Page 36 of Cherry Beats

He glanced at the door and then back at me, repeating the action a few times before he finally stood up. “Answer it. If it’s anyone looking for me, you haven’t seen me in years. I’ll be in the bathroom. Don’t let them beyond the door. Okay?”

“What if I mess up?”

Presley took a moment to stare at me. “Not possible.”

He left me no time to argue before he tiptoed all the way back to the bathroom, and I heard the door click shut quietly.

“Miss Lisbon, I know you’re in there,” the voice called out again.

I rushed over and peered through the peephole to see a stunning blonde lady, perhaps in her early forties, standing there smiling right at me. Her long hair was curled in perfect waves, and her bright red lipstick made the white of her teeth pop.

“Hi.” She waved.

“Who are you?”

“Open the door, and I’ll introduce myself properly.”

Blowing out an anxious breath and readjusting my shoulders, I opened the door and peered through the crack I’d created. The woman wore a camel-coloured trench coat with a Burberry scarf hanging loosely around her neck. She either had money to burn, or she wasted money she didn’t have because her perfume reeked of expense.

“Ah. Green eyes.” She smiled brightly. “I’m sure there’s a song about those in the charts.”

I stared at her, ignoring the reference to Youth Gone Wild’s song Green, Green Eyes of Home.

“Can I help you?”

“I hope so.” She smiled like a snake and took a step forward. My eyes instantly dropped to her high-heels in warning.That’s close enough, lady.“I’m Janey Dominic.” She held out her perfectly manicured hand for me to take, but I just looked at it like it was dirty. Something told me it was. “Okay,” she chuckled, dropping it quickly and pushing both hands into the pockets of her trench coat. “Straight shooter. I get it. Let me cut to the chase. I’m looking for Presley West.”

“Who?”

Janey smirked and held my gaze for an eerily long time. “The drummer from Youth Gone Wild. You went to school with him.”

“Oh, him.”

Her smile was accusing. “I think you know him better than that.”

“Sure. Presley Aron West. Nickname Paw. Cracking striker for the school’s football team. Decent basketballer when he let himself take his leather jacket off long enough to play. Rubbish at handing in his homework on time. Way too cocky. Always smelled nice, though. Eyes that got him out of detentions a few too many times because Miss Winters had a not-so-subtle crush on him. Hung about with everyone, but always seemed a little bit like a comfortable loner, too. Never quite knew how he managed that. He drank a lot in the bar I work at, BBs.”

“Right,” she said sarcastically. “That’s him. The guy with the whole world at his feet, but who can’t seem to stay away from England. I wonder why that is?”

“Maybe he misses scones.”

“Or he misses someonerather than something.”

“I guess you’d have to ask him that.”

“I’d like to. I’d like to do that right now, if I could. Is he here?”

“Here?” I laughed roughly. “Okay, sure. I’ll just grab him.” I rolled my eyes.

“Tess,” she sighed, tilting her head to one side. “May I call you Tess?”

“No, you may not,” I said, face falling.

“My apologies.” Janey nodded. “Miss Lisbon… let’s neither one of us pretend that you don’t know him better than you say you do. Let’s neither one of us continue with this charade. I’m sure you’ve seen the news and know he was arrested this morning for lashing out at a fan.”

“And let’s neither one of us pretend you have any right to come to my home, stand outside my door, accuse me of lying, and talk to me like I’m a piece of used-up gum stuck to the bottom of your obviously fakeLouboutins, Miss Dominic. I don’t know who the hell you are or what you want from me, but I haven’t seen nor heard from Presley in three years. So, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you left me alone to finish my cooking and get on with my oh-so-exciting life where I’ll probably sit here and watch Golden Girls reruns all night. Thank you.”

I tried to slam the door in her face, thinking it was over, but she must have been ready for the action. Her hand flew out to push it back open, and my already sore toe got caught in the swing back. I yelped in surprise as the pain tore through me again, and I stumbled back, letting the door drift wide open.

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