Page 135 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

Ed laughed. “She said to not throw the microphone on the floor again because it’s expensive kit, sounds awful, and sets a bad example to kids in the crowd.”

The rest of the band burst out laughing.

Jase shook his head and grinned. “Would it kill her to flirt occasionally?”

“Go,” Ed said, gesturing to the stage.

Jase bounded on first, closely followed by Ben. Alex stepped out next, followed by Matt and Luke. “Evenin’, Manchester. We’re the Sad Fridays from a little place you might have heard of. Chorlton, Manchester.”

The crowd roared as Alex scanned the front row. Zoe wore one of their tour shirts, but she’d cut a vee into the neck and cinched it on the side with a knot. And her lips were bright red.

She grinned at him, and he tapped his lips, then discretely pointed down at his dick. When Zoe broke into laughter while nodding, he stepped back behind his kit.

“My missus is back there in the sound booth making sure our sound is great, so give her a wave.” Jase pointed toward the back of the arena. “She also threatened to kick my ass if I drop this mic again tonight. Sorry, babe. I’ll do my best. How about we start with ‘It’s Not About You’?”

Luke counted them in, and Alex felt the explosion of sound in his chest.

When the concert ended, and the band had packed up, the whole tour crew jubilantly made their way to a private event laid on by the label to celebrate the end of the tour.

Alex had never seen so much champagne. The girls were drinking it like pop. All except Willow who had stuck to water. Nan and his mum had had one glass too many. Even Zoe, who was meant to be taking it easy because of the possibility of concussion had probably snuck in a couple he’d missed. And his own take on the world was starting to get a little blurry.

Hammered.

They were all toasted. Partly because they’d consumed a shit-ton of free beer, but also because they were so exhausted after nearly two months of solid touring.

“Let’s go find somewhere I can fuck you. My dick’s missing you,” he signed.

Zoe closed one eye and looked at him over the top of her champagne flute. Yup. She was drunk too. “Yes,” she signed, before chugging the rest of her glass.

“Jesus Christ, you two,” Cerys signed. “Remember a girl can sign too.”

Zoe burst out laughing and Cerys followed.

“Luke,” Willow said. “On a scale of one to ten, how inconvenient would it be for Cletus to decide that today is the day.”

Luke paused with his pint glass halfway to his lips. “Today?”

Willow blew out a breath. “Yeah. I’m certain it’s today. And that we need to leave.”

“How...? What…? Contractions?” Luke spluttered.

“They started about five o’clock, I think. But I couldn’t let you miss your Manchester gig.”

Luke looked down at his phone. “Jesus, flower, it’s midnight. That was seven hours ago. Come on, we need to go before your waters break.”

Willow winced. “Um. See. That’s the real kicker. They just did. And now it’s starting to hurt. A lot.”

“Your water broke?” Luke said, knocking his glass over as he stood.

“Shit,” Matt called, jumping out of the way of the broken glass. “Ambulance?”

“No. Get a cab or Uber,” Chaya slurred. “Ambulances are prioritised, and this won’t hit high priority and babies are not priority. Well, they are priority because babies are ah-mazing. But not a priority for the priority people who make the ambulance decisions.”

Izabel looked at Chaya and then giggled. “She said priority.”

“That’s it,” Ben said, taking Chaya’s glass. “You’re cut off.”

“I’m on it,” Alex said, yanking his phone out of his pocket, attempting to sober up. Someone should be.

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