’ll be a chart
entry by tomorrow.”

“After one day? We’ve only played it once.”

“But it’s already been picked up
everywhere. I’ve been contacted by Falk’s Talks, the BBC chat show, to see if
you can be available tomorrow night. The chart results will be out just before
the show. It could be a good fit. I’m thinking we’re talking maybe a number one
by a week tomorrow, judging by the buzz.” He looked at me. “People want to know
more about you too. Who you are, where you came from, how you two met. I’m
thinking maybe a newspaper article.”

“I don’t really want to.”

“What? Why not?” Wayne looked completely
bemused that anyone would turn down the chance to be in a paper. “What about a
glossy mag, then? You could get dressed up in some posh frocks and stuff. Girls
like that, don’t they?”

“Some girls,” I muttered. “Not me, though. Why
do I have to do anything? Can’t they just look at Cat and the band?” Cat looked
at me fondly.

“Look, sweetie,” Wayne said in his most
patronising tone. “You have a choice; either you release information to the
press to satisfy their need to know more about you, or they’ll start digging
and either print what they dig up or make up something more interesting. I’m
betting like most of us you’d rather they leave some stuff alone. People will
start crawling out the woodwork claiming they know you. All the kids you went
to school with, whoever popped your cherry… you get the idea?”

“Shut up, Wayne,” Cat growled. “You’re
frightening her.”

“Yeah, well, she needs to grow some balls. You
two started this shit. Now we need to make sure we grow roses from it.”

“I’ll do a magazine. Let me know if any are
interested and I’ll choose,” I decided. I didn’t particularly like him, but his
advice made sense, and I didn’t want them crawling around Mama. I needed to
call her.

The conversation rolled on, and I sat
listening as they talked about all the offers that had already come in for
performances. When they started talking about interest in the US I slipped out
the room. It was all a bit overwhelming. I sat on my bed and called Mama, and she
answered on the first ring. “Oh, honey, I hoped you’d call. I saw you on the
computer singing your song. You sounded so beautiful.”

“Oh, Mama, I wish you could have been
there. I was so scared, but Cat helped me through.”

“Is Cat the boy you sang with?”

“Yeah, he is. We’re kind of seeing each
other.”

“And is he good to you?” I loved that she
was more interested about vetting my potential boyfriend than she was about the
fact we had been trending on Twitter.

“He’s been so kind to me. I really like
him,” I admitted.

“Well, he’s very handsome. You make sure he
stays being kind to you, or he’ll have me to deal with,” she said in a mock
stern voice.

“I’ll tell him. I wish I could see you,” I
said, my voice small now.

“I miss you too, baby. You’ll have to make
that rock star boyfriend perform that song with you for me sometime soon.”

“He will. I’ll tell him. He has a house in
Cambridgeshire...”

She cut me off. “Don’t tell me. Hardy has
been here. He was angry about your photo. He went to that house, and they
wouldn’t let him see you. That made him even madder. He’s watching me to see if
I can get to you. It’s better if he thinks I can’t.”

“You can watch us on Falk’s Talks tomorrow
night,” I told her. “We’ll be singing the song on there. I’ll blow you a kiss.”

“I’ll be watching, honey. You make sure you
take care, and tell that Cat to look after my baby.”

“I’ll tell him, Mama. I miss you… I love
you.”

“I love you too, darling. So much.” We
parted then, the goodbyes hurting more than ever. I needed something familiar
at this time of momentous upheaval. I resented Hardy and his father even more
for taking that away from me.

“Baby, you okay?” Cat asked from the
doorway, before coming in and sitting down beside me on the bed. “Was that your
Mama?”

“Yeah. She watched us. She liked it.”

“Of course she liked it. She has a very
talented daughter.”

“She thought you were handsome. Told me to
tell you to be good to me or you’d have her to deal with.” He smiled at that.

“Oh, I’ll be good to you. You know I will,”
he said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows, which made me laugh and pulled me
out the dip I’d been in. “The guys think we should go out and celebrate a bit. You
up for that?”

“What were they thinking? Is Eddy going?”

“Yeah, Eddy’s going. Dinner, then probably a
club. You up for it?”

“Yeah,” I said slowly, “I suppose. I can’t
wear this, though. I’ve had it on all day, and I sweated when I was nervous
earlier, so it stinks. I’ve only got some shorts with me otherwise. I didn’t
think we’d be down here long, so I didn’t bring much. Will that be okay? Or
maybe I should stay here and you should go out with the band.”

“Firstly, I’m not going out without you. Secondly,
you’ll look great whatever you put on – I couldn’t care less what you
wear. Thirdly, the club will be hot anyway. It’s a warm night, so shorts will
be great.”

“You don’t think I’ll be underdressed?”

“Delilah, most of the girls don’t wear much
more than their bras and knickers in the clubs. There’s not a chance you’ll be
underdressed,” he insisted. “You have a shower and get yourself ready, then I’ll
call the cars,” he said, pulling on a clean t-shirt from out of his bag. It was
so much easier for boys.

Thirty minutes later I had showered and
applied a little make-up, just some lip gloss and mascara. My shorts were at
least comfortable. I’d paired them with some cute trainers and a floaty white
halterneck top that meant I had to go bra-less again, but I looked okay. I’d
left my hair down, just plaiting the top so it formed a band and held some of
the hair off my face, which would hopefully keep me cool in the club. I was
getting excited about being able to dance with Cat later.

I walked into the basement room, and the
group went silent. It seemed to happen a lot. I immediately felt anxious that I
was underdressed and started fiddling with the hem of my top. “Is this okay?” I
asked Eddy, trusting he would tell me the truth.

“Delilah, you look stunning. Absolutely
gorgeous. You really have no idea,” he said with a laugh. I looked at Cat for
confirmation, but he seemed uncomfortable.

“Don’t you like it? I don’t have much else
with me that isn’t dirty,” I said nervously.

“Do you have any longer shorts?” he asked,
which made the rest of the group burst out laughing.

“No…”

“Delilah, you look stunning,” Eddy butted
in. “He’s being an ass because he hates that everywhere you go tonight men are
going to be looking at you. Particularly your legs, which look frankly awesome
in those shorts.”

“Is that the reason?” I asked Cat.

He looked down at my legs again and nodded.
“I might lose it,” he admitted.

Finally I relaxed a bit and smiled. “You’re
the only one I wrap them round,” I whispered in his ear.

“Fuck, baby, now I don’t want to go out at
all,” he moaned.

“Get a couple of these down you and you’ll
soon change your mind,” Henry said, laughing and handing Cat a mirror with a
couple of lines of coke on it and a rolled-up bank note. Cat quickly snorted a
line, and then offered the other one to me. When I shook my head he did the second.
I tried to quell the feeling of disquiet that simmered within me at the sight
of him so casually snorting cocaine. I knew he was around it all the time, but I
hadn’t seen him do any before.

“Let’s go then,” Henry said, jumping up. “Time
to party.” And the next thing I knew I was being herded out the house with
everyone else and into the waiting cars.