Standing in the doorway, looking around her, Tamarie tried to take it all in.

Backstage at a festival.

A busy, unknown wonderland she had never expected to be drawn into, and yet here she was.

She felt Kaleb’s hand on her arm and looked up at him, knowing he could see the joy in her eyes.

“Come on in.”

And for a moment Tamarie’s mind flashed to her friends in the crowd, who had no idea where she now was—then Sy forced his way into her mind and she dismissed him immediately. The farther away she was from him, the better.

She followed Kaleb backstage.

* * * *

Earlier that morning

The campsite at PeakFest was almost impossibly crowded, brightly coloured tents sprouting all over. Making their way towards the entrance to the festival was a nightmare of almost tripping over tent pegs and stumbling on tufts of grass. Tamarie Morgan was in the middle of her group of friends as they stepped gingerly onwards before finally reaching the flat ground before the main gates.

She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. They had arrived the night before to get a decent site for their tent, but people had been up all night drinking and making noise, so sleep had been hard to come by. Still, they would be watching rock bands all day. That would keep her awake if nothing else would.

“We need to take a selfie as soon as we get in,” Veca announced from behind her. “Pictures or it didn’t happen.”

Ahead of them, Lola snorted. “If you say so, Veck.”

Tamarie cast a sideways glance at Lola, at the catty smile on her face, and wondered what would happen if she tripped her into a mud puddle. It was an impulse she often had when dealing with Lola. She shared a look with her best friend Dannika Jade, wondering if her feelings showed in her face. Dannika’s raised eyebrows suggested they did.

They displayed their tickets as they passed through the gate, pausing on the other side to be frisked by an overly perky crew of people. Sy, Veca’s boyfriend, caught her eye and winked as one of the crew patted her down, and Tamarie gave him an uncomfortable half-smile.

Veca already had her phone at the ready as they finally moved away from the entrance, holding it up as she beckoned them closer with her other hand.

“Okay, ready? Smile!”

She immediately held the camera out to show them the photo, and Tamarie couldn’t resist checking to see if she looked as tired as she felt, despite her makeup.

Given it was a selfie, it wasn’t a bad shot. Veca in front, sunlight glinting off her short brown hair, the only one tall enough to guarantee getting everyone in frame. Sy beside her, also tall but slightly shorter than his girlfriend, his curly brown hair gelled, his long face twisted into an odd, smug smile. Lola on the other side of Sy, her blonde bob ruffled by the breeze, her pointed nose giving her an eerie look. Dannika at the back, blonde cap of hair falling in her cool blue eyes.

And Tamarie herself on the other side of Veca. She had made an effort for this festival—new blonde extensions, new tan, blue eyeliner to bring out her eyes and to match her denim jacket and jeans. It had meant a lot to her to look good this weekend. She hadn’t felt good in herself for a while.

Sy probably thought it was for his benefit. With any luck he wouldn’t ask.

Veca clicked away from the photo and began checking the set lists on her phone, scrolling up and down the page.

“We should start with the main stage. There’s a band called Elimination Situation on first, and then Torque Converter a bit later. I love them.”

“Never heard of them,” Sy commented. “Anyway, I thought you were here for Puppetmaster.”

“Yeah, but they’re headlining. They won’t be on stage until tonight.”

“I don’t know how they got the top spot.” Lola folded her arms. “They’re not that good.”

Tamarie bit back an acid comment. She had always agreed with Veca in her love for Puppetmaster—she had seen them live several times and had downloaded all their albums. There was just something about them that made her heart beat faster.

She wasn’t sure if it was the music or the band themselves. She had always had a thing for rock stars—the passion in their voices, the force in their performances. Although she knew she was unique among her friends in never going for the lead singer, or even the lead guitarist. For some reason she always fancied the lesser-known band members.

“It’s the last gig of their tour, and they’re taking a break after that. Their lead singer is getting married.”

Lola raised an eyebrow at her. “You sound disappointed.”

“Nah. Give me the drummer any day.”

Dannika moved forward to look over Veca’s shoulder at the set lists, Lola pulling out her own phone at the same time, and Tamarie suddenly became aware that Sy had manoeuvred himself behind her. His hand clamped itself to one arse cheek.

What the hell?

Biting back her automatic response, Tamarie slapped his hand away and moved sideways, looking around to see if anyone had noticed.

The others were still fixated on the set lists, but a few feet away she could see someone watching. His face was obscured by sunglasses, his hair covered by a bucket hat, but his gaze was intense, his mouth twisted in disgust.

He had seen Sy groping her, and Tamarie had the distinct impression that if he had been closer, he would have had something to say about it.

“Let’s go.” Veca tucked her phone back into her pocket. “We don’t want to miss anything.”

As they set off again, heading towards the food stalls and the main stage, Tamarie fell into step with Dannika. She was very glad they had brought two tents for this weekend. She would much rather share a tent with her best friend than with two over-sexed lovers and Lola.

To be honest, she had been wondering why she had even agreed to come this weekend. It was certainly true that she wanted to see Puppetmaster live while she still could, as they were about to take a break from touring. But spending four days—since they had camped out the night before and wouldn’t be leaving until the day after the event finished—with Lola, Veca and Sy wasn’t top of her list, and hadn’t been for some time.

She had been part of this group all through university, and now they were graduating she had a feeling that Dannika would be the only one she would stay in touch with. Lola, and Sy in particular, she would be glad to lose contact with. Veca less so, but there was one very good reason she wanted to keep her distance there.

She had been closer with Veca once. Back in the beginning, when she had first started her fashion design course and Veca had been her next-door neighbour in their student hall, she and Dannika had spent many an evening with Veca drinking and complaining about their tutors. But then Veca had started dating, and it didn’t seem to matter who she dated—she would immediately meld to that man and turn into a carbon copy of him. Now that she was with Sy she had lost all interest in everything but football and cars.

As for Lola, she had been someone Veca had known from high school. Tamarie had never been keen on her, but Veca liked her, so that was that. Lola seemed to drip disdain from every pore, especially when it came to Tamarie’s handmade outfits.

“Did you shake him off yet?” Dannika murmured dryly, and Tamarie winced. If only.

“I’ve tried. He just keeps guilting me about Veca.”

“He’s not going to tell her. She’d murder him.”

Tamarie let out her breath in a rush. “I never should have let it happen in the first place.”

Dannika nodded sympathetically, and Tamarie sighed. She really didn’t think she was deserving of sympathy after what had happened.

She had had a crush on Sy from the moment she had met him. His curly hair falling over his forehead, his cheeky smile, his tall, muscular frame. But Sy had chosen to ask out Veca, and so Tamarie had resigned herself to looking elsewhere. Clearly Sy would never be interested in her.

Until one night two months ago at their student house, when Tamarie had woken up from a drunken sleep to see a dark figure in the doorway, quietly closing the door behind them. She had known it had to be Sy from the shape—he had been the only man in the house that night—but she had had no idea why he would be in her room.

Then Sy had approached the bed, had kissed her, had told her he had wanted her for such a long time, and in her half-drunk haze Tamarie had let it happen, even though every inch of her had screamed against it.

Those words of self-condemnation in her head.

“Slut.”

“Whore.”

She had avoided him in the morning as discreetly as possible, but Sy had texted her shortly after she had left for class.

I’m coming over again tonight. Veca’s going to bed early.

It can’t happen again, Tamarie had texted back. It was a bad idea.

Oh, relax, Sy had responded. Veca doesn’t have to know.

And that had been his response every time she had tried to stop him badgering her for more. “Veca doesn’t need to know. She’d be heartbroken if I told her what you did.” She knew what he meant—if she didn’t continue with it, he would tell Veca, and everything would go to hell.

So far she had managed to fob him off. But when Dannika had suggested they go to the festival, Tamarie had cringed at the thought of being stuck in a tent with him. Fortunately Dannika had agreed with her comment that it was impossible to fit five people in a five-man tent, particularly when two of them were over six feet tall, and they had ended up with a separate tent for her and Dannika.

Frankly she would have been happier to have the entire campsite between them, but there were limits to what she could do. Fortunately, despite them arriving early, the site had been busy enough that they hadn’t managed to get two spots exactly together—there was another tent in between them. That would have to do.

But she didn’t fancy being stuck next to them in a crowd, where Sy could potentially grab her arse unnoticed by Veca.

“The music doesn’t start for another hour.” Dannika glanced at her watch. “Want to go check out the stalls for a bit?”

“Yeah, good idea.”

Dannika called ahead to the others, who were heading towards the empty main stage. “Hey, guys! We’re going to wander round a bit, okay?”

“Cool,” Veca called back. “We’re going to try and get a spot up front.”

Tamarie felt her shoulders relax as she and Dannika headed away towards the stalls. With any luck they could pretend they hadn’t been able to find the others in the crowd later.

Judging by the number of people already there, it might not even have to be a lie.

As they weren’t in need of food yet, Tamarie and Dannika passed most of the food stalls by, although Tamarie earmarked a few possibilities for lunch. There was a gyro stand that looked particularly tempting. Farther ahead were some stands selling band merchandise, along with several selling handmade clothes, hats and jewellery.

Looking at a silver bead necklace, Tamarie caught a glimpse of somebody out of the corner of her eye—a tall, athletic-looking man in a KISS T-shirt and jeans. She couldn’t help noticing he looked as though he was wearing a very poor disguise, his eyes hidden behind designer sunglasses and his hair covered by a black-and-white bucket hat.

The same man as earlier.

He definitely looked as though he was trying not to be spotted, and yet was extremely noticeable.

As he moved round a rack of shirts his sunglasses slipped a little, and Tamarie got a better look at his face. Her heart instantly leapt into her throat.

It was Kaleb McAdams, the drummer from Puppetmaster.

Though she had seen the band on stage before, she had never got a good look at Kaleb in person—he was always at the back behind the drums. Her recognition came entirely from photos in magazines and on posters. His short brown hair, his high cheekbones, his chiselled jaw, the leather jacket he always wore over his shirt.

This was definitely him under the sunglasses and the hat. Although obviously the disguise wasn’t as bad for everyone else as it was for her, because nobody seemed to be noticing him. Even Dannika was casually flipping her way through a collection of dangly earrings, blissfully unaware of who was a few feet away from them.

As she watched him, Kaleb looked up and caught her eye. A slow grin spread across his face and he lifted one finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

Tamarie smiled back at him and mirrored the gesture. She was quite happy to keep his secret—although, as their eyes locked, she found herself wanting to say something. She didn’t want the moment to end just yet.

But what the hell could she say to Kaleb McAdams?

Someone pushed past her from behind and Tamarie stumbled forward, catching herself on one of the racks and almost bringing it down. She clutched at the rack, struggling to regain her balance, before feeling a warm hand close over hers.

“Hey. You okay?”

Tamarie looked up, seeing herself reflected in Kaleb’s sunglasses, and caught her breath.

“Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Oh, no worries. Women throw themselves at me all the time.”

Tamarie laughed breathlessly, although she thought she could better argue she had thrown herself at the rack. “Yeah, I can see how that might happen.”

Kaleb paused as if he was considering something, and Tamarie waited. Surely he would be making his excuses and leaving any moment.

And yet his hand was still on top of hers.

“What’s your name?”

“Tamarie.”

“Tamarie.” Kaleb smiled, his voice making her name sound so much sexier than it was. “I’ll give you a shout-out when we go on.”

“I’ll be there.”

Then, with another smile, Kaleb melted into the crowd.

“Cute,” murmured Dannika from behind her. “I turn my back for two minutes and you’re already on the pull.”

“Oh, relax. He’ll have forgotten me in five minutes.”

Dannika laughed. “I might try to find a hook-up myself. Veca and Sy will be fucking all weekend, so why shouldn’t we?”

Tamarie joined in with her laughter, but found herself hoping Dannika was joking.

Sharing a tent with Dannika and a hook-up might be better than sharing with Veca and Sy, but only just.