Page 101 of Broken Rock

Chloe peers into a fancy black gift box sitting on the counter and gently brushes the padding to the side. ‘Gregg. They sent him the drink.’

He curses when he sees the perfect imprint of the bottle in the base of the box. ‘Bastards handed him a loaded gun.’

Chloe slumps onto one of the bar stools and clasps her hands together. ‘This is more than a few unpleasant letters, Gregg.’ She looks over her shoulder at Tate. ‘He could just as easily have called Eddie.’

‘But he didn’t. I know him getting stupidly drunk isn’t going to help him, but it’s done. He’s just got to get sober so we can have a nice little chat about what the fuck is going on. He should have called his sponsor, or me, or you, or anyone before he opened the bottle. He knows full well what he’s supposed to do when he feels like he’s struggling. Looks like he ignored all that and went for the easy option.’

Gregg sits beside her and turns the stool around so she’s facing him.

‘Hey, he’ll be grand.’ He makes a face. ‘Well, he’ll be sick as a dog for a bit, but he’ll be grand eventually.’

‘What about whoever is doing this to him? They’re following us, Gregg. We were having a private conversation, and someone was taking a picture of us. It feels...’

‘Creepy. I know. Take some advice from a relatively new entry to the crazy celebrity world – assume there are no private conversations or private moments when you’re in public. And by public, I mean anywhere that isn’t behind closed doors.’ He squeezes her arm and nods towards the stairs. ‘He’s going to be out of it for a good few hours. How about you grab some sleep. I’ll sit with him for a bit. Make sure he’s okay.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep. I’ll stay with him too if that’s okay.’

‘Of course. I’ll get some blankets. Now, do you fancy spending an uncomfortable night in the left or the right armchair?’

24

Tate groans as he rollsonto his back. It takes less than a second to seriously regret moving at all. He hangs on to the back of the couch as the room tilts and sways around him.

‘Good morning, gorgeous.’

He winces as Gregg’s voice booms loudly in his head. ‘Too loud.’

‘Oh sorry buddy. Does your head hurt?’

Tate winces as Gregg pretty much shouts in his ear. ‘Yeah, it hurts.’

‘Good!’ Gregg shouts in his ear again. ‘Serves you right!’

Tate slowly pushes himself up and sits back as his head catches up with the rest of his body. ‘Why are you here?’

‘Ellen rang me when you missed the meeting with her yesterday. Then I called Chloe. Do you have any idea what you put her through, you selfish dick?’

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