Page 57 of The First Chord

“Nice to see you back, babe.” The smirk on his face was just asking to be wiped off.

Destiny growled like a tigress behind me. “Stay away from her, Fox. Come one step closer and I’ll punch you.”

I smiled, knowing that she meant it.

Jimmy held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t worry, I won’t even look her way if I don’t have to.”

He winked at me and what I’d once found sexy turned my stomach. As he disappeared up the stairs with his duffel bag to where the bunks were, Destiny put a hand on my shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

This was a whole new Destiny I was seeing, despite her insistence that she hadn’t changed.

My palms were sweating, my heart was beating out of my chest, and I felt sick.

I nodded.

“You don’t need to lie to me.” Destiny raised an eyebrow. “He makesmewant to kick him in the bollocks, so you must be desperate to.”

I gave her a small smile to acknowledge that she was right. His bollocks and a whole load of other areas of his body.

“That first meeting will be the worst,” Destiny continued. “If he even breathes on you in the future, he’s in trouble.”

“I know.” I looked around the bus. It wasn’t as plush as Warrior Creek’s, but it was still comfortable for a travelling home. I just hadn’t expected to see it again.Hopedthat I wouldn’t see it again.

“Can I ask you something?” Destiny asked as she filled the kettle with water.

“Sure.” I sat on one of the padded bench seats at the table and looked up to see the TV was now on a stand that stuck out from the wall. I felt a twinge of guilt that the boys had lost their TV area and second guessed my decision to come back.

Destiny obviously thought the same thing. “Why the fuck have you come back on this bus? You could have been over there, feeling safe.” She nodded towards the window where we could see the huge black and silver, double height bus with the Warrior Creek decal on the side.

Staring through the window, I saw Joey greeting Elliot, whose car had just dropped him off. They were slapping each other’s backs as Ronnie joined them and my heart jumped at the sight of him.

“He can look after himself, you know.”

My gaze shot to Destiny, who was watching me watch Ronnie. “Sorry?”

“Ronnie.” She pointed in his direction. “He can look after himself. You don’t have to protect him. Not least from that little turd upstairs.”

Instinctively my eyes looked up at the ceiling. Just the thought of him being up there made my stomach lurch.

“I can’t risk it,” I replied. “He’s so manipulative and it wouldn’t be fair on Ronnie. I know what Jimmy is like and how big his ego is. He would do whatever he could to make me and Ronnie suffer. Say all sorts of things that weren’t true.”

She pulled two mugs down from the cupboard, dropped tea bags into them and added the water. After giving it a stir, she handed it to me. “Camomile. It’ll help you to deal with dickhead.”

“Thanks. I think I might need it.” I laughed quietly and was surprised when Destiny plonked herself down opposite me. “You don’t have to stay with me if you want to unpack. I’ll be fine. Amelie and Hugo are upstairs in their room.”

She shrugged. “I’m fine.” She leaned closer, wrapping her hands around her mug. “I want to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“About ten years ago I started a relationship with someone. A guy I was crazy about.” She rolled her eyes. “A fucking rockstar. How cliché is that?”

“Hey,” I said, waving a hand down my body. “You don’t need to explain to me.”

“Yeah, I would expect you to have more brains, darling. Anyway,” she continued. “I was mad about him and when he asked me out, I thought I was the luckiest bitch alive. We got serious pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was moving in. Two weeks later he hit me. Actually, he pinched the skin at the top of my arm first, like a spoiled child, a week of me being under his roof. He said that I’d made a fool of him in front of the rest of the band.”

“Oh my god, Destiny, that’s awful.”

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