Jane followed Mo out the back of the stage where an enormous door the size and width of a double decker bus was standing open, with a truck pulled up to it. There were numerous huge, hairy and bearded blokes loading equipment up. Mo took her past the door to the other side of the stage. Half a dozen steps brought them to another exit. He opened this one and stepped back. She found herself in a well-lit corridor, both wide and long, with numerous doors on the left hand side. Windows to the right looked out onto the loading bay. She was truly backstage now she figured, and the rooms to her left were offices and dressing rooms.

She walked slightly ahead of Mo, questioning why he was hanging back. When she turned to look at him, he lifted his gaze from her backside and smiled lasciviously. “This way,” he said again, and stepped past her.

She could hear the party long before they arrived at it. Guns N’ Roses were booming out of some speakers. She followed Mo into a large reception room and stared around in amazement. There were dozens of people hanging out. Some were leather and denim clad and obviously fans, or involved in the music scene somehow themselves, others were more smartly dressed, men in suits, women in short revealing frocks.

Jane stood and stared, her head swivelling from left to right and back again. She thought she recognised a couple of guys from Def Leppard, and was that really Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath? She peered around for members of Wild Dogz and spotted Bobo, lounging on a couch with a woman slightly older than herself with the longest hair she had ever seen. It was caramel coloured and spread out around her in a wonderful pre-Raphaelite frizzy halo. She was smoking an enormous spliff. When the woman caught Jane staring at her, she grinned, waving the spliff her way.

Jane glanced away quickly. It wasn’t that she never imbibed, more that she felt incredibly shy and completely out of place here.

She spotted Mikhail, surrounded by a gaggle of attentive teenage groupies. Most of them did not appear to be legal. Jane was aghast.

Mo watched her as she looked around, taking in her surroundings, and when her focus returned to him, he smiled and took her arm, leading her to a table in a dark corner. People were gathered there, bending over, snorting lines of cocaine and shrieking with laughter.

“Would you like a hit?” Mo asked. It explained his tiny pupils, Jane figured.

Jane shook her head and backed off. Her mind made up. This was no place for her. She needed to find Terri and get out. The gig had been amazing; however, she was a fish out of water in a place like this. “No,” she replied. “Thanks for the invite but I really need to go.”

Mo grabbed her elbow, “You need to loosen up, babe. I can introduce you to some big names if you play your cards right.”

Jane yanked her arm back, and turned away, knocking into a girl standing behind her and spilling her drink.

The woman shrieked and glared at Jane. “Watch it!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” Jane placated her. The girl, archetypal biker chick with shaggy blonde hair, snarled at her. Underneath the thick make-up she was probably no older than sixteen or seventeen, her figure was straight up and down with no hint of a curve. This was no place for a kid her age.

“Hi again,” said a deep voice next to her. “Are you causing trouble, here?” Jane looked up into Silas’s amused face.

“She spilled my drink,” the girl said.

“It’s a free bar, Monty. Help yourself,” Silas instructed, hardly taking his eyes from Jane. The girl huffed and puffed on the periphery. Jane had stopped hearing her.

“Can I get you a beer or anything?” Silas asked Jane, and Monty stomped away.

“I’ve got one,” Jane said and lifted her bottle. “Mo kindly gave me his.”

Silas shot Mo a look. Mo squirmed and meandered back to the cocaine table, leaving Jane and Silas together.

“Did he now?” Silas took the bottle from Jane and she thought he would drink from it, but instead he stalked angrily away and threw it into a bin in disgust, the contents splashing the walls and floor.

“What’s your name, sweet lady?” he asked when he returned.

“Jane.”

“Jane what?”

“Jane Fraser.”

“I’m Silas Garfield.”

Jane shook her head and grinned. “I know who you are.”

“You do? Shucks. Well, Jane Fraser, let me find you a different drink.” He led her to the bar. “You like beer?”

She nodded. “Bitter if you have it.”

He found some and cracked open two bottles with one of the numerous bottle openers lying around, handing the first to her, and holding his own up. “To you, Jane.”

Jane laughed self-consciously, “and to you.”

“To us, then.”

“Okay. To us.” They clinked bottles and drank.

“What was wrong with Mo’s drink?” Jane asked.

Silas shrugged. “Maybe nothing.”

“Oh right.” Jane looked pointedly at the bin.

Silas led her away from the bar, and put some distance between himself and everyone else. That was difficult to do, the room was so crowded. He leant closer to her. “Put it this way, on my watch I’d prefer you didn’t accept anything from that dude.”

“Really? He’s your manager.”

“Hopefully not for much longer. He was the record company’s idea. I preferred it when it was us and Dewey.”

“Dewey was your manager?”

“Back in the day, hell yeah. And a good one he was too.”

“Was he at high school with you too?” Jane knew Silas, Bobo and Mikhail had met at school and formed the group at that time.

“Dewey and I go way back. We were at kindergarten together. He’s always been a fat bastard, but I love him.”

“You guys were so young when you first started.”

“Fourteen. Fifteen. Yeah, it was kind of young. We didn’t get a record deal for a few years though. That was our saving grace. Gave us some time to get a little better at what we do. Or try to do.”

“The gig was amazing tonight.” Jane said wistfully. She wanted to see him perform all over again.

“Well thank you, Jane Fraser,” smiled Silas, “That’s sweet of you to say. Are you here on your own?”

“No. I came with a friend. I’m worried about where she is.”

“Do you need to go find her?” Silas asked, having to turn away as someone called his name.

While he was otherwise engaged, Jane looked around the room again. The party table had drawn a large crowd of braying professional types intent on their own pleasure, but elsewhere, she and Silas were the focus of a great deal of attention. People were looking over, some openly pointing, or obviously talking about them. She felt self-conscious again, standing in such close proximity to this rising metal star, aware of her unkempt fingernails and split ends, in a room full of immaculately turned-out women. Even those who had dressed down were clad head to toe in designer leather and denim, and ultra-expensive plain tees. 

Silas returned his attention to her just as Mo walked over.

“Sorry to interrupt, Silas. I really need you to have a chat with the NME people over here. They’re thinking of doing a big spread on Wild Dogz and they’d like you on the cover. Would you mind?”

Silas pursed his lips and nodded curtly. “Sure,” he said. “I’m sorry about this, Jane Fraser. Duty calls. Would you mind?”

Jane shook her head. “No, of course not. It’s your party!”

Silas leaned into Jane as though kissing her cheek. “Remember what I said,” he murmured quietly and backed off. “I’ll be back as soon as I can extricate myself, I promise.”

He followed Mo to where a group of men huddled in the corner. The music journalist shook Silas’s hand enthusiastically and they began conversing. Mo gazed back at Jane while Silas chatted, oblivious. Shuddering, Jane turned away, pondering whether Dewey had located Terri yet. She headed towards the door, intent on looking out into the corridor. Monty manoeuvred herself so that she was blocking Jane’s way.

“What are you doing with him?” the young blonde girl asked.

Jane studied her, unsure how to respond. She speculated on whether or not Monty was high.

“I’m not doing anything with him as you can clearly see.” Jane indicated the empty space surrounding her and made an attempt to step around Monty.

Monty side-stepped so that she blocked Jane’s way.

“You can’t crash the party and take what’s not yours, you know?” Monty slurred, her eyes half closed. “And he’s not yours.”

“I’m not taking anything, or anyone. I’m just having a beer.”

Monty snorted. “Yeah, whatever. You’ll only be another one of his conquests, you know. Another easy lay. He always comes back to me.” She tottered off on impossibly high heels, wobbling across the room to where the cocaine party was in progress. Jane watched her go, astonished.

“She’s right you know.” A voice she had come to recognise and be repelled by. Mo stood at her shoulder, having apparently heard the whole exchange.

Jane shook her head, irritated. What sort of a person did they think she was?

“Every gig is the same. He summons a cute girl up on stage, and invites them to the party afterwards. I bet he told you not to drink anything except what he gave you too, huh?” Jane looked at her bottle and Mo sniggered. “You seem decent enough, but darling, you’re merely another potential notch on his bedpost.”

Jane stared in disbelief at Mo, her fury mounting. “You’re assuming you know a great deal about me, and I can assure you I’m nobody’s easy lay. Now piss off,” she hissed through gritted teeth, “and leave me alone.”

She turned on her heel. Mo’s laughter stopped her in her tracks. She swivelled around, intent on hurling her half empty bottle of beer at the revolting specimen, but she couldn’t let his goading spoil what had been a wonderful evening. Coming to her senses, she instead dropped the bottle into the bin, where Silas had thrown Mo’s drink not ten minutes before. The glass smashed and a number of people looked Jane’s way. She didn’t give a damn.

She stormed to the door and into the corridor beyond.

As she walked steadily away, Jane could hear someone calling her. She ignored them.

“Hey? Hey. Hey! Jane Fraser?”

Silas. She stopped and he caught up with her.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “Don’t leave. The party’s just beginning.”

“This isn’t my kind of scene, Silas. Thanks for an amazing night.”

“But we’ve only just begun to get to know each other.” Silas took her hands.

“I have to find my friend. She has my jacket.”

“You can borrow my jacket.” Jane shook Silas off and glared at him. How could she begin to make him understand?

At that moment she heard a shriek from the bottom of the corridor and there at last was Terri, running towards her, waving Roy’s leather jacket, with Dewey following quickly behind. “Jane!” she shouted. “Get you!”

The relief at seeing Terri was enormous. “Where have you been?” scolded Jane. “I was worried.”

“Worried about me? I bumped into Scott Gilmore. Do you remember him? We went out for a while. Well, he’s some big noise in Mars, or Cadbury’s, or something now. I forget which. Because suddenly … you were on stage and I was like oh my god, that’s my best friend! My best friend is famous!” Terri’s voice rose to a shriek and the women laughed together.

Terri turned to Silas and raised her eyebrows before glancing back at Jane. “Are you going to introduce us?”

For the first time ever, Jane felt a sudden pang of regret that Terri was so attractive and personable. All the boys and men she had ever known had been drawn to Terri like bees to a flower. Here she was, having made a fool of herself on stage, and having had a tantrum back stage. She’d been out of order and rude. There was no way Silas could have spiked her drink, she’d seen him open the bottles. Mo had simply been stirring trouble, for his own selfish ends. Now, he would dismiss her and she would watch him make a move on her best friend. Maybe it served her right.

She turned sheepishly to Silas.

“Silas, this is my friend, Terri. Terri, this is Silas.”

Silas lifted Terri’s hand and kissed her fingers, much as he had with Jane onstage. “Enchanté,” he said and took a small bow. “Delighted to meet you.”

Terri giggled. “Why you’re a mighty fine Texan boy, Silas,” she said mimicking his accent. “I am thrilled to make your acquaintance.” She turned back to Jane and pulled a face, her eyes wide in shock.

“Thanks for finding her for me, Dewey,” Jane said, and Dewey doffed an imaginary hat.

“Pleased to be of service.”

“Dewey is our saviour,” Terri giggled and linked her arm through Jane’s. “Is there anything to drink around here?”

“Well,” Jane began, intending to tell Terri she didn’t particularly want to return to the party, however she felt Silas was owed an explanation. She glanced at Silas uncertainly. He smiled at Terri and her heart sank.

“Can you persuade Ms Fraser to stay?” asked Silas.

“You can count on me, boy!”

He took the jacket she was holding and held it out to Jane. “Is this yours?” he asked, and when she nodded, he held it up and open so that she could slip into it, then turned her round and straightened the collar.

“Don’t leave,” he said quietly.