Three Words: A Novella Collection (7 page)

*****

Two hours and
three encores later, a sweaty Hawk Moon exited the stage. Sucking
in air to recover his breath, he locked his fingers on the top of
his head and paced for a bit, appearing to listen to the still
deafening roar from the crowd. As if on cue, people began to
gather, congratulating him on the performance, giving him a towel
to wipe his sweat, handing him a cup of steaming herbal tea and a
bottle of energy water. He looked exhausted but pleased.

“
It went off out there, right?” he asked one of the
crew.

“
It was rockin’ Henry. We got some awesome footage for the
DVD. Haven’t seen a crowd reaction like that since the show in
Paris.”

“
Yeah, that was the night they threw undies at me.”

“
And that girl somehow got through the security barrier and
got on stage.”

“
I’d forgotten about that,” Henry chuckled. “But I think this
one was better. What’d you think, Daisy?”

Daisy, who
until then had been so mesmerised by the entire concert she’d been
unable to even sing along, pulled herself together. “I thought you
were brilliant. But then, I’m no judge. I’ve never seen you live
before.”

“
At least you’re honest. Some of these guys will say anything
to keep me happy. Right boys?” He gestured to the crew.

“
Never!”

“
You know we only tell it like it is.”

“
Yeah, right,” Henry laughed, holding out his hand for Daisy
to get off her stool. “Come on, Daisy. We’ve got a party to go
to.”

Chapter 8

The journey
from the Sandalford Estate to Yallingup, where they were to eat
dinner was an ordinary car ride by any standards, if Daisy didn’t
count the fact that she was in a limousine with Hawk Moon, surround
sound stereo and a fully stocked mini bar. The conversation began
with a blow-by-blow recap of the concert’s highs and lows. Daisy,
being the concert novice, didn’t feel qualified to offer her
opinion especially seeing as the only one she could give consisted
of one word sentences like ‘awesome’ and ‘fabulous.’ Instead, she
sat listening to the differing accounts of what each person had
thought.

“
Well, I dunno what it was,” said the man that Daisy now knew
to be the bass guitarist of Henry’s band (how was she to know? He
looked like a different person without the leathers and makeup.)
“But you were on fire tonight, Bro. If I didn’t know better I’d
swear someone put some happy juice in your water
bottle.”

“
Yeah,” another band member agreed. “And that impromptu solo
at the end. Seriously, man we have to write that into the
set.”

Henry looked
pleased but said nothing. He merely glanced over at Daisy, an
almost shy grin on his face.

“
What about you? You having a good time?” he asked her,
quietly.

“
The best. If I ever go to another concert, it’s going to have
to be fairly amazing to beat the experience I’ve had
tonight.”

“
Good.” Henry said, before sinking into a reflective
silence.

By the time
they reached the house that Georgia had rented for Henry and his
entourage during their stay, the place was already glowing bright
enough to be seen in outer space. Up-lit bulbs sent spirals of
silver light through the eucalyptus trees along the drive and into
the sky and the house itself was lit like an over-the-top Christmas
tree with hundreds of spotlights trained on its walls and garden.
It looked to Daisy like they’d cost more to run for one night than
she earned in a week. Personally, she tried to save electricity in
order to do her bit for the environment, not waste it on frivolous
things like outdoor lighting. But then, she didn’t have a house
like the one in front of her.

The house
itself was breath taking. Long, sleek and white, it nestled into
the sand dunes and surrounding garden camouflaging itself from the
big world outside. Large banks of windows gave a view straight
through the house to the pool and ocean on the other side. It was
magical but just how did you go about getting showered or changed
in a place like that, Daisy mused. Surely, anyone standing in the
garden could see everything if you had the light on. It’d be like
showering at the gym only a hundred times more public.

The limousine
containing Henry, Daisy, Georgia and the others turned down the
bitumen driveway and edged its way to the front door which
instantly sprang open, spewing a few groupies and some of the crew
onto the terrace in a game of adult chasings which seemed to
involve taking off items of clothing as you ran. Loud whoops and
hollers that sounded more like a footy match than a party, echoed
through the quiet of the garden. Heavy dance beats followed in
their wake.

“
Looks like the party started without us,” Henry said, leaning
to look out the window.

Daisy’s eyes
widened as one of the men threw a girl to the grass and began to
kiss her earnestly. Another tipped a bottle of water over them and
they ran back into the house, semi-naked. What was she supposed to
do now? Ignore it? Laugh along with the others who were catcalling
out the window? Daisy had absolutely no idea. But these were
Henry’s people and she was his guest so she guessed she had to suck
it up. And anyway, she was positive it wouldn’t all be an orgy. Or
would it?

The car came
to a stop in a covered portico outside the house and the door was
flung open revealing two girls, identical twins, wearing the
tiniest of bikinis ~ matching, of course. Their huge sets of
matching breasts bounced like rockmelons in a string bag as they
leant into the car and reached across, grabbing Henry by either
hand.

“
Come on, Hawk,” the sisters giggled. “Steve’s been doing
shots for twenty minutes already. We think you need to catch
up.”

Trying not to
choke, Daisy attempted to extract herself from the large mouthful
of brunette hair extensions and boob that were pressing into her
face. She thought she was going to suffocate. This was worse than
having her face sat on by the bully when she was in Year Six. Did
these people have no manners? Couldn’t they have waited a minute
while she got out of the car?

“
Um, excuse me,” she mumbled. “Do you think you
could…?”

Sighing, she
sunk back into the leather of her seat. Clearly, they couldn’t hear
her, or if they had they were ignoring her. Either way, she’d have
to wait until they moved of their own accord. She hoped it’d be
soon.

With more
giggling and adjusting of the breasts and bums that were falling
from their suits, the girls dragged Henry over the top of Daisy and
out the door of the car, where he landed on the ground with a thud.
He rubbed at his knee and cursed under his breath.

“
For God’s sake, girls,” he scolded, brushing himself down and
standing, “Was there any need for that? I could’ve got out by
myself. I don’t need a freakin’ entourage.”

“
But we
are
your entourage, Hawk!” one of the girls
exclaimed. “It’s like totally our job to help you out and do the
little things for you.”

Henry groaned.
“Well, yes, but that only applies to massages and getting me the
paper. Not dragging me into the dirt. You’ve embarrassed me in
front of my date.”

Date?

Daisy stopped,
one leg out of the car and one leg in. Her ears pricked up like
Rex’s when he thought he heard a rabbit. Nobody had told her this
was a date. Suddenly anxious, she looked back to Georgia wondering
what her reaction would be to Henry’s admission but the other girl
had already opened the opposite door and disappeared into the
house. Was it possible they were one of those ‘open’ couples that
didn’t date exclusively? Or maybe she’d read their relationship
wrong, something she was fairly good at if she considered her own
with Jack. Whatever, Daisy had to know. She could never go out with
a man who was seeing other girls. It wouldn’t be right.

Deciding to
try and stay calm after such a shock, Daisy got out of the car and
looked about her. That cedar-lined ceiling really was
spectacular.

“
You okay, Daisy?” Henry asked, his tone showing more concern
that she was used to in a man.

“
Yep. Fine.”

“
Coming in?”

Daisy bit her
lip. She looked around. This was so grand but grand was about as
far from her life as polar bears living in the tropics. It was all
very well to sit side stage at Henry’s concert, to be his personal
guest but did she really want to go inside the house with him? As
his date? Was she ready for what was going on inside? She’d read
stories. She’d seen
Almost Famous
years ago at the movies in
Bunbury. She wasn’t a fool.

Deep down,
Daisy knew she was a small town girl. A trip to the movies was a
big day out for her. And despite getting pregnant at seventeen,
she’d lived a sheltered life until Avery had gone off to high
school. Since then, she’d learnt all types of things she was
seriously convinced she didn’t need to know, thanks to her
daughter’s new life in the city. But did she want to take her life
this one step further? Or was she going to sit around like a sissy
and wonder for the rest of her life about the could-have-beens? She
had no idea where this thing with Henry was going ~ or if it
was
even a thing. A cute smile thrown in her direction and a
kiss on the cheek didn’t necessarily mean he liked her. It could
simply be that he was affectionate with his friends.

“
Daisy?”

Disengaging
himself from the two little limpets that held him firm, Henry
turned back towards the car, where Daisy was still standing staring
at the pattern of wood on the ceiling.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked.

Daisy gave him
a weak smile. “Guess I’m a bit overwhelmed. This is so far out of
my comfort zone.”

“
You don’t usually stay out this late?” Henry
teased.

“
I don’t usually go out. Period. I’m more of a
homebody.”

“
Funnily enough, I am too. I just don’t get to go there very
often.”

Henry took her
hand. It was big and warm and it made her feel secure. Even the
tips of his fingers, hardened with calluses from years of playing
guitar, felt nice.

“
Don’t worry. I won’t leave your side. And any time you want
to go home, say the word and Joseph’ll take you. Come
on…”

“
But what about Georgia? Won’t she be upset?”

A deep furrow
formed on Henry’s brow. She could see him trying to fathom out her
cryptic question. Then he began to laugh. “You didn’t think?
Georgia and me? After all the things we talked about last night,
you think I’m the big rock star who waltzes in and claims any girl
he wants? I’m wounded to the core.”

He pounded his
heart with is fist, his face looking equally clownish and
pathetic.

“
You haven’t answered the question.”

Henry became
serious. “Georgia’s my personal assistant. End of story. My life’d
be shit without her telling me what to do and where to go, not that
I’d ever tell her that. It inflates her own self-importance out of
all proportion when she thinks she’s right and she can become a tad
difficult to live with.”

“
I can imagine.”

“
There’s never been anything between us other than a
professional relationship. I’m as single as they come.” His eyes
twinkled as he looked down at her. “Well, I have been for a while.
That could change, I suppose.”

Daisy tingled.
She wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. Henry
was interested in her. As a woman. He wasn’t interested in having
as many girls as he could.

“
But Georgia’s in love with you. Doesn’t that make things
awkward?”

“
George’d like it to be something else, I know that. But I
told her a long time ago that friends are all we’d ever be. I
couldn’t be in a relationship with her. She’s the bossiest woman in
the world,” he grinned. “I’d end up killing her.”

Daisy nodded.
She liked that Henry was being so honest.

“
Now is there anything else we need to clear up before we go
inside, Your Majesty?” Henry asked.

“
Don’t think so.”

“
Good. ‘Cause it’s bloody cold out here.”

*****

Despite what
Daisy had expected from her initial exposure, the party wasn’t that
Rock ‘n’ Roll. When they got inside, Henry disappeared for twenty
minutes to take a shower and everyone else sat around chilling and
listening to music while Henry’s chef cooked them up a late night
barbecue. Out on the terrace, the twins had the stereo blaring and
were taking it in turns doing bombs into the pool followed by body
shots with a man Daisy assumed was Steve, but there was nobody
having crazy unprotected sex or taking drugs. There wasn’t even
anyone smoking. It was a bit of a let down really.

Taking a seat
on the hammock, Daisy swung back and forth humming to the music.
This was fun but it wasn’t her scene and these people didn’t know
her, so apart from Joseph the driver and the twins, who turned out
to be Henry’s personal physiotherapist and masseuse, nobody paid
her any heed. She thought it quite strange. At home, everyone went
out of their way to make new people welcome. Here, she was merely
one of a crowd.

“
There you are.”

Daisy looked
up to find Henry standing beside the hammock, a broad smile on his
face and two plates of food and some champagne in his hands.