Ace Huxley's Daughter

3

"You better just fucking hope she was supposed to be here man. We could all lose our job." I rolled my eyes at Aiden. She had a pass. I'd seen that clearly. Though why she was walking around all alone in a dress that fucking floaty. Those innocent eyes. If people hadn't been around, especially with that attitude. Calling me fucking bubbles? God I'd show her who bubbles was.

"Put your shirt on man. No one needs to see your half-arsed tats from some back street crackhead." I tightened another bolt, finishing the lights and sitting up straight, legs dangling down well over 6 meters in the air. Hard work. So much hard work but worth every fucking second.

"She was fucking fit though." Oh, here we go. Everyone needed Kace's word on the newbie walking around somewhere. "Did you see her eyes? All I could think was watching them as she-"

"We don't need to know what you were thinking you perv." I was thinking the same thing. I just didn't want to know he was too. Hands behind her back. Her hair wrapped around my hand. Jesus. Stop it Em you're gonna break your neck.

"Who do you think she was?"

"She had full backstage access, that's what the neon orange means."

"So important then."

"Fuck sake Em. She's important and you were telling you're him." Don't remind me.

"She didn't seem to care." I shrugged, climbing down carefully into the tech booth where the 2 guys were lounging on chairs. "Can't be that important if she's joining halfway through the tour. Probably just an inspector or someone who knows the building owner or some shit." The boys craned their head when there was a small commotion on stage, a knock on the door. Aiden was quick to pull it open.

"The band want to run a sound check. They're hooked up to line 5." Kace nodded, finally getting to work, turning everything on like he needed to, lights beaming down onto the stage in the open-air theatre. In 3 hours, this place would be crammed full of people listening to Valor and I'd be just as amazed as I'd been when I first saw them when I was 10 and I convinced my dad to bring me. Working for them this tour was a dream I have been working for forever and I was convinced this is it. This is as good as life gets.

I pulled the chair up to the giant window. Out of the way but the perfect seat to see the stage. We did this every day, every time they were on stage. But the air felt heavier right now.

"Who's the extra on stage?" Aiden narrowed his eyes.

"Could be Hannah."

"Hannah's blonde." I muttered. The band started playing and the new, 5th unidentified member started to sing. This wasn't their song. Not one I'd heard them practice, not sound check, not on any album. And yet they knew what they were doing. I pulled my phone out. Zooming in on the girl singing and nearly dropping my phone. "Fuck off."

"What?"

"Girl in the dress." The boys grabbed my phone, fighting to get a glance. I leaned forward over the console. The view from here was good when the screens were on. You got a full view. But without them, it was watching a girl wonder around stage but it was just shapes. Just the block of a person, no details.

"Fucking hell she's got a pair of lungs!" Kace's eyes went wide as we all stared in awe. Phenomenal. Who the fuck was this girl? An hour ago, she was fluttering her eyelashes, the slither of attitude that was going to get her in trouble. Trouble I wanted her to be in. But she was so fucking innocent in the white. Not now. Now she looked like she belonged here. Black leather jacket and ripped jeans, hair pulled out of its half up style and was now laying all over the place as she had the time of her life singing with my favourite band. What the fuck was going on?

The song came to an abrupt end and she tossed the mic in the air, not even watching as it spun and catching it with ease. Oh, she was comfortable on stage alright. Ace was grinning ear to ear. Guitar pulled around his back as he walked over to her and hugged her, kissing her on the cheek.

"He has a girlfriend?"

"No that can't be it." Aiden shook his head. "She's like younger than us."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't be dating someone our age. Not like he has any kids to embarrass."

"He does. He has a daughter." Daughter. FUCK. The eyes. Those fucking eyes are ones I should recognise anywhere. I stared at them for hours in magazines. Reading the same interviews over and over and over. Shit shit shit shit. I told her- She said she didn't know who he was. She fucking lied.

"He does?"

"I've never seen anything of her."

"He never wanted her in the spotlight. She goes by a different surname for her privacy but she visits him when he's local to wherever she lives. He said recently she was graduating uni which would make her like 20 or 21."

"She looks that kind of age."

"Looks like him too. Same eyes."

"So, it's her." I shrugged; eyes still fixated on the deceitful woman as they began another song I'd never heard before.

"Dude. You told Ace Huxley's daughter you were him. She must have thought you were so fucking dumb." I clenched my jaw. She was making a fool of me. Making me look like a fucking idiot. No. She wasn't getting away with that. No matter who her father was. Not when she looks like that.

"Hands off her."

"What do you mean hands off her? She's our bosses daughter. You think we're mad enough to get within 10 foot of her?" I was. I was fucking insane apparently.

"I'm just making it clear right now. No one touches her." I could feel the boys glaring at the side of my head but my eyes watched her. Fuck everything.