Page 29 of Rock Giant

“He just is.”

She looked back at the Ghost Boys’ guitarist, who shrugged.“I’m the one that Harry and Brian trust with the funds.”

Ah, so he wasn’t paying.He just happened to be overseeing the expenses.Made sense.Lee was fair, if he wasn’t always sensible.But at least with him in charge they’d all get the same deal.No one person would wind up living on Pot Noodles because one of them had blown the budget on caviar to spread over a groupie’s tits and then lick off.Nope, it’d be Pot Noodles or caviar all round.

“What do you fancy, Jo-Jo?”Lee bumped up against her arm as she was reading through the various versions of chips, burgers, and kebabs.

Honestly, what she wanted was some decent home-cooked grub.She’d worked at too many fast-food places to ever want to eat from them, and none of the associated memories were good.

“We can try another booth if nothing’s grabbing you.”

“Chicken tikka kebab on a naan, with pickles and salad.”

“That it?”

She gave Lee a nod.Balin and Nash had already ordered enough food to keep her going for a week, so she was sure there’d be plenty if she wanted something extra.Sadly, there weren’t many vegetables.Damn, what she craved right now was a nice crunchy apple, or a peach.Yeah, a nice fuzzy skinned peach.

“Quill, what about you?”Lee asked.

Jez stuck his pointy nose in the air and gave a sniff.“I’ll pass.Not hungry.I can pick up something later if I want it.”He did a one eighty and headed off.

“He’s not doing so good,” she observed.

Lee blew out a long sigh.“It’s the fucker’s own fault.He shouldn’t have given Rune his marching orders.Fuck knows why he did it.”

“He hasn’t said?”

“Just some bollocks… Whatever the real reason, he’s keeping that to himself.”

Whatever it was had to be big, surely, given how much it was clearly hurting him.She hadn’t believed in the notion of soul mates until she’d encountered them and had her opinion resoundingly altered.

The food arrived fast.Nash bounded over with her order, and the four of them found a patch of grass to sit on while they ate.The site had grown busier over the course of the day, and now the sun had gone down the music had started.Bass and drums from both the main and second stages reached them, creating a strange, amalgamated medley.Out on the main site things were obviously rocking; even within the band enclosure a party atmosphere was building.

Scores of scantily-clad girls walked past in cutoff shorts and microscopic tops, some of them in wellies, others in sandals, one or two in ridiculous heeled boots.They pinched chips and kisses off the guys, but soon wandered on in search of more prestigious offerings.In contrast, the guys strolling about fell into two camps: band and crew, identifiable by the expensiveness of their jeans and tees as in stupidly overpriced versus seen better days.

The guys pointed out various famous faces and exchanged hellos with one or two.Eventually, Balin got to his feet and announced he was going to head over to the main stage to catch that night’s headliners.Nash hastened upright too but faced her with his mouth turned down when he realised she’d stayed seated.

“You can go, Nash.I’ll be fine.I can hang with Lee.”

“Well actually.”Lee flipped onto his feet too, winning him applause from various passer-bys, and mutterings of “show off” and “wanker” from his mates.

Jodi stood too, rather than straining her neck looking up at them.

“Do you mind, babe?”Nash pleaded, hands clasped together and looking downtrodden.“You could come with us.”

She wasn’t much for crowds, nor was she a fan of the band they were heading over to check out.They were all growl and doom.And I say DOOOOOM!If it were tomorrow night, then she’d be there to check things out, but she’d be there anyway to watch the guys, and maybe… just maybe, she’d stick around and see if she could catch a glimpse of Black Halo live.She’d do so from a distance though.No point in putting herself in a position where she was likely to embarrass herself, or the guys, or more likely be plain old disappointed when Paul “Rock Giant” Reed failed to remember he’d met her.

Yeah, best to keep her distance.

Would Rock Giant have actually forgotten her?

Maybe she was just one of many crazy girls who’d kidnapped him, drowned a bus, sailed down a river and rescued kitties with him.

Was that likely?

Best she worked out some spiel in case his memories of that night were as vivid as hers.If he said, “Hey, if it isn’t my kidnapper,” she’d use that as a means of establishing her connection to Nash, whose heart she’d kidnapped, rather than his person.She’d be all look at me with my shit together and he’d be all look at you with your shit together, and they’d go their separate ways and that would be it.No remembering, no reminiscing, nothing to cause anyone any alarm.She wouldn’t have to explain to Nash that she’d accidentally absconded with a tour bus and drowned it in a previous life, or that she’d sailed down a river on a boat coat with one of metal’s favourite bass players, or that he’d named her kittens, made her the best brew ever, and screwed her so good with his pierced rock giant that she’d been walking bowlegged for days after.

Yeah, none of that, because that was past Jodi, not present Jodi.She’d found her feet.Found her way to Valencia.Found Nash.Hell, she’d discovered the Ghost Boys.Without her the band wouldn’t be, they’d said so themselves, and Black Halo wouldn’t be about to rock a score of nations accompanied by a stellar support act.