Sunny

Chapter 8

           
Five Years Earlier...

Rhea looked at her reflection once more in the mirror while her best friend, Lola Gardener, changed her outfit in the bathroom stall. Lola had to work late and needed to change before they tracked down the band, and Rhea was hoping that she would take her time because she was afraid to see Eli again.

"I can't believe that we're getting to meet Eli Emory and the rest of The Addiction!" she squealed from behind the partition.

Rhea couldn't believe it either. It had been a year since she had last seen him. His divorce had been final over six months previous when it had come out that The Addiction's drummer, Guy, had been the one having the affair with Victoria. She had dumped Guy and in an angry fit and he had gone to the press with the affair, allowing Eli to finally have his divorce without being the guilty party.

Knowing that Eli was now a single man was making her a nervous ball of tension as she imagined all of the different ways they would once again meet and how he would react to seeing her again.

When Lola had called the previous week to tell her that she had won tickets to The Addiction's concert in Savannah, Rhea had almost thrown up. She had been doing her best not to buy tickets herself even knowing that she would only be watching him from across a stadium and that there was no risk of seeing him up close. When Lola had also informed her that she had backstage passes she had had to sit down and put her head between her legs. Luckily, she had been on the phone with Lola so she hadn't noticed her sudden weakness.

Her and Eli's last conversation ran through her mind, when he had asked for her soul, and she still cringed when she thought about how honest she had been. She had told him everything  when he had admitted to wanting her and she had agreed to be his in everyway. She hadn't seen him again after that night, he had gone up to New York to visit Mason for a few days and Rhea was positive that it was because he was embarrassed by both of their revelations to each other.

Rhea nervously checked her appearance once more, she had chosen a simple sundress in a pale pink and wedge sandals, she had piled her curly hair on top of her head in a loose bun leaving curling tendrils to frame her face and her make-up was only a light dusting of powder to cover her freckles and some clear lip gloss.

She was as good as she was going to get.

Rhea hurriedly stepped away from the mirror as Lola exited the bathroom stall. She was pulling up her tube top dress which was so obscenely short that she had to control an eye-roll when she saw her.

"Is that all your going to do, do you want some more make-up?" Lola asked as she held up a bright red-lipstick. She was a cute perky brunette and she loved all things girly, she always had. Her parents were very strict and from an old Savannah family so she was expected to act a like the respectable young lady she was supposed to be, but she never did. Without Lola, Rhea's life would have been very boring, and she never would have had the guts to leave home.

"I'm fine, I wouldn't want to compete," Rhea said sarcastically.

Lola grinned. "Look at me, how could you compete?"

Rhea did roll her eyes at her comment and laughed. "We should go around front and watch a little bit of the concert," she suggested, trying to delay the inevitable.

"Are you kidding! We're staying backstage until they kick us out!" She started to heavily outline her eyes with eyeliner as she spoke.

At that moment a young woman pushed through the door and the sound of the pounding base of the band followed behind her. She was a tall raven-haired beauty and she was wearing a press pass around her neck. Rhea smiled hesitantly while she and Lola sized each other up.