AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, Amber’s staying,” Gabe tells him.
Mick swivels his head to look at me. “Really? You want your son here with her?” I can see he’s totally pissed off.
Susie starts on to Mick, bitching about how he’s being mean blah blah blah. I’ve already tuned them all out.
“Let’s move.” I walk past them without cracking a smile and I don’t miss the look of concern on Gabe’s face.
“We all good mate?” He touches my shoulder.
I shrug him off saying, “All good, Gabe. No worries.” I nod at him and walk out of the house, leaving the rest of them to figure shit out.
My heart is beating wildly in my chest. I’m sweating. Fuck. Do I need a doctor? What the hell is going on? I haven’t had this sort of reaction to anything in years. I remind myself I’ve stayed clear of everything but the booze, and the women, but this doesn’t feel like a chemical reaction. So why do I feel on the verge of another full-blown panic attack? Fucking Evie. Fucking expectations. Shit. It’s all in my head. My brain is on overdrive and I’ve tried my usual interventions, but they're not working. Confronting fears is an absolute bitch. Eventually, I break the silence of the car and ask Mick, “Do you think they’ll be on the plane?”
He looks back at me, obviously taking pity on me, and sighs out, “They’re on it. The pilot confirmed with me and I’ve had updates from in-flight. All very excited.” He smiles, going on, “I’ve missed James. Which is weird considering the timeframe of meeting them.”
“I know what you mean. It’s been a hell of a week.” Mick draws his lips into a thin line, clearly wanting to say something but not wanting to spoil the day for me. “Thanks Mick. For staying,” I say quietly. He just nods.
I blow out a breath and get out of the car as we pull up on the tarmac, waiting for the plane. There’s another car behind to take all the bags. As I get further away from the chaos of the house, I start to feel human for the first time in over a week. I hope it'll continue, but I’m not sure it will.
My heart rate picks up again when the plane pulls up and the doors eventually open. He stands at the top of the steps and waves. I’ve forgotten how striking he really is, so me in so many ways, but so very Evie in others, especially when he smiles. He does on cue, and I feel like I might pass out. I’m not sure I’ll stand a week of it. I walk forward regardless, pulling him into a massive hug when he reaches the bottom of the stairs, and kiss his cheek.
“Hey, Dad,” he says shyly, and all I can do is grin at him. I feel ten feet tall.
“Daddy!” A shout goes up behind us and Bucky rushes down the steps, grinning like an idiot. “Hey, Dad,” he says and hugs me. His verbal vomit begins immediately. ”Couldn’t you have behaved for a week? We nearly never got here. Momma G was not happy. That was, of course, until we convinced her you were old school and we’d already done all of that and more, and she trusts us. Well, me anyway. James, not so much. She had to let us all go in the end as we’re all over eighteen and adults. We also promised not to make her a granny. She said she’s too young.”
We all start to laugh, and I shake my head. He looks between me and James and starts laughing like a lunatic. This is going to be an interesting week.
Their visit starts great and goes way better than I could ever have imagined. The lads are all really easy going, and great fun. We’re out and about during the afternoons—dune buggies, surfing, all the attractions that Malibu has to offer. Driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway to every MUST SEE attraction.
I share with James some good times from when we first arrived here. Show them all my favourite spots. They can all surf, so bravado, and competitiveness, are on full show as they all hit the waves. I watch from the shore, Xander at my side, with all my boys in the water. I could watch them for hours.
The lads all talk about Devon, the coast, the holidays with the Greystones. I notice James becoming more and more animated when he talks about his mother. I can almost taste the sea air on the Devon coast. Hear the siren and feel Evie’s panic as she watched Bucky being rescued by the RNLI when a dare took him too far from the shore. Would holidays have been like this if I would have been with them from his birth? Or would I have been too distracted by ‘making it’ in the music world.
The nights are taken up with clubs and parties. Obviously James is a hit. Charming, good looking, polite, and uber confident, I can literally see the women fighting, trying to get near him. James, apparently used to the world revolving around him, takes it in his stride. As if people fawning all over him is totally normal. Which I suppose for him it is. His family are the only ones who put the brakes on. Everyone else is fair game, or so Bucky informs me.
All my band are out with us tonight, so the atmosphere is crazy. Gabe, Xan, and Levi are drinking with James and his band, the younger guys listening to war stories and laughing like hyenas at Xander, who, to be fair, has had the most ridiculous stuff happen to him. All is well until the usual arsehole starts in on them and a brawl kicks off. We all end up involved and I drag James out of the club before he can really get going. I know headlines will be made in the morning, there were far too many cell phones lighting up not to be.
We all head back to mine and the guys carry on carousing. Amber and Susie appear in the melee late into the night. Gabe smirks at me. I’ve kept it PG since the boys arrived, but my balls are blue and I need to let off some steam. I’ve also had too many drinks to make good decisions.
As Amber passes me with her tits practically hanging out, I pull her into my lap and kiss her sloppily and loudly. Everyone stops talking, all heads swivelling our way. Amber, never one to miss a bit of exhibitionism, opens her legs facing outwards and puts my hand up her skirt. Gabe walks over and pulls down Amber’s top so her tits spill out and takes one in his mouth. He caresses my shoulders whilst running his hands over Amber.
“Fuucck,” I hear one of the guys say.
“I’m off,” Xander states. “James, time for you to go too.” He’s ushering James and the guys out of the room as I see Levi has backed Susie up to the kitchen table, has her pinned face down with her skirt over her arse, and is taking her from behind.
“Let’s move this to the bedroom,” I say to whoever, getting up and tipping Amber off my lap.
Gabe picks her up and carries her towards my room, shouting over his shoulder to the room at large, “If the door’s open, feel free to come in.”
I don’t know if they’ve all left by then, and I honestly don’t care. After polishing off the rest of the bottle in my fist, I’m absolutely obliterated. All I can focus on is fucking. It’s what I do best, that and fucking up. I follow Gabe and don’t think at all for the rest of the night.
It’s not my fault—my old friend and go to line. I needed to let off some steam. I was too wound up, too much energy flashing through my system, and I needed an outlet. Drugs or sex. I like to believe I chose the better option.
It’s not my fault,but, all the same, I am a bit worried about the potential fallout. That worry starts to morph into anxiety, as flashbacks start to assault my brain. James, Bucky, their friends. Their faces, their expressions. What the fuck was I supposed to do. Leave her alone? Not in this lifetime. It’s my goddamn home. Am I supposed to give up everything I enjoy when they’re here? Pretend I’m something I’m not? I won’t. Not in my own home. Besides, they never came into the bedroom, never actually saw anything. Even though the door’s wide open, all three of us naked in the bed and in full view of any passersby.
I nip into the shower and clean up, finally walking into my kitchen to find it's already mid-afternoon.
James sits on the sofa in the large seated area. A twinge of guilt hits me, but I decide to go for brazen, my standard mode of deflection, and say, “Good night, sunshine?” I know it’s the name his mum and uncles call him. He doesn’t respond.
