Page 126 of The Sound Between Us

I look at Harrison. Fuck. I’ve just totally fallen in love with him.

“The cars are waiting outside. We’ll get you to the hotel so you can rest before tonight’s sound check.”

Cars, plural. A convoy of black vehicles with tinted windows, the kind you see in films about important people who need protecting from the world.

The drive through Bangkok is sensory overload. Neon signs in characters I can’t read, crowds that make London look sparsely populated, sounds and smells and visual chaos that shouldn’t work together but somehow creates something magnificent.

“First time in Thailand?” David asks from the front seat.

“First time anywhere this,” I admit, and immediately feel provincial.

“Bangkok can be overwhelming. But you’ll love it. The audiences here are incredible—they really listen to music, you know? They don’t just consume it.”

Audiences. Right. Because I’m not just here as Harrison’s girlfriend. I’m here as a musician, even if I don’t feel one yet.

The hotel is the kind of place that exists in a realm beyond normal hospitality. The lobby alone is bigger than most buildings I’ve been in, all marble and flowers and staff who move with the precision of ballet dancers. We’re escorted to a private lift that opens directly into our suite, because apparently Harrison Carter doesn’t share hallways with civilians.

The suite is ridiculous. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Bangkok skyline, a sitting area that could comfortably host a small concert, a bedroom with a bed roughly the size of my entire flat. The bathroom has a soaking tub that looks carved from a single piece of stone.

“This is insane,” I stand in the middle of the sitting room, trying to process the scale of luxury.

“Wait until you see the view at night,” Harrison drops our bags and moves to stand behind me, his arms circling my waist. “All those lights... the whole city putting on a show just for us.”

I lean back against his chest and let myself feel the solid warmth of him, the steadiness that’s kept me grounded through every overwhelming moment of this day.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For bringing me. For showing me this. For...” I gesture around the suite, at the view, at the impossibility of where I’m standing. “For making me brave enough to say yes.”

His arms tighten around me. “You were already brave. I just gave you somewhere to aim it.”

Through the windows, Bangkok stretches endlessly in every direction, a city of millions going about their lives whilst I stand in a hotel suite, wrapped in the arms of a man who’s just given me access to a world I never imagined I could be part of.

Tomorrow, I’ll meet his tour crew. I’ll probably embarrass myself with my ignorance of how these things work. I’ll have to prove that I belong here, that I’m more than just the famous girlfriend along for the ride.

But tonight, I’m exactly where I want to be.

“What time is sound check?”

“Seven. We should leave here around six.”

I check the bedside clock. It’s just past two in the afternoon. “What should we do until then?”

He turns me in his arms, and his smile is wicked.

“I can think of a few things.”