The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (83 page)

“Izzy, I’d like you to meet Chantel. She’s our amazing promoter who’s been getting us all of the extra gigs and tirelessly plugging us away. Seriously, I don’t know what we would do without her,” Joel all but gushed.

I kept the fixed smile on my face as Joel looked on in awe as she grinned, her hand stroking his bicep before giving him a playful shove.

“Oh enough with the compliments, I am seriously blushing here.”

If she was you couldn’t tell, but then again under the amour of makeup she was wearing, anything was possible. She was around my height, with red, long flowing locks down her back, dressed head to toe in black. The short black dress she wore complimented her hourglass figure, but instead of finishing off with a heel, she wore Doc Martins. Her look was vampy with a gothic edge, teamed off with a black biker jacket.

“It’s nice to meet you. Joel’s been telling me all about you. You’ve done so much—

“Oh my god, Joel, before I forget, I managed to secure a slot at the rock festival in Hull. There were barely a few slots left, but they watched a few of the YouTube vids and liked your style, so you’re in,” Chantel cut in, leaving me stunned.

“Oh my god, that’s fantastic.” He hugged her and they both jumped around for a few seconds while I stood there like chopped liver.

“There’s also another photoshoot coming up. We’re going more topless grunge.”

Joel frowned. “I don’t want to do topless again, plus it isn’t fair to Izzy having to see all the comments on the page.”

“Well, sex sells and sorry, Izzy, but you need to learn to share. A guy like Joel is going to be adored by thousands if he wants to keep doing what he’s doing. There’s no place for tantrums if your girlfriend here can’t handle a little bit of nudity.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my fiancée,” Joel bit out.

“Hmm, speaking of which, I gave a few interviews and I may have told them that you are single.” She bit her lip waiting for Joel’s response. She didn’t have to wait long.

“What?” Joel and I said together in surprise.

She rolled her eyes at our response. “It helps to sell you more if the fans think they have a chance of getting with you. You’ll have to take your ring off before you perform though as they’ll notice something like that.”

“No way,” Joel snapped and I swallowed hard trying to bite back my reaction.

“Joel, if you can trust me on this, we will be able to market the band better if you are single. You are the eye candy that everyone wants to bed.”

I was about to throw up.

“Chantel—”

“Let’s just do it for now, okay? You know I have good experience in this. I’ve been doing it for years. I know all the tricks of the trade.” She winked in delight.

“Izzy, are you okay with this?” Joel asked hesitantly.

NO!

“I—well-—

“She’ll be fine, you don’t want to hinder Joel and the band’s success over being jealous, now do you?” She gave me a smug look, and I wanted to punch her hard.

“If it helps the band, then it’s okay.” I was not going back to being the jealous girlfriend that got in the way. I would just suck it up and smile, even though right now I was seriously fighting back the tears.

“Iz, are you sure you’re okay with this? We don’t have to—”

“Joel, she’s fine. Right, we need to get you in the back to warm up. You’re on in an hour. I’m sure Izzy will be fine here. Dom at the bar will get you a drink.” She dragged Joel off before I even had chance to reply, leaving me stood there like a lemon. It was a good job Elijah and Kara were on their way else I would have been on my own. I walked over to a smiling Dom.

“Hey what can I get you?” he asked, grabbing a glass.

“A Coke, thanks.”

“You look a little stunned there, something wrong?” His eyes stayed fixed on me as he filled the glass.

“Oh I just met Chantel.”

He smiled at my stunned reaction. “Ahh, she is a little full on.”

“Only a little?”

“In her job she has to have the gift of the gab to steam roll people into her way of thinking. Don’t take offence, she’s good, if a little tactless at times.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t mince her words, that’s for sure,” I added bitterly.

“Here, it’s on me. Which band are you here to see?”

“Phoenix. The lead singer is my fiancé.”

“Oh he is hot, I will be totally checking him out on stage.” He winked and I rolled my eyes.

“I think the whole room will be checking him out,” I huffed. I could guarantee he’d be the centre of everyone’s attention.

“When a singer is as sexy as that, it would be rude not to.” Dom grinned before heading off to serve the next customer.

I sipped on my Coke and smiled when my text chimed, Kara and Elijah were here. I headed towards the door.

“Hey Iz, looking cute in your little outfit,” Kara remarked, giving me a hug. I was dressed in grey skinny jeans and a stripy vest teamed with a red leather jacket.

“See, this outfit all me, I’m her personal stylist. I live to shop.” Elijah beamed, taking all the glory for it.

Kara’s eyes widened in excitement. “Oh my god, Elijah, you need to style me. I’m in a rut at the moment. I’m trying to be more adventurous.”

“That I can do. I’m hitting the shops tomorrow. If you fancy tagging along, I can get a feel for the things you like, but if you want to be more adventurous and trust me that I will push you into trying trends that you’ve maybe ignored before.”

“Seriously, I’m bored. I need a revamp, but don’t tell Mike, he will go ape shit at the thought of me spending. Having a home together, most of the money goes to pay the bills, but he still goes to football matches and nights out so I’m buying some clothes.” 

“It’s only right. It’s going to be a fun day, you fancy coming, Iz?” Elijah asked, grinning.

“Yeah, righto.” I snorted.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Izzy avoids shopping like the plague.” He laughed looking thoroughly amused by my reaction.

“Well, it’s a good job I have you then.” I stuck my tongue out playfully.

“Anyway what time is sex god on?” he asked, suddenly changing the conversation.

“In forty-five minutes. Oh by the way I met Chantel.” Yeah, that caught their attention.

“Oooh, what was she like?” Elijah asked, looking intrigued.

“A bitch.”

“No!” they both replied together.

“Yep, she cut me off all the time. Basically said Joel has to pretend he’s single and to remove his ring to keep the fans happy, and that I should suck it up because it’s the least I could do for Joel.”

“What a cow,” Elijah exclaimed.

“Yeah.”

“So you’re not going to do it, right? Because that’s a joke to make out he’s on the market,” Kara asked, looking equally as pissed.

“I’m going to have to.” I sighed. Despite the fact it broke my heart.

“And Joel, what did he say?” Elijah urged.

“He asked me if it was okay. What else could I say?” I trailed off.

“Err no, for starters,” Elijah barked.

“I don’t want to be that person again. I don’t want to be jealous, and I definitely don’t want to hold Joel back. You see how good he is performing. He loves being on stage. I don’t want to take all of that away from him.” I would bite my tongue if I had to if it meant Joel could be happy, enjoying his success.

“But, Iz, he should be able to do all that and still say he’s engaged. Girls will think they can hit on him and fuck him if they think he’s single.”

“Thanks for pointing that out, Elijah. I am quite aware that as I’m at the other end of the country he’ll have girls throwing themselves at him, but I know Joel. He wouldn’t do that to me, not now, not after all we’ve been through.” He’d never cheat on me with something so meaningless as a quick shag. Those days were far behind us now. Not that girls wouldn’t constantly make it there mission to prove me wrong.

“Joel loves you with every bone in his body, anyone can see that,” Kara soothed, trying to make me feel better, but Elijah had planted the seed and now my mind was going ten million times an hour.

“Come here, Iz, I’m sorry.”

I walked into his arms as he kissed my hair. I breathed in his delicious scent and closed my eyes trying to shut my mind off from all the insecurities that were raging in my head.

“Let’s grab a table and you can get me up to speed on all the Josh and Corinne goss,” he said, trying to turn my attention elsewhere.

I nodded and we made our way over to the last empty table. Forty minutes later, the act announcer came on stage to intro Joel’s band Phoenix. We all whooped and screamed, Elijah more than the rest as Joel winked over at me before launching into the first song.

“I think that wink was intended for me,” Elijah joked as I gave him a playful shove.

Joel sang his heart out, losing himself in the moment and I sighed at his words. They were breathtaking, straight from the heart. I knew every girl in the room was secretly wishing he was singing about them. A smile crept over my face as I realised just how lucky I was. He was doing something he loved best, and I knew I couldn’t be the one to take it away from him. I would just have to grin and bear it while Joel’s popularity climbed, after all, we’d be getting married soon and you couldn’t hide that fact.

Thirty minutes later I excused myself to go to the bathroom, Joel was on a break so I was hoping to slip in and see him too, well if I could get past his bodyguard Chantel.

I walked into the toilet cubicle, clicking the door shut behind me, only to hear the door open and a gaggle of women walk in.

“Fuck, the things that I could do to that singer, he is fucking hot,” one of them exclaimed loudly.

“I know, right. I hit the freaking jackpot.”

Fuck. I recognized that voice it was Chantel’s.

“Not only is he bringing in lots of gigs, I know pretty soon with that face and body, we’ll hit the big time, commercials, deals.”

“So what does his girlfriend think about this?”

“What girlfriend?” Chantel snorted.

“Oh you are so bad.” The other girl giggled.

“You should have seen her face before I cut her off mid-sentence and then told her she had to like it and lump it for Joel’s sake. She looked like she was going to cry, she’s fucking pathetic. While she’s busy shaking her stuff on stage, I’ll be busy worming my way into Joel’s bed. All those long lonely nights are bound to get him down, he’ll definitely appreciate the company.”

“Well, he fucked half of Camden before she got her claws into him,” another retorted.

“She doesn’t deserve him, the uptight little bitch. I could eat her for breakfast. Joel will soon come to his senses. He already tells me enough times how invaluable I am. It will only be a matter of time before he takes that ring off her finger and puts it on mine. Unlike that silly bitch I intend to sink my claws into him and never let go.”

My heart was pounding, my head spinning. The evil cow. I wanted to go out and slap the smile I already knew would be spread across her face, but I had been around enough bitches like this to know how calculating they could be. Joel was oblivious to it all and would look at me as being unreasonable. She would look like the innocent party. I knew how these things worked. I had to bide my time, to devise a plan. I had to bite my tongue for the time being.

“Good luck with that one, and if you ever like to share, I know he’s up for threesomes.” They all cackled hard walking out the door as I turned and promptly threw up. Their words only sparking the reminder of Joel’s betrayal. A tear rolled down my cheek, but I quickly swiped it away along with the others that followed. I gave myself a few minutes to compose myself before exiting the toilets. I decided against seeing Joel. He’d be able to see through me. I didn’t need him screwing up his set out of concern for me. So I headed back to Elijah and Kara who were deep in conversation. I slipped onto my seat hoping to go unnoticed. I thought my plan was working till Elijah’s eyes fell upon my face.

“Iz, what’s up? Have you and Joel been having words?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He grabbed me pulling me close. “You’re clearly not, tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’m okay.” I tried to shrug out of his hold.

“No, you’re not, tell me.”

“Just drop it will you.” I pushed myself away and flounced off heading for the exit. The room was suffocating. I could barely breathe. I just needed to escape, to be on my own.

“Izzy.” Elijah came up behind me. “You are going to tell me what’s wrong. Something has happened since you went to the toilet. I’m your best friend, tell me before I start freaking the hell out, and I confront Joel, because it’s got to be him behind it all.”

“No.” I spun around and grabbed him, then burst into tears.

“Iz, tell me please,” he begged.

“I overheard Chantel in the toilets. She was saying how she’s going to sink her claws into Joel, and that I’ll be oblivious to it all. And that she’ll soon be in his bed, wearing my ring.”