Taking the Lead(4)

"Axel," he corrected, shaking Grant's hand. "Like the long thing that connects two wheels."

"Sorry?" Grant seemed unprepared to hear an explanation.

"Or an ice skating move," I added. "The one where you jump-spin in the air."

"Yes, exactly," Axel said, with a smile that was like warm sunshine. God, every time he looked at me I felt a thrill, like I was some kind of giddy teenager.

Grant stared at me for a moment, then back at Axel. "I seem to have arrived in the middle of a conversation?"

"Grant, let me introduce my friend Sakura-"

"Charmed, charmed." He shook her hand vigorously.

"And Axel Hawke, the lead singer of The Rough."

"Yes, yes, a prestigious award nominee! Well, let's celebrate." He opened the bar compartment and popped down the shelf, took out a few champagne flutes, handing them around to each of us before attempting to open the bottle. He wrapped his fist around the cork and pulled. Sakura shied away.

After he had strained at it for a minute or so, Axel said, "May I give it a try?"

"No, no, I've got it. It's just stuck," Grant insisted.

He strained at it for a while more, until sweat was clearly shining in the hollows of his eyes.

"Give it here, Grant," I said. He handed the bottle to me.

I handed it to Axel, who took the handkerchief out of his pocket, wrapped it over the cork so it wouldn't fly loose, and then, while holding the cork still in one fist, twisted the bottle. There was an immediate pop sound, and Axel looked me in the eye as he said wryly, "Happy New Year."

He poured a glass and handed it to me. I found it hard not to let my fingers linger where they touched his. After handing around champagne to the others, he set the open bottle in the holder in the bar shelf that was intended for the purpose. We each took a sip.

Then Axel spoke to me as if continuing a conversation, which I guess he was. "We're up against some stiff competition tonight. Jamie Goode is incredibly talented. Kaptain Krunk are so unique, totally original. I'm a big fan of Duwanna, too."

"May the best band win, then," I said, and clinked glasses with him. "Though I still hope it's you who gets it."

He bowed his head slightly, averting those moss-green eyes and then looking at me again. "Thank you. But why?"

Because you're a sexy beast and I'd better content myself with rooting for you since I know I can never actually have you. "Because I know you, and I don't know any of the others," I said, drawing a circle around the four of us with my index finger. Was I that desperate to create some kind of a connection between him and me? Yes. But I wanted a safe connection. "You're our Grammy nominee now."



       
         
       
        

The look in his eyes said he wanted a connection with me, too, and not a "safe" one at all. My hormones were making me dizzy. But I patted Grant on the arm and felt Axel back off. He shifted his weight back slightly, and he looked at Sakura instead of at me.

"How's the champagne? Is it good?" Grant asked, then continued on without waiting for an answer. "It should be. I stole it out of the caterers' stash where they're setting up for my uncle's after-party. It's not like he'll miss it."

Both Sakura and Axel murmured that it was good. All champagne tasted pretty much the same to me, more like bubbles than like wine.

"It'll go flat, you know, so we better drink up," Grant said, waving the bottle. He drained his own glass and then set to filling them again.

"I've got plenty, Grant," I told him.

"Come on, it'll go flat," he insisted, as if I might not have heard him the first time. "Drink up."

If there was one thing I had learned to do, it was to humor a man when he was in his cups. I was getting an inkling that Grant was not exactly Prince Charming, but better the devil you know than the one you don't, right? I resolutely took a very small sip and Grant splashed a tiny splash into the top of my glass to replenish it.

We were in line with the other limos waiting to pull up to the red carpet for a good thirty minutes, maybe longer, which gave Grant plenty of time to harangue me to drink more. I continued to take tiny sips and he continued to drain his glass and then fill it all the way again.

By the time the door opened, the bottle was empty. Grant stuck it upside down into the bottle well in the shelf with great ceremony. "Ta-da," he declared solemnly.

I caught Axel's eye suddenly. His expression was half sympathy that my date was now this boorish drunk and half disdain for him. At least I hoped the sympathy was for me and the disdain for Grant-my heart sank. Even though I kept telling myself I should steer clear of Axel Hawke, the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was anything like Grant Randolph. Spoiled, drunk, pushy, and an idiot. Maybe Grant wasn't the best choice to be photographed with after all, I thought, even if the Blue Star PR department would have liked that.

A moment later a greeter opened the back door of the limo so we could exit, and Grant sped out like a kid off the monorail, throwing his arms wide as he blew kisses to no one in particular, then tripping over his own feet and landing face-first.

The rest of us could not really keep from laughing at that. It was simply too comical. Sakura and I both hid our faces from the open doorway with our hands. "Omigod," she said. I could hear some cameras clicking and when I dared to peek I could see Grant was still facedown. 

"I think my image consultant would say wait a minute before we get out," Axel said.

Riggs, good old Riggs, was helping Grant to get up, then. Riggs was not a small man, a former bouncer as well as a former college linebacker, so Grant really had no choice about the matter.

"Ugh. You guys go. I'll stay in the car and come in the side entrance," I said.

"Don't be silly," Sakura said. "Look, Riggs is dragging him off to the side now. There's quite a distance to go before we hit the actual public area of the carpet, you know. Let's just waltz along, the three of us, before anyone really notices we were supposed to be with him."

"Won't it look odd that I don't have a date, though?" I asked.

"No, because you're each going to take one of my arms," Axel said. "That is, if you're okay with helping me play the playboy, Ms. Hamilton."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" I asked, though I was really asking myself whether I was ready to go through with that.

"It'll be fun," Sakura prodded.

Everyone wanted to be out of that limo by then; the handler was peering in trying to figure out what was taking so long, and I really wanted to be away from the cameras before Grant caught up with us. I had a sudden panic that the Blue Star PR department might blame me if the two of us-Blue Star's favorite son and their newest hot hire-were photographed with Grant puking onto my off-white dress. "Oh, all right. Let's go."

We joined a queue of others in a staging area, while production assistants managed the line and took names and checked credentials.

Finally it was time to step out into the spotlight, though. An usher gave me a hand around the rope, while shutters snapped wildly. Axel followed, provoking shrieks from the spectators. He'd donned dark sunglasses, which made him look more like a killer in a Hong Kong film than a rock star to me, and he held his hand out for Sakura to take.

As she glued herself to his hip, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me snug against his other side. To keep my balance, my hand landed on his stomach. Wow. The tuxedo was hiding how muscled he was, how strong his arms were.

With the two of us attached, Axel made his way through the gauntlet of news cameras, pausing for a few quick interviews. The lights were very bright and I marveled at how he didn't flinch when someone held a microphone right up to his mouth.

"Axel Hawke, so glad we could catch you. The Rough is the hottest new act."

"Thank you," he said with an all-teeth smile.

"We heard that 'The Rough' wasn't the first name of the band?"

"Oh, definitely not. We tried a bunch of things before we agreed on that. I kind of liked Bandit, but there used to be a band called that. My next suggestion was Ass Bandit, but our manager didn't think that one would fly."

Sakura was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

"Is it true you were homeless as a teenager?"

Axel did laugh briefly, as he joked, "No, I just looked like a homeless teenager in our early photo shoots." Then he spoke more seriously, almost vehemently. "Don't disrespect the actual youth out there trying to survive by comparing it to my situation. Being a runaway is no joke and I'm grateful to everyone who has helped me get where I am today."

A little farther down we were stopped by another one who asked, "'Kidnap My Heart' is at number one in three countries now. What will the follow-up single be?"

"Oh, you'd have to ask the record company but my guess is either 'Razor Sharp' or 'Knockout.' "



       
         
       
        

I wondered if any of these sound bites were going to make it to air. I just smiled and appreciated how deftly he was able to handle so many different questions in such a short space of time. As soon as he had passed the last interviewer, he let go of Sakura for a moment, whipped off the sunglasses, and tossed them like a Frisbee into the delirious crowd. As we turned to go up the steps into the theater, though, I lost my footing and nearly fell.