Page 17 of Play Me

“Ok, man, take it easy. I’m gonna...” he gestures with his head back to the room.

“Go back to work?”

“It’s a hard job, mate.” He grins and punches me on the shoulder lightly before slipping back into the room.

I put the ice bucket down and catch my reflection in one of the mirror doors.

I’m a mess. Sweat dripping from every pore, my hair doing some sort of bird nest impersonation, my shirt drenched.

“Not sexy.” I say to my mirror image.

I check my watch; I should have enough time to quickly change into another shirt. On my way to my dressing room, I pass Mark, our head of security.

“Mark! I’m just getting refreshed in my dressing room. If a girl comes looking for me, just send her there, OK!”

He grins and I roll my eyes at him. Our security team is used to our playboy ways on the road by now, but it’s been a while since I had someone come to my dressing room compared to the other guys, so he’s obviously getting a little bit more of a kick out of it than usual.

I rip the shirt off me even before I get to the door. Pulling the leather pants off my legs, I kick them into the corner and jump around a bit to air dry the sweat clinging to my skin.

There’s a knock on the door.

Fuck, that was quick. The butterflies in my stomach are both surprising and refreshing. And I try not to focus on them as I pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

“Just a sec! I’m just getting decent!”

I run my hands through my hair as I get to the door and pull it open.

“Hey,” she says.

And for a moment, my mind goes completely blank.

CADENCE

“OMG!” Sarah squeals in my ear reading the note from Sebastian over my shoulder. “What are you going to do?”

I glare at her to scare her into lowering her voice. I’m already getting enough daggers and curious looks from the audience around me as the lights go up and everyone gets up to leave.

I sink down into my chair, blankly watching everyone else crowd into the aisles, emptying the hall.

What am I going to do? That’s a good question.

Is it? I ask myself again.

When have I ever thought that going backstage to meet some rockstar like a seventeen-year-old groupie was a good idea? Well, maybe when I was a seventeen-year-old groupie, but life has knocked that desire right out of me and it’s been a long time since I’d been interested in any man let alone one that was 100% bound to break my heart.

“Dude. You’re not actually considering not going?” Sarah looks at me in horror. I can only imagine how the concept would horrify her romantic sensibilities. She watches dog weddings on YouTube and cries, for god’s sake.

But Sarah and I are a world apart. She married her high school sweetheart and I have more baggage than the luggage carousel at Sydney International Airport. And until today, I hadn’t had any problems sticking with my vow to avoid any and all relationships if possible. Until today, that is, until something, someone, came along and made the risk almost worth it. Almost.

“Sare, seriously. What do we think’s going to happen here? At most we have some short fling while he’s in Oz and a week from now I’m waving forlornly with my face pressed against the window as his private plane flies away and by the next news cycle I see him going to some awards show with a Kardashian?” I ask her, airing my worst fears.

“Whoa. How long have you been thinking about this?”

“Too long!!” I admit to her.

She sighs and sits down next to me, pulling on my arm and making me face her.

“Honey. Did you have a good time tonight?”