Love Thief: The Greystone Family: Stolen Hearts

Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Iwake with my wife in my arms, my legs wound around hers, trapping her against me, both of us fully clothed. Err, why? I take in our room on the tour bus through bleary eyes, then survey the rest of the bed. It’s like the fucking tardis. I can hear snoring, and was that a fart? Who the hell is in here?

Xander is on the other side of Evie, again fully dressed, practically spooning her as she’s facing me. Kitten’s scent is up my nose, but then the smell of stale beer wafts up from the bottom of the bed.

Grimacing at the hangover headache starting to make itself known, I slightly lift my head in the direction of the vile smell. James and Bucky are hanging onto the bottom of the bed like it’s a moving vehicle and they’re clinging on for grim death. They’re also fully clothed—thank god for that—and James still has his boots on. Bucky”s legs are sprawled all over James, limbs strewn out, fingertips touching the floor. How the hell have they slept in that position?

What the fuck happened?

I want to wake my wife up properly, but I can’t with this lot here. And it sucks. My hard-on is pushing at my navel, uncomfortably hard and ready to go.

Evie moves and brushes my cock, and the fucking thing twitches and tries to move closer to her. It has a mind of its own and it knows exactly what it wants.

I groan and kiss her on her forehead, edging my way down her face, seeking out her lips. She responds by moving her hips closer into mine, and, as we’re laid on our sides, facing each other, she gently grinds onto me. Witch. She knows exactly what she wants, too.

I feel her giggle and know she’s awake, and that she knows certain parts of me are as well. Looking down at her, I mouth, “bathroom.” When she shakes her head, I squint at her, mouth, “ten,” and make a whip crack motion with my wrists. Her giggle gets louder, her shoulders shaking as she tries to hold it in.

“Stop moving, Evie,” Xan moans from her other side. The boys are still out cold at the foot of the bed.

She moves closer to me, and I try to drag her out of the bed, but Bucky moans out, “Stop this bed. It’s spinning around, I need to get off it.”

She lifts her head and looks at them both. “You’re green. I’ll get you drinks. Get in here and we’ll get up.” Her voice is full of concern for them both, her eyes assessing their morning-after states.

I groan as she pushes at me to move and reluctantly roll over, allowing her to push me out of the covers. She’s in mummy mode, the boys come first. I know relegation when I see it.

But I still complain about it. “They’re fucking eighteen years old. They can get their own drinks. It’s self-inflicted, they’re not sick.”

“Dad,” James groans, “get me a drink please.”

“Yeah, Dad, we’re ill. You’re supposed to look after us,” Bucky joins in. They’re laughing at me, but pouting at Evie.

“Pair of shits,” I chunter as I get up and go out to a scene of total chaos.

There are bodies everywhere, in different states of undress and inebriation.

I pick my way through the human debris and get two bottles of water from the fridge, putting the kettle on while I’m there. Tea will be the order of the day. Might as well start early, and Evie is addicted to the stuff.

Someone has started to fry bacon. Who the hell has done that? Okay, it’s almost 10:30. Not that late, to be honest, when I’m sure we didn’t crash until around 5 a.m. Jude comes out of the bathroom, all cheery and content, and I practically growl at him, “Have you started food?”

“Yes, it’s on.” As if it’s the most normal thing in the world that he’s here cooking breakfast, on my bus, for them all.

But then I remember the boys” tales of Jude’s breakfasts after nights out. It probably is for him.

“Tell the boys bacon sandwiches in fifteen minutes, that’ll get ‘em moving. Their bandmates are here, pissed off they missed the party with Mistress Whiplash.”

I stagger back to the room, giving a variety of people a gentle kick as I go past to get them up and moving. I slam the bedroom door, and grin. The boys are leaning against the pillows, groaning. Evie has dampened flannels on their heads to help soothe the hangover headaches, patting at them. What is she doing? Nursing them, including Xan, like they’re all five-year-olds, of course.

“Bacon’s on. Jude’s here cooking.” They literally jump up, kiss Evie, and fly past me, grabbing the water bottles and kissing my cheek as they go.

“Thanks, Pops. Still a bit shit, but getting better,” James calls over his shoulder as he rushes out the door.

Bucky takes a drink, calling, “You still need work, but we’ll sort you.”

They’re both laughing as they leave, and when I look over at Evie and Xan, I find them rolling with laughter at the expression on my face.

“Fucking kids,” I snarl and grab her. “Cockblockers,” I grumble and kiss her again.

She pushes me off, and through her laughter, chuckles out, “I need food.”

“I’m being dumped for a bacon sandwich,” I say incredulously.

Evie bats her eyes at me coyly. “Well they are Jude’s, and a bit good.”

After a quick shower, I join everyone in the main area of the bus. Tim catches my eye and grins. “Your boys are getting super hyped for tonight. You’d better calm them down. They’ll be knackered if they’re not careful. We have a bit of press for them today, then the live stage at 6 p.m. Everyone’s looking forward to it.”

We hang around with them through the presser, and I’m in awe watching James Greystone, singer and frontman, for the first time. He is the cockiest fucker on this planet. Worse than me, and that’s saying something. He”s such a big personality, he drags the entire band into the limelight. He has back up in Bucky, and they banter with the reporters, Finn and Nicci chipping in. But the star, definitely James.

I wonder if they’ll put up with it, but then I hear him talking to them as they walk away, asking if he went too far and what did they think of the experience. Fucking tactics already. The boy is a quick learner. He tells Nicci no one asked about his brother, so should be okay, and I realise he was deflecting for Nicci—something they must have agreed on beforehand.

Tim looks at me and nods at James. “He’s clever. Nicci’s brother’s been arrested for drugs. They didn’t want any questions as some info is already out there. Apparently James ‘will get it removed, or certainly keep things as quiet as possible,’ with his internet skills. Until that happens, he went big to take the attention from Nicci. Smart move, it’s the only press for today.” He grins. “He may be better than you.”

“I fucking hope so. I made so many mistakes, if I can save him from some of them, I’ll feel like I’ve contributed a bit.”

He slaps my back. “We’ll protect them as much as possible, Marcus. You know that.”

I’ve not seen my boys live since my fateful foray into the Green Dragon. Now, watching them on that stage, I’m struck by how they’ve come on, how mature they seem. How much has changed in their lives and ours.

My life, Jesus, so fucking much. And all of it for the better. I still can’t quite believe how lucky I’ve been. How, despite the roller coaster, I know I’ve landed on my feet.

We wait until they really get started before my band and Evie move to the VIP section to watch. James is whipping the crowd into a frenzy, shirt off, displaying his tattoos. I see the Greystone brand and a few newish ones, including one that looks a lot like my coat of arms.

I point it out to Xan. “He’s getting mine, too,” he tells me proudly, smiling up at the boys.

The biggest smile, however, is on the face of my wife. My fucking heart hurts when I take her in watching her sons. Fuck me, how the hell did this happen? Would it have happened anyway? We would have been here at this festival, would he have been here too? Even if I hadn’t gone to the wrong pub? It”s totally unreal.

“The wrong fucking pub,” I say to Xan.

He grins then shrugs. “Yeah, but also no. Maybe it was just time. Time for us to find her and then them. It was just our time.”

I think about that, how we’d lived in LA for ten years with no intentions to come home. A flying visit, a twist of fate, a thread pulling me into that pub, and now this. Maybe he’s right, it was just time.

We’re all crazy, shouting and singing, dancing to their songs. James does a shout-out to his family, and I feel the eyes on us. I pull Evie to me, and we grin up at our son. She feels so fucking hot, and I can see the beads of sweat on her forehead. We haven’t danced for a while, so she shouldn’t be that hot.

James starts to wrap up the show, and they do an encore with a song we’re going to release in a few days. I’m completely focused on the stage when I feel Evie go limp in my arms. I shout out her name, but it’s so loud here my voice gets lost in the racket.

Xan, standing next to me, hears me when I call her name a second time, and looks around, his eyes widening with fear when he looks at Evie. She’s fainted, passed the fuck out.

I pick her up and run towards the backstage area. I know there will be a medic there, so I don’t panic, just push through, shouting for Tim and Mick to get me help.

As they rush toward me, I shout at Tommy to not let the boys see her like this. “She wouldn’t want to spoil their night,” I tell him. “Let’s find what’s up first.”

I can feel her coming to as I head into the medical tent. She’s so fucking pale. I lay her down and the medic puts her on her side. She’s come around and is getting a bit upset at how stupid she feels. She tells the medic she felt a bit dizzy and then got really hot and couldn’t cool down.

He checks her blood pressure, which is on the low side, and could be the reason why she passed out. It just went too low, but why? Xan comes in with Tommy, and she tells them she’s fine, probably tired from yesterday and then today with the excitement of James.

Sitting up, she asks them, “He hasn’t seen me like this, has he? He’ll freak out. Don”t tell him, Tommy.”

“All sorted, Kiddo. He’s on his way to the afterparty. I told him you got caught talking shop with Kellen’s group and he said pop in, but not too late.”

She laughs softly, “Yeah, I don’t want to know what they do.”

“Have you eaten today?”

She shakes her head at Xan’s question. “Only this morning. But we were so busy, just snacks. It’s probably that. I’ll get checked out at home,” she tells us all.

The medic advises us to stay a while and he’ll recheck her blood pressure before she leaves. But I can see she is itching to go. “I feel fine now. I honestly think it was lack of food, lack of sleep,” she pushes at me, “and probably not drunk enough water. The usual.”

We wait as the medic checks her out and says her pressure is better and she’s looking a lot better, and she practically jumps off the bed, taking hold of my hand. “Let’s go see James,” she says as she smiles at us all, trying to infuse us with confidence.

She looks a bit pale, but not too bad, so we walk out of the tents and follow the noise for the backstage after party,

I spot both James and Bucky surrounded by women. They’ve been watching for us, in a move I would never in a million years have done. With genuine smiles for the hordes, they disentangle themselves and walk over to us. James’s face changes to one of total concern when he clocks his mother. Jonno is heading for us with the same look, and, yep, all of them coming at us, Jude and Bucky as well.

“What’s up, Mum? Where did you all go? Are you alright? You look a bit pasty.” James looks like he might start flapping.

“Yeah, I just need food, I think,” she reassures him before hugging him and then Bucky, who is staring at her, biting his lip, clearly worried.

Xan reaches out, grips Bucky”s shoulder and tells him how great he was before leaning in to whisper something in his ear. The boy nods, looking a bit better.

I pull James and Bucky in for a hug and see a few phones being pulled out—nothing is sacred, nothing private. But this is the life I chose, and so it seems have my sons. And this is the price we pay for doing it well.

“What’s going on, fuckheads?” Jonno asks before pinning us each with a stare and pointing an accusing finger at us. “You better take good care of my sister. No, better yet, come home, Evie. This lot are useless.” Pulling her out of my hands, he tells her, “Let’s go get some food, I’m starving,” before he and Tommy lead her away from us.

“James, Bucky, I’m going, so you’re safe,” she laughs at them over her shoulder.

Even I don’t want to see what my sons are up to, so Xan, Jude, and I all move as one to follow them.

“Bye, Dad,” they both shout.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” I yell back.

“We wouldn’t dare, we’d get arrested,” Bucky says, and I grin at him as I pull Xander with me.

We get home to Devon the day after James’s performance and spend a restful few days. The following week, we go back into the studio at Farm Cottage, and Evie goes up to London with Jonno to work. I want her to get a check-up, and she says she’s got medical stuff to do with the shot so she had an appointment anyway. There’s been no other issues, so I feel happy staying put.

Probably best that Evie’s not here, too. Becky has yet again hung on with Levi, and Gabe is back with Texas, the other members of the toxic trio, Grace and Lauren, having gone back to work until the summer break.

I’m hoping Gabe doesn’t fetch them back, but I’m not going to hold my breath. He’s getting out of control again. More drugs, more drink, more everything. Tim’s been trying to talk to him, but he seems hell bent on his actions. Plus, Levi is definitely not just with Becky, and I wonder how that will play out now that Texas is back.

Xan has been going up to London to go out with Jonno, so on occasion I’ve found myself with Marshall on my own. I do not fare well. The man has hollow legs and a tolerance for his family whiskey that makes me believe they fed it to him in bottles as a baby.

Jake, who seems to spend a bit of time at Cornhill, has rescued me a few times. I can’t decide if it”s whiskey, me, or Molly Dickson that’s fetching him over on a regular basis, but either way, I’m grateful.

Two weeks pass after Evie leaves for London, and between jerking off daily, and phone sex on a night, I can just about cope. But I need her here. I also just fucking miss her. If she’s not turned back up by next week, I’m going to fucking go get her.