Chapter 14 #2
She nods and wipes a finger under her eyes. ‘Yeah. I guess. It’s never happened to me before.’
‘You get used to it. Not that they’ll write anything more about you. There’s no point. It’s not like you’re out there beating every member of the press up.’
‘Do you think Gethin will be mad?’
‘He’s always mad. We did the right thing. Would have gotten a bollocking from him when he left if we didn’t.’
She stares at the papers on the table.
‘Hey.’ I push the stack onto the floor, though she can probably see them from where she’s sitting. ‘I’ve been in trouble so many times, and I’m still here. I’ve been on a million last warnings. He never acts on it. And if he’s pissed, I’ll take the blame. I owe you at least that.’
‘But you—’
‘But, nothing. Nobody died. I promise you, it’s fine.’ My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out to see a text waiting for me. ‘His ears must be burning. Look.’
Boss man
On my way.
‘A man of many words.’
She huffs a laugh, but it’s weak. A step in the right direction, I guess.
I settle back in my chair, and she types into her laptop for a bit before she says, ‘Do the press know where Cai and Bethan went last night?’
‘I checked in with Bryn. So far, there’s no sign of any journalists.
Good job finding them a cottage in the arse end of nowhere at such short notice, by the way.
I’ll message him again in a bit, though, in case something else’s happened.
I’m sure he’d let me know. I want them to stay away for as long as they can, give us a chance to sort shit out. ’
‘Good idea. I can always set up another rehearsal for him to go to.’
It’s tempting, because at least I’d know where he is. But he and Beth rarely get quiet time alone. Let them explore Bannau Brycheiniog unbothered for a bit. The weather’s nice. Someone might as well be out enjoying it.
‘Nah, it’s okay. Bryn’s with them. Leave them be.’
She goes back to her work, and I close my eyes. Who the fuck knows how long I drift off for, but when she wakes me with the snap of her laptop lid closing, my head’s a lot fuzzier than it was before.
‘You fell asleep,’ she tells me without giving me a chance to get my bearings.
‘Yeah.’ I run a hand over my face, desperate to get some life back into me. ‘Didn’t get much last night.’
‘Me neither. Strange bed and every time I shut my eyes, the damn alarm played in my ears.’
‘Yeah it’s the worst noise. Guess that’s the point, though.’
‘Beethoven’s Ninth wouldn’t scare away many burglars, I guess. What time is Aled coming over? Maybe I’ll ask him to change it to something a little easier to listen to.’
‘Lunchtime, I think. Don’t you dare make any alarm decisions without me.’
‘Fine.’
An easy silence settles over us, and I use it to yawn and stretch. Look at us, getting along. Talking it out seems to have worked, although there’s a lot I need to do to make things up with her. All steps in the right direction, though.
‘If you’re tired, why don’t you go back to bed for a bit.’ She doesn't stop reading whatever she’s looking at on her phone. Impressive. One word spoken when I’m trying to concentrate sends my thoughts flying in a million different directions.
‘I need to check the firewalls, make sure the temporary fixes are holding.’
‘Everything looks okay from what I can tell so far. I have access to the systems. I can check. It looked easy enough from what you showed me last night.’
‘You sure?’ I have to ask, even though every inch of me wants to race – well, crawl – upstairs and lie face down in a mountain of pillows. Not sure if I’ll get much sleep, since I’m riddled with what might happen if we don’t get the system fixed permanently. Closing my eyes might feel good, though.
‘What if I come and get you if I need you?’
My gaze flits from her to her laptop and the breakfast remains on the coffee table. Is this the moment she’s been waiting for? Luring me in with food, making me think we’re okay now, then sabotaging me and the systems to get rid of me once and for all?
She lifts her head from her screen, and the brief smile she gives me is warm, friendly almost. I’ll take a shot. About time I learn to trust someone else with this shit.
‘Sure,’ I reply. ‘But come and get me if you find something iffy-looking.’
‘Absolutely.’ With a mock-salute, she gets back to her work, and I haul myself off the world’s most comfortable chair and drag myself back to the spare room to get more sleep.
Or at least try.
I wake a couple of hours later when laughter rings through the house. Rude of them to disturb me when my body finally gave in to the tiredness.
My nap didn’t help. If anything, I feel worse. The pulse of pain behind my eyes has turned into a throb, and every bone in my body cries out when I move. There’s nothing more I want to do than sink further into the mattress, close my eyes, and sleep for the rest of the week.
But I can’t.
Napping means I won’t sleep later and my routine’ll be fucked before we get on tour. If I wait this out, I’ll have the best fucking sleep when I get home later. The most glorious. So amazing, Gethin’ll take credit for it.
I roll out of bed and follow the noise downstairs to the kitchen. Lucy stands at the stove, stirring something full of garlic that makes my mouth water, and Aled sits in the breakfast nook, typing away on his laptop.
‘Reckon that’s it now. Could hire the best hacker in the world, and they won’t be able to crack my firewall. In time for Sleeping Beauty to show up an’ all. Thought I was here working for you, but you’re snoozing instead. Slacker.’
He raises his hand above his head, and I cross the room to deliver him a high-five. Where Cai’s all soft, home truths and hugs, Aled’s a mate that comes only with abuse. It’s a nice contrast, like a pair of devils on my shoulder. Keeps me grounded like.
A sandy fringe flops into his eyes, and he pushes it out of his face with his glasses, embedding the frames firmly in his hair.
He unfolds himself out of the booth to give me a proper hug.
We could be twins, aside from the hair colour and the fact he’s tall and stringy and I’m tall and fat.
I wrap my arms around him, patting his back.
Known the dick for years. He’s a legend, a tech genius and he gives the best hugs. Don’t tell Cai.
‘Sorry, mate. Shit night’s sleep.’ I release him and flop into the booth. ‘I know we said lunchtime, but usually it means late afternoon for you. Thought you had another job on.’
‘I did. But then I remembered how panicked you were last night and thought, ‘Fuck, Rhys’ problem’s more urgent'.’ Sacked off my other booking and came straight here. Took some persuasion, but this lovely lady let me in once I flashed her my credentials.’
He winks at Lucy, who giggles. Giggles. Like one of Cai’s fangirls.
Must be Aled’s top-of-the-valley twang getting her going.
And his miles of lean limbs that don’t match the nerdy look the rest of him gives off.
Today’s t-shirt of choice has a pokemon on it – Squirtle maybe.
He cleans his glasses with the edge of it, perches them back on his nose then sits opposite me.
‘Ah, sorry, arwr,’ I reply. ‘Was it a big one?’
Another flash of a wink then he shuts his laptop. ‘Nah, a quickie. I’ll do it later. What you pay is double what I’d get for sorting out some biddy’s mobile phone.’
‘I bet.’
‘I charge handsome Rhys here premium rates, you see,’ he practically shouts across the kitchen at Lucy. He cranes his neck, tracing her every move as she grates cheese over whatever’s in the pan. Uh oh.
‘Drain him for every penny.’ She bats her eyelashes at him. ‘Have you asked for a bonus? You must work hard keeping this house safe. You deserve one.’
‘Oh, I’ve not tried yet, but good shout, luv. I can count on you for a reference, yeah?’
All right. This needs to stop. Aled’s not the right bloke for her. He messes girls around and leaves me to break things off on his behalf when he gets bored. Lucy deserves better.
‘Of course,’ she replies. ‘Anything you need. Rhys, can you get some water for us please? I’ve made a late lunch. Good job we have food delivery services.’
I scowl. She didn’t look at me when she bossed me around. Her gaze flits between whatever she’s stirring on the stove and Aled. ‘Yeah, fine.’ I grimace at the petulant tone slipping out my mouth. ‘But only if you’ve made enough for me, too. I’m starving.’
‘You ate two croissants for breakfast. But of course, I made enough for you. You’re a growing lad, after all.’
The saucy look she throws my way makes me feel ten feet tall, like my hair grazes the ceilings. Her smile is warmer than it was for Aled, and I can’t stop my face from mirroring hers.
‘So,’ Aled interrupts, the bastard, ‘I’ve upgraded your system and added double the authentication on top of an additional firewall.
What I’ll do another day is come back over and check your cameras and your hardware, make sure nothing sinister’s been planted amongst them, but I don’t think it has.
The system would tell me something’s wrong if a bug got in there. ’
‘It’s easy for you to sort it all out?’ Lucy asks.