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And somehow, Alex had made it out of that physically unscathed.
“Jesus,” she whispered in disbelief.
There were images of the other bandmates, some covered with blankets on the tarmac, Lucy Owens strapped to a bed and being wheeled towards an ambulance with parts of the photo blurred to save the viewer from seeing such awful injuries. A photo of the band smiling on the cover of a teen magazine bore the headline,
Tragedy strikes Solar Flare.
The next images were much later, at least a decade after Sasha’s time in the band. Opening night to a film Sasha had a small part in. Sasha, standing hand in hand with a woman in front of the press. Sasha wearing a black tailored suit, heels and a red tie loosely worn around her neck. Sasha craning her neck back and laughing at something someone behind her had said. Sasha drinking coffee, unaware of the photographer. Sasha on stage, lit up next to a huge piano.
She looked hot.
“Blimey,” Morgan whispered, zooming in and out of the photo at Sasha’s smiling face. She moved across to the woman beside her and examined the kind of woman Alex Montgomery went for. Femme, gorgeous, model, was her conclusion. Not a bedraggled, knackered, barely able to comb her hair junior doctor.
She took a long swig of her drink, almost draining the glass, when she noticed a neighbour along the balconies staring at her. Their eyes widening at the young woman downing a glass of what they supposed was wine.
“Long day.” Morgan smiled and raised the glass, getting a look of disgust in return. She chuckled to herself and got up to go inside, closing the sliding door behind her, and the world outside disappeared behind the curtains.
She sat on the couch with her feet up and slid down until she was comfortable, flicking through image after image ofSashaon stage, out shopping, having dinner, interviews. The more she looked, the more interested she became.
Could she really get to travel with a world-famous musician like Sasha? Morgan wondered what kind of world Alex lived in. Was it really like the movies, all glitz and glamour? How did someone like Morgan fit into that?
Mentally she slapped herself. “You don’t. You would be the hired help, that’s all. Just another member of her team,” she said, stroking Nightingale when he jumped up. “Right boy?”
Nightingale had no opinion either way as he kneaded his paws against her thighs before curling up on her lap.
Regardless, she wanted to do it. An opportunity like this didn’t knock twice, and if there was one trait Morgan was most proud of, it was her sense of adventure. Persuading her bosses at the NHS, however, would be the issue, but she considered Alex’s personal assistant, Francine. With her on-side, it had to be possible, didn’t it?
Chapter Eight
The Seeds are sown…
“Absolutely not,” Alex said into the phone before Francine had even finished speaking.
She was watching the sunset over the sea and feeling quite relaxed before Francine’s name had flashed up on her phone’s screen.
“She hasn’t even agreed to come on the tour yet, and if she does, we are not putting her into that situation. And she’s far too young for that to even be a consideration,” Alex said, shaking off the irritability the suggestion had incurred.
“Look, I don’t like it either,” Francine sighed, “but the publicists are questioning why we need a doctor on staff. If the media gets wind of that, you can kiss your quiet life goodbye. They’ll be hounding till they find out about the panic attacks, and then they will bring up the bus crash again, and the legal team is suggesting it’s going to impact the insurance, so that is why it makes more sense to let the world think she’s…” She hesitated to say it again. “Your girlfriend.”
“No, that is just…it’s a lie for a start, and I don’t even know her. How the hell would we pull that off? I really don’t want a reputation for being a cougar.” Alex stood up and walked to the edge of the decking, her toes moving in the sand that had settled during the day, ignoring the hearty laughter coming from the other end of the speaker.
“She’s a hot young doctor; what’s not to like, Alex?” Francine chuckled. “I’m sure you can find a way to enjoy looking at her. And you’re a celebrity, having a younger partner is barely noticed.”
That was the point, wasn’t it? Dr Morgan Kelly was attractive, very attractive. And having to pretend to be her lover would mean having to get close, intimate on a certain level to make it realistic, and she wasn’t so sure she could do that and not actually want to be intimate.
She knew what she was like after a show. Someone like Morgan Kelly in the room would potentially be explosive.
Would that really be a bad thing?
Alex tsked. “You’re as bad as every inappropriate man I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter. I’d notice!” Hadn’t she already noticed? You couldn’t not notice a woman like Dr Morgan Kelly.
Francine laughed again. “Look, I’m not saying you fuck her for gods’ sake, but how difficult is it to stand beside her and smile once in a while, and if asked, dodge the question like you would in any other situation when you’re asked about your private life. And I don’t think she’s as young as you think she is. What’s a decade?”
Alex wrapped her free arm around herself. “I don’t like it,” she said quickly and bit her lip, hearing the lie that just passed her lips, because she did like it, didn’t she?
Close proximity to Dr Morgan Kelly would be dangerous, very dangerous, she warned herself again,but isn’t that part of the excitement? Isn’t that what you’ve been looking for, asking the universe for, something to put some oomph back into the life you’re barely living? Now it’s on offer and you’rewhat, going to say no?Her brain threw out questions with no time for answers.
“You don’t have to like it; you just have to act like you do,” Francine said in that no-nonsense way that meant she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
