Page 5 of Real Rocks
Darren shook his head. “No, she’s been like it a while.”
It didn’t take a genius to work out when the change had first happened. At the time of her overdose, she’d refused to talk to anyone, said she didn’t need any kind of counselling. My niggling thought now was that she did, but didn’t want to admit it to anyone. Not even me.
Uncle Col and Aunt Annie appeared in front of us.
“Tris! What a lovely evening!” Aunt Annie reached out to embrace me, a little unsteady on her feet. “There are so many lovely people here! Lovely, it’s just lovely, lovely!”
Uncle Col rolled his eyes at me. She was going to regret this in the morning.
“Wait until you hear the set,” Darren chipped in. “We’ve got some killer songs I think you’ll love. I’m Darren, by the way.” He held out his hand, but Aunt Annie leaned in for another hug.
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. If Saff appeared out of sorts, then Aunt Annie was doing a great job of challenging her. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d got this drunk, certainly not in the time I’d been staying with them.
“I’m sure they’ll be lovely, and it was lovely meeting you too, Darren,” slurred Aunt Annie. “Ooo, look, there’s Jonas. Let’s go and talk to him.” She grabbed Uncle Col’s arm and staggered off.
Watching as she tottered across the room, I shook my head. “I hope Jonas has other people he needs to talk to. She can talk the hind leg off a donkey when she’s overexcited.”
Darren laughed. “Oh, he’s good at making excuses and getting away from randoms. With Saff’s track record, he’s had to.” He ground to a halt. “Sorry. But you know what she was like.”
In spite of Saff’s previous reckless streak, I loved everything about her. I knew she was nothing like the gossip columns portrayed, even if she had been a bit feisty on our first meeting.
As if knowing we were talking about her, Saff approached. “What are you two whispering about?”
“You, obviously.” I kissed her full on the lips, my hand reaching for the small of her back to pull her close to me. “And did I tell you how gorgeous you look tonight?” My gaze swept over her tight, black Chinese-style sheath dress with a mandarin collar. In typical Saff Barnes style, it was cut mid-thigh and had a slit almost to her hipbone, showing off her shapely legs. If you’d seen her from the back, she would have looked demure and sensible, her pink and blonde hair in a messy sexy updo. From the front, it was another story. I couldn’t wait to get her home. Absently, I stroked the back of her neck. She froze and pulled away from me. “What’s up?” I asked.
She tried to smile. “Nothing. I was coming to tell Darren we’re going on in a few minutes, so he needs to get ready. We’ve got a schedule to stick to.”
“When did you ever bother to think about a schedule?”
“When Jonas told me we’re going on tour.” Saff grinned.
“We’re doing what?”
“You’re doing what?”
Darren and I spoke at the same time.
The grin grew wider as Saff turned to walk away. “You’ll find out more tomorrow. We’ve got a meeting at Monet’s at eleven. Don’t you read your email?” She winked and sashayed off.
“A tour? We’ve never done a proper tour.” Darren gulped down some more beer. “Well, unless you count the weekend we spent at a festival and gate-crashed a few stages.”
I had absolutely no idea what it involved. All I knew was it meant Saff would be away. What was I meant to do without her?
“I’ll catch up with you after, Tris. I need to go and find out what this is all about.” Darren slapped me on the arm and left me alone with my thoughts.
It wasn’t too long before the band were on stage.
The only other time I’d seen TheSB play, it had ended in disaster. I’d almost got into a fight defending Saff; then my estranged father had turned up, told Saff I’d been in prison and basically ended our relationship before it had even started. I felt secure in the knowledge history wouldn’t repeat itself tonight. I hadn’t heard from my dad in ages.
My gaze went to Saff; she was all that mattered to me.
“This next song is extremely special to me. Inspired by someone I didn’t expect to meet and certainly didn’t expect to stay in my life.” The husky undertones in Saff’s voice had me hooked, even though I knew exactly what was coming next.
The set TheSB were playing consisted of the new EP, plus a couple of covers and old songs. The couple of performances I’d seen Saff do blew my mind. When she was on stage, it was almost as if she were a different person. She seemed to channel an exaggerated persona of herself, playing up to the crowd and feeding off the energy in the room. I could barely take my eyes off her.
The chords began and instantly I recognised the tune. Easily the song which would end up being a massive hit, it was their version of a power ballad.
Saviour. Surprise. Salvation.
