Page 127 of Cherry Beats

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No scandal had been revealed in the media by the time the band went on stage at nine o’clock that night to perform at the Palau Sant Jordi, where seventeen thousand people were screaming the band’s name on repeat in between songs.

Of course, there was a chance ithadbeen the drone of an innocent adult or child, but the churning in my gut wouldn’t let that thought get too cosy in my brain. Janey Dominic and her rats were circling. It was only a matter of time.

I watched Presley do his thing on the drums. His passion for the music blocking out any worries he may or may not have had. I envied him. I envied the way he could choose what he let take over his thoughts and what he could push to one side. I envied the conviction with which he lived his life unapologetically. I envied his confidence, his need to find the truth in everything that touched him.

I envied that he didn’t seem to miss anything about home.

Molly, Bourbon, and Fliss sprang to mind, their familiar faces making a soft smile grace my lips as I watched Presley get lost in the music. He looked up and caught me in between songs, and he smiled brightly, flashing me a wink as he took a drink from his bottle of water before he poured the rest of it over his head and shook it out, enticing a huge cheer from the crowd.

“Julia?”

“What’s up, Tess?”

“Tell Presley I’ll be in his dressing room when he finishes his set, will you?”

She turned to me, scowling. “You’re not waiting to see the finale?”

I looked up into her eyes. “I’ll see it again in the next city.”

Julia didn’t respond, and I turned to make my way back to Presley’s room. When I pushed through the door, my ears rang, the silence so loud it was almost deafening. Every corridor in these places and every dressing room looked the same. We could have been in London, Australia, or Japan, and nobody would have known. This life was lived behind off-white walls and beneath impenetrable ceilings.

A small part of me missed the freedom of driving along a road with the windows down, seeing nothing but green fields for miles—no dirty city blocks and dark grey skyscrapers in sight.

I uncapped a bottle of beer, grabbed my phone from the pocket of my jeans, and I sank down into place on the bland sofa, kicking my feet up onto the coffee table in front of it. Before I could stop myself, I hit the call button next to Bourbon’s name and pressed the phone to my ear.

“You’re alive!” he cried, the noise of BB’s as loud as the concert I’d just left.

“Just about.” I grinned. “It sounds noisy there. What’s happening?”

“It’s ridiculous, Tess. Since your man declared his love for you on stage and the thing went viral, BB’s has been bursting at the seams. Congrats on that, by the way. You guys looked cute together up on that stage.”

“Oh. I. Erm. Thanks.” I blushed. “He caught me by surprise.”

“A little flash, if you ask me, but I can’t criticise the guy for his efforts.” He laughed, and I heard the smash of glass somewhere close by. “Oh, Christ, Molly. That’s the sixth one tonight!”

“Sorry, B,” she called back to him, and even I could hear the fake innocence in her voice.

“Molly’s with you? My Molly?” I asked, raising my voice so he could hear me.

“Day. And. Night. Tess, I can’t get rid of the bloody woman.”

“Hey!” Molly cried.

Bourbon laughed while I sat there with my mouth hanging open. “Molly never gets her hands dirty. What the hell is going on?” I found myself asking.

“I got a call from her asking for my help to get that brother of yours out of your apartment—”

“Wait, what? Freddie is out?”

“Damn right, he is. That kid has a hell of a mouth on him too, dolly.”

I sighed with relief, sinking into the sofa and letting my head fall onto the back of it. “You got him out. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“He wasn’t happy about it, but when Molly is being Molly and threatening to cut his dick off with a pickle fork, what’s the kid gonna do?”

I laughed out loud at the visual, imagining Molly towering over Freddie and threatening him that way. God, I loved that woman.

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