Page 84 of Ghost Note

“You still love me…” he eventually said, a slow blink making him look hurt before he unleashed bright green eyes down on me again, and a smile twitched on his lips.

“You think this is funny?”

“I think it’sincredible.”

“I’ve just told you I want to stop, Danny.”

Brushing his thumb over my cheek again, he bent at the knee. “You want to hate me; you’ve made that clear. You want to stop loving me; you’ve made that clear, too. But youdostill love me, Zee, and my mind has just lost any control it ever had.”

He slid his thumb down to press it against my lips, cutting me off. He wore the biggest smile, and I didn’t understand how someone could see such optimism in something that should have been soul-shattering.

“No more talking about feelings until Saturday. The only time I need to know about those is if you want me to fuck off out of your life for good. When I hear those words from your lips, I’ll go. I’ll go, and I’ll never look back. Expecting you to feel anything after five years of pain was a long shot, and somehow, I made it. So, I’m going to spend the next two days showing you life, and at the end of it, you get to decide if you want me in yours or not. Okay?”

Two days of not thinking or feeling sounded like a heaven I hadn’t even known I’d needed.

“You’re leaving the decision to me?” I mumbled behind his thumb.

“It should have been yours to make five years ago.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Just stay with me until Saturday. Give me ‘til then,” he whispered.

With a soft nod, I closed my eyes and prayed for my survival.

* * *

Jules and Rhett had said their hellos when they arrived, neither one of them surprised by my involvement in the night. I even got to meet the band’s manager, Billie, who wasn’t exactly warm to my presence. With a curt nod and a flat smile, she’d glanced up and down my body before she’d turned back to the guys to talk them through the evening, alongside Jules… who didn’t look like she was all too keen on Billie herself. Where Jules was warm and beautiful, Billie was harder. Her hair scraped back into a tight ponytail that surely must have given her a tension headache after ten minutes. There was no battle of power, that much was obvious. Billie had her place, and so did Jules.The only person Billie smiled at the whole time she was there was Rhett Ryan, and he entertained her by sticking his middle finger in her face, grabbing his crotch and spinning around to kiss his Jules without care or concern who saw.

The guy was besotted with his woman, and that wasn’t lost on that once-romantic heart of mine.

Before I knew it, Danny and the guys had headed backstage to get their performance outfits on, and I was left standing with a woman who had only just arrived—after Danny asked me if I was going to be all right a million times over.

The lady looked like she should be a part of a band herself. Her boots were studded with metal prongs, and I had no idea how anyone could squeeze themselves into such tight leather trousers. Her vest hung low under her armpits, like that of Archer’s, showing her burgundy lacy bra with zero shame. Her shoulder-length, brown hair was poker straight, apart from two small plaits running through one side that had been pinned back, and she had the kindest eyes that didn’t quite match up with her grungy outfit.

She smiled at me and stepped forward. “Daisy, yeah?”

“Yeah, hi.” I nodded, resigned to the fact that everyone seemed to know who I was around here… which was definitely freaking me out in an entirely different way to all the other stuff.

“Man,” she laughed, rocking back on the thick heel of her heavy boots, “have we heard a lot about you.”

“I’m hearing that a lot.”

“Danny has it bad for you.”

“You think?” I inhaled, holding the air in my chest only to breathe it back out slowly.

“I know.” She laughed again, pressing her hand to her chest. “I’m Saffron. Saff, actually. I’m—”

“Archer’s girl,” I said with a smile. “Right. Theo was telling me about you.”

“Ugh, really? What did his little punk arse have to say?”

“Just that you were decent. Not like the other women out there.”

“Well, shit. I thought you were about to say he’d been insulting me.”

“You guys don’t get on?” I asked, taking a small sip of my beer.

“Oh, yeah, he’s just a cocky, sarcastic arsehole most of the time. He thinks his looks and his skills with a bass guitar give him a free pass to say whatever the hell he wants around here, but he has a lot of women to keep him in line… me being one of them. To return his compliment, though, he’s decent, too. I get on with all of them, actually. Especially your Danny. He’s a real good guy—”

“He’s… he’s not mine,”anymore.“Not like you and Archer, is what I mean.”

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