Page 13 of The Final Beat

CHAPTER 7

JOEY

It had been three days since I’d stormed out of Destiny’s house after shagging her. There’d been no pillow talk or cuddling afterwards. I hadn’t even got out of my jeans; I’d just pushed them down my thighs with my boxers. Then, once I’d finished and she’d screamed her orgasm down my ear, I pulled out, zipped up, and went home.

That was why I was dreading the door of our new offices opening. Destiny was due to arrive for a meeting regarding the short UK tour. There was no doubt she was going to give me shit. Not because of the sex, or even because I’d left straight after. Not even because accusations had been thrown. She’d treat me like shit because she loved hating me.

“Joey.”

Ali’s voice roused me from my thoughts. “What?”

“Are you okay to visit the studio on Friday?”

“Yeah. Sure. Where is it again?”

“Are you even listening?” Beau asked.

“Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking, would I?” I rolled my eyes and forced myself not to let my mind wander again.

“It’s in a little village not far from Ronnie’s house,” Ali said, giving Beau and I a look, which said, ‘shut up and act like grown ups’. “It’s on a retired farm. The main house has the land owner living in it, and the studios are behind it. They were built for his son who had ideas of becoming a record producer.”

“Are they any good?” I asked.

Beau sighed but it was Elliot who said, “That’s why Ali wants us to check it out.”

Apparently we’d already had that discussion.

“We can build on it, improve it,” Ali added. “And the owner is also willing to sell us the house.”

“For privacy?” Elliot asked.

Ali grinned at Ronnie. “Actually, no. Ronnie had a good idea that we could rent out studio space and the bands could stay in the house.”

Great idea. Pending fatherhood must have been having a good effect on him and his brain.

“I thought maybe we could turn a couple of the downstairs rooms into rehearsal space as well,” Ronnie added. “Creating another revenue maker.”

“Those two lounges are big enough.”

I frowned at Beau. “How the hell do you know?”

“Because I read the email and looked at the photographs that Ali sent last night.” The smug bastard winked at me.

“I take it you didn’t.” Ali moved her laptop around to show me the pictures on the screen. “I think it’s a good option.”

My eyes scoured the images, and she was right, it was. “It’s better than the one in Leeds.”

“None of us want to be trekking over the Pennines in the winter either,” Elliot added. “I would much rather be close to home. That one is only twenty minutes for us three but could be an hour for you in traffic. Are you okay with that?”

I shrugged. “No problem for me. You’ve all got or are having kids so should be close to home.”

“Hey, did I show you the scan picture of the twins?” Ronnie said excitedly.

“Yes,” we all chorused, seeing as we’d seen it at least ten times.

“Right,” Ali said, bringing things back to order. “We’ll meet at the farm at ten on Friday morning.” She looked directly at me. “The postcode is on the email I sent last night.”

“Do we have any other options?” Beau asked. “In case that one isn’t any good.”

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