Rising Star (14 page)

He pauses for a moment.

“I’ll be sneaking you away soon though,” he adds.

I frown at him.

“It’s George’s birthday,” I protest. “I can’t leave early. It’s rude. I’m grateful for the rescue and everything, but…”

He gives me an infuriating smile.

“We’ll see,” he says. “I’m sure George will spare you.”

“She won’t,” I say with certainty.

Even though George will spend all night talking to her old school friends, she’d still be pissed if I left early. I know her too well.

Adam leans closer, and runs his hand along my thigh.

“I’ve got a very good reason,” he says softly, “to get you out of here. Remember our agreement?”

Oh no.

I’d forgotten. I’m wearing knickers…

“Not really,” I say, feigning casualness.

“I think you do.”

Adam’s fingers slip delicately along the line of my dress. I shiver at his touch. I know I should push him away, but I’m suddenly putty in his hands.

“I think a certain person has broken her promise,” he says, his voice dangerous. “And I’m looking forward to delivering the consequences.”

I feel a surge of adrenalin shoot through me. And I realise, suddenly, that I want to know what his consequences are.

Whoa where did that come from?

I can’t deny I’m a little uncertain at the idea of Adam delivering ‘consequences’ for my transgression. But I’m excited too.

I bat my eyelashes at him.

“We’ll see,” I say, echoing his earlier words. “If George doesn’t want me to go, then I stay.”

I give him a seductive smile.

“And you’ll have to wait for your consequences. Whatever they are,” I purr.

What am I doing? This can only make him madder.

But a mischievous part of me is enjoying watching his face.

Adam gives a choking kind of growl. Then he grabs my hand, and unceremoniously drags me back into the bar.

Chapter
22

The soft lights shield us from view as we enter. But I make out George, Tammy, Alexa and Taggie sitting alone by the bar.

My eyes sweep the remaining tables.

Scandelous and the film crew are nowhere to be seen. I guess Deven kept his word then. He’s somehow got them to leave. Though I have no idea what fucked up deal he made with Keisha to make that happen.

Adam gives me a knowing smile, and propels me towards George and her friends.

Taggie and Alexa look at little downhearted as we approach. I guess they were enjoying Deven being in the bar. But George looks happy enough.

As they spot Adam, all the girls
’ faces flash from incredulity to amazed delight.

“Adam,” breathes George, visibly blossoming. “You came to my birthday? I don’t believe it.”

“Happy birthday,” replies Adam, leaning forward and kissing her on both cheeks. George looks as though she’s been transported to a new level of bliss.

I notice her sneaking a smug glance at Taggie and Alexa.

“I take it you didn’t want Scandelous here?” asks Adam solicitously.

George shakes her head. “No
way
,” she says frowning. “They were about to crash the karaoke stage,” she adds, looking furious at the thought.

“That’s what I thought,” said Adam. “I had a word with
Deven and the film crew, and they’ve all gone elsewhere for the evening. They won’t be back.”

George beams.

She seems to have completely forgotten that only ten minutes ago she was flirting with Deven.

“Thanks
so
much Adam,” she says, flashing her perfect white teeth. “How can I ever repay you?”

I frown at her.

Enough flirting George!

Adam smiles enigmatically.

“I actually thought I might do something for you,” he says, his Irish accent loading the words with even more charm. “I’ve not bought you a gift,” he adds apologetically, fanning his empty hands out. “But I thought you might let me sing you a song.”

George nearly falls off her seat.

“Seriously? You’d sing me a song?”

“Of course,” says Adam easily. “There’s a stage isn’t there?”

He gives my hand a quick squeeze, before vanishing in the direction of the stage. As soon as he’s out of earshot, Taggie and Alexa explode in a cloud of questions.

“Do you
know
Adam Morgan?’ gasps Taggie, her eyes wide, staring at George. “I thought you didn’t really get to meet the big stars.”

“Oh yeah,” says George airily, hamming it up. “We chat and stuff.”

Tammy meets my eyes, and raises her eyebrows.

But before George’s friends can bombard her with any more questions, a familiar deep sound rolls over us.

“Good evening,” says Adam, the microphone amplifying his mesmerising voice.

Adam has taken the stage. The entire bar clientele seems to stand still.

Our little group is held on his every word. And everyone else in the bar has snapped to attention. First in interest, and then in amazement to see Adam Morgan performing.

He’s holding one of the guitars which was propped against the stage. It’s an acoustic. It hangs easily off his body in a crazily sexy way, which makes me want to run into his arms.

“I wanted to sing a song for my friend George,” says Adam, “because it’s her birthday today.”

There’s a hush as this sinks in.

“It’s a new song,” continues Adam. “I wrote it recently. It needs drums as well as the guitar really,” he adds apologetically, “but I think it will sound right enough without.”

The audience are held captivated now. You could hear a pin drop. Even the barmen have stopped shaking cocktails.

I am suddenly burning with pride.

This man wants to take me home tonight.

I can hardly comprehend it.

“A few months ago,” says Adam slowly, “I was having a conversation with my friend James Berkeley.”

There’s a little whoop at the back of the room, at the famous name.

“And he was telling me,” continues Adam,
“That when you meet The One. You just know. Like a thunderbolt has hit.”

Adam glances at me, and I feel my heart skip a beat. Then he studies the guitar, setting his fingers to a chord.

“I never really believed in that,” he continues with a grin. “And you may have heard, I had a few wild ways once upon a time.”

Cheers echo up from the bar, this time more male than female.

“But things have changed,” says Adam, his voice becoming serious. “And that inspired a song. Which is what I’m going to sing to you tonight.”

His eyes are resting firmly back on me now.

“So George,” he adds, without taking his eyes off mine “I hope you find your thunderbolt, like I found mine.”

Adam glances at his guitar, and then strums the first few chords. The sound echoes out through the bar. Simple, yet beautiful.

I like this song already.

Then Adam’s blue eyes settle on mine, and he sings the first chorus.

“Never believed,

I’d stop,

Roaming free…”

The song has a haunting quality which draws you right in. But the real power is Adam’s voice. I’ve heard him sing a thousand times, of course, on the radio and TV. But the raw acoustic power of it is something else.

No wonder he became world famous. What producer wouldn’t sign this voice?

I want to close my eyes, to drink him in.

But Adam’s blue eyes are so intense. It’s as though the rest of the bar has melted away, and he’s singing only to me.

Adam picks up the tempo, and strums harder to bring the next part of the chorus in.

“But then the seasons changed,

And in that Summer lightning…”

Next to me, I hear Tammy give a little gasp. I feel a shudder of amazement.

My name. He’s singing my name…

Adam’s voice shifts again.

“There was something in your eyes,

And when that gentle rain came,

I was changed. I was changed…”

The song drifts upwards, pulling us with it. The sentiment and harmony is so stunning. And then we hear the chords that signal the chorus.

Adam closes his eyes, and sings.

“Cause,

You are the thunderbolt,

That shot into my heart,

And when that thunderbolt hits,

You know. You know.

Nothing will ever be the same.”

Adam’s eyes are open again, resting gently on me. Beside me, I catch George wiping away a tear out of the corner of her eye.

But I’m frozen to the spot. My emotions are so close to boiling over, I feel as though the moment I move, I’ll break into floods of tears.

So I stay standing, rigid, soaking up the words and the melody, and Adam swoops effortlessly through the rest of the song.

“Never believed,

I’d stop,

Roaming free,

But that Summer lightning struck me hard,

My thunderbolt,

Changed my heart,

Forever changed. Forever yours.”

As he sings the chorus again, my eyes are burning.

He wrote that for me.

I’m so stunned with everything I’m feeling, that the last chord washes over me like a warm wave. And I hardly notice, when Adam weaves his way back through the cheering crowd, and is at my side.

George and her friends are clapping wildly as he re-joins our group. But for the moment, his attention is all for me.

“Did you like it?” he asks gently.

I nod fractionally, knowing that if I say a word, the tears will come.

Adam assesses my expression, and seems to understand. Then he looks back at George.

“Did you like your birthday song?” he asks.

George nods as though her head will fall off.

“Thank you
sooo
much,” she says. “It was absolutely beautiful. To have an Adam Morgan new release played at my birthday…”

She holds her hands to her heart. “Just. Wow,” she finishes.

Adam smiles.

“I’m glad you liked it,” he says. “I have to get back now,” he adds. “Would you mind if I took Summer away with me? I’d like to discuss the song I just sung you.”

Wait a minute…

“Of course,” says George. I’m not sure she even knows what she’s saying, George is so hypnotised by Adam and his singing.

“Grand,” replies Adam. His hand closes tightly around mine.

Is it my imagination, or is there something a little portentous about that grip?

I feel my stomach swirl.

“Come on Summer,” he says.

I catch Tammy’s knowing expression, as I’m half dragged out of the bar. And just about have time to register the many female faces staring enviously at me.

Then we’re out on the busy Chelsea high street.

“That song…” I begin, struggling for the right words. “It was really true? I’m your thunderbolt?”

Adam turns to me, mystified.

“Of course you are baby. Can’t you tell?”

He frowns slightly, and draws me close.

“I’m not always the best, at saying how I feel,” he says. “And you Summer. Well. There aren’t easy words for how I feel about you. I find it easier to put it to music.”

“It was beautiful,” I say. “It was perfect. Truly. I loved it.”

And I love you.

The tears that threatened to fall before are welling out of my eyes now.

“I can’t believe you wrote that for me,” I whisper.

Adam tilts his head, and wipes a tear from my eye.

“I’d do so much more for you,” he says simply.

I love you!

The words are forming on my lips, when Adam tightens his grip on my hand.

“But now,” he says, with a mischievous grin, “it’s time for you to do something for me? Remember? Consequences?”

Ooops. This could be interesting…

“Come on,” he drags me by the hand, without waiting for a reply.

I catch sight of Adam’s bike parked up, but to my confusion he draws me in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going?’ I ask. “Isn’t your bike over there?”

Adam nods.

“My bike is over there. But if I have to ride anywhere with you on the back, I’m going to explode.”

Oh…

“We’re going to a hotel,” he says. “Just over the road. And if I can keep my head long enough to get you into the bedroom, you’re in serious trouble.”

Chapter
23

Adam pulls me into the hotel room so fast, I hardly know what’s happening. He barely paused to check in, signing the name to an account he already had. And once he’d paid for the best suite in the hotel, he virtually carried me up the stairs.

As soon as the door slams shut, however, his energy changes. Adam switches from frantic lust, to a slow consideration. It’s like he has a coiled energy about him.

I barely take in the hotel room. It’s a boutique style, with deep colours, and contemporary styling. I vaguely note a large claw-footed bath tub stands in one corner of the room.

But these observations all pale into nothing, with Adam so close.

My heart is beating out of my chest.

What is he going to do with me?

The expectation is making me burn hot and cold with desire.

Adam is eyeing me, as though assessing his options.

“So you chose to disobey me?” he says finally. “Does that mean you wanted to find out what the consequences were?”

“George picked a dress out for me,” I begin, “it was short and…”

Something in his eyes makes me stop. Because I’m not telling the whole truth.

“Maybe,” I admit quietly.

Adam’s breathing hitches.

“I see,” he says. And in those two words, whirr a million possibilities.

His eyelids drop a little, and he wraps his arms around me.

“I think some discipline might be in order.”

I jerk a little in his grip.

“Discipline?”

Was that what I was expecting?

Adam pulls me closer. His words are having a strange effect on my body. Despite my shock, a pulse of heat ripples through me.

Discipline?