Page 7 of Doc Rock
She’d spent six years with Ford, and she now compared the men she met with the memory of him.Unfortunately, everyone she dated seemed to come up lacking. With Ford, all she wantedto do was be with him. She couldobjectivelysee all the irritating things he did, but none of themactuallyannoyed her; she just laughed at him.
The longest she’d dated anyone in the last sixteen years was six months, and by the end, the sound of his breathing made her want to smother him with a pillow.
The man staring back at her from a pair of pink ladies’ knickers had a lot to answer for.
“Can I help you?”
Mai jumped at the voice. In her wander down memory lane, she hadn’t noticed the man approach.“No thanks.”
“If you’re not into the new stuff. I’m just bringing out the old merchandise.”The man dumped a crate of T-shirts onto the table and began to unpack them.“People arereallyinto nostalgia now.”He pulled out a T-shirt and held it up.
Mai’s face flushed, and her ears rang as Midnight Thunder stared back at her. The original lineup. She stared back at herself—all black hair, raccoon makeup and angry pout.
“No. T..t..thanks,”she stuttered and backed away.
She wanted to run. She shouldn’t have come.
The only thing that stilled her feet was her promise to Hel. That promise kept her walking to the medical tent and woodenly introducing herself to the nurse she would be working with, even as the image of her face on a t-shirt was clouding her vision.
Chapter 4
Ford
Fordstoodon the side of the stage like he did before every show, listening to the support act.
Even after all these years in music, he couldn’t get enough of it. While his bandmatesdranka few pre-show beers, hewatchedthe three young men and one young woman in front of him give it their all to an audience whoweren’tthere for them.
He'd become very skilled over the years in picking out the bands who were going to make it, and when Donnie walked up and stood next to him and asked, “Do they have it?”
Ford knew exactly what his manager meant.
“Yeah, they do. Their songsaregood. The energyisgreat, and their frontmanisworkinga crowd whoaren’there to see them. The drummer could be tighter, but he looks about twelve, sohe’sgotplenty of time to develop.”
“Should I sign them?”Donniegesturedto the band. Midnight ThunderwereDonnie’s first clients and the only ones he personallytouredwith, but he nowhada large stable of bands all under his management company.
Ford tilted his head, closing his eyes as he got lost in the music. When the song ended, he opened his eyes and looked at his manager.
“Yeah, you should.”
“Thanks.” Donnie nodded.
The two menstoodin silence through the next song, whichwasquiet, almost beautiful in the verses before itsoaredinto a powerful chorus.
Until Donnieasked,“Do you ever still think about her?”
“Who?”
Ford’s gaze snagged on the girl playing guitar. She looked nothing like Sie, with blonde curls cascading down her back, but when he looked at her, all he saw was a young girl with straight black hair and eyes that looked into his soul.
“You know who.Sie,” Donnie said.
Ford didn’t look at his manager, but his friend’s attention bored into the side of his head. Donnieknewwhat a mess hewaswhen shewalkedaway.Hadlistenedto him ramble on drunkenly about the woman whowashis everything.Pickedhim up off the floor more times than hecaredto remember or could remember, as hewasso oftenblackedout with alcohol and drugs.
Donniewasthe one whotoldhim when itwastime to stop anddrovehim to rehab again and again until itstuck, something Ford would be forever grateful for.
Ford took a deep breath.
“I wish I could say no. But that would be a lie. I still think I see her. Every girl with long dark hair, for a second, my brain tells me it’s her. After sixteen years, it’s madness that I still think about her at all.”
