Kiss the Tiger (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next couple of days dragged. Sleep
would have killed the time, if I could have gotten any, but each time my eyes
closed, I was with him again, remembering our night, how it felt when he
touched me and the look on his face when we came together.

Waiting was torture. I tried to
stick to routine, hoping normality would offer some respite from my anxiety. I
even attempted to make it up to Mum by cooking a Sunday roast, but I don’t
think it worked. Things had been said that couldn’t be unsaid, and it would
take time for the fire to die down.

Dad arrived with his cases on
Sunday afternoon. Mum had decided to give him another chance, believing him
when he told her his indiscretion, as he called it, was a weak moment which
wouldn’t be repeated. During dinner, she chewed on her roast chicken, listening
to him repeat his undying love for his soul mate, and turned glassy eyed. I
wasn’t sure how I felt about their reconciliation. I was happy that she was
happy, but there was an edge to the atmosphere in the house that wasn’t there
before. I tried to convince myself it was my own nerves jangling at the
prospect of a reprieve from my suffering. But still, I hated seeing Mum and Dad
moon around the house like love struck teenagers. Jealousy’s such a bitch.

Along with renewed hope, my
appetite returned. And with nothing else to occupy my time, I ate. For two
whole days, I stuffed my face with junk: pizza, peanuts, bar after bar of
chocolate, and those little mini cheeses that come wrapped like sweets. I was
lucky I was able to eat pretty much what I liked without it affecting my
figure.

On Tuesday, Cindy came bursting
into my room, unexpectedly. She caught me with half a Snickers bar wedged in my
throat.

“I knew it. You’re not ill. What
gives? Come on, spill it, and don’t spare the details.”

All my worries poured out as I
relayed every intimate detail of my time with Josh. To Cindy’s credit, she
never once admonished my behaviour or interjected with advice on how she would
have done things differently. Cindy understood me. She was a good friend.

“What a bummer,” she said when I
finally finished. “That sucks. I hope it works out for you, but if this Garrett
dude doesn’t come through, I could always ask Zoe to do a bit of digging.”

“Who’s Zoe?”

“We sat together in shorthand
class.”

“I don’t understand. How could
she help?”

“She got a filing position at our
old college. Total drag of a job, but I bet she’d have access to old records and
shit.”

“I couldn’t ask her to do that.
She might get fired.”

“Well we’ll figure something out.
I just want you to know I’m here for you, babe. Don’t keep me out of the loop
again.” Her hand playfully slapped my thigh. “Let me know how it goes tonight.
I’m so jealous I can’t come.” She bounded from my bed and walked to the door,
before turning. “And wear something sexy. If things don’t work out, you might
bag a rock star replacement.” She winked before she left.

***

The line was curled around the
corner by the time we reached the venue.

“Thanks for the ride, Dad,”
Nessie called over her shoulder. “Don’t wait up; we’ll get a taxi home.”

I smoothed down my skirt and
pulled up the collar of my denim jacket, scanning the mass of excited bodies to
search for the end. “Those tickets of yours wouldn’t happen to come with any
kind of privileged entry, would they?”

“Not that I know, but at least
the doors are opening. Nice timing, huh?”

After jostling through the
entrance, and stopping to peruse various souvenir stands, we entered the main
arena and descended the concrete steps. Music, accompanying videos on giant
screens, pounded my eardrums. As we walked, Nessie handed me a pass and glanced
excitedly at the stage. “Well it says access all areas, so let’s see what these
babies can do, shall we?” she said.

I looped the
lanyard
around my neck and tried to keep up as she practically jogged towards the
barriers keeping the growing crowd in place.

A hulk of a man, with more hair
on his chin than his head, peered sternly down his nose at us. Nessie flashed
him a coy smile and lifted her pass. He stepped back and dragged the barrier
with him.

We ambled through swathes of ceiling
to floor black material and piles of equipment, and I slapped a weak smile on
my face, forcing it to rise at any curious eyes that glanced our way.

“This is exciting, isn’t it?”
Nessie giggled.

I felt like a burglar breaking
into someone’s house, while they were still at home. “Where are we going?”

“Wherever we want, it seems.
Nobody’s stopped us yet.”

A man with a clipboard, clearly
hassled, dodged through bodies. “Thirty minutes, people. Where’s Alec? Anybody
seen Alec?”

I was so intent on remaining
inconspicuous, I failed to notice a bundle of wires on the floor, until my foot
caught in a loop, and I went flying into a stack of black boxes with silver
edges.

“Hey, klutz. It’s a good job
they’re empty.” A tattoo covered guy sound checking his guitar scowled in my
direction as Nessie helped me to my feet.

I shielded my face in embarrassment.
“Sorry.”

Further along, we came across a
brightly lit corridor with doors down either side. A girl of about our age
wobbled through one with a
ladies
sign on it. Dressed in an almost
identical black leather mini skirt to mine, and with black roots in her
bleached blonde hair matching the dark rings around her eyes, she stared
daggers at us. “What are you looking at, sluts?” She sniffed and wiped a
fingerless glove across her nostrils.

Charming
.

An opposing door opened and a tattooed
torso emerged. A cigarette dangled from a mouth framed by inky hair. “Get your
ass back in here, baby. I got plenty of juice left in this engine.” Lips curled
upon spotting us. “These two with you? I guess I could handle a threesome.”
Eyes focussed on my chest, and my fingers automatically fed through numerous
necklaces to pull the neckline of my pink ballerina top closer together. I
should have worn a bra.

Before the girl could answer,
Nessie said quickly, “We’re looking for Garrett.”

The man offered a cursory nod
down the corridor. “Room eight.” He ushered the girl back into his lair,
slapping her ass as she entered.

Nessie raised her brow at me. “Ever
find the drug crazed rocker look sexy?” she asked. I crumpled my nose with
distaste. “Nah, me neither,” she added.

We’d just passed room six when a
man exited the next door. His black, cut off T-shirt spelled out the word crew.
He adjusted his baseball cap and spoke into a head mic. “Damn asshole’s changed
the first set. Can someone tell Flash we need to start with the spot on the
drummer?” We watched his back as he hurried along the passageway.

Nessie took a deep breath and
exhaled slowly. “I don’t know if I can do it.” Her raised fist clenched and
unclenched, not quite contacting with the door. “What if he doesn’t remember
me?”

“How could he forget you?”

“How about my make-up, does it
look okay?”

“Fabulous, Ness. Just knock.” But
before she could, muffled rumblings came from inside the room and the door
opened.

Garrett beamed widely. “Hey
there, beautiful. I hoped you’d come.”

Nessie blushed as he kissed her
cheek. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“You’re just in time. Come with
me.” His arm crept around her shoulder and he led her through a pair of swinging
doors sealing the end of the corridor.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

The doors led to a stairwell, and
I followed them up the levels, in silence, wondering when it would be the best
time to bring up the subject of Josh. I didn’t want to appear desperate, but
then again, if I left it too long, Garrett might disappear and I’d miss my
shot. At the top of the stairs we entered another corridor. A handful of people
traipsed in and out of more doors.

“There you are, Rosie.” Garrett
stopped a ponytailed girl sporting the same crew clothing as the man with the
mic. “Topped up the beer like I asked?”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

“Good girl.” He winked. “This is
us.” He took hold of a handle and twisted. “Ladies first.” Nessie stepped forward,
but he swung her back. “Actually, I just remembered something. Why don’t you wait
inside, Amy? We’ll be right back.”

I pushed the door open and froze.

The VIP suite looked out over the
arena and had a bird’s eye view of the stage. Brightly painted walls contrasted
with more primary coloured furniture. Cans of lager and plates of food covered
a bar in the corner. But I barely offered the room a glance. Six feet of
gorgeousness perched leisurely on the edge of a stool by the window.

Wearing faded jeans and a black
leather jacket, his hair gelled into a messed up style, I could only see the
line of his chin, but my heart recognised him immediately, and my jaw dropped
quicker than the Playstation ride at the Pleasure Beach.

Josh was here.

I should have been ecstatic; happy
that my search was over, ready to throw myself into his arms, hungry to feel
his lips on mine. But I wasn’t.

There was a girl draped around
his neck.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Finding him with someone else was
like my stomach had been filled with broken glass, cutting through me from the
inside out. I forced down the tears and let out an audible gasp.

Josh prised the girl’s arms from
his neck and jumped up from his stool in front of the window. “Amy?”

Fighting through the pain, I
yelled, “Who the fuck is she?”

“Fucked if I know,” he said, as
he advanced towards me. “Some random groupie. Seems to think I’ve got something
to do with the band.” He shouted over to the girl, “Give us some privacy.” She
narrowed her eyes but didn’t move. He walked to the door and held it open. “Go
on. Beat it.”

Snatching her bag and jacket from
a nearby chair, she stormed past him, scowling at me. “Thanks for jacking my
style, bitch,” she spat, as she grabbed the handle and slammed the door behind
her.

As confused and angry as I was, I
couldn’t resist drinking Josh in. Damn, his butt looked good in jeans.

He held his arms out. “Baby, it’s
good to see you.”

I stepped back, my body rigid, not
trusting my reserve if he touched me. “Are you sure? It looked as if you were
having a pretty good time without me.”

“That wasn’t what you think. If
you had come in two minutes earlier, you’d have heard me tell her I wasn’t
interested. A second later and you’d have seen me push her away.”

“Only because you saw me.”

“No. It would have happened anyway.
Do you seriously think I can ever look at another girl knowing what we shared?”

I turned, strode to the window, and
stared out at the vast expanse of bodies. “Jacko told me you were a player. His
exact words were, ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em kinda guy’.”

“And you believed him?” His voice
was close to my ear, his warm breath causing a flutter of arousal to stir in my
loins.

“I didn’t, until tonight.”

His hands landed possessively on
my hips. “I don’t screw around.” I swivelled and my eyebrows shot up at his
obvious lie. He’d already admitted to being with other girls. “Okay, maybe I
used to, a little. But not now. I’m yours, Amy. You’re the only girl I think
about. When you failed to show for our date, I died inside. I thought I’d lost
you.”

The more he spoke, the more my
mood softened. “I thought I’d lost you too.”

“I’m right here.”

“Yeah,
why
are you here?”

He took hold of my hand and
lifted it, fingering my ring. “The night of your no-show, Jacko said he’d seen
you with another guy. I didn’t want to believe him, but his words took me to a
very dark place. I stormed straight to your hotel, determined to win you back,
but then I learned you’d checked out. When I got back to the bar, Jacko found
it all so amusing, I knew he’d been lying. We had this big bust-up, then I got hammered.
I couldn’t bear to be around him anymore. He’s a sick, twisted wanker, who’s
always wanted to be the centre of attention. He never did like the fact that he
had to share our parent’s love, when I came into the world, and he’s resented
me ever since. We are never going to get along, and our parents will just have
to accept that fact. I packed my shit and moved out. When I arrived home, Garrett
called about the gig. He mentioned giving tickets to your sister. I figured it
was my best chance to find you. I had to see if you’d be here.”

I looked deep into the eyes I
knew so well; they glistened with sincerity. “That was a great speech.”

“It’s the truth. There’s no one
else, Amy. Just you. Feel how hard my heart is pounding, right now,” he said,
placing my hand against his chest. It rose and fell and pulsed under my palm.

I cocked my head back towards the
window. “So why aren’t you out there searching the crowd for me?”

“You’re 101, right?”

“Huh?”

“Seating section.”

“Oh. I-I don’t know. Ness has the
tickets.”

“Trust me. You are. The band has
four rows there.” He grasped my shoulders and swung me around to look through
the glass, before pointing. “That’s section 101, right there, below us. That’s
why I’m in this room, watching, waiting for you to show up.”

I leaned into his shoulder, and
he wrapped his arms around my waist, squeezing me tight. I angled my head up
and my grin spread so wide it hurt.

“Believe me now?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Please don’t ditch me again, Amy.”

“I didn’t ditch you. I lost track
of time. I came to say goodbye, but you’d gone to the Mainland.”

Josh’s eyes narrowed. “The
Mainland? Did Jacko tell you that?”

“Yes. Why?”

“That son of a bitch. He lied to
you too.” He linked his fingers behind his head and stepped back, breathing
rapidly. “I was down at the harbour buying fish, in the morning, polishing the
floor all fucking afternoon. I never went to the Mainland.”

“You didn’t?”

He paced the carpet restlessly. “No.
I’m gonna kill him. Seriously. He steps one foot on English soil, he’s a dead
man.”

I tried to catch him to calm him
down. I just wanted to hold him, let him know that whatever perverse game Jacko
was playing couldn’t come between us. I was never letting go of Josh again. “It
doesn’t matter. Don’t let him get to you. We’re together now.”

I saw him relax, and his breathing
slowed as he returned to me and enfolded me into his arms. “I need you, Amy,”
he said, lips brushing over my nose.

“I need you too,” I said, lifting
my face expectantly.

His response was swift; his lips planting
against mine, hard. Soft, wet flesh thrust urgently into my mouth, and my
insides melted to mush. Our tongues moved with a now practised motion. Two
pairs of the same whole, each knowing what the other needed. God, I’d missed
the taste of him. He pushed me forward, and my back slammed into the wall as he
pressed his body to me. I couldn’t stop my hands from sliding inside his
jacket. He was wearing a grey vest top, and I needed to feel the bare skin of
his arms. I slid the leather from his shoulders and it fell to the floor with a
thud, as my hands slipped into familiar places.

He panted. “I need you now,” he said,
cupping my breasts greedily. “Christ, you’re not wearing underwear.”

“You like?”

“I love.”

The material slid easily to the
sides, as Josh parted it to expose my breasts and dipped his head to savour
them.

“We can’t. Not here,” I said
breathlessly.

“Course we can. Nobody’s gonna
see.”

The lights dimmed, and behind us
the arena went black. Cheers echoed around the stadium. “But the band is coming
on stage.”

“It’s only the support act. No
one will come here until the main gig,” he mumbled into my cleavage. “We have
at least twenty minutes.”

“You sure.”

He raised his head with a
lopsided grin. “Would I lie to you?”

“You’d better not.” I let him
lead me to a chair by the side wall, where he pulled me into his lap, and I wriggled
my hips to straddle him, wishing our window to the world had been frosted. “I thought
you weren’t into peep shows?”

His eyebrows rose with a saucy
smirk. “First time for everything,” he said, spreading my legs further apart
and sliding his hands up the length of my thighs. Our lips sealed, and I
fiddled with his belt and unzipped his fly. As I reached under the denim to
release him, he lifted my ass and slid my panties to the side. I lowered down, selfishly
swallowing every hard inch of him. Demanding fingers dented into my ass cheeks,
lifting and forcing me down in time to the music bellowing through the speakers,
urging me to ride harder, faster, deeper.

His head lolled back against the
upholstery. “I can’t hold back,” he moaned.

“Me neither.” Knowing that
someone could walk in at any moment and catch us in the act excited me more
than I ever thought possible. I sucked in a breath and let the tremors drown
me. Days of longing and frustration exploded and dispersed as I cried out his
name and collapsed into his arms.

I lay panting against his
shoulder until our breaths evened, then following a quick clothing adjustment,
I snuggled into his lap, as the band returned for an encore.

Josh stroked my thigh. “I wish we
had more time to be alone.”

“We have the rest of our lives,”
I said, as voices accumulated on the other side of the door.

He smoothed a strand of moistened
hair from my forehead, and stroked a finger down my temple. “Promise we’ll
never lose each other again.”

“I promise,” I said, as I drew
his cradling arm tighter, and kissed the tiger.

THE END

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