Page 4 of The Deviation

I swallow my last bite of burrito before answering. “There was one.” With jet black hair, smooth olive skin, and the kind of intensely baffled stare I’ve only ever seen in romcoms. His gaze alone was like a live wire, zapping me from a distance and setting off sparks beneath my skin. Even the memory has every hair on my body standing on end.

“Don’t go speechless on me now,” Hannah cries in my ear. “Tell me aboutthe one.” Christ, nowshe’smaking it sound like we’re in a romcom.

“There was a guy. We locked eyes across the crowded VIP tent. He was hot. The end.”

She gasps, unreasonably excited. “That can’t be the end. What happened?”

“I did what any grown man who values his professional reputation would do. I turned tail and fled.”

“Noooo,” she moans. “Tell me you didn’t pull a Cinderella on the hot dude.”

“Both of my shoes are still securely on my feet, thank you very much. What did you expect me to do? I was with Arthur discussing tomorrow’s schedule. Could you imagine his reaction if some random musician hit on me right in front of him? He’d be dobbing me in to the boss before I could say,Thanks, but no thanks.”

“He can’t get you fired for someone else’s actions.”

“He’d sure as hell try,” I mutter. “Fraternising with potential clients would be the perfect excuse.” Arthur and I stopped getting along when I realised how poorly he treats the people whose work underpin his success, artists and interns alike. He’d show me the door if he could, but the CEO of Rush, Genevieve, happens to like me. She took a chance by hiring me as an intern despite my lack of training in entertainment management. My eagerness to speed-learn the business over the last year and a half has kept me in her good graces. Still, if Arthur can find a way to make me look bad in front of her, he’ll jump on it.

There’s more tutting from my sister. “What if he wasn’t a musician? Would you still have said,Thanks, but no thanks?”

I huff out a laugh. “Not convincingly.” Or for long. “But he was in the VIP tent, so…”

“That doesn’t mean anything.Youwere in the VIP tent andyou’renot a musician.”

“I’m also wearing what are obviously work clothes. Mr Hottie had on jeans and a t-shirt.” The denim clung. The shirt was snug. Oh yeah, his eyes weren’t the only part of him that caught my attention. That man reached out to me on all the relevant levels.

“You do know all work and no play makes you a dull boy, right?”

“I believe you’ve told me a time or twenty.”

“And it’s always true,” she teases. “Hey, I know what you should do. You should go back, find your man, and seduce the crap out of him. That would be fuuun.” The final whispered word drags out into eternity.

Dropping my head into my free hand, I groan. “This conversation has taken an oddly disturbing turn.”

“Come on, it could be like a bonus birthday present.”

I choke on the shock first, and the laughter second. “How do you turn me screwing some random stranger into a gift to you?”

She gives a sigh of exasperation. “When you put it like that it sounds weird.”

“You’re weird.”

“You’re weirder.”

We fall into a comfortable silence as I finish the last of my iced tea. The festival crowd wanders past my table. Groups of friends, lovers holding hands. Around and between them, I catch a glimpse of movement in the shadows beyond. A man, standing alone. His body is turned side-on so I can only see his profile, but his feet shift in a restless way that seems vaguely familiar. I peer closer. Is that…?

“I don’t believe it.”

“Don’t believe what?” Hannah asks.

“He’s here.”

“Who? Arthur? Because you’re supposed to be done—”

“Not Arthur,” I hiss. “The one.” Damn it, we need to pick a different nickname. “I mean, the guy from earlier.”

Hannah gives a loud gasp. “Where is he?”

“About five metres from where I’m sitting.” I don’t know why I’m whispering, it’s not like he can hear me over all the noise. I sit frozen to the spot, staring at him. His hands are jammed deepinto his pockets, and his jaw is clenched tight. There’s an edge of expectancy to every subtle shift of his body, as if he’s waiting for something. Or someone?