Idol. Carrie Duffy

began, but she had no idea what she was trying to say. He was mesmerizing. If he’d taken her hand right there and then she would have followed him without hesitation.

      ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us?’

      Someone beside them spoke and Jenna tore her gaze away to see Zac Knight, lead guitarist with Phoenix, standing with his arm around his supermodel girlfriend, Amber. Zac was almost as gorgeous as Nick, but in a very different way. Where Nick had classic boy-band good looks, Zac was the archetypal rock star, with his dark, wavy hair and razor-sharp cheekbones. His chocolate-brown eyes swept quickly over Jenna as he told her, ‘Amber’s been dying to meet you.’

      Jenna thought she might hyperventilate. This was unprecedented!

      Zac was legendary for avoiding industry events like this. He’d married young, before the band took off, and he’d been through a messy break-up with his wife, Jessica. He’d fallen head over heels for Amber when they met backstage at New York Fashion Week, wrestling with his conscience as he agonized over whether or not to leave his wife. Amber had finally solved the problem for him by breaking the story to Page Six of the New York Times and ensuring that a first-edition copy was hand-delivered to Jessica Knight. It was a hell of a way to learn that your marriage was over.

      Jenna could still remember the vitriolic headlines and stared curiously at Amber, the woman who’d been labelled a home-wrecker for luring Zac away from his childhood sweetheart.

      ‘We met once before,’ Jenna told her breathlessly. ‘At a party in Marrakech.’

      ‘I don’t remember,’ Amber told her blankly, looking at her with an expression of disdain.

      What a bitch! thought Jenna, returning the haughty stare.

      Okay, so Amber was undoubtedly stunning, Jenna conceded grudgingly, as she took in the silver column dress that emphasized Amber’s slimness and poise. The sleek curtain of copper hair and flawless pale skin demonstrated why she had become the darling of the fashion pack – and why she had become Zac Knight’s girlfriend. But her attitude certainly left a lot to be desired, thought Jenna, bristling with indignation at the put-down.

      ‘Well, it’s great to meet you,’ Zac said lightly. His laid-back accent and relaxed manner quickly melted Jenna’s rigid expression. It was impossible to stay mad on a night like tonight, when she was standing between Zac Knight and Nick Taylor!

      Very gently, almost possessively, Nick put a hand on her arm. It was a gesture of complete confidence, and Jenna caught her breath at the skin-on-skin contact.

      ‘I don’t wanna be greedy, but I think I’d like to monopolize you this evening,’ he said silkily, his gaze never leaving her face. Jenna felt her stomach flip-flop at the way he looked her over.

      ‘I guess we’ll catch up with you guys later,’ smiled Zac, as Amber slipped a wafer-thin arm around his waist.

      ‘Over here, baby, there’s some people I want to introduce you to. It was nice to meet you, Jenna’ Amber lied, steering Zac through the crowd as she led a chorus of exclamations and air kisses.

      As Nick bent his head low to speak to her, Jenna thought she might pass out. She could feel the warmth of his breath against her ear, the intense contact making her skin tingle. And that accent! Phoenix were named after the band’s home city in Arizona, and all the guys spoke with a slow, sexy drawl. It was so fucking delicious, Jenna didn’t think she could ever get tired of it.

      Amazingly, the crowd seemed to leave them alone. It was as though Nick Taylor’s presence acted as a barrier that no one dared penetrate. He was sending out a clear message that Jenna was his and no one else should touch her. She could barely believe that he knew who she was, let alone that he wanted to spend the evening monopolizing her, Jenna thought, a thrill of excitement shooting through her as she recalled his words.

      ‘So,’ Nick began, breaking into an easy smile that lit up his face and made his blue eyes sparkle. ‘Enjoyin’ the party?’

      Life had always come easy to Nick. Since his school-days back in Arizona he’d had no trouble attracting the ladies, keeping the prettiest girls in class on a constant rotation. More interested in music than schoolwork, he found that being in a band sent his pulling power off the scale and he exploited it to the full. He’d even managed to juggle two girls on the night of his high-school prom, making Kacey Ann Kruger wait in line for fruit punch and hotdogs while he deflowered Tiffany Wilkinson in a dark corner of the parking lot.

      ‘Yeah – I mean, it looks amazing,’ Jenna gushed, ‘but I don’t seem to have had a minute to myself.’

      ‘Everyone’s trying to grab a piece of you, huh? I’m not surprised,’ Nick grinned, pointedly looking her over as he allowed his gaze to linger on that hand-span waist and those incredible breasts. Man, he certainly wouldn’t mind grabbing a piece of Jenna Jonsson.

      ‘So what are you up to at the moment?’ Nick asked casually. ‘Only me and the guys – well, you prob’ly heard what went down with Josh …’

      Josh Starr was the lead singer with Phoenix and three days ago he’d quit the band. Rumours had been bubbling away in the press for months, with leaked reports that it had turned pretty nasty towards the end. Jenna was devastated.

      ‘You’re not splitting up, are you?’ she asked in alarm.

      ‘Hell, I don’t know. I don’t think so. I hope not anyway,’ finished Nick, his tone suddenly despondent. He had to raise his voice to make himself heard above the flurry of conversations around them. ‘We’ve talked about carrying on for a while – at least for another album – but with guest artists. A kinda collaborations project, I guess. But nothing’s official yet – it’s just an idea we’ve been throwing around.’

      A thought suddenly occurred to Nick, and he began to speak before he could stop himself. ‘Why don’t you work with us on a track? It’d be awesome.’

      ‘Work with Phoenix?’ Jenna exclaimed, hardly able to believe what he was saying. It was her childhood dream come true! The opportunity to record with her heroes, to see the masters at work – and, of course, to spend an insane amount of time with Nick Taylor …

      ‘Are you sure? I mean, would the other guys want me?’

      A sly grin spread across Nick’s face. ‘Yeah,’ he drawled. ‘We all want you.’ She looked so cute standing there, those huge, green, baby-doll eyes full of insecurity. On the one hand, she was a ball of energy, bristling with confidence and a mesmerizing sexuality, yet there was an air of vulnerability that couldn’t be hidden. He felt a strong urge to take her in his arms and protect her, and an equally strong urge to take her in his arms and fuck her brains out. Don’t think about that now, he warned himself, feeling himself start to get hard. He would come back to that later, when he was banging some groupie.

      Jenna blushed, glancing away in embarrassment. He was ridiculously handsome, able to make her dizzy with a single look. ‘I’m such a huge fan,’ she rambled. ‘I’ve always loved your music, right since the beginning. This would just be a dream. I mean, I’d cancel everything to work with Phoenix.’

      ‘So is that a yes?’ Nick laughed.

      ‘Yes!’ Jenna exclaimed, her excitement impossible to hide as they clinked their champagne glasses to symbolically seal the deal. ‘Yes, yes, yes!’

      2

      Sadie Laine was curled up on her sagging single bed, in the boxroom of the East London house share she rented for an extortionate fee. The walls were damp, the paint was flaking, and the mattress she was sitting on smelt faintly of mould. It was not, Sadie thought with a growing sense of frustration, the kind of place she had dreamed of living when she was a child.

      The old-fashioned TV blared in the corner. No swanky flat-screen for her, just an enormous monster of a thing that was a hand-me-down from her parents and took up all the room on her tiny dressing table. Sadie squinted at the screen as she wrapped her duvet tightly around her and snuggled