Heart of Stone

Chapter Thirty-Six: Feeling Charitable

I'd been mesmerised the first time I watched Teddy Stone perform, and the effect hadn't numbed through getting to know him. He was just as captivating, moving about the stage with such presence and ease, making jokes with fans, interacting with the band. Feeding off the energy of the crowd, this looked like his comfort zone, with no indication whatsoever that it used to cause him anxiety.

At one point, he invited up a woman to duet with him. He laid a hand on her back, privately talking through the performance in her ear before they began. I knew his words would be gentle, reassuring, and inspiring. A far cry from his whispers in my ear, which had been explicit, crude, and indecent.

And the fingers that rested on her body served a comforting purpose to ease her inevitable nerves. Those same fingers had touched me, teased me, and coaxed me to orgasm countless times. They'd left marks on my skin—a temporary reminder of the pleasure they could inflict—but they'd also held me in moments of distress and soothed me as I'd cried.

This young woman knew nothing of all that. To her, she was just lucky enough to experience the supportive words and brief touch of a famous popstar.

Their duet together was almost flawless, and my respect for the girl soared. How nerve-wracking must it be to get on a stage in front of thousands of people and sing with such an icon? She nailed it. Ed messed up a line at one point, but I suspected he'd done it deliberately to put her at ease and relieve the pressure.

After a twenty-minute segment of cover requests—for one of which he shamelessly used his phone to read the lyrics because he didn't know them by heart, and naturally everyone loved the authenticity of that—Ed announced his final song. It was arguably his most famous, and the crowd sang along with him.

When it came to a climactic end, the cheers deafened me. Every concert had an encore, though, and he predictably returned to the stage minutes later.

His next move, however, nobody could have predicted.

"This is a special night," he said into the microphone, "so my final song is very special to me. I've never performed it before, and my team actually told me not to, so go easy on me if I mess it up, okay?"

A mixture of laughter and cheers followed a buzz of excitement at the prospect of Teddy Stone prioritising his fans over his team. Flashing a smile, Ed crossed the stage and sat down behind a piano.

"I didn't know he played the piano." Faye nudged me. "Did you know he played the piano?"

"No," I said truthfully.

The noise of the crowd petered into silence as we waited. I watched Ed's chest inflate as he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and lifted his fingers to rest on the keys.

He played a chord. "You said we could only be friends..." The chord faded away, and he hit another, this time lower. "But I think we both know it was all for pretend..." Another chord, higher. "And now that it's over, I pray one day we'll get closure..." Another. "Because I refuse to believe it's the end."