Too Many Rock Stars (Access All Areas #1) (7 page)

I only had to confirm two more bands and then I'd have the roster done. Except those two bands were out of contact. How the fuck do people think they are going to make it in this industry if they can't be reached? One of the bands had only provided one contact number and that gave me disconnect message when I called it. The other band had two contact numbers, neither of which were being answered, and an email address. I sent an email giving them 24 hours to get back to me.

I shoved some candy in my mouth. I wanted to get everything finalised before the end of the day. I did NOT want a big gap in things. I'd just find someone else to replace the first band. Screw them. I had a bunch of bands that would do just as well.

I took a swig of Coke but it had gotten warm. I nearly spat it out. Gross. Ah, I needed a break anyway.

I walked out to the bar.

"Hey Drew, get me a Coke, will you?"

He jumped.

Then I heard shouting.

"Suck balls, bitch. You lose again."

That was Carlie. I looked over to the Galaga table. Her and Razer were playing Galaga in the bar in the middle of the afternoon? Did they not have lives outside of this place? Although I couldn't talk. But Razer didn't even work here. He just hung around for no reason.

"Hey, Violet," Carlie called. "You would not believe how much Razer sucks at this game."

To be fair, compared to Carlie, most people sucked. She was like some Galaga genius. Maybe because she spent so much time playing it.

"Violet, are you finished work?"

I leaned on the bar and took the Coke from Drew. It didn't have nearly enough ice in it for my liking. Couldn't he see I needed to cool down?

"I won't be finished for hours. I have a ton of work to get through."

Razer looked disappointed. I was tempted to just let all work slid and join them. Why did I never get to play Galaga all afternoon?

He looked disappointed but that wasn't my problem. He got up from the table and came over to stand beside me.

"Damn, I had something special planned..."

My heart sank and, I almost got sucked in by Razer’s sad eyes but I had to harden my heart.

"Well, you know, if you want to have spontaneous fun with me, you might want to book it way in advance. I've got to finish these rosters then I have –"

"Bullshit," said Carlie. "You've been working for hours. Take a break. You don't need to be back until at least nine. Get out of the club for God's sake. Go out, have some fun. See the sun for once in your life."

Razer grabbed my arm. "You heard her. Let's get out for a while."

"Hey, my Coke. I've still got most of it left..." But Razer kept dragging me.

I wasn't sure I like being pulled out of the bar like that but I didn't have much choice. Part of me tingled with the thrill of it all and part of me wanted to punch Razer for his nerve. He wasn't normally this pushy.

Once we got outside, he put his arm around my shoulder. I tried to pull away but he held me tight. Was I being kidnapped? It was okay for Carlie to tell me to go out and have fun but I didn't know Razer that well and I kinda liked being in my own territory, where I was the one in control.

He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket.

"You have a car?" I asked.

"Not a car," he replied, leading me around the corner where some kind of motorbike was parked. I knew nothing about bikes, nothing at all, but that was no regular bike. It was all black and shiny and huge. Like the kind of bike Satan would ride out of Hell.

"I'm not getting on that thing."

"Don't be chicken." He handed me a helmet.

"I am a chicken. This helmet is all that would be coming between me and scrambled brains." I checked my outfit. Short skirt, bare legs, bare arms. I had far too much flesh exposed. Flesh that could be grazed, bones that could be broken.

"Just a short ride. I'll take it slow."

I screwed up my face, trying to decide if I trusted him. "You promise?"

"Pinkie promise," he said.

"Kinda convenient of you to have a spare helmet. Were you planning this?"

"It pays to be prepared," he said and flashed me the kind of smile that hit me all the way down to my knickers. A smile that caressed my body and made my hairs stand on end. A dimply smile that won my trust.

I put on the helmet.

He started up the bike and within 30 seconds, the panic set in.

"Razer, I'm going to kiiiiiiiiiiiiiillll you," I screamed. But he couldn't hear.
He'd go slow
, he'd said.
Just a short ride
, he'd said.

I'd never trust that guy again. He drove through the streets like a maniac. We were going to die. I knew it. I'd end up as road kill, so mangled no one would be able to recognise my body.

Actually, I didn't even want to think about my body. About the way my legs were wrapped around Razer and how I had to press myself tight against him to hold on. Bikes, they were just dirty and wrong. They filled your mind with thoughts of sex and death.

We cut through traffic, narrowly missing a truck and running through a traffic light as it was about to change. My grip on Razer tightened. If I hugged him any tighter, he'd end up with broken ribs and that would serve him right. Except that it might make him crash.

He headed out of the city, picking up speed as we hit the open road. Then he one of the roads going uphill. If I'd thought the city streets were bad, seeing that steep drop down to instant death so close had me white knuckled. I ground my teeth down to bare gums and my body ached from muscle tension.

Killing was too good for him. I'd torture him first. I'd tie him in a room and make him listen to Justin Bieber on repeat. I'd feed him on my cooking. I'd get Carlie to serve him warm beer.

Even though, intellectually, I knew I’d be okay with Razer driving, it felt like he was out of control. He pushed me to the edge of my fear but pulled back to let me know I was safe as soon it got too bad.

When I thought I couldn't stand it any more, he pulled over, skidding and kicking up gravel.

As soon as I could, I jumped off that bike and pulled off my helmet.

"I'm calling a taxi," I yelled. "I am NOT going back down that road on that bike."

He just grinned.

"You said you'd go slowly. You said you wouldn't go far."

"But it was fun, wasn't it?" That cheeky grin on his face just made me want to punch him.

"No. No it wasn't fun. It was horrible. It was the worst." I stomped around, wondering how the hell I'd get out of this place without getting back on that bike. We were in the middle of nowhere, on top of a hill, with nothing but trees around us.

"You just don't want to admit it."

I was about to yell at him some more but, as I turned, I noticed the view below us, the coast line with the sun starting to set over the dazzlingly blue ocean. It took my breath away.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

I leaned against the bike, taking it all in. The helmet dangled in my hand until Razer took it from me and put it away. Nature could be okay sometimes. I spend far too many hours in that dingy club. Carlie had been right. I needed to get out in the sun. I'd forgotten things like that existed. The sun, the beach, the birds flying in the air. Life wasn't just about bands and planning rosters.

Razer stood beside me with that annoying grin. I bet my hair was an absolute mess from the helmet and my clothes were all over the place. I pulled down my skirt because it had ridden up. God knows how much I'd been flashing while I was on that bike.

"I didn't know you had a bike."

"It's not mine. I couldn't afford something like that. It's my cousin's and he loaned it to me in return for teaching him guitar. You've been so looking so stressed lately, Violet. I wanted to get you out of the club for a while to have some fun."

To be honest, if he wanted me to have some fun, he could've thought of something less dangerous. How was I supposed to be less stressed when he tried to kill me?

Our bodies almost touched. I waited for him to try to kiss me again. I prepared to fight. I didn't want to kiss him. I didn't want him to make those kinds of moves. I didn’t want him to make me feel those kinds of feelings.

Our breathing fell into time with each other. My heart still beat so hard. I wanted to move away from him but my legs had turned to jelly. From that ride, of course. I'd been clenching my muscles so hard they no longer worked.

A bird squawked in the distance somewhere. The wind blew through the trees. The smell of eucalyptus filled the summer air. I stayed perfectly still.

The moment drew out and he didn't move. He just stood beside me until my anticipation turned to disappointment.

I didn't want him to kiss me but he could at least try. Maybe he'd lost interest in me and only saw me as a friend. That's what I wanted. That's the only thing I wanted. So why did my heart feel like a big, heavy stone weighing me down. I couldn't handle this tension and walked away from the bike, my footsteps crunching on the gravel.

"It sure is pretty here," I said. Anything to break the silence.

"Yeah, I came up here the other day when I needed to sort some stuff out in my head. It really helps to just sit and watch the sea."

I nodded. I'd thought he had all kinds of ulterior motives but he was just being kind. He'd not even mentioned that bloody competition, thankfully.

"I guess we should get back," he said. "If you want to be back at work on time. Of course, we could linger and I could actually drive fast on the way back."

He winked at me. I gulped.

"Let's go."

"Have you seen today's paper?"

"Jeez, Chuck, let me finish my coffee before you start pestering me. What the hell?" I'd just gotten in to work with a coffee in one hand and a bag containing my breakfast muffin in the other. If I didn't get something to eat on the way to work, I'd starve to death. And I didn't want my appetite ruined by a paper being waved in my face.

I grabbed it off him and headed to my office.

Luckily, Chuck had opened it to the right page because it wasn't front page news. It wasn't even in the front half of the paper but buried right at the back. A tiny story saying “local rock club is doomed”.

"Did you read it?"

"I'm reading it now but what does it matter? No one reads the papers nowadays. Definitely not the kind of people who come here. If it's not in the music papers, they don't even know it exists."

Chuck sat on the arm of my office sofa.

"That's the thing, kiddo. We just need one of those kids who write that crap for the music press to pick this up. Then what's going to happen? No one wants to hang around a rotting carcass. Well, except for some maggoty flies. But everyone else stays the hell away."

"Can you stop with the rotting meat metaphors until after I've eaten? This is the only chance I'll get to have solid food and I don't want it ruined. Anyway, the chances of it getting any further than the local news are pretty slim."

I tore open the bag and picked a nice big chunk off my muffin.

"I'm never going to get a decent price for this place if they think I'm desperate," Chuck mumbled.

"Whoa, dude, hold it right there. Did you just say what I thought you said? You’re selling this place? I thought the whole point of this was that you didn't have to sell. If you are selling, let me know so I can get my life in focus."

"I didn't mean I am selling, I mean if I have to sell. There is no guarantee this is going to work, Violet. We need to make money and something like this story in the paper is going to cost us. It makes it sound like we have pretty much closed anyway. It's not like you're helping."

I gave him the stink eye. The way he pressured me about this competition almost amounted to sexual harassment. He couldn't command me to date people even if he'd once ordered me not to.

"Seriously, Violet, it's a few hours of your time. It's not like you're a blushing virgin with some treasure between your legs you need to guard."

"What. The. Fuck. You don't get to say shit like that to me. Even if agreed to this stupid mess, no one is getting between my legs. I wouldn't be pimped out. You’re crossing the line, Chuck. You are so crossing the line that you can't even see the line behind you."

"No need to get upset. I'll leave you to get on with your work."

Mark, the overly perky barman, had said that Chuck wanted to sell. I'd wanted to believe that he was better than that but banking on Chuck not being a jerk was not a safe bet. It made my stomach knot up. Even though Chuck sucked donkey's balls as a boss, he was better than nothing. And, if this place sold, it'd be to some developer who'd turn it into hipster apartments. It'd be all white and glossy. The windows that were currently painted over black would be replaced with glass that let in the sun. The walls that were pretty much held up with the layers of band stickers on them would be pulled down. That smelly carpet would be gone.

I mean, this was prime inner city real estate. We were lucky to have survived this long.

I couldn't worry about that though. I had actual, real stress to worry about like getting everything organised for the actual bands who played here.

"What's happening?"

I looked up to Razer standing in the doorway.

"I hope this is important. That whole not interrupting me at work thing sure didn’t last long," I said. I tried to make my voice sound angry but it betrayed me. Ever since our ride on the bike, I found it hard to be angry with Razer but I didn't want him to think I was softening towards him. That'd be fatal.

"Just wanted to check in. We're rehearsing for most of the day and I won't have the phone on. Is there anything I need to do before the gig?"

"You don't need to check in with me." What a crook. He’d played here so many times, he knew the drill better than I did. It was just an excuse to bug me.

"I know but I like to."

"Okay, so now you've told me, you can run along to rehearsal." I waved him away but he kept leaning on the door frame.

"Your mouth is saying 'go', Violet, but your eyes are saying stay."

"My eyes are saying get out of here so I can finish eating my muffin."

"I'd stay to watch you eat your muffin." And then he winked.

"Get the hell out of my office, Razer and never say anything like that again." I looked around for something handy to throw at him. There was nothing that I didn't need though. Maybe I should start stocking something in my office. Like bricks or something. That wink hit me hard though.

He let and suddenly my office seemed a lot emptier. I couldn't focus on work. I got up and threw those stupid dead flowers in the bin. They'd been stinking up my office for too long. Then I tidied up. It was just a need to do something, anything, and had nothing to do with the way my stomach had fluttered when Razer winked at me.

With everything else tidied away, I noticed the floral umbrella down the side of my desk. I sighed as I picked it up. I'd returned it to the bar and had meant to put it back in the lost-and-found box but had never gotten around to it. So much had started with that umbrella and I couldn’t get rid of it that easily.

Stupid umbrella. I wanted to get that night out of my head, not cling on to reminders of it. I put it back in the corner, out of sight. I’d deal with it later.