Page 23 of Ghost Note

“Don’t!” I warned him. “Don’t you dare take another step closer, and don’t you dare speak another word.”

“But—"

“Go, Danny. Just… go.”

Dipping my head to hide my blush, I walked past Jules, Rhett, and Corey, and I made my way inside the pub to where Ben was waiting for me with a large glass of wine at the bar.

As soon as I got to him, I reached for it and poured it down my neck, only stopping when the burn hurt and the taste of it hit me enough to make me gag, leaving barely an inch of the stuff in the glass when I lowered it back to the bar.

I licked my lips and ran a thumb over the corners of my mouth. Ben stared and raised his brows.

“Crazy day, huh?” he asked.

“We need tighter restrictions on the tourists we allow around here.”

“Ah, you saw him, too, then?”

“Who?” I frowned, hoping he hadn’t seen me talking to Danny and knew I’d lied to his face about phoning Gina.

Ben glanced towards the door I’d burst through only moments ago before he looked back at me and his face lit up. “Rhett fucking Ryan was just in here, Daisy.”

“Never heard of him. Wait…” I, too, looked at the door, as if Rhett was about to walk back through and explain who he was. “You know that guy? The dude with the shaggy hair and the ripped jeans.”

“Youdon’t?”

“Do I look like I do?”

“Daisy, I know you live under a rock, but everyone knows that guy. That’s Rhett Ryan. The lead singer of Youth Gone Wild. One of the most famous men in the world right now.”

I stared at him blankly.

“You don’t know who Youth Gone Wild are, do you?”

My bottom lip pushed out, and I shook my head. “Should I?”

Ben dropped his elbow to the bar, closed his eyes, and he slammed his forehead into his palm. “I do not get laid enough for this.”

Eight

“Watch this.”

Ben held his phone out and leaned back, allowing me a closer look at the YouTube clip he was desperate for me to watch. I eyed him with suspicion before I leaned over the table we were sitting at in Harbour & Hope, and the music blared to life on the screen.

Fucking music. Everyone spoke about how it saved them, leaving me to think I was the only one who had ever been destroyed by it.

Laser lights shone out across a faceless crowd of phone cameras and girlish screams.

“How’s everyone doing tonight, O2 Arena?”a guy shouted from the front of the stage, and as the camera zoomed in on that charming smirk and those mischievous eyes, I recognised him instantly.

Thatwas Rhett Ryan.

“We are Youth Gone Wild, and we’re here tonight to play some fuckin’ good songs and have a fuckin’ good time. Are you with us?”

The video played on, showing short twenty-second clips of him covering a few songs at different stadiums across the world. At one point, I thought I recognised one of the tracks they were covering from my childhood. I was pretty sure Dad used to like listening to it while working on his car in the garage.

“I know this song,” I said, still eyeing the screen as I pointed to it. “My dad used to like them. Mutley or dogs or something or other.”

Ben’s groan was low and lacking in patience. “MötleyCrüe, Daisy.”

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