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Authors: Donna Every

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BOOK: What Now?
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Shari’s
respect monitor crept up a notch.

“So,
are you coming to the concert?”

“That’s
what I’m here for.”

“I’ll
look out for you in the crowd. You’ll be the one that’s not crying or
screaming.”

Shari
shook her head in amazement as she recalled the last concert.

“That
freaked me out,” she admitted. The elevator came to a stop at her floor.

“It
freaks me out too, sometimes,” he admitted, surprising her yet again for the
day.

“See
you later and break a leg, as they say.” She got out and started down the
corridor, feeling his eyes on her. She felt compelled to look over her shoulder
and was just in time to see the door closing on Nick Badley’s smile.
Something had shifted in their
relationship. She now knew things about him that very few people knew and that
gave them a new level of intimacy that went beyond simply journalist and
subject.

 

 

“Ladies
and gentlemen, Nick Badley!”

Tonight
Nick didn’t emerge from the bowels of the stage. He was lowered onto it on what
seemed to Shari like a dangerously small platform which descended from about 40
feet in the air. While the crowd screamed in excitement, Shari unconsciously
held her breath until his feet touched the stage. Only then did she respond to
her heart’s demand for oxygen.

This
time when the fans surged forward to get even closer to the stage, Shari was
protected by one of the burly bodyguards at her back. She intended to stay for
the whole concert and, after confessing her dislike of crowds to Lily, she had
been assigned one of the bodyguards. She felt a lot safer with his towering
presence behind her, sure that if she needed to get out of the crush in a hurry
he would see that she did, even if he had to carry her over his head.

She
didn’t know how people enjoyed these concerts. Granted, the show was amazing,
but having to queue for hours and being surrounded by thousands of people was
not her idea of a nice evening out. Most people weren’t even close enough to
see Nick’s face, except on one of the mega screens around the arena. She could
live without going to another concert, but, unfortunately, she’d probably have
to attend a few more before the end of the tour.

She
was actually looking forward to going backstage to get out of the crowd. She
knew that some people would kill to get a backstage pass so she’d been
pleasantly surprised when Nick remembered to tell Lily to arrange passes for
the officer’s wife. Of course, he couldn’t remember her name so Shari had had
to provide that.

She
gave her full attention to the stage where Nick strutted about looking, she had
to admit, very sexy in faded blue jeans and a black T-shirt that said “I’m with
the band”. The light glittered off the diamond stud in his left ear as he came
close to the edge of the stage where she stood. The crowd sang along with him
to one of the top ten songs from the Moving On album. Shari found herself
singing the lyrics along with the fans and realized that she must have
subconsciously picked them up from being at the rehearsal.

Oh
no, am I becoming a Nick Badley fan? She thought in horror. She could have
sworn that at that moment Nick caught her eye and winked as if he knew her
thoughts. What was worse, a thrill raced through her that he had singled her
out in the crowd. As she watched him, that surreal feeling she had experienced
in Vegas resurfaced. She had eaten with him, shared a private jet and
limousines, he’d driven her in a Porsche and talked to her about his personal
life. The person on stage was unfamiliar, yet familiar. She found herself
feeling, in some weird way, pleased with the way he held the audience in the
palm of his hand. The only problem was that she seemed to be there with them.

 

         
Chapter 8
  

 

Shari cracked one eye open and looked accusingly at the
alarm clock on the bedside table. She groaned as she tried to find the button
to put a stop to its incessant ringing. Why did she set it again? Well, it
wasn’t as if she was on holiday so she really should get up at a reasonable
hour and do some work. Then again, she was working all hours of the night so
she really didn’t need to get up before nine, she reasoned.

That reminded her of the concert last night. She had to
admit that Nick had been awesome. Oh no, she was becoming a groupie. The last
vestiges of sleep departed swiftly as she remembered driving back to the hotel
while the others had gone on to a club. She’d felt surprisingly lonely in the
empty limousine. Was she getting used to being in Nick’s presence all the time?
That was a dangerous habit to start.

The events of the night replayed in her mind. They’d had
a small gathering backstage with drinks and hors d’oeuvres for a select number
of fortunate fans, people in the business and the band. He’d met Officer
Patton’s wife and thrilled her by giving her a signed photo of himself to
replace the ATM slip that her husband had given him to autograph. Shari
actually felt proud of him for that small gesture which probably meant the
world to Casey Patton.

Throwing off the sheet, she yawned and stretched as she
headed to the bathroom. She wasn’t sure why she felt in such a good mood at
seven in the morning, especially after going to bed around one. Several minutes
later she began to mentally plan her day as she rummaged through her suitcase
for something attractive and comfortable to wear downtown for her interviews.

Dressing in a knee-length black, white and coral
patterned skirt and a coral sweater, she pulled on a pair of comfortable shoes
as she would be doing a bit of walking that day. She was having breakfast with
Brian and then they had arranged to go into town to interview people who had
been to the concert the night before to get some feedback from them. She was
looking forward to going out and seeing a bit more of Denver and hearing what
Nick’s fans had to say about him.

Brian joined her for a leisurely breakfast before they
headed downtown in one of the limos since the band members were no doubt still
in bed. After arranging to be picked up in a couple of hours, they hit the
streets. They didn’t have any trouble finding people who had been to the
concert the night before or who were eager to talk about it.

Shari stopped three teenage girls and, having ascertained
that they’d been to the concert, asked them what they thought of it.

“OMG, it was awesome!” They exclaimed. “Nick Badley is sooo
sexy!” The one who was evidently the boldest enthused. Shari mentally concurred
with that.

“It’s as if he’s singing directly to you.”  The others
eagerly agreed, making Shari wonder if the wink at the concert had actually
been for her or if he was just winking at all the women near to her.

“I would do anything for a backstage pass after one of his
concerts,” sighed the one who had said he was sexy.

“Why? What’s so big about going backstage?” Shari played devil’s
advocate.

“Are you kidding? You get to hang out with Nick Badley.
Breathe the same air as him. I mean, he’s like a god!” Shari smothered a smile
as these girls gushed at the thought of being near to Nick.

“Thanks, ladies. Great talking with you. And here are
some autographed photos for chatting with us.” She gave them some of the photos
that Lily had given her as part of the giveaway merchandise. She smiled as they
squealed in excitement, practically snatching the photos from her.

She spent over an hour interviewing people while Brian
captured them on his camera. Most were women and all had great things to say
about the concert and especially about Nick. There was no doubt about it; Nick
Badley had obviously made a great impression on Denver, at least at the
concert. She wondered what had happened after the concert. Not that it was any
of her business.

                 

 

“Hi, Shari. Come on in.” 

Steve Jeffries gave her a quick hug and stepped back to
let her into the room; well, suite, actually. It was huge! Definitely on par
with the one Nick had stayed in in Vegas. 

“Hi, Steve.” Shari felt comfortable around Steve. Having
confided in her that first night, she felt that she knew him, so his hug was
not surprising. He was a loveable bear of a guy with a short beard and longish
hair. He was attractive in his own way, so she knew that he must have a time
keeping the women off.

The living room that he led her to was furnished with
camel-colored sofas and chairs and had a fireplace set in a brick wall
sandwiched between two floor-to-ceiling windows with amazing views. Original
art and modern-looking sculptures graced the walls and tables. There was even a
grand piano separating the living room and the dining room.

“This is an amazing suite,” she enthused, looking around
at the dining room and what looked like a small study that she could see across
from her before turning to admire the view from the windows.

“It certainly is. There’s even a small exercise room and
a sauna in the master suite. It’s so big, Nick and I hardly run into each
other.”

Shari froze. “You’re sharing with Nick?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, he won’t hear us. Apart from the
fact that the suite is about two thousand square feet, I’d say he’ll be out for
a couple more hours.”

“Usual night on the town?”

“If this is to be believed, I’d say so.” He gestured to a
local newspaper that was strewn across the coffee table, opened to the
entertainment pages. “With all the technology now, I guess they can take photos
and do the write-up and e-mail them to the newsroom in time for the morning
edition.”

Shari couldn’t help picking up the paper to see what Nick
had been up to. Her attention zeroed in on a color photo of Nick, eyes half
closed, with a gorgeous dark-haired woman on his lap. Even with his eyes partly
closed, he couldn’t possibly miss the cleavage that she practically thrust into
his face.

In the next photo she had succeeded, as his face was
partly buried in her bosom. Judging from the amount of glasses that were on the
table in the foreground, maybe Nick had passed out and his face had fallen into
her cleavage which was conveniently close. The caption read: Nick Bad takes a
dive in Denver.

“My goodness, doesn’t he get tired?” Shari asked throwing
down the paper. She was trying hard to reconcile the almost vulnerable Nick
Badley who spoke to her yesterday with the rock star in the paper. “I’m sure
Lily will have his head today, if he managed to get it out of that woman’s
bosom.”

“It may still be in there,” laughed Steve, gesturing
towards the master bedroom.

“They’re in there?” whispered Shari.

“I’m guessing so. I thought I heard a commotion in the
suite this morning around four, but he may have come home alone.”

Shari fervently hoped so, but she’d be surprised. This
would be yet another woman that Nick had slept with in two days and, if she was
totally honest with herself, she felt a little piqued this time. She had to
remind herself that just because Nick had shared intimate parts of his life
with her that did not give her any claims on him. She was there to do report
about his life, not get involved in it.

“Let’s talk about you,” she said to Steve, changing the
subject. “Let me start my recorder and then you can tell me how long you’ve
been with the band and how long you’ve known Nick. OK, when you’re ready.”

“Nick and I grew up in the same town so I’ve known him
from the time we were kids…” Shari listened with interest as Steve shared about
their beginnings as a band and the dreams that he and Nick had. She realized
that they’d been very idealistic about the kind of music they would write;
songs with depth and which spoke to the issues of life. A far cry from “Moving
On”, she mused.

“Anyway, I got married to a girl I met on a skiing
holiday in Colorado. We kept in touch and she would fly in to see me when I was
on the road sometimes or I would go visit her at her place. I had to really
persuade her to marry me, being in a band and on the road all the time, but
eventually she said ‘yes’ and we’ve been married for three years.”

“You told me a bit about how difficult that is. How do
you manage to stay faithful?”

“As I said, it’s not easy, but when I saw how Nick and
Jo’s marriage suffered and how much she was hurt by his cheating, especially
since it was all over the media, I decided that I never wanted to do that to
Marie. If we’re in a city for at least three days I’ll fly home and come back. But,
to tell the truth, I’m getting a bit tired of being on the road this long and I
can’t wait for the tour to end.”

Shari nodded understandingly.

“But on the upside, it’s great to see the fans and to
know that we’re giving them pleasure through our music and our concerts, at
least fleetingly. And we have a great group of guys in the band; for the most
part,” he added.

“I couldn’t help but wonder about that. Everyone seems to
get on, but I noticed that Tim appears to have some issues with Nick. Why is
that?”

“You’d have to ask Tim that. I will say, though, that we’ve
all had to check our egos at the door when the label began to highlight Nick. I
don’t have a problem with it because for me it’s been about the music not the
fame, but maybe it’s not the same for everyone, so you’ll have to ask the
others.”

“To tell the truth, I’ve been putting off interviewing –”
Shari stopped abruptly as the door to the master suite opened, diverting her
attention. Nick walked out dressed only in a pair of jeans, followed by the
woman from the photo in the same clothes. He looked rough, with his hair
tousled, overnight stubble on his face and red eyes, which were either from the
drinks he had consumed or lack of sleep, or both. How did he manage to make
rough look sexy? The woman, Shari hated to admit it, looked gorgeous and had
obviously taken the time to bathe and apply full make-up. She felt plain in
comparison.

“This is becoming a habit, Shari Goodwin,” Nick greeted,
catching sight of her on the sofa. He didn’t even look the least bit
embarrassed to see her there. But, then again, why would he?

“A bad one,” she couldn’t help saying.

“Ouch! Shari, Steve this is…” he paused and looked around
at his companion.

“Bianca,” she supplied, not seeming overly concerned that
Nick could not remember her name.

“Hi, Bianca,” greeted Steve. Shari nodded a greeting.

“I’ll just see Bianca to the door and be right back.” 

Take your time, Shari thought. Steve looked at her and
shook his head slightly as if to say ‘I don’t know how he does it’.

Nick was back in a couple of minutes. The lipstick on his
mouth made it obvious that he had been doing a bit more than seeing Bianca to
the door. He threw himself down on the sofa next to Shari who moved a bit
further to her left.

“I’m not contagious, Ms. Goodwin,” he mocked her as he
noticed her move.

“That’s comforting to know,” she murmured under her
breath. It came out louder than she intended and Steve sniggered from where he
sat.

“Don’t worry, I’m careful.” Nick had obviously heard as
well.

“It’s really not my business,” she reminded him.

“Well, Nick, I see you had quite a night on the town, as
usual.” Steve cut in before Nick had time to respond. He gestured to the paper
on the table.  Nick picked it up reluctantly to see what lies the press had
reported about him this time. He swore.

“I don’t remember this.”

“I believe you. The number of glasses on the table
provides enough evidence to support your claim of memory loss. I’m pretty sure
that the photo wasn’t retouched, though,” said Shari drily.

“Lily won’t be too happy with that,” Steve added in
cheerfully.

“Lily doesn’t own me, although she tries to act that way.
Is there any coffee in this place?” Nick asked, rubbing his hand over his face.

 Shari could hear the scraping of his beard against his
palm and found herself wondering how it would feel. She arrested her wayward
thoughts in horror. What was she thinking? This was Nick Badley who had just
slept with yet another woman that he obviously didn’t know or had forgotten
since his last visit. She had no desire to be the next in the queue. Besides,
she didn’t plan on sleeping with him or anyone just to satisfy a craving. That
was not her style. She’d gotten her life back on track and she intended to stay
there.

BOOK: What Now?
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