What Now? (5 page)

Nick looked at the screen of the phone
that Lily furiously dropped on his chest as he sprawled out on the four-seater
divan of the Bombardier. Her shapely leg swung furiously as she regarded him
from her club seat across the aisle. Shari watched Nick’s face from where she
sat, separated from Lily’s seat by a square walnut-finished table. It changed
from boredom to anger in seconds.

“These damn tweets!” He cursed, before
reading the offending tweet out loud.

“@VegasScoops.
Moving On tour in trouble?
Nick Badley's drummer, Tim Benton, stormed out of a rehearsal yesterday after a
blow up with the bad boy lead singer. Will he be #MovingOn?”

He sat up abruptly, tossing the phone
back to Lily.

“How the hell did that get out? This is
happening way too often. I’m beginning to believe that someone is deliberately
leaking this stuff. I’m sick of the media and their reckless reporting! It’s
even worse now with social media. You can’t even take a leak without it being
tweeted or posted all over the world before you shake!”

Lily let him rant. Shari felt distinctly
uncomfortable, being part of the hated media. Not even the comfort of the
armchair-like leather seat alleviated the feeling. It also didn’t help that the
jet had been waiting to take off for the last thirty minutes with the door open
and the last seat annoyingly empty, in anticipation of the arrival of the missing
drummer.

"He's obviously not showing. Let's
go!" Nick instructed impatiently.

Brad responded by tapping away at his
cell phone for about the twentieth time. This time he met with success.

"Tim! Where the hell are you, man?
We've been on the tarmac for nearly an hour waiting for you."

Shari would have smiled at the
exaggeration if she wasn't so annoyed at the time they'd been waiting as well.

"You're what? You could have called
to say something! OK, OK. See you in Denver." He disconnected the call and
signaled to one of the stewardesses to let the pilot know they were ready.
"He's catching a flight on United."

"What a waste of f****** time! He
couldn't have told us that before?" Nick complained.

Shari cringed at the profanity but held
her tongue. This was not the time to be admonishing Nick for his language.

The stewardess closed the door and
checked that everyone was prepared for takeoff.

Shari’s heart leapt with excitement when
the flight was finally cleared for takeoff and the powerful jet hurtled down
the runway before soaring cleanly into the sky. Peering out the window, she
caught a last glimpse of the impressive hotels on the Strip as they left Vegas
behind. So far she had experienced Nick Badley in concert, being swamped by
fans, making out with two women, storming out of her interview and having an
altercation with his drummer. And that was just on the first stop. She wondered
what the rest of the tour had in store.

The plane glided gently on to the tarmac
of Denver International. Shari was surprised at how quickly the hour and a half
flight had gone. Two stewardesses had brought out a mouthwatering selection of
hors d'oeuvres. Smoked salmon and cream cheese with capers on Melba toast,
coconut shrimp, kebabs made with the most tender beef ever, sushi and a few
vegetarian offerings. She, Brian and Brad were the only ones who seemed to do
any justice to the food. Lily seemed to be watching her weight or something and
the band barely picked at it. They did, however, manage to consume vast
quantities of vodka which was apparently the drink of choice. They obviously
didn't conform to the "no alcohol before 12 o’clock" rule.

As soon as the stairs were lowered,
Brian hustled out to get footage of them disembarking. Nick led the entourage,
followed by the rest of the band, with Lily, Shari and Brad bringing up the
rear. They were immediately ushered into two limousines that were parked
nearby. Once again, Shari shared Nick's limo, this time joined by Brian and
Lily. In minutes they were on their way to the hotel.

"I could get used to this,"
Shari joked. "No queuing to get off the plane and no waiting for luggage.
Wonderful!"

"So you’re not totally opposed to
this life?” taunted Nick. He’d been in a foul mood for the entire trip, ever
since reading the tweet.

Shari’s face fell, taking her jovial
mood with it. Shame curled in the pit of her stomach. He was right. Who was she
to judge his extravagant lifestyle when, after just one day, she was relishing
it?

“No response, Ms.
Good
win?”

“I thought it was a rhetorical
question,” she replied defensively, forcing herself to meet his challenging
gaze.

“Leave her alone, Nick,” chided Lily.
“Don’t take out your frustrations on Shari.”

“Thanks, Lily, but I can take care of
myself.”

“Can you?” Nick assessed her. “I wonder
.”

Shari felt distinctly uncomfortable under his scrutiny
and turned to look out the window instead. She’d never been to Denver before;
yet another first for her. 

“We’re staying at the Four Seasons,” Lily interjected,
trying to ease the tension in the limo.

“It’s not the hotel in Vegas
,
but I guess it should be luxurious enough to satisfy Ms.
Goodwin’s newly developed taste for this excessive lifestyle.”

Shari would not let him goad her. Instead, she
deliberately focused on admiring the interesting architecture they were passing
with the Rocky Mountains as the backdrop, looking like models posing for a
postcard. Just seeing them lifted her spirits again and she smiled to herself
as she thought about how archaic postcards had become. Now you could snap a
photo and send it via Instagram or WhatsApp, or whatever, with a message. The
same way you could tweet a damaging comment like the one Nick had read on the plane.
No wonder he was in such a foul mood. Not that it excused his behavior.

“I hear that Denver is a mile above sea level,” Brian
spoke up for the first time, putting down his video camera.

“Yes, it’s called the mile high city,” commented Nick
drily. “Speaking of mile high, have you heard of the mile high club, Ms.
Goodwin?”

What was his problem? She wondered. Why was he picking on
her today like the school bully? Did he think she had leaked the information to
the Las Vegas media? He obviously didn’t know her well enough to realize that
she operated with the highest level of integrity. Determined not to be fazed by
his question, she raised an eyebrow and replied: “Yes. Why do you ask?” Did she
really want to hear his answer?

“I was just wondering if you’d like to join it the next
time we’re in the jet.”

Shari’s mouth dropped open in shock. The nerve of the
man! Brian started to chuckle while Lily leaned forward to slap Nick on his
arm. 

“Nick that could be considered sexual harassment!” she
scolded.

Shari collected herself enough to come back with: “I
thought you wanted me to add that to your repertoire of decadence. Although it
would definitely come below the threesome in Vegas.”

“What threesome?” asked Lily, annoyed.

Shari regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.
It wasn’t as if they had attorney-client privilege, but she didn’t want to be
lumped with the rest of the reporters that he scorned. She needed to learn to
ignore Nick Badley’s moods.

“Whatever happened to ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’?” 
Nick asked mockingly.

“You’re right. I apologize.” The last thing she needed
was to antagonize Nick.  She needed him to trust her to share his story. Nick
looked surprised by her apology. Lily looked from one to the other
thoughtfully, wondering what was going on. Before he could reply, Shari’s
attention was taken by an almost comical sight outside the window and she said
excitedly, “Oh, look at that huge blue bear looking through the windows of that
building!”

“The driver must have made a detour to pass the
Convention Center for us. That’s the famous blue bear sculpture.” Lily said,
leaning forward.

“It’s huge!” Shari enthused. “How tall is it?”

“Forty feet,” Lily told her as Brian rapidly repositioned
his camera to capture the sight.

Nick silently watched Shari and was surprised to find
that he grudgingly enjoyed her child-like enthusiasm. When was the last time he
was enthusiastic about anything other than how well his music was selling? He
suddenly felt almost disgusted with himself for taunting her. After all, he was
pretty sure she wasn’t the one who had leaked the information. He would more
likely put his money on Tim. Funny, but somehow he knew that wasn’t her style. 

He sensed that she truly lived up to her surname and for
some reason that annoyed him. Maybe because it showed up just how degenerate he
had become. He must be bipolar. On the one hand her goodness annoyed him, yet
he admired her honesty in speaking her mind rather than kowtowing to him.  That
in itself was refreshing, considering all the people who told him what they
thought he wanted to hear.

A few minutes later their limo pulled into the Four
Seasons. The towering glass structure was impressive, but Shari was less
interested in its impressive architecture than she was in getting to her room
and out of the presence of Nick Badley. As the limousines parked at the
entrance, people stopped to stare, waiting to see who would emerge. Nick pulled
a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and shoved them onto his face as the
door opened.

Lily gestured for Shari and Brian to wait while Nick got
out. He and the band members were hustled into the lobby by their entourage of
ever-present bodyguards and towards the elevators. They had obviously been
checked in already. 

The rest of the group followed. It felt strange to be
ogled by the lingering guests as they hung around to see if anyone else famous
would disembark. Not recognizing anyone worth seeing, they soon dispersed.

They waited while the van with the luggage pulled up and
their various bags and suitcases were unloaded. Shari identified hers and
headed to the front desk, pulling her luggage along behind her.

All animals are equal, she thought cynically, but some
animals are more equal than others. The quote from
Animal Farm
popped
into her head as she joined the queue. No queuing for Nick Badley. She
immediately chided herself for complaining. She would be staying at luxury
hotels, flying in private jets and travelling in limousines for the next few
weeks. What was she complaining about? How was it that she was already
beginning to expect VIP treatment? Perhaps she shouldn’t be so quick to judge
Nick Badley.

Shari flopped back onto the king size bed with a sigh of
relief, pushing off her boots with her toes. It wasn’t that the trip had been
tiring. After all, she didn’t have to queue to check in and the short flight in
the luxury jet, feasting on delicious hors d’oeuvres, had been no hardship.
However, the tension on the flight and Nick’s barbs in the limousine made her
feel as if she’d been a couple of rounds in a wrestling match. How she disliked
the man!

Her room was well decorated without being overly
luxurious. The only drawback was the floor to ceiling windows that provided a
view to another hotel across the street. A mountain view would have been nice
but, apart from that, the room was very pleasant. She admired the clean modern
lines of the bedside tables and lamps that were reflected in the huge mirror
facing the bed. This was only her second hotel on the tour and the novelty of
it had not worn off. She wondered how she would feel after ten cities and ten
hotel rooms.