Swallowing back the lump forming in my throat, I wish for the hundredth time that I could have felt for Conor what I felt for Ryan. Conor who’s so good, kind and strong. Conor who’s never let anyone down in his life.
‘I don’t think there’s a lot anyone can do at this stage,’ Chloe interjects, eyeing the two of us.
I can barely meet Conor’s penetrating gaze. ‘I feel so bad for Matt and the band. It was supposed to be their big break too.’
‘Ahh, Sasha. They’ll be disappointed but they’ll get over it. The question is, will you?’ His huge warm hand lands over mine, halting the thrumming. One gentle squeeze promises a magnitude of love and support. I only wish I could accept it.
Ryan Cooper has ruined me forever.
James pensively clears his throat. ‘Did I ever tell you who my second cousin is?’
Chloe’s head whips round fast enough to give her whiplash. ‘Who?’
‘You might have heard of him. He’s no “bachelor of the year” but he’s part of one of Ireland’s most successful bands of all time.’
‘Who?’ Chloe leaps to her feet, hands clasped in front of her chest.
‘Bono.’
‘FUCK OFF!’ she shrieks, like a woman who’s been pardoned three seconds before being executed.
James nods, a hint of pride rendering him an inch taller than before. ‘Look, I don’t know if he can help, I don’t even know where in the world he is, but I can ask. We don’t see each other often but I’ve saved his skin a few times and he always said he owed me.’
‘You are a fucking legend.’ Chloe throws her arms round him in a gesture that incites a hot blush to flush his cheeks.
Wriggling free, he slips a hand into his trouser pocket, presumably in search of his phone, but before he can pull it out all hell breaks loose from along the corridor.
Conor rises to stand protectively in front of me. ‘What the…?’
High-pitched shrieks and wails reverberate through the castle’s stone walls like an incoming attack. Feet pound the halls, shaking the floor beneath us. Chloe’s alarmed expression mirrors my own.
I gather this is quintessentially what Ryan was talking about when he was referring to the downsides of his lifestyle. It’s probably a good job he’s on a plane back to the States because the way I feel right now, it would be awfully tempting to let them loose on him.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
RYAN
‘Don’t go in the front door, Ryan. It sounds like there’s a protest exploding in there.’ Pierce flanks my right while Jayden borders my left, leaving Archie and Frankie to cover my back.
Angela went straight to a conference room to prepare some sort of speech on the whole fucking unfortunate debacle. Good luck with that, Ange.
‘I have to get to Sasha. It’s paramount she hears this from me and not the six o’clock news. Access through reception is the only way to her office.’ Having finally heard Dad’s big confession, I’m a fucking emotional wreck.
How am I meant to tell the woman I love that my father is the one who killed hers? And her sweet, eccentric mother in the process.
He orphaned her.
And I left her.
I had no idea what he’d done.
‘And how come you’re so sure that’s where she is?’ Jayden’s tone is arrogant and I’m not in the mood for it. He’s taken the whole bombshell better than me, clearly. Then again, it’s not his girlfriend’s parents that ours ran off the road.
‘Because whatever else is going on in life, she’s still got a castle to run.’
‘Are you sure about this?’ I gather he’s referring to telling her what we know, rather than battling a frantic crowd of women.
‘She’s going to find out sooner or later. It’s going to be all over the news. Besides, she needs closure.’
