Page 96 of Cherry Beats

“No matter when.”

He took a moment before he spoke, and I heard the way he scratched the stubble on his chin close to the speaker. “Okay, Tess, but make sure you come back soon. You belong here.”

The call ended, and I lowered the phone into my lap slowly.

“Everything okay?” Presley crawled onto the bed beside me, leaning on one arm while his other took my hand and squeezed it tight. “Or am I in serious trouble for taking matters into my own hands?”

“Does it even matter to you if I said you were in serious trouble?”

“Nope.”

“Didn’t think so.” I shook my head and smiled at him and his adorable puppy dog eyes as he brought my hand to his mouth and placed a tender kiss there. “But whether you like it or not, I do need to go home, Presley.”

His face fell instantly. I held his gaze, searching his eyes.

“Can Dex pick me up?”

“Cherry…don’t…”

“Shh.” I pressed a palm to his bare chest, feeling the way his heart beat wildly beneath it. “Unless you want me to stay here and wear your T-shirts for the next week, I need to go home and pack some things. I can’t live out of my tiny bag for long.”

Presley scowled lightly, his eyes flying across every inch of my face.

“While I’m there, maybe I can drop in those leather trousers of mine you love so much.”

His smile broke free, flashing his pearly white teeth, creating lines of happiness around the edges of his eyes.

Of all the looks he had, that had quickly become my favourite.

Chapter Thirty

Presley said he wanted to take the drive back to Hollings Hill with me, but Julia had reminded him that he had a meeting in the hotel suite that night with the rest of the band. It may have been their night off, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a set list to figure out and rehearsals to plan if they were going to go ahead with their appearance at TriFest. I could tell he’d been reluctant to let me go alone, even when I made a promise that I’d be as quick as I could possibly be.

Uncle Dex didn’t say anything of much significance on the way back to my place, despite the hour’s drive. We made general chit chat, mainly about music. I found out he was a wealthy man in his own right after once inventing some tool that graphic designers now use in their everyday lives. He told me the technicalities of it, but I couldn’t really follow. The only technological thing I could use without a manual was my iPhone. He’d been living off that one invention for the last five years, which gave him the freedom to roam around and be at Presley’s beck and call whenever he clicked his fingers.

I didn’t need to delve into the hows and whys of him doing what he did for his nephew. It was obviously his way of honouring his late brother, and it only made me love Dex more—and not just because he looked like Jackson Maine from A Star is Born. If Molly ever met him, she’d be spreading herself over him like a rash. That movie was ingrained on her soul.

“Look at that,” Dex said, nodding up ahead to my building. “All peaceful on the battlefield.”

I stared out of the windscreen to look for myself. The hours I’d been gone were countable, yet life felt so different already, Hollings Hill now smaller somehow.

“Did you expect people to be here?” I asked.

Dex shrugged. “You never know where the media vermin will show up.”

He pulled into the secure car park, and I gave him the code to open the iron gates. Once we were parked inside and the gates had shut behind us without anyone following us through, Dex turned off the engine and shuffled on his bum to face me.

“You sure you don’t want me to come up with you?”

“No offence,” I said, pressing a hand down on the door handle. “But I think I’m going to enjoy this few minutes of peace and quiet. It might be the last time I get to hear my own thoughts for a while.”

“Excellent point.” He smiled. “I’ll be right here waiting.”

Knowing he was there made me feel better. I made my way inside and up to my apartment, feeling the exhaustion of the previous week beginning to bleed into my vision. If I were to climb on top of my bed now, I’d be asleep within ten seconds, and nobody would be able to wake me for a week.

I dragged my feet to my front door, pushed the key in and opened it up slowly. As soon as I realised I’d left the light on, I scowled to myself.

But I couldn’t have. I knew I hadn’t. It had been the middle of the night, and I’d left Molly in bed. Unless she’d left it on by mistake.

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