BlackJack (A Standish Bay Romance Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

need
tae go. Ah’ll have Shannon and Cameron wait at the bottom of the stairs tae the
left of the stage.”
    Cole opened his
eyes and stared into the face of his closest friend, the friend, who had also
loved his wife. AJ didn’t know he knew, but he did. He may have been drunk all
those years ago, but not stupid, not by a long shot. He also knew others
received her favors besides AJ. The prick, Mr. Ex-New York Senator himself was
included among the long list. Cole would never forgive him for his cruel words
spoken right after Lindsey’s death when he’d needed his close friends support
as much as he’d needed air to breathe. If the senator had publically acknowledged
that he believed in his innocence, things might have gone differently at his
trial. He sighed. Ancient history, man, ancient history.
    “Cole, ye okay
man?”
    Taking a deep
breath, he pushed those memories of Lindsey back into the recesses of his mind.
He didn’t need to be thinking about all the things that had gone wrong in their
marriage, in their life. Now would be a bad time for the rage that sometimes
consumed him when he thought about her unfaithfulness. Never mind the melancholy
because she no longer walked the earth.
    “Yeah, go on. I’ll
be right there.”
    “Aye, don’t be
long. Our fans have waited fifteen long years for this.”
    Once alone,
Cole grabbed crackers and a Coke and headed down the hall to the stairs leading
up to the stage. The stage hustled with road crew members putting the finishing
touches to the set. Hard to believe behind BlackJack’s enormous banner sat
thousands of fans in darkness waiting for them to appear. He could hear the
enthusiastic hum of the crowd and see the flames from lighters and the glow
from cell phones. Not an empty seat in the house, approximately eighteen-thousand
fans. Oh shit , he mused as his stomach protested again. He shouldn’t
have eaten those crackers.
    He barely made
it to the barrel in time before he lost the contents of his stomach once again.
As he straightened, mortification slammed into him at finding Shannon and Cameron
standing close by, having witnessed it. His stomach took another roll. His hand
fished in his front jeans pocket and came out with a small tin of mints. He popped
one into his mouth to kill the awful taste.
    “Hey, Cameron,
you ready?” Was that really his voice ?
    Cameron shook
his head in return. “Hell no.”
    “After the
third song you’re up.” He tossed him the mints and turned his back. His hand
gripped the railing as he pulled himself up one metal stair at a time, silently
praying he could pull this off.
    ***
    Shannon held
her breath and counted the beats of her pounding heart as Cole walked onto the
dark stage. Several seconds later the lights exploded, momentarily blinding her
as they opened with one of their biggest hits, “Misty Mornings.” She inched
closer up the stairs, careful to stay out of the spotlights, and stood captivated
by Cole’s stage presence. One would never know by watching him now that he’d
thrown-up before taking the stage. And boy, did he know how to play to a crowd,
and they welcomed him with open arms. Shannon’s eyes stung with unshed tears. She
knew this must be extremely hard on him, and fortunately the fans from Boston
welcomed him enthusiastically.
    He traded in
his acoustic guitar after the opening song for an electric one and everyone and
everything going on around her melted into oblivion, except Cole. Her undivided
attention centered on him. He stood at a microphone stand, strummed his guitar
and belted out a heavy metal tune that left her ears ringing and her body humming
with energy. His hair flung in the air as he played his guitar over his head,
behind his back and not at all. Then he proceeded to swing it around in the air
as though it weighed nothing.
    Her hands flew
to her heart as it swelled for him. This was his element, his life’s blood. And
my God, nobody did it better. She couldn’t help but think