Page 62

‘He was worried. I was too when I couldn’t get hold of you. This situation gave Simon the excuse to get in touch. He doesn’t like uncertainty. I also suspect he’s bored without the constant stimulation of a tour or studio time on the horizon. And you know he’s not good on his own.’ Cole put his hand up to Jay in a placating way. ‘Not that I’m wanting to get back on that merry-go-round at the moment. You called the break at the right time. If you hadn’t, I would have and I know Arlo was exhausted.’ Cole looked at Frankie, including her in the conversation. ‘That last tour was brutal. More concerts than we’ve ever fitted into one stretch. We were all running on empty and risking burnout, even Simon.’ Cole sighed then took a breath. ‘Anyway, what’ll we do about this rumour?’

‘I hate social media,’ Jay grumbled.

‘Hating it won’t make it go away. You need damage limitation.’ Cole walked over to Jay as he got out his phone from his pocket. ‘Smile.’ Putting his arm around Jay’s shoulders he took a photo of them both. Cole began flicking through his phone. ‘How about,’ he began to type, ‘reports of his death are greatly exaggerated.’ Cole turned the phone to show Jay, then Frankie. Although Jay wasn’t beaming the way Cole was, he looked very much alive with a wryly amused expression on his face.

Si clomped back through the door. ‘It’s too cold to have a proper smoke.’

Cole continued to type on his phone for a minute or two, before putting it in his pocket. ‘That’s it shared to the usual sites which will hopefully quash any more of that nonsense.’

‘You should let your mum know in case she reads something and panics,’ Frankie said.

Jay nodded and began to type on his phone.

‘Who would post something like that?’ Frankie asked.

Cole gave a little shrug. ‘Rumours tend to snowball. Or,’ he glanced at Jay, ‘someone could have posted it on purpose.’

‘Who would do that?’ Frankie asked, thinking how cruel and twisted that would be.

Jay pocketed his phone and gave a snort.

‘This has all the hallmarks of bitch-face,’ Si said.

‘I think you mean social-climbing bitch-face,’ Cole interjected lightly. ‘Jay’s ex is a bit of a social media junkie as well as being incredibly manipulative and calculating,’ he explained to Frankie. ‘She saw Jay as part of her brand. When Jay told her he was leaving, Astrid immediately suggested they get counselling; not to reconcile, but to try and wangle a Netflix documentary. She’s trying to capitalise on her Instagram persona, Astridarling.’

‘Watch and see if she posts something that manages to turn the attention on herself,’ Jay added. ‘Nothing would surprise me.’

It all seemed very unhinged behaviour to Frankie.

‘I’ll also message Arlo and let him know what’s been going on. Have you spoken to him recently, Jay?’

Jay puffed out his cheeks. ‘It’s just really the occasional text or WhatsApp. He might not be in the country as he mentioned the possibility of travelling.’

‘I don’t understand this sudden silence,’ Si said, unscrewing the lid of his bourbon and taking a long swig before adding, ‘he’s barely replied to any of my messages. Arlo’s never been a moody bugger before, so why is he acting like this now? You were the last person to see him, Jay, how was he?’

‘It was months ago. He, um… to be honest, I wasn’t really in a place to notice much at that point.’ Jay cleared his throat and glanced up at Frankie briefly before averting his gaze.

Si gave a loud burp. ‘Where’s your bog, I need a piss.’

‘Top of the stairs.’ Jay pointed the way.

‘Maybe Arlo has hit the road,’ Cole said once Si had gone. ‘And Roman, have you spoken to him?’

‘Nope.’

‘Understandable, considering…’ Cole darted a brief look toward Frankie before focusing back on Jay. ‘I had a message from him. He wants to talk to all of us. You know how angsty he gets when we go off-grid.’

Jay rubbed the back of his head and sighed. ‘What do you think he wants?’

Cole gave a wry laugh. ‘Another way to extract his pound of flesh from us, most likely. Don’t worry, it won’t be about the divorce as he’d just call you direct about it. Our contract with the record company is coming up for renewal so it’s probably to do with that.’

‘True,’ Jay said then sighed again.

‘Much as I hate agreeing with Roman, I do think we need to have a proper chat about the future.’ Cole looked around and pointed to the kettle. ‘Would you mind if I…?’

‘Yeah, of course, teabag and mugs are in the cupboard above.’

‘I should go,’ Frankie said. Clearly the band members had things to discuss.