AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Like I said,” I muttered. “Stupid prick.”
Joey didn’t have any broken bones in his hand or his wrist, thank god. He was strapped up and given instructions on gentle exercises to do and told he couldn’t drum for at least a fortnight. That meant Denny would be staying with us for at least Limerick, Belfast, and Cardiff. Joey hadn’t been happy about it, but he should have thought of that before he’d decided to have a fight with the wall.
“You didn’t have to walk me back to my room, you know.” Joey scowled at me as he flashed his key card at the door. “I’ve got a sprained hand, not lost my sense of direction.”
“I wanted to check that the wall was okay. Whether that needed a bandage as well.”
“Hah, hah, very funny.”
The door swung open, and Joey strolled inside, shrugging off his jacket. I followed him in and immediately saw the dent in the wall.
“Wow, you really gave it a whack, didn’t you?” Moving closer I peered at it, touching it with my fingertips. I could see it wouldn’t take much to repair. His hand had clearly taken the biggest brunt of the punch. “It just needs a bit of filler and a fresh lick of paint.”
“DIY expert as well as Road Manager,” Joey muttered, heading for the wet bar in the corner of the room. “Aren’t you amazing.”
As he stooped to look behind the bar, I eyed him warily, my shoulders sagging with relief when he stood upright with a bottle of water in his hand.
“The booze always gets removed,” he announced as he sat on the sofa and screwed off the top of the bottle before taking a long swig. “If that’s what that look was all about.”
“What look?” I asked, perching myself on the edge of the armchair that was adjacent to the sofa.
“The one you had when I went behind that bar.” He nodded towards the wet bar. “I’m not stupid.”
I opened my mouth to protest that the dent in the wall said otherwise but thought better of it. I was tired of arguing with him. I was weary of the whole damn merry go round of our weird relationship.
“Will you be okay?” I asked.
His eyes narrowed on me. “Yeah, why?”
“The pain? Not being able to work for the next couple of weeks?” He’d continued to refuse pain relief and that worried me more than if he’d taken it.
Joey, however, wasn’t concerned and shrugged. “I’ll be fine. Although, I suppose I should call the lads.”
“Ali has spoken to them.” I pulled the cushion from behind me and hugged it to my stomach as I relaxed back. “I called her from the hospital while you were paying.”
“Who knew you had to pay for emergency treatment here?”
“Good job you can afford it then. A bigger worry is that you can’t drum.”
He groaned and rubbed a hand down his face. “Fuck, the lads are going to be fuming.”
“No, they’re not. We both know you all stick up for each other, no matter what. You could murder someone, and they’d give you an alibi.”
He grinned at me, and something fluttered in my stomach as lust mixed with sadness overwhelmed me. That smile that I loved so much would never be for me again, because as he’d said, we were a done deal and if I knew anything about Joey Farrow, it was that he was a man of his word.
“I still need to talk to them.” He looked down at his strapped-up hand and sighed. “I’m such a dick.”
“I’m not going to argue with that one.” I looked over at the wall. “Actually, it looks worse from this angle.”
“The hotel will fix it,” he stated. “And I’ll pay.”
When he stretched out his legs his t-shirt rode up, giving me a flash of bare skin and my blood warmed up. He was nothing short of beautiful, but the sight of him was too much and I knew it was time for me to leave.
“I’d better go.” I cleared my throat and shoved the cushion to one side. “I’ve got stuff to do seeing as some of us have a show to put on.”
“No need to rub it in,” he snapped, his top lip curled in disdain.
“I’m not,” I protested, even though I was. I couldn’t help myself because being a bitch was in my nature. I’d always had an edge, but life had made me harder. Vinny Clemente had made me harder. “I can’t deal with you when you’re like this.”
