Page 75 of Love Thief

“Do Dad and Xan know you’re pissed off with them? Is that why Tommy looks nervous, and Jonno keeps ringing me?” asks James.

As if on cue, my phone rings. I don’t even look at the screen before I answer. “I’m not talking to you, Jonno. Stop asking me why when I ring. If I ask, you do, that’s Greystone law.”

“You should have said it’s the internet trolls. Those two are fuckheads.” He hangs up and I’m feeling pretty smug and vindicated at this point.

I’m not sure which two he’s referring to, could be any two from six, in my view. But I have a feeling. “He’s listening in again,” I say laughing. “He told me he’d gone to rehab on that stuff, but obviously off the wagon again.”

“He never got on any wagon, just loitered round the wheels,” James says. His phone pings with a middle finger from Jonno and we all laugh.

“I love you boys. Please tell me, though, if I get too much.”

“That’d have to be a lot. We are Greystones, remember.” James laughs hugging me.

Bucky joins in. “Love you, Ma. Go for it.”

“Ditto,” says James. “I suppose we better go watch Dad’s show and wait for yours later.”

Chapter

Twenty-One

KELLEN

We start our show and they’re not here. No James. No Bucky. No Evie. No Tommy. No Darryl.

Xander looks pale, his eyes bloodshot, he’s a fucking mess. I’m fuming. She’s a fucking nightmare.

How the fuck did she know we knew about those women? The guys never said a word, neither did we. They were trying to justify them being here when we came back in. Racking their brains to see if they’d said something she would pick up on, but nothing. She’d kissed them. I bet she was gauging their reactions, the crafty cow. I smirk. Should have known with her brothers, she’d employ tactics.

We’re three songs in, the crowd is wild tonight. Even the VIP area, where normally people are too cool to look like they’re actually enjoying themselves, is lit. Still no family.

She better not have gone. I’ll fucking kill her.

Xander is all over the stage, visually combing the VIP areas and backstage to see if he can find them. It looks like he’s on it up here, but we all know he’s frantically searching for them.

As we start our fourth song, they all troop in, standing in the family and friends section, together as a pack. The Purcells go over, of course, with the young boys bopping away. Jude turns to look at them longingly, but he daren’t make a move. I see her former friends glare at her, but they see no one. They ignore them all, as the three of them are looking nowhere other than up at the stage. They’re more cocky than Xander or I, fucking Greystones. They say our egos are big, but theirs are huge.

James and Bucky are grinning like idiots, and when Xan spots them and goes over to that side of the stage, they smile at him and at me. What the fuck has she told them? What is she up to? Xan looks relieved, and she’s smirking at us all, and just shrugs. I close my eyes and say to Xan, “She’s up to something, God help us!”

We hit the point in the gig where Xan and I do our acoustic version of “Kiss Me.” I’m revving the crowd up to grab ahold of the person they love the most, no matter who that is, hang the fuck on tight, and never let them go. Evie, Bucky, and James are grabbed by the Purcell family and pulled into a group hug.

Clearly not able to stay away any longer, Jude moves towards them all, pulling Isobel behind him. I’m cranking up the love-in, and when he hugs Evie, she looks a bit tearful. James and Bucky are literally standing at her sides like sentinels, clearly against Issy. Fuck, they are so combative. No inches given at all.

When Evie finally looks towards Issy, well maybe a teeny tiny smidge of an inch, I smile, looking down and pointing directly at her. “This is for you Evie, we love you baby.” I grin up at Xan and he starts the intro.

We drive the audience to madness at the end of our set, and three encores later we’re finally coming off stage, high as kites, dripping in sweat, banging each other on the backs.

I see Gabe’s crew come flying round the corner, Becky in the lead. They run towards us all and practically push the interviewers—who are trying to get our reactions to the crowd and how good the performance was—to one side. Their intention clearly to jump onto us all.

I step back just as Grace tries to grab hold of me and give her a slight push towards Gabe. I can see she’s annoyed by the gesture, and whilst Lauren is occupying Gabe, she grabs for Xan.

“That was amazing, we loved it, you are so fantastic,” she gushes. When the interviewer asks if she’s his girlfriend, she smiles coyly at her. But Xan looks past her, giving zero acknowledgement to the question or the woman attached to him, as Evie brings up the rear of the family posse.

James grabs me and gives me a hug. “Dad, totally blew the sky away,” he tells me.

Bucky joins in with, “Wow, Dad that was the best I’ve seen ever.”

The interviewer is going crazy, shifting focus immediately and trying to catch James and Bucky with questions. Grace is scowling, not enjoying being ignored.

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