Read Online The Devil's Tattoo by Nicole R. Taylor - Free Book Online

through a few songs, just like we had
earlier, my eyes not missing a beat. As they adjusted their equipment on stage
and tested mics , I took everything in.
    Dee elbowed me. "They're
quite efficient, that lot," he said as they finished up.
    "They've been doing it for a
while."
    "Do you still have a crush on
him?"
    I almost choked on my own spit.
    "I'll take that as a yes."
    "I never said I did," I
hissed.
    "Well you better figure it out, Zo Zo ."
    "Why?"
    "Cos he's coming this way."
    Before I could do anything, Dee jumped
to his feet and walked away as fast as he could, leaving me in the lurch. I
swallowed hard and looked back toward the stage and Will was walking towards me
and I mean it's just me. Everyone else has bailed and I wondered if I was that
obvious.
    I stood as he approached, determined to
get through this with my dignity intact, but he's just too good looking and the
way his hair was falling into his eyes…
    “You’re…”
    “Zoe,” I said abruptly, snapping out of
it and almost falling down the stairs. My back is to the stage now, and I hoped
the light is hiding the massive blush that's crept onto my face.
    “Yeah, I know.” He hid a small smile,
signaling it didn't.
    I’m kind of surprised he knew my name,
but I let it slide. “I would like to say I know your name, but I don’t.”
Total lie.
    He laughed at my bluntness and said,
“I’m Will.”
    “Nice to meet you, Will.” I looked him
up and down and he smiled in a way that would melt the knickers of any two-bit
groupie, but I tried to keep mine on.
    He took my hand and shook it, even
though I didn't offer it to him. If this was one of
those soppy romance novels, I would think that he was trying to find an excuse
to touch me, but it's not and it's probably just weird.
    Behind him, I caught Simone giving me a vigorous thumbs up from where she's been setting up the merch table. When he realised I
was looking at something over his shoulder, he looked back and she turned
around quickly, pretending to tape a shirt to the wall.
    I bit my bottom lip and began to back
away awkwardly. Will looked back at me, a confused expression on his face and I
couldn't help but feel stupid. The last thing I wanted was for him to work out
I had an unobtainable crush on him. Rejection day one of the tour would be
painful and I'd have to live with it for five weeks straight.
    "See you round," I stuttered
and pretty much fled the scene. See you round? See you round?  This
was like one of those teen movies where the popular boy deigns to speak to the
unpopular, slightly geeky girl.
    It was strange how one encounter with
Will Strickland made me crash back down to earth. Like all the work I'd done in
the last few months had been nothing but a facade. I was awkward and shy again.
I hoped when the lights went down and I stood on that stage later, that the new
Zoe would come back out with a vengeance.

 

 
    The rest of the night I managed, with
quite some skill, to avoid Will like the plague. I
stood side of stage and talked with the guys from the support band and to the
venue staff, monopolising on their knowledge. It was
amazing how far I'd come, even to me. Before Dee conned me into joining the
band, I wouldn't have been confident enough in myself to even approach anyone,
let alone talk to them.
    Standing side of stage also afforded a
good glimpse at the crowd that had amassed and I hadn't really focused on
ticket sales, but Chris told me that it was a sell out. That meant almost eight
hundred people had crammed inside the venue and would see us play. And bloody
hell, did we play. We got such an overwhelming response it picked up my mood
from earlier significantly.
    Glancing side of stage mid-set, I was
surprised to see Pete and Will watching us and when they saw
me looking, Pete smiled and Will gave me a little wave. All I could do
was grimace and look away as we went into another song. Don't get sucked in,
Zoe. Don't get sucked in.
    When we're finished, I exited