Carnage: Book #1 The Story Of Us (Volume 1)(23)

We all piled into the stretch limo that was waiting outside the hotel for us just fifteen minutes later, I’d had a cocktail at the hotel bar and my head was swimming but it didn’t stop me enjoying a glass of champagne once Lennon popped the cork and filled our glasses while we rode in the back of the car. Ten minutes later we arrived at the restaurant, our doors were opened for us and we were led through the restaurant to a large table in the centre of the room. Lennon explained that all of this had been arranged by the record label, the tour so far was a huge success and Carnage were receiving fantastic reviews and on the back of that any previously unsold tickets were being snapped up because people wanted to see them play as opposed to Kombat Rock.

We’d only been sat down five minutes when a boy of about sixteen came over and asked for autographs, this was followed ten minutes later by an American girl who was going to the show later. I tried not to let it bother me when she only wanted her photo taken with Sean and not the rest of the band, her Mum finally shifted her fat arse out of my face, after taking a half dozen pictures and Sean reached under the table and grabbed my hand squeezing it tight.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, I shrugged and smiled, he was famous now; it’s what they had worked so hard for all these years. What was I supposed to say? The girl had gone back to her table and I was here with Sean, holding hands, he might be her fantasy but he was my reality, my future and it was me that would be wrapped around him in our hotel room tonight. Besides, we needed girls like her to buy the album so we could save the money for a deposit on our house quicker, bet she didn’t realise that, I should have been grateful to her but I wasn’t, I was jealous and I hated myself for it.

We arrived at the venue for tonight’s concert an hour and a half later, it was about seven on a Friday evening, Carnage were due on stage at around eight thirty, Kombat Rock at around nine thirty, so we had some time before the show. I’d never been back stage at such a big event, Lennon had offered to get us tickets for the best seats but I hate sitting down at concerts and Sean had refused to let me go into the mosh pit so we would be watching from the sides of the stage instead. I had butterflies as we pulled around the back of the building and saw the crowds queuing to get in, obviously most of the crowd were there to see K R but there were also a lot of Carnage t-shirts and banners that I spotted on the way.

We were shown through the back doors of the venue and Jimmie and I were issued with back stage passes, the boys were changing out of the clothes they’d worn for dinner and we were shown into a function room as they went off to change. The room was already fairly full of people; competition winners waiting to meet the bands, men in suits who I assume were from the record label, a couple of journalists and photographers and lots and lots of women, it made me feel sick, some of them were beautiful, some of them not so much.

A waiter appeared at my side and asked if Jimmie and I would like a drink, we both requested a vodka and lemonade and it was bought back to us in just a couple of minutes. Sean appeared back at my side, he had taken off his Ben Sherman shirt and changed into a vintage looking James Dean t-shirt but he was still wearing his jeans and Doc Martin boots. He looked gorgeous but then as far as I was concerned he looked gorgeous in anything, obviously I wasn’t the only one to think so judging by the stares he was getting from what I could only assume to be groupies and the dirty looks they were giving me. A really tall woman who looked about thirty five who had been giving me daggers even before Sean had arrived back, made her way over to us; Sean had his arm around my waist and lent in to kiss my temple as the waiter bought him and the rest of the band members a beer.