Page 55 of The Allotment on Willow Tree Lane

Her mind blank, all Ceri could think about were the flowers on his grandmother’s grave.

Sadie hummed a few bars of something familiar, and suddenly Ceri got it and everything slotted into place.

‘“Dark Dimension”,’ she whispered. ‘Youare inBlackHyacinth?’

‘Yeah, I wanted to—’

Ceri didn’t care what he wanted: she’d heard and seen enough.

Black Hyacinth was famous.Damonwas famous. And he had just made a total fool of her.

Furious, hurt, and embarrassed, Ceri turned on her heel, and marched off up the pavement. Tears were gathering and there was no way she was going to let Damon see them fall. She refused to let him see how much he’d hurt her.

He should have told her. Not led her on, allowing her to believe they might have a future together when all he had been interested in was getting his leg over whilst he hid in Foxmore for a few weeks.

More fool her!

She’d thought she had found her perfect man, but he had lied to her and that was something she could never forgive.

Chapter 15

Damon knew he had to go after her right now. He had to make Ceri see things from his point of view. She needed to understand that he had been just about to tell her who he was when Sadie turned up.

He took a step, then felt Sadie catch hold of his arm.

‘You said to come for a visit.’ Her tone was plaintive and he hesitated.

Ceri was hurrying along the pavement and had almost reached the turn off to her road. He wanted to catch her before she got to her cottage.

‘Here.’ He yanked his keys out of his pocket. ‘Left and left again. My house is at the end of the lane. I’ll see you later.’

He was aware of Sadie’s eyes on him as he broke into a run, but he didn’t wait to see if she followed his instructions. His attention was wholly and utterly on the woman he was falling for.

‘Ceri!’ he yelled, and he saw her falter, so he knew she’d heard him. But she didn’t stop, and he only caught up with her as she was about to open the little gate to Rosehip Cottage.

‘Go away,’ she said, refusing to look at him. Her cheeks were wet and he could see she was crying.

‘Not until you let me explain,’ he begged.

‘You lied to me.’

‘I didn’t. Not exactly.’

‘Semantics,’ she spat, and he was forced to concede that she was right. He mightn’t have lied, but he hadn’t been entirely truthful either.

‘Please let me explain.’

‘Oh, bugger off, why don’t you! Go back to London, or wherever it is you live. Go back to your rock star life andleave me alone.’

‘No, I…’ Damon’s heart was racing and his head was starting to pound.

Not now, please, not now.

His chest was a ball of pain. He couldn’t breathe and noise filled his ears until all he could hear was Aiden screaming, forever eternally screaming—

Gasping for breath, the world spinning around him, Damon knew he was about to pass out.

‘Damon…Damon!’

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