Page 32 of The Final Beat

“No!” Ronnie shook his head. “If you hadn’t it might have been your body that needed to be identified.” He pulled her closer, cradling her against his chest, muffling her sobs.

Beau slowly stood to his full height and placed a hand on Amber’s head. “Do not feel guilty, sweetheart. He wasn’t worth it.”

Elliot tipped his head towards the door, indicating we should leave them to it. I nodded and followed him and Beau out of the kitchen. Ali also got up and followed us out, leaving Destiny in there making Amber a cup of tea.

“I’ll go into Ronnie’s office and make some calls,” Ali said, rubbing her fingertips over her brow. “I think maybe we need to get Amber and Ronnie away for a few days before the tour starts to avoid the press that are bound to descend on this place.”

“They can stay at my place,” I offered.

Ali sighed. “I think it needs to be somewhere not directly connected to the band.”

“What about my place?” We turned to see Destiny walking towards us, her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans. “The press won’t think of going there.”

“Are you sure?” Ali asked. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Absolutely.” Destiny cleared her throat. “I can go and stay with Laura for a few days to give them space.”

My heart jumped in my chest. A thought passed through my head. A stupid thought.

“Destiny that would be amazing.” Ali pulled her into a hug, which she just about allowed in typical Destiny fashion with herarms out to the side. “Thank you. I’ll tell them to get a bag packed for a couple of days.”

As Ali went back to the kitchen, her phone rang but she ignored it, clearly on a mission.

“What can we do?” I asked.

“I think we just be here if they need us,” Beau replied and raised an eyebrow. “But don’t force it.”

“I think he’s having a go at us,” I said to Elliot. “Trying to say we forced ourselves on him.”

“Rude.” Elliot grinned but we both knew that Beau was right.

We had forced ourselves on him when Cassie and Bobby died. We were petrified that if we didn’t he might do something stupid. At first we’d given him some time, but not long because we were too terrified of the consequences.

“Sim’s doing some baking and stuff for the freezer this afternoon. How about I get her to cook them some food and drop it off?”

“Sounds a good idea.” Elliot shrugged. “I’d ask Belle, but…”

“She’s a bit busy at the moment,” Destiny said with a scoff. She turned to Beau. “If you give me a call, I’ll pick it up for you.”

God knows what made me say it. “It’s alright, I’ll hang around and when it’s ready I’ll take it over.”

“You sure?” Beau asked, eyeing me suspiciously. “Wandering into enemy territory.” He laughed, looking between me and Destiny. “Do you have some sort of trap that’ll take his balls as soon as he steps on your doorstep?”

I glanced at the woman who was supposed to be my nemesis. She pulled her shoulders back and narrowed her eyes on Beau.

“He’d need to have a pair for me to take them,” she replied.

“That’s because they shrivel up around you,” I responded and turned to Elliot. “I’ll go with Beau now. Do you want to let them know what’s happening?”

“Yeah, sure. Dest, what’s your address? I can bring them over so that Ronnie’s car can act as a decoy on the drive.”

“I’ll text it to you.” Destiny fished her phone from her pocket and turned to me. “I’ll send it to you, too. Because you’ll need it for dropping the food off.”

I frowned and then realised what she was doing. “That would be a good idea.”

“Well, you’ll be riding round with a casserole in your car if I don’t, won’t you, dickhead?”

Her tone and the curl of her lip was far too realistic.She really was a bitch, even when she was pretending to be.

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