Page 107 of Ghost Note

I had no idea who the hell JJ Jones was, but from the mutterings going on among the others, she was someonetheydefinitely knew.

Theo looked up from his drink, sensing everyone’s eyes on him. “What?”

Archer smacked him up the back of the head, while Fletch scratched his own eyebrow, and Halo pushed his fist to his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Danny looked angry as all hell.

I turned to Saffron. “Who is that? That JJ person?”

“Don’t worry about her, honey. She’s just some celeb who gets around a bit.”

“You’ve never heard of JJ Jones?” Halo asked, his scowl deep when I turned his way. “She’s one of the biggest actresses of the last decade.”

“More known for her nasty cocaine habit and ability to sleep with anything erect than her actual acting skills, I might add,” Saffron cleared up, before she shot a sharp glare at Halo and muttered something under her breath.

“Yeah, but she’sfit—Ouch!Fuck, Saff!” Theo cried, rubbing the back of his head where he’d just been whacked.

My attention drifted to Danny again, who had his eyes closed and was rubbing his eyebrows.

“Well, she sounds… nice?” I offered quietly. He looked up at me, full of apologies I wasn’t sure he needed to make. I smiled to reassure him. It was a weak smile full of fake strength, but I gave it to him anyway. “Anything erect, huh?”

“It’s a long story, and one I regret,” Danny assured me, his voice quieter than it had been for days.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

A weird tension drifted over the table, and I hated it. I hated that all eyes were on me, wondering if I was about to blow up in some kind of jealous rage I clearly had no right to feel. We hadn’t been together. Danny could see whoever he wanted to see. I’d been sleeping with Ben. But something about him lowering his standards to someone who would ‘sleep with anything erect’ made me feel somewhat sad inside. I thought he was better than that.

“Holyshit!Is that all of Front Row Frogs?” a voice I recognised cried out.

Jackson charged over to our table, and by the time he pushed his way to me, he was panting, with wide eyes that travelled around the group.

“Hey, Jax,” I said, pulling his attention down to me. “You okay?”

“Aunt Dais, you have thecoolestfriends.”

“You know this kid?” Halo asked. Jackson turned his way, swallowing down and running a hand through his hair. “Hey, man,” Halo said with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“Me?” Jackson’s eyes went impossibly wide. “Nice to meet me? You’re… you’re…”

Halo laughed. “Yeah, I am.”

Jax pointed at Archer. “And you’re…”

Archer nodded. “Yup.”

He pointed at Fletch and Theo next, doing the same, before his eyes drifted to Danny and he smiled. “Hey, Danny. You didn’t tell me the band was coming to HC. I would have told my friends. I would have told—”

“And that’s why, kiddo.” Danny laughed, but it was a fake laugh. A small stage laugh with a smile he didn’t quite feel inside. His eyes were still tight, and the tension around his jaw bothered me. I didn’t want him to feel any more regret than he already did.

“Hey, Jax?” I said, turning to him again. He looked at me, innocent and young, without a care in this new world that Gina had somehow created for him from scratch. “Will you do me a favour?”

“Anything, Aunt Dais.”

“Keep my seat warm a minute. Talk to the guys and Saffron. I have to show Danny something.”

His face sparkled with excitement. “I’d love to.”

I stood up and gestured for Danny to follow me. The others around the table were looking between us both like something big was about to happen, but there was no fire in my heart, and I had to make Danny see that before our night went to shit over a misunderstanding.

Pushing through the crowd wasn’t easy—the bar was definitely getting busier than usual—a fact that had to be down to the band arriving. No doubt everyone in there had been on the phone to their friends, sending pictures of the village’s latest guests, drawing even more people in. The men and women behind the bar looked like deers caught in the headlights, moving quickly to try and fulfil every order at a rate they clearly weren’t used to.

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