See You at the Show (33 page)

She thought back to the night of Audra’s party, Daniel’s strange behaviour, the way he’d seemed distracted by something all evening.
 
Only it hadn’t been something, had it?
 
It had been some
one
.
 
Stevie Stone.
 
Ever since that night he’d changed and now it all made sense.
 
What the hell was he thinking?
 
Angus was right, what he was doing was madness when his whole life was about to change in a way that was going to put him in the spotlight like never before.
 
And that woman would never fit into Daniel’s life, not like Samantha could.
 
Not like Samantha
did.

She clicked on another image of Stevie, an enlarged photograph of her lying draped over an imposing motorbike filling the screen.
 
She was completely naked, bar a pair of black knee-high biker boots, every tattoo on her slim, toned body on show, and just looking at that picture made Samantha sick to her stomach.
 
There was no denying this girl had an incredible body – it was the fact her husband was touching that body, the thought that he was making love to this woman, that was what made Samantha feel ill.
 
What was she doing to him?
 
How had she managed to turn his head so much that he’d felt the need to put everything in jeopardy, including his marriage, just so he could be with her?
 
Was it just sex?
 
Was she giving him everything
she
couldn’t?
 
Samantha didn’t even want to think about it, because the thought of him and this woman together was unbearable.

She shut the images down and sat back in her chair.
 
The pain of what he’d done to her was slowly easing now, but the anger was still there.
 
If anything that was getting worse, but Angus had implored her to keep that in check, if she really wanted Daniel back, and she did, of course she did.
 
But this had been a shock.
 
She’d always suspected he’d had another woman, that wasn’t a surprise.
 
But to find out who this woman was, that had been the killer blow.
 
Still, at least now she knew what she was dealing with, and Angus was right when he’d said Stevie Stone could never fit into Daniel’s world.
 
She didn’t belong there, she never would.
 
He was about to become the most important man in
Britain
and he needed a supportive wife by his side, not some rock-chick roadie.
 
He needed
her
, Samantha, back where she belonged.
 
And Angus had assured her it would happen.
 
Daniel just needed to get this woman out of his system, that’s all, and they had to let him do that and do it without anyone else finding out otherwise everything could come crashing down around them.
 
Samantha didn’t want that, and she knew Daniel wouldn’t want that either.
 
She’d dreamed of being the wife of a Prime Minister and that dream could still happen, despite everything Daniel had done.
 
It could still happen.
 
All she had to do was listen to Angus, do as she was told and stay patient.
 
So she’d carry on the lie, pretend it was the pressure and the stress that had caused their separation because one day all of this would be behind them and she would re-take her rightful place once again.
 
By Daniel’s side.
 
And Stevie Stone would be nothing but a memory he’d have to forget.

***

Stevie couldn’t be bothered to sit and watch TV all day, just waiting for Daniel to appear on it somewhere, because he would.
 
Given what day it was his face was everywhere.
 
But it hurt too much to just hang around waiting.
 
It was draining her.
 
He was coming home later that evening for a couple of hours before setting off for his
Berkshire
constituency for the results count, but he wouldn’t be alone.
 
He’d have his team in tow so there was no way she was going to get him on his own anymore before the results were announced and that’s what was making her edgy.
 
This election meant nothing to her.
 
She couldn’t vote, she wasn’t British.
 
If anything she resented it because it was taking him away from her and that scared her.
 
She was in too deep now, she couldn’t walk away, but she couldn’t stop
him
walking away from
her.

“You’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?” Johnny said, looking at her as she sat on the window-sill of her small living room in her
North London
flat.

“No.
 
Of course I’m not.
 
You’re talking about Mark and I really don’t want to talk about him today.”

“Mind elsewhere is it?”

She looked at him.
 
“What do
you
think?”

He handed her a bottle of beer.
 
“You having second thoughts?” he asked, sitting down on the arm of the chair next to the window as she stared out of it again, down at the street below.
 
There was a polling station in the school across the park from her flat and she could see people streaming in and out of it, giving their votes, making their decisions, voicing their opinions with a single, solitary cross.
 
A cross that could change the whole course of her life.
 
But they didn’t know that, did they?

“I wonder who they’re all voting for?” she said, still staring out of the window.

“Huh?”
 
Johnny picked up the remote control and flicked on the TV, switching it over to Sky News.

“The polling station across the park.
 
Everyone’s in there, sticking that little cross next to a name, not realising the impact that could have on my life.
 
I wonder if they’re voting for Daniel’s party...and would they still be voting for him if they knew about me?”

Johnny gave her ankle a gentle nudge with his foot and she turned to look at him, catching sight of Daniel on the TV, all smiles as he talked to the reporters.
 
She loved that smile.
 
He had such an amazing smile.
 
She loved the way it made his eyes crinkle up at the corners, the way it took over his whole face.

“He’s a good-looking son-of-a-bitch, for a politician,”
 
Johnny said, watching as Daniel spoke animatedly to the people around him, answering questions thrown at him with ease and looking more relaxed than Stevie thought he’d looked that morning when she’d kissed him goodbye and reluctantly let him go.
 
After the best early morning sex she’d ever had.
 
Almost.
 
Nothing could ever really compare to Mark.

She sighed heavily, trying to forget about Mark.
 
Why was she thinking about him today?
 
She leaned back against the window, opening it slightly as she pulled out a cigarette from the packet lying next to her and lit it.
 

“You ok?” Johnny asked.
 

She blew smoke out of the window.
 
All it was doing today was making her feel sick.
 
“Y’know, come tomorrow, if Daniel wins this thing, I could have half of
Britain
’s security forces watching over me, totally in control of everything me and Daniel do.
 
It’ll make the babysitting brigade I’ve got now look like bouncers at a birthday party.
 
What kind of a fucking life is that, Johnny?”

He shrugged.
 
“You can always come back to us.”

“To Mark you mean.”
 
She stubbed out her half smoked cigarette in the ashtray beside her.
 
It hadn’t made her feel any better.

“You get your freedom back.”

“I want Daniel.”

“Then stop moaning.”

“Some fucking friend you are.”
 

 
“What do you want me to say, Stevie?
 
That it’s all gonna be ok and the world’s just gonna accept you as his girlfriend?
 
I can’t do that.”

“Just leave me alone then.”

“You’re acting like a child now and you know better than that.
 
Remind you of anyone?”

She got up, walking over to the TV and switching it off.
 
Everything about this day was putting her more and more on edge.
 
“I can’t go back, Johnny.”

“Then deal with it.
 
I’ll be there for you, Stevie, but I can’t wave a magic wand and make it perfect.
 
You’ve just gotta see how it all plays out.”

She threw herself onto the sofa, grabbing a cushion and holding it against her.
 
“I know.
 
But this is so complicated, Johnny.
 
So fucking complicated!”

“You do complicated very well, honey.”

“Not like this.
 
This could get messy.”

He looked at her, taking a drink of his beer.
 
“How do you mean?”

She sat up, still holding the cushion.
 
“It doesn’t matter.”

But it did.
 
It mattered a lot.
 
And it was the first time Stevie had given any serious thought to the implications of her secret past.
 
All Daniel thought they had to keep under wraps was the fact she was a female roadie with an abundance of tattoos and a loud mouth, but there was so much more that he didn’t know about her.
 
So much more she wasn’t stupid enough to think they’d never find out.
 
And whether she told him first or let him find out for himself was still something she was trying to work out because the longer she was with him the more chance there was of it all coming out.
 
She just had to weigh up the risks of waiting.
 

***

“Is she coming here this evening?” Angus asked, opening a bottle of whisky.
 
They were in Daniel’s flat, having one last breather before they set off for his constituency in Berkshire later that night for the vote counting they hoped wouldn’t take too long.
 
Exit polls were still predicting a landslide victory for Daniel and his party.
 
He could be named as the new Prime Minister in just a matter of hours.
 

“If by ‘
she
’ you mean Stevie, then yes.
 
She is.
 
She’s on her way.”
 
He watched Angus pour him a drink.
 
“Is that a good idea?”

“A small one isn’t going to hurt, for God’s sake, man.
 
Get it down you.
 
You deserve it.”

Daniel took the drink and checked his watch.
 
He just wanted to see her.
 
He’d missed her like crazy.
 
He’d been on the go non-stop all day but he’d missed her every second there’d been.
 

The last time he’d seen her she’d been wearing nothing but those thigh-high boots and that image was still imprinted firmly in his mind.
 
It was all that had got him through the day.
 
That and the pure adrenilin he seemed to be living on lately.

Angus couldn’t miss how on edge Daniel seemed and he knew it wasn’t all to do with the election.
 
Stevie Stone had got to him and now Angus had an uphill struggle to tear him away from her, not to mention the fact he was going to go ballistic when he found out that Samantha knew everything, but that could wait for another day.
 
There were a lot of revelations to come out yet.
 
They were just going to have to take each day one step at a time, no rush.
 
Not really.
 
As long as everyone played by the rules.

“What are you going to do with her tonight then?”

Daniel looked at him.
 
“What do you mean, what am I going to
do
with her?”

“When we all leave for the count.
 
Is she going home?”

“I want her to stay here.”

“Not a good idea.”

“She’s staying here.
 
Whatever happens tomorrow I want to know she’s where I can get to her.
 
I’m going to need to see her.”

“You think you’ll have time?”

“I’ll make time.”

He turned round as the door opened and Stevie walked through it, a black bandana covering her white blonde hair, her tanned, tattooed skin beautiful and smooth against the figure-skimming, very short strapless black dress she was wearing.
 
He’d never seen her in a dress before, but Stevie being Stevie she was wearing it in her own inimitable style, teaming it with knee-high biker boots and several leather wrist cuffs.
 
She looked sexier than he’d ever seen her look.
 
With her clothes on.
 
And he couldn’t help but notice every set of eyes in the room fall on her, including Angus’s.