Love Thief: The Greystone Family: Stolen Hearts

Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

We start our show and they’re not here. No James. No Bucky. No Evie. No Tommy. No Darryl.

Xander looks pale, his eyes bloodshot, he’s a fucking mess. I’m fuming. She’s a fucking nightmare.

How the fuck did she know we knew about those women? The guys never said a word, neither did we. They were trying to justify them being here when we came back in. Racking their brains to see if they’d said something she would pick up on, but nothing. She’d kissed them. I bet she was gauging their reactions, the crafty cow. I smirk. Should have known with her brothers, she’d employ tactics.

We’re three songs in, the crowd is wild tonight. Even the VIP area, where normally people are too cool to look like they’re actually enjoying themselves, is lit. Still no family.

She better not have gone. I’ll fucking kill her.

Xander is all over the stage, visually combing the VIP areas and backstage to see if he can find them. It looks like he’s on it up here, but we all know he’s frantically searching for them.

As we start our fourth song, they all troop in, standing in the family and friends section, together as a pack. The Purcells go over, of course, with the young boys bopping away. Jude turns to look at them longingly, but he daren’t make a move. I see her former friends glare at her, but they see no one. They ignore them all, as the three of them are looking nowhere other than up at the stage. They’re more cocky than Xander or I, fucking Greystones. They say our egos are big, but theirs are huge.

James and Bucky are grinning like idiots, and when Xan spots them and goes over to that side of the stage, they smile at him and at me. What the fuck has she told them? What is she up to? Xan looks relieved, and she’s smirking at us all, and just shrugs. I close my eyes and say to Xan, “She’s up to something, God help us!”

We hit the point in the gig where Xan and I do our acoustic version of “Kiss Me.” I’m revving the crowd up to grab ahold of the person they love the most, no matter who that is, hang the fuck on tight, and never let them go. Evie, Bucky, and James are grabbed by the Purcell family and pulled into a group hug.

Clearly not able to stay away any longer, Jude moves towards them all, pulling Isobel behind him. I’m cranking up the love-in, and when he hugs Evie, she looks a bit tearful. James and Bucky are literally standing at her sides like sentinels, clearly against Issy. Fuck, they are so combative. No inches given at all.

When Evie finally looks towards Issy, well maybe a teeny tiny smidge of an inch, I smile, looking down and pointing directly at her. “This is for you Evie, we love you baby.” I grin up at Xan and he starts the intro.

We drive the audience to madness at the end of our set, and three encores later we’re finally coming off stage, high as kites, dripping in sweat, banging each other on the backs.

I see Gabe’s crew come flying round the corner, Becky in the lead. They run towards us all and practically push the interviewers—who are trying to get our reactions to the crowd and how good the performance was—to one side. Their intention clearly to jump onto us all.

I step back just as Grace tries to grab hold of me and give her a slight push towards Gabe. I can see she’s annoyed by the gesture, and whilst Lauren is occupying Gabe, she grabs for Xan.

“That was amazing, we loved it, you are so fantastic,” she gushes. When the interviewer asks if she’s his girlfriend, she smiles coyly at her. But Xan looks past her, giving zero acknowledgement to the question or the woman attached to him, as Evie brings up the rear of the family posse.

James grabs me and gives me a hug. “Dad, totally blew the sky away,” he tells me.

Bucky joins in with, “Wow, Dad that was the best I’ve seen ever.”

The interviewer is going crazy, shifting focus immediately and trying to catch James and Bucky with questions. Grace is scowling, not enjoying being ignored.

The boys move towards Xan next. “Hey, Uncle Xan.” James laughs, “fucking fantastic,” grabs Xander, and pulls him into him. I can see James saying something in his ear, holding his head, not letting him go until he’s finished. God, that boy is something else. Bucky gets in on the act as Evie comes towards me, grinning ear to ear.

“Hey, tha?—”

I kiss her, grabbing hold of her head and closing my eyes until I’ve had my fill. “Fuck, you scared the shit out of me. Song four? Really?”

“I was busy,” she tells me laughing, kissing me back.

“Hi, are you Evie?” the interviewer asks her, and we turn together to look at her.

Evie smiles at her. “Yes, but can you give us a second?” She turns back to me and kisses me, again.

When Evie finally releases me, I can see Grace’s face has turned to fury. She was ignored, Evie is not, but what does she expect?

I move to speak to the interviewer as Evie moves to Xander. A big smile on her face, she hugs him to her.

“They’re little shits,” I hear him say as he pulls away and looks at her. “I thought you’d gone. Don’t fucking do that.” She steps up to tell him something, but Becky steps between them and pulls Xan away.

“What you doin’? Get the fuck, get off,” he snaps at her, pinning Levi with a what the fuck look.

Tim comes round, diplomatically moving Becky away, and says, “Meet and greet in ten, boys. Quick change and then you’re free to go.”

“Don’t forget, party at yours, Xan. Got something special for you, brother,” Gabe reminds him with a wink.

“I hope not,” says Xan. “I’m busy. And scared.” He laughs at him.

“You’ll love it, Xan,” puts in Grace. She may as well not have spoken for all the notice anyone is taking, and she’s so pissed. I see her turn to Lauren and say something, and they look at Becky.

I wonder if they are the entertainment. I wouldn’t put it past Gabe. But, fuck, this is not going to play well.

The Purcell boys turn up at that point and rush me, shouting at the tops of their voices. James and Bucky are throwing them around, telling them to go to bed, and the three young boys are protesting why they should be allowed to stay up even later.

Tim shouts for everyone to move off, and I see Evie standing off to the side, watching everyone with a look in her eyes I’ve seen before. Oh, boy.

Xan walks past, stopping just beyond my shoulder, and says, “This looks like trouble to me. She’s plotting, and she’s got those boys at it.” He continues walking, pulling me away from the family. “We need to sort this shit out. Why the fuck would they bring Grace back? And then Lauren? It’s insane,” he says as we walk towards Tim.

“Becky,” I affirm. He’s getting keyed up again. “Calm the fuck down, Xander, we’ll sort it out. She said she will, and she means it. Let’s just let it play out.” I grin mischievously at him. “Let”s get this sorted,” I point to the meet and greet, “and we can get out of here. Let’s go be Xander Barclay and Marcus Russell,” I tell him.

Pulling on the cocky arsehole vibe and shoving the doors really hard, I stand at the door for a second and don’t move. The room is packed with mainly fluttering females, and a few men. I beam at the whole room. “Right, whose first?”

I signal for someone to come forward, the others hanging roughly to the right of me, and I hear Xan ask Levi about Becky.

“She’s fucking lost it,” he says. “Got to go, I think. After tonight, of course,” he winks at Xan.

“Fuck. She’s not coming for me, is she? I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.”

Levi looks shocked. “Really? You had her on her knees in Devon. She loved it, can’t stop going on about it.”

“I never fucked her though, so not sure why she’s bothered,” he shrugs.

“Up to her,” says Levi, and they stop talking and start smiling as the people come and chat and tell us all the things they love about us.

And what’s not to like?

We laugh, we mess around with them and each other, bantering back and forth, well-practised from years of these. I feel fucking great, my mood sky high. Xan has the same look in his eyes. Our music is the best it’s been for a long while, and the girl behind it might just be insane. I think we are both in way over our heads here, all because of Evie Fucking Greystone.