Page 14 of The First Chord

My feelings for Jimmy varied drastically on a day-to-day basis. Generally, they were at the bottom end of the scale, but at that moment they’d dropped off it and into oblivion. As he lay on the floor, squealing like a baby, clutching his bloody nose, I hated him. In fact, I wished I’d never met him.

He deserved the punch, I just wished I’d been the one who’d given it to him. Humiliation didn’t cover how he’d made me feel, kissing that girl like that in front of me, all over her like they were about to do a live sex show.

Looking over at Ronnie I felt my heart lurch. His expression was a mixture between devastated and furious as Beau and Elliot held onto both his arms while his chest heaved as he looked down at Jimmy.

“Get up,” Beau hissed. “Get off the floor and sort yourself out.”

A camera flashed again and from the corner of my eye, I saw Joey move rapidly across the room and grab the guy who had taken the picture, wrestling the phone from his hand.

“Delete it,” Joey demanded, thrusting the phone at him.

The guy, who I recognised as a soap actor, held his hands up in surrender before taking it back and pressing a few buttons and then showing it to Warrior Creek’s angry drummer. Joey then turned to look around the room, his shoulders relaxing when his gaze landed on Brandon. He was in front of the man who’d been hired to take pictures of the party who was nodding as he messed with his camera. Satisfied that pictures were being dealt with, my attention went back to Ronnie.

Our eyes met and my breath faltered. There was pain in his gaze, and it made my chest hurt. A hurried breath rushed from me into the charged atmosphere, and I had to force myself to stay next to Amelie who was gripping my hand. I wanted to go to him, put my arms around him and tell him it was okay. When he swallowed hard as he watched me, ignoring whatever Elliot was saying to him, I took a step.

“Don’t,” Amelie said, her voice low and commanding. “There are too many people around.”

Looking up at her I saw understanding. She knew what I was about to do would cause a sensation because she knew my husband wasn’t the man Ineededto give comfort to. There was a desperate need to be next to Ronnie and bypass the man I was married to. We seemed tethered and he was tugging on that invisible cord, but I couldn’t move without causing some catastrophic avalanche of pain and scandal.

As I fought against my instincts, Jimmy dragged himself to his feet, shaking away the help of the woman he’d been drooling over. My whole body stiffened as he lurched towards me.

“Did you see what that psycho just did?” He looked down at the blood in his palm. “For no fucking reason. None at all.”

“Shit, he doesn’t even know what he’s done,” Amelie muttered. “Is he real?”

Jimmy swung around to face Ronnie, who was still flanked by Beau and Elliot but now Joey, too.

“What have I ever done to you?” he yelled at him.

He didn’t have a single clue what he’d done. Rightly or wrongly, I felt a sense of relief because at least how I felt about Ronnie wasn’t obvious. Not that anything had happened, except for the fact he’d made me feel like a woman again.Exceptfor the fact that he was swallowing up all my thoughts.

“Just go, Jimmy,” Hugo said, stepping forward. “You’ve had far too much to drink.”

“Me?” Jimmy pointed at himself. “Why the hell do I need to leave? He’s the one who punched me.”

“Alright, everyone, just get back to the party,” Brandon said, ushering everyone away. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding!” Jimmy yelled. “He fucking punched me. Everyone saw it.”

“Jim, I won’t tell you again,” Hugo hissed. “Get the fuck out of here.” He looked at me and sighed. “I’m so sorry, Amber, but can you take him?”

“Hugo,” Amelie said with a groan. “You can’t—”

“Amelie, it’s fine.” I pulled her into a hug, still holding onto one of her hands. “I’ll take him back to our room.”

We were in the ballroom of the hotel and, thankfully, there was a lift in there up to all the floors. I needed to get him out of there before he spoiled the party any more.

“Jimmy, let’s go.”

“Amber.”

My name was a pleading whisper on Ronnie’s lips, but I heard it. When my gaze swept that way, I saw Elliot shaking his head, his eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed.

“Why should I go?”

I turned back to Jimmy. “Because you’re causing a scene and let’s face it,” I said with a heavy sigh, “you’re the least famous. People would much rather see the members of Warrior Creek here than you.”

“You fucking—”

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