“I don’t know, Ash. Maybe. I hope…”
“Luthor know you’re taking off?”
“Ash, just go back inside, please… please.”
“Oh wait, that’s what the PDA was about. He’s in on it. Covering for you? Where is he, Xane? Where’s Spook?”
Xane pushed past him, got in the car and did up the seatbelt. “I don’t know, Ash. I’m kind of hoping my brother’s going to tell me. I’ll be in touch, okay. Talk to Luthor, and please hold off on saying anything to Alle until you do. He’ll explain. I need to go.” He tugged on the door handle. “I’ll catch you at the other end of the breadcrumb trail.”
-10-
Allegra
They barely spoke on the ride to her place. Honestly, Alle wasn’t even sure why Rock Giant had agreed to accompany her. They weren’t exactly besties. Sure, they’d hung out a little, mostly due to the fact he’d done a ton of shows with Ronnie, with whom he got on like a house on fire. She guessed there’d been that night on the cruise, when they’d fucked, but… she tried not to think about that. The memories were too uncomfortable. She’d been happy then. Had thought everything was finally slotting into place between her and Spook.
“Want me to come in with you?” he offered.
Was there a right answer to that? Part of her wanted the company. Wasn’t that what folks always said about misery? She was certainly fucking miserable. Her frustrations draped her like widow’s weeds. The house stood cloaked in shadows too, not a drop of light or warmth about the place. The streetlamp two doors down had been flickering for days. It blinked out completely as she looked at it.
“It’s not a problem if you do. If you just want to talk and have someone listen.”
It would be good to talk to someone other than Ewan and his vindictive moggy about things. Someone who understood how difficult it was. Black Halo were in limbo as much as she was. All of them had known Spook for years. His disappearance had cut holes in their lives easily equal to the one it’d carved in hers.
“You’re a proper teddy bear, did anyone ever tell you that?”
He chuckled. “I’ve heard words to that effect. Come on, I’ll walk you to the door, and then you can decide if you want me to stick around.”
He followed her out of the taxi onto the street. Despite having cleaned up a little post-performance, he still looked out of place in the real world. If anyone peered out of their window, they’d think she was bringing the prince of darkness or at least one of his beefy bodyguards home. The man was a tower of inked muscle, with mad hair that landed somewhere between goth and punk.
“You know, if it’s really not a problem, I think I—”
“It’s not,” he reassured.
He led the way up the front steps even though it was her house. Narrowly managed banging his head on the weed-filled hanging basket by the front door that she’d been meaning to replant. Alle handed him her key, but he hesitated. “It’s already open.” He prodded the door with two fingertips, causing it to swing inwards. “Not usual, I’m assuming?”
Alle shook her head, before ducking under his arm to enter. “Hey,” he caught her. “A bit of caution maybe?”
“It’s on the latch,” she said. “I’ve a feeling…”
“Spook?”
God, if only. Her heart thudded at the very notion. “More likely, Flynn.”
Sure enough, what her guts were anticipating greeted her in the hall in the form of three large holdalls. “It’s my fuckwit brother back from wherever the bastard’s been hiding.”
Flynn. She’d seen and heard nothing from him since he’d had her unceremoniously ejected from the ferry docks and bundled into the back of Ewan’s car. The cowardly git had bounced between one cruise ship and the next to avoid facing her. According to their youngest brother, Theo, who’d bumped into Flynn off the coast of Greece back in July, their brother had spent the summer traversing the Mediterranean with a plan to move to the Baltic routes later in the season.
After such overwhelming silence, she didn’t know how he dared show his face, let alone plant his bags in her hall. But then, maybe he’d forgotten the house belonged to her these days, not their father.
She burst into the kitchen, slamming the door into the side of the fridge. “I don’t know how you fucking dare, Flynn Hutton.”
Flynn and Ewan looked up from the remains of a takeaway pizza. They were sitting either side of the kitchen table, nursing cuppas in a scene of perfect domesticity. Ewan, jumper clad and beardy, Flynn, weirdly starched despite being dressed in casual clothing. Ewan opened his mouth first, then seemed to think better of it and gave his beard a scratch. Flynn was tanned to a leather-like shade, dressed in subdued colours. He regarded her as if her outburst was not just unwarranted, but inexplicable.
“You might consider hearing me out before you start swinging your axe.”
Fuck that! And fuck him.
“You seem to think I owe you something. I don’t owe you shit, Flynn. Nothing you have to say will make up for what you did.” He’d stolen her last moments with Spook from her. If not for him, she’d have been there, might have stopped the attack, or at the very least, could have ridden to the hospital with him. Hell, Spook might never have bailed on her and his band if she’d been there.
