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“Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.”
He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another before swivelling around to the direction of the hotel. He pointed that way with two fingers and said over his shoulder, “You sure you’ll be okay? Keep your phone hidden and don’t talk to strangers.”
Swallowing back the lump in my throat, I nodded. “Yes, sure. I just have one more shop I want to go in.” I didn’t have anywhere else I needed to go. All I wanted to do was to give Ronnie the opportunity to leave. For us to have some time apart because things were in danger of getting messy.
“Okay, but text me when you get back to the hotel. Just so I know that you’re okay.”
I nodded and smiled and thought about how texting him had got me into the situation in the first place.
Watching as Ronnie walked away, I was startled by my phone ringing. Part of me wondered if it could be Ronnie, even though I was watching his back. The disappointment that it was my husband hit me like a ton of bricks. It was swiftly followed by guilt, and I tried to push through some feelings of tenderness for the man on the other end of the phone.
“Hey, love.”
As soon as he opened his mouth, any positivity that I might be having about him evaporated.
“Where the fuck are you, Amber?” he snapped, his voice rough. “You’ve been gone ages and my head is splitting in two.”
“I’m coming back now.” I found myself turning to follow Ronnie’s path towards the hotel. “I’ll be about ten minutes.”
My heart rate increased as I broke into a panicked jog. Jimmy had never hit me or been physically abusive in any way, but I knew exactly how he could hurt me with words. It wouldn’t be pleasant. It would be cruel and nasty, and I didn’t want to have to deal with it. Instantly, the thought of it made me pull up and consider what the hell I was doing. Why was I giving him that power over me? He didn’t deserve it. I needed to start taking the power back as soon as possible.
“Oh, you know what, Jimmy,” I said, turning around and taking a deep breath. “I think they’ve given me the wrong thing.”
“What?” he yelled down the phone. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The pills. I think it got lost in translation. I think they’re vitamins that they’ve sold me.”
“Shit, can you get anything right?”
“I’m sorry, okay,” I replied, moving towards the pavement café that I’d met Ronnie and Joey in earlier. “I’ll have to go back.” I sat down at an empty table and put my phone on mute. “Could I have a large white wine, please.”
“Sim,” the waiter said in Portuguese with a nod of his head.
“I need them now, Amber,” Jimmy was yelling. I unmuted my phone.
“Sorry.” I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. “Maybe check if Hugo or Brandon have some until I get back?”
“I could have done that earlier if you’d thought to fucking call me.” Jimmy groaned and I heard the bed covers rustling. “Get back as soon as you can because I bet that pair of dicks won’t have anything.”
The line immediately went dead, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief, already wondering about the next joke that I could send to Ronnie.
CHAPTER5
RONNIE
“What the hell is wrong with that?” Beau asked, pointing at my barely touched chicken.
I shrugged. “Nothing. It’s fine.”
“Don’t tell me that you’re full.” He leaned across me and stuck a fork into a piece of meat and took it over to his own plate.
“Youobviously have room, though.” I rolled my eyes as I watched him tuck in. He ate enough food to feed an army yet never put on an ounce of weight. All the running up and down stage during the tour had made Beau even more trim and, it seemed, hungrier. We always had something light before a gig, but maybe he needed something meatier like steak.
“What’s wrong with your face as well?” Joey asked, pushing his plate away.
I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at the table next to us. Amber had swapped out of the vest and denim cut-off shorts for a white strapless dress with little holes cut into the fabric. I think it was called broderie something but that didn’t matter, what did was that her skin was golden and glowing against it. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail showing off her slim shoulders, and an image of my lips on them entered my head… and it was scary. I tried hard not let myself go down that path but, recently, it was getting more and more difficult. I hated the fact that the more Jimmy acted up, the more I wanted her and wanted to protect her. What was worse, was that the more miserable he made Amber, the more it pushed her towards me. The fact that I was glad about that made me a real twat and I should have wanted better for her.
“She’s looking pretty tonight.”
