Page 134 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

“Go.”

“I have a boner.”

“And I promise I’ll take care of it later.”

“As long as you know I’m holding you to it.”

Alex stood at the side of the stage, waiting to go on, with everything that had happened that afternoon flowing through his mind. It was a blur. Ollie. The police. Zoe forgiving him before he’d even apologised. Hell, she hadn’t let him apologise which only further confirmed what he already knew. That she accepted everything that came with his life fully. Every single thing about him.

And they were going house hunting.

He was going to unilaterally put his heart and happiness in her hands for safekeeping.

Now, she was out there. Waiting for him.

And that made him think about everything else she’d said. About what she wanted to happen after the gig.

Which…holy fuck. The gig.

A sold-out crowd of fifty thousand.

His nan and mum were on the front row with the girls. His dad had not been invited.

All of it was a dream come true.

Every piece of it.

“Ready?” Ben said.

“It’s going to be chaotic.”

Jase placed his hands on Alex’s biceps, shaking him as he bounced. “It’s fucking Manchester.”

Matt put his arm around Luke’s shoulder, who put his around Jase. And so they continued until the five of them were huddled in a circle. “It’s impossible to remember that only fourteen months ago, we were dragging our shit in Luke’s van to a pub just down the road from here to play for about fifty people. We’ve been down, we’ve been out, fuck, we’ve even been knocked out by each other.”

“In fairness, I deserved it,” Jase said, and Alex laughed.

“Seriously, though,” Matt continued. “I can’t imagine doing this with anyone other than you four. It’s special. This. Family. We’ve done every step of this exactly how we wanted to and now this is ours. So, what do you say we just go out there and perform like it’s fifty thousand mates turning up for a good old-fashioned singsong yeah?”

“It’s Cletus’s first home gig. It’s going to be wild,” Luke said with a grin. “I’m in.”

“I’m in,” Ben said.

Jase nodded. “Me, too.”

Alex grinned. “Count me in.”

“It’s time,” Ed said

Alex hugged him. “Thanks, Ed. For all of this. For helping us through our first tour of this size.”

“Ah. You’re welcome. You’re just a bunch of tour babies yet. Didn’t even wreck the tour bus.”

Ben rubbed his knuckles. “Sorry about the dent, Ed.”

“Pah, it’s nothing. I once had a band set the entire tour bus on fire. Don’t worry about it. Go crush it tonight and do the rest of the crew proud. Oh, and Jase… Cerys sent me a message for you.”

“Yeah? She wants me to blow her kiss?”

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