Page 17 of The Final Beat

CHAPTER 9

JOEY

Settling into my seat on our plane, I sighed heavily, wondering for the millionth time if I was doing the right thing. Mum had told Rosetta that I was going, so I hadn’t spoken to her. All I knew was the address. Their home because Aldo wanted to die in his own bed. I had to admit I was nervous, wishing that it was somewhere more neutral. It would be weird seeing my dad for the first time in twenty odd years in the house he’d gone to when he’d abandoned me. I didn’t know how long he’d lived there. It didn’t matter, it just didn’t feel right.

“We’ll be starting to take off in about ten minutes, Mr Farrow,” Marco, the steward informed me.

“Are we waiting for the pilot?” I asked. “Or a take-off slot?”

“No, another passenger.” He furrowed his brow. “Were you not expecting anyone?”

I wasn’t, yet…

“Who is it?” I asked, trying to ignore the excited anticipation building in my stomach. It wasn’t wanted. It wasn’t real. I was just feeling things that I shouldn’t because of my nerves.

Marco flicked over the page of the papers on his clipboard. “It was a late addition. Miss Cooper.”

It felt like a firework had gone off in my chest while being punched in the gut. She was coming. I hadn’t asked her to. I wasn’t even going to tell her and only had because she’d called. The guys didn’t even know that I was going, only Ali…and Destiny.

Before I had time to think about it any longer, she appeared at the top of the stairs and pushed her bag through the door first.

“Fucking hell, if that security guard had searched me any longer I’d have insisted he marry me. It was practically sexual assault.”

“Miss Cooper,” Marco said, plastering on a smile. “Lovely to have you on board.”

Destiny raised an eyebrow in the way only she could. “And are you here to pander to my every need?” She looked him up and down like he was her next meal.

“Whatever you need, Miss Cooper.” Marco waved a hand toward the seat opposite mine. “If you’d like to sit we can start to take off.”

She held out her bag to him. “Here you go and if it starts buzzing it’s just my dildo.”

I groaned as Marco took the bag, looking more than slightly uncomfortable.

“Did you have to embarrass him like that?” I asked, clipping my seat belt closed.

“It’s all a bit of fun.” She winked at me and took her sunglasses off the top of her head and dropped them into her handbag. “Anyway, happy to see me?”

“What are you doing here, Daisy?”

She shuffled around in her seat, getting comfy, and I smiled when I noticed her feet barely touched the floor. Tiny and tempestuous with a foul mouth. Who could resist her?

“I’m here to support you.” She tutted and shifted again. “I thought these private jets were supposed to be comfy. Why can’t I get comfy? This is notcomfyat all.”

“Not comfy then?” I asked with a wry smile.

“Nope.” She kicked her shoes off. Black ones with thick heavy soles and huge buckles on the front. “As for why I’m here, I thought you might need my support.” She bent down to pick up her huge handbag and started to look through it. “Have you got any chewing gum?” she said pointing at her ear. “For take-off.”

Shoving my hand inside my jeans’ pocket I rooted around for the half a packet of mints I knew were in there. I threw them over to her.

“Here. And I don’t need your support.”

Ripping at the paper, she scoffed. “Whatever, Joseppi.” She pulled out a mint and launched the packet back at me. Hard.

“Oi, you could have had my eye out.” I felt down the side of the chair, where the packet had landed and dropped them onto the seat next to me. “And don’t fucking call me that.”

“I will when you stop calling me Daisy.”

A warmth spread over me as I thought about the daisies I’d bought for her after our first night together. After she’d mentioned they were her favourite flower and how she loved making daisy chains as a kid. It was stupid but it made me feel better thinking about them and the fact she now always had a vase of them on her kitchen table. In fact, looking at her shoes on the floor, her bag on the seat, and her sunglasses on top of her head, it was all comforting. It was Destiny, the one person who could calm my nerves. The one person who could support me in ways that I wasn’t sure the guys could.

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