Page 9 of Rocked By the Alpha
“It smelt like pee.”
“And the audience looked like they’d all broken out of jail.”
“But that kick I got when we finished our song — that I’m pretty sure sounded like shit by the way — but they actually clapped us. Like actual enthusiastic clapping and cheering and whistling. Not like polite clapping because they had to. And I knew I wanted to keep doing this.”
“Me too.”
“But I worried, the hit from it would die away.”
“It hasn’t. Not for me.”
“Me neither. It keeps getting better.”
Her friend beams at her and then tackles her into a bear hug. She squeezes her back, grinning. She feels alive. The high from the festival and the high from the Alpha combining to make her body feel warm and fuzzy. It’s the perfect combination.
Nat releases her and shuffles back in the bed. “Where did you disappear to, anyway? I lost you in the backstage tent.”
“I went to listen to some of the other sets.”
“Fuck, Ruby, please tell me you didn’t wander into the crowd.” Her friend pokes her shoulder. “I know you like your risks but you’ve got to be more careful now we’re getting known.”
“It’s ok. I was in the VIP zone.”
While she gets a kick out of the risk taking, the lying is something else. She amazes herself sometimes how easily the lies roll off her tongue despite the accompanying sting of guilt. It hasn’t been often she’s had to lie to her friends — the hookups with West can be counted on both hands. But then, she’s well practised. All those times she lied to her parents about where she was going and what she was doing.
The first lie is always the hardest. After that, each one is easier and easier until it becomes second nature. Even if the guilt never fades.
Nat nods and rolls onto her back.
“Who’d you see? You knowThe Packwas playing last night? I spotted their bassist across the tent and Tanya had to literally hold me back from going at him.”
Ruby swallows. “Oh, a few up-and-coming bands. No one any good.”
Nat stretches her arms over her head. “Right, I’m going to get glammed up. Me and Tanya are going to head back to the festival. Hope we might catch the eye of some paps — it’s free publicity. You wanna come?”
“Yeah, sure. Just give me a moment to wake up properly first.”
Nat rolls off the bed and pads across the floor. “We’re going to leave in an hour. Don’t fall back to sleep!”
“I won’t.”
When Nat closes the door, Ruby lets out a long sigh. It seems her friend has no inkling about what or who she’d been doing last night. Thank Fuck.
Her best friend is unpredictable. It’s one of the reasons she supposes she was attracted to her in school. She liked the danger of hanging out with Nat. You didn’t know what she would do next: cut class, sleep with someone else’s boyfriend, or ace an exam. Being around Nat was like taking a ride on a roller coaster in a life that had been one long boring car journey. Nat had helped her break free from that existence and taste a different life.
But that didn’t mean the roller coaster ride didn’t come with its ups as well as its downs. Nat had a temper and her mood swings. And Ruby had become efficient at navigating them.
Ruby digs her hand under the pillow and fishes out her cell. The low battery warning flashes so she scrambles around on the floor until she finds a charger and plugs it in.
A few messages crowd the screen. Some friends and associates who caught the performance and are sending their praise. Something from her mom asking about when she is back in the country and two from West.
The first tells her that his band doesn’t suspect anything about their latest hookup and asks whether things are alright with her band.
The second message is clearly trying to get a rise from her.
Your latest song is pretty good, you know. Would be better if you were singing the lead.
She tosses her phone back on the mattress. Nat is the lead singer. The voice and the showman. Ruby the keyboardist and Tanya the drummer. Everyone knows that.
