The bass of you

Chapter 23

We get to the stadium and pull up outside the back of the stadium. I'm not used to such VIP treatment with a limo and being brought around the back of a place to get in. This is all so new to me and I'm struggling to process it all. Meanwhile, Layla is thriving of it. I haven't seen her stop smiling. She's got Jackson's arm around her as she walks and her arm around his waist. I'm not like that with any of the band members, I seem to be more of a 'just a friend' person to them - which is more than okay with me. The camera guy is walking in front of the band members, getting everyone on camera. We enter through the back door and as I walk behind everyone else, taking in my surroundings because I've never been in these parts of a stadium before, Chase slows down to join me by my side. Before I manage to say anything, the guy with the camera walking in front of us suddenly turns around and points the camera at us. I'm really not sure what's going on, but I'm not too bothered. The camera guy is a slim, lanky guy who looks just over 20 years old. He's quite pale, has bright blue eyes, and short blonde hair.

I look up at Chase as he looks down and smirks at me, carrying his guitar at his side. I decide to confront him because nobody gets away from me so easily. "Okay, seriously, what did you see?" Raising my eyebrows at him, I can't help but smirk when I look at him ; he just has that reaction from you.

"I'm sincerely sorry for walking in on you like that. The water was still running so I thought you were still in there," Chase says amusingly - almost mockingly - and then grins. "Let's just say that I think you have one hell of a body for someone so petite."

Unable to shy away the smirk, I scoff and shake my head at him. For God's sake...why can't I control my smirk around him? His infectious smirks are starting to really bother me, but there's nothing I can do. Chase really does have a strange effect on me, and my best guess is that I'm not the only girl he has this effect on. The camera guy is now walking beside Chase, the camera pointed right at me and Chase, and I need to know what's going on now.

"What's with the camera guy?" I ask Chase.

"Oh, this is Isaac," Chase says and smiles at me. "He's documenting as much as he can behind the scenes and onstage. I hope you don't mind, we can edit you out if you're not comfortable with it?"

Isaac holds the camera up on his shoulder, but moves his head to the side to look at me with his own eyes instead of through the camera lens, and sticks out his hand over Chase's chest to greet me. "Hey, sorry, I really should have introduced myself before I had the camera fixed on you," he says in a strong Texas accent, sounding really friendly.

Grabbing his hand and shaking it, I give a friendly smile to Isaac. "Hi, I'm Monica. No problem, I don't mind being on camera. You don't need to edit me out unless it's you who wants to do it."

It's true : I'm really not that fussed about being on camera. I'm a bit struck about being on film documentation about Black Dagger, but I'm not insecure about being on there - it's just something I thought would never happen. Isaac flashes me a cute grin at what I said, clearly chuffed at giving him permission to film me.

Chase and I walk alongside each other down a corridor, where there's Black Dagger crew scattered everywhere and other people I'm not sure of. There's a bunch of security guys around the place : big, broad guys who look very intimidating. There's one security man that I recognise though - it's the one that gave me the note from Chase yesterday in the concert. He's sitting on a fold-down chair with a takeaway coffee cup in his hand and as soon as he sees me, he nods. I nod back and smile back.

Soon we find ourselves on the stage, where crew are fussing around everywhere with props and amps and all sorts. The crew had been putting the stage together in the time that it took for Black Dagger members to finally get their asses down here. No wonder Bill was pissed off. The stadium is a completely different scene to how it was last night. It's completely empty here and I can actually take in the enormous size of the stadium now that it's empty. Seeing how big it actually it is makes me realise how many people were really packed in here last night and I actually feel a sharp shock of anxiety spike through my body for a moment. Brushing it off and thanking the heavens that I'm not going to be in the crowd tonight, I turn to see Chase putting down his guitar on the stage, leaning it up against an amp.