Page 40 of The First Chord

I glanced over at the girls who were chatting away. Amber had smiled more in one night than I’d seen her do in the last couple of months that we’d been touring.

“I don’t think I can, at least not before we go back on tour. Can you imagine how awkward it would be if she said she could never think of me as anything more than a mate? And if she feels the same way, shit, it’d probably be worse.” I lowered my voice. “Can you imagine us living on the same bus with all that sexual tension that we probably shouldn’t act on?”

“You have a point.” He took a swig of his beer. “I know what it’s like trying to keep my hands off Sim on the bus when everyone’s around. It’s fucking murder.”

“Exactly.” Exhaling raggedly, I considered everything that Beau had said and knew that he was right. “Once we’ve done the next leg of the tour, I’ll tell her how I feel.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Be a good friend and make sure Jimmy doesn’t hurt her again.”

A screech of laughter caught my attention and the smile that went with it took my breath away. Amber looked happy, she felt safe, and I wanted to make sure she always felt that way. I just had to hope that her husband didn’t do anything to spoil what might be a better future for both of us.

CHAPTER20

AMBER

It was official, the tour was being delayed by three weeks so that Elliot could be sure Belle and their baby girl were okay. Everything had been good with them for forty-eight hours, so they just wanted Belle to spend another couple of days in hospital and then have some bed rest at home for a couple of weeks.

I for one was relieved because it meant that I didn’t have to see or speak to Jimmy yet. It had been bothering me and I’d spent a sleepless night worrying about what might happen. If I knew Jimmy, he’d make my life as miserable as possible. His ego wouldn’t like the fact that I left him. Add to the mix that I was staying with the man who’d punched him, and he would be gunning for me. I doubted that he would dare go for Ronnie seeing as he was the man paying his wages, pretty much. That would mean every single piece of his vitriol would be aimed at me.

The idea of that scared me, but not as much as it might have done only days ago. I was feeling stronger because the man who I’d have died for once upon a time had shown himself to be a horrible, weak, egotistical bully. He’d hit me because he thought I would take a shower and forget it had happened. For a few minutes I’d thought that too, but then my bloody backbone grew back. Well, to a point because if I’d been a strong woman, I wouldn’t have called Ronnie. I would have left on my own and cut every single tie to Jimmy. Or maybe that said more about how I felt about Ronnie.

“Do you fancy a break from that?”

I looked up from my iPad and online furniture stores, to see Ronnie looking like he was ready to go out somewhere. He wasn’t just wearing clean jeans and t-shirt, but his hair was damp and tousled and as usual he smelled delicious.

“What are you thinking?”

“A walk by the canal. There’s also a lovely café that does amazing cakes.”

“I’ll need to change my shoes.” I lifted my foot to show off my flip flops. “Put my trainers on.”

“Yeah, no problem.” He flashed me a perfect smile and I felt my stomach flip. “I’ll wait outside for you. I need to make a quick call.”

As I watched him walk away I knew that I had brought a lot of trouble to my door, and not just from Jimmy.

* * *

It was a typical British summer’s day, cold. Ronnie didn’t think so, though, which was a good job because he’d given me his denim jacket, seeing as I’d misjudged the weather and not brought my own. It was huge and the sleeves covered my hands, but I was lovely and warm.

“I can’t believe you’re cold.” Ronnie shook his head disbelievingly. “It’s roasting.”

I rolled my eyes. “You must have hot blood.”

He wetted his bottom lip and smirked. “Must have.” He cleared his throat and stooped to pick up a long piece of grass, breaking pieces off as we walked along.

“Do you have any plans for the next three weeks?” I asked.

“No not really, seeing as we didn’t expect this down time.”

“No hobbies?” I grinned because all the Lego models dotted around the house and the Star Wars memorabilia gave me a good idea of what his hobbies were.

“Why are you smiling?”

“No reason.”

Pausing his stride, he narrowed his eyes on me. “Are you dissing the Lego?”

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