Page 69 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

And she needed to get out of there, before she realised that her father not caring she was leaving probably hurt most of all.

* * *

“What the fuck,” Jase muttered as his phone rang.

He pulled the covers over his head. A head that was pounding like someone had clubbed him with a cricket bat. His mouth tasted metallic. He noticed, as he tried to move his leg, that he was still wearing his jeans, which he’d obviously tried to remove given they were halfway down his thighs, and ... yup, only one sock.

But at least in his completely pissed state he’d made it back to the hotel. How, he had no idea.

His phone rang again.

What if not everyone was back. He’d seen Alex making out with a preppy-looking guy at some point.

Fuck.

He reached his hand out for his phone, barely opening his eyes, and tugged it under the covers.

“Yo,” he said, gruffly.

“Jase?” Cerys’s voice hiccupped as she spoke, and his brain fired online.

“Everything okay, sunshine?”

“No, it’s really not. Could you not hold your phone to your ear? It’s a video call.”

Jase pulled the phone in front of him. Christ, how much had he had to drink? “Sorry, babe. Long night. Likely still drunk. What happened?”

“Dad found the song and we fought, and I think I just quit and—”

“Wait. You quit? You fought? And what about the song?”

“I messed it all up, Jase. I guess I didn’t delete your recording off the system, properly. So, I didn’t even get time to set up the conversation with him. I came in on the back foot and just ... shit.”

When she swiped a tear away, he didn’t care what the fuck she’d done. He just wanted to fix it. To hold her in his arms and make everything all right again. “I’m coming over.”

“But I need to tell you about Jimmy, so the band is—”

“The band is barely alive right now. No one is going to be talking to Jimmy today. I’ll be there as soon as I can get my shit together.”

“Thank you.”

He called room service and ordered coffee, four large orange juices, and a shit ton of toast. While he waited, he popped three painkillers, chugged a bottle of water, and took a frigid shower, all the while palming the walls to stay upright when he closed his eyes.

Shit. It had been an epic bender he hoped had gone some way to healing the fractures between them, even if it meant it would be a long while before he was remotely close to sober again.

But Cerys needed him.

Which felt good. Felt better than the alcohol still flooding his veins, and the painful head, and the spins.

Someone actually needed him. Not as an easily substitutable body.

Specifically, him.

He did his best to eat the toast to soak up the alcohol, chased by the orange juice to dilute it. The coffee gave him the boost he needed to leave the hotel.

When he opened the door, he found Luke asleep in the hallway, his back propped up against his door. Jase chuckled, took a picture, and put it in their group chat.

“Oi, Luke,” he said, shaking his shoulder.

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