Page 61 of Cherry Beats

“What the hell are you doing here, Freddie?” I asked breathlessly, taking in his cheap shirt, bad quiff, and his overuse of whatever aftershave he’d drowned himself in. My nose curled. “Jesus, you smell like you’re trying to lose your virginity.”

“I think we both know I lost mine before you’d even had your first kiss.”

“You’re such a pig.”

“Correct.”

Freddie glanced over my shoulder, and I followed his gaze, seeing Elle’s smiling face as she served a customer without a care in the world.

Spinning back to face Freddie again, I pointed a finger straight at him. “Don’t you eventhinkabout it.”

“What?”

“You are not running another one of my staff out of this job just because you fuck them and dump them.”

“I can’t help being such a stud.”

“Did you just say dud?”

“Oh, loosen the cuffs on me, big sister. You’re so uptight.”

“No, you’re just a raging arsehole who doesn’t value any woman he gets beneath him.”

“I’ll value one when the right one comes along.”

I immediately thought of Presley and how he’d said the same thing to me on that night three years ago. Yet, I loved him for it. Was he really any different to my brother?

“Whatever. I don’t even care. Just be careful with her. I like this one.”

“The night is young, sis. Sometimes I go in for one thing and come back out with another… or four others.” He shrugged a casual shoulder.

“I think that was vomit I just tasted in my throat.”

Freddie’s cackle faded as he disappeared inside BB’s, leaving me to stare out at the open road with no clue of what to do or where to go. And just as I was about to call a taxi to come and take me directly to Molly’s place, my phone began to ring with her name lighting up my screen. If God himself had descended to stand in front of me and offer me a yacht in Monaco, I wouldn’t have been as happy as I was right there and then.

Answering in a rush, I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Please tell me you didn’t fuck him.”

Molly let out a sharp burst of laughter. “Not evenIwork that fast.”

“Thank God. Where are you?” I asked, dropping my hand and opening my eyes again. People trickled down the pavement, walking in both directions as they headed to the best bar venue in our small town.

“I’m fine, Tess. I figured Trey out quickly enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that when a hot guy like him waltzes in with eyes for you and you alone, pours Moët down your neck like it’s water, and then asks a million and one questions all the way back to his place, you’d have to be stupid to think he wasn’t in it for something other than just your perfect little pussy.”

“What was he asking you?”

“All sorts, but mainly things about you. When he mentioned Presley being back in town, I realised what the fuck was going on. Especially after our conversation this morning about that bitch reporter harassing you.”

“I’m so sorry, Molly—so fucking sorry. I had no idea—”

“Stop it,” she interrupted. “You weren’t to know. We don’t live in that world, Tess. Only Presley does. He doesn’t belong to Hollings Hill anymore. He belongs to them. To the media. To the world. He doesn’t belong to…” she trailed off.

“To me?”

“That’s not what I meant. He doesn’t even belong to himself. He’s with a band. A manager. He’s a sensation, and so long as you keep letting him back in—”

---