Page 97 of Cherry Beats

“Molly,” I whispered to myself, relief flooding me. Maybe she’d stayed there to guard the place as soon as she’d seen that the media had latched onto finding out exactly who I was. I sure did love my best friend. “Molly!” I called out, throwing my keys onto the sofa the second the door slammed shut behind me. “Mol?”

I heard her footsteps near the bathroom, followed by the flush of the toilet. Folding my arms over my chest, I cocked a hip and waited to see her face with a small smirk in place. The tap turned on, then off a few seconds later.

“I hope you used soap on those…” My voice trailed off the second my brother Freddie came into view.

His expression was filled with the usual arrogance, his eyes narrowed, and his cocky grin in place.

“Freddie? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hey, sis. How’s it going? Yeah, I’m really well, thanks. I know you are, too, right?” He walked through the living room and into the little kitchenette, and I heard him open the fridge, grab a beer and pop the top before he walked back in and dropped himself onto the sofa without a care in the world. He lifted the remote control and aimed it at the TV to turn it on.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment,” I demanded as calmly as I could.

Freddie tilted his head to one side and continued to flick through the channels, ignoring me and turning the volume up to drown me out. Whatever music channel he’d landed on just so happened to be playing Youth Gone Wild’sWylde,the sound of Rhett’s smoky voice forcing me to shake my head and move to stand in front of my irritating younger brother.

“How did you get in here?” I asked sharply.

Freddie tried to look around me, but I blocked his view until he looked up through smug eyes and tipped his beer to his mouth. Scrap that. He tippedmybeer to his mouth. I immediately snatched it out of his hand, leaving him sitting there with his lips parted and beer dripping from them. His hand hung in the air for a few seconds before he used it to wipe the corners of his mouth.

“Rude,” he eventually said.

“Get out.”

“No.”

“Freddie!”

“Tessa!” he cried, mimicking my obviously whiney voice. “You’re already sounding like a dumb bimbo, you know that, right? Back off, princess.” He pointed to the screen behind me. “Can’t blame a guy for wanting to get to know his future brother-in-law, can you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question. I thought you were inLahndangetting it on with Justin Bieber.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m here to get some… things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Clothes, toiletries, not that I need to explain to you what I’m doing inmy own apartment.”

“The king of rock ‘n’ roll can’t just shove a credit card in your pussy and tell you to hit Bond Street like a real musician would? What a lame-o.”

“Some of us don’t like taking what doesn’t belong to us… what we haven’t earned. Some of us aren’t complete freeloaders just because we have Lisbon as our last name, okay?”

He curled his nose and raised a brow. “Some of us need to stop being so self-righteous. There’s nothing wrong with getting what you can, where you can. Why work hard for something when you can get it for free?”

“So said the benefit fraud’s son.”

“Oo, don’t let Dad hear you talking about him like that. He’s already pissed with you.”

I swallowed, shifting around on my feet and folding my arms over my chest again. Okay, so I wasn’t close with my parents or anything—I got that. I wasn’t the daughter they’d hoped for. Maybe I spoke too much, wanted too much, demanded a better life than they had, but that didn’t mean I deserved their derision and constant disappointment.

“Although Mum isthrilledwith her new-found fame.” Freddie’s sarcasm oozed from him, and he leaned forward to snatch the beer from my hand. I didn’t fight him. Thoughts of my parents and unnecessary concern for them filled me. As much as I was distant, I didn’t want my decisions to affect their lives.

It shouldn’t have to be that way.

“What… what do you mean by that?” I asked.

Freddie took a sip of his beer, his eyes holding mine until he lowered it slowly. “Mum is already talking about how she can have her hair for her backstage passes to all of Presley’s concerts. She’s talking premieres, Hollywood, following you around like the doting mother who is your best friend—”

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