He sat, allowing her to crawl out of the bed behind him. “I’m not sure you brought one.”
“Oh! Seriously?” She had left the house in a hurry. “Paul?” She walked around the bed to nudge him. “Please tell me you have painkillers.”
“I can make you a brew,” Ronnie offered. “That’ll be almost as good.”
Rock Giant cracked one eyelid. “Try Ginny. Or Luthor. Shit knows, he has everything else in his pockets.” He yawned and spread out into the space she’d vacated, batting Ronnie in the face in the process. “Oh, hello. Don’t you have your own bed?”
“Somewhere,” Ronnie replied, rubbing his nose. “Do you want a brew?”
“Tea. What time is it?”
“Early, but I think it’s time to get up.”
“Why?”
Alle opened the hotel room door and peeped across the foyer. It was clear, but she still doubled back to snatch a shirt off the floor. Turned out it was one of Paul’s that she grabbed, so it came down to her mid-thighs.
“That’s why.”
Alle clocked Ronnie nodding in her direction but didn’t stick around to hear Paul’s response. Instead, she scampered barefoot across the carpet to hammer on Luthor’s door.
He answered wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs and a yawn. “Alle?” he said warily.
“Do you have some paracetamol or ’brufen?”
He cocked his head and squinted at her with his tawny eye. “Do you have a hangover?”
“Teddy bear poisoning. Do you have some, or not?”
“Somewhere.” He let her in and plodded off to locate the drugs, which he pressed into her hand a few seconds later along with a glass of water.
“Thanks.” She perched on the end of his bed to swallow them. Luthor climbed back beneath the covers. “Have you—has Xane called yet?”
He picked up his phone and checked. “Nope.”
“Will you actually tell me if he does?”
“Probably.”
She turned to gawp at him over her shoulder.
“What? My loyalty isn’t to you. It’s to Xane and the band. I’ll take my cue from whatever he says when he does call. But yeah, probably I’ll let you know.”
“I guess that’s honest.”
“You done?” He was already pulling the duvet up to his shoulders.
“I guess.” She stood and put the glass down on the desk. “I’m sorry about last night. I’m just… I miss him, you know.”
Luthor peeped at her through a curtain of hair. “I know. We all do.”
Having offered him a nod, she headed towards the door, only to backtrack. “Does it not worry you that they’re—”
“Alle. I trust Xane. And more importantly, so does Spook. Maybe concentrate on fixing what’s broken about your own relationships rather than speculating.”
“That’s not what I—”
“It’s exactly what you’re doing. Not for malicious reasons, I’ll give you that, but because you’re scared. They’re close, and they’ve history, and they’re off together somewhere. Hopefully. You need to accept that or don’t, but there’s no middle ground. Loving people isn’t about changing them. It’s about accepting them for who they are, and hell, revelling in it. I realise the two of you haven’t exactly had the time for extensive talks, but maybe you need to figure out your stance on certain subjects. Assuming things play out how you want them, I think you need to realise that being with him, it’s never going to be—ordinary.”
