Chapter 23
Negeseuon - Messages
Rhys
Found a new favourite thing to do: sleep next to Luce. It’s lush. Beats Cai getting number one, or winning one of those stupid trophies any fucking day.
Not that I meant to nap. Was supposed to be working on my report of the incident at the party. But there was something about her soft breathing combined with the rock of the coach and the bonelessness that comes from a good orgasm that made it hard for me to keep my eyes open.
I’m not fully awake until she wriggles out of my tight grip.
‘Noo. Come back.’ I grope for her, refusing to open my eyes and ruin this bubble. She flops next to me without fighting it. Her hair tickles my nose, and I blow it away. ‘Why you awake?’
She tuts. ‘I think the question is – why are you asleep? Don’t you have work to do?’
Mmm, that naggy voice. Strange how easy it flipped from being annoying to a fucking turn-on. If she gives me a moment or two to wake up properly, I’d happily take more bossing from her.
I peel one eye open, and I’m greeted with her smiling over me. All right, waking up with her might be as good as sleeping next to her. ‘Managed half a page of my report, but you looked so cosy and I couldn’t resist cwtching back up to you. What’s the time?’
‘Half twelve.’
‘Hours left. Time for more sleep? Or we could do something else.’ My hand creeps under her top.
‘Tempting, but I’m awake now and I should go clean up. Cai might want his room back.’
‘Fuck Cai. This is my bed now. You wouldn’t leave me, would you?’ I tighten my grip on her top.
‘I have to. Someone around here has to work. Though I might steal some kisses from you first, in case we don’t get any more time together on this journey.’
There’s nothing I want more. I pucker up, already pulling her towards me with the hand I tangle in her hair. The gap closes in a blink, our lips touch and my eyes drift close.
Kissing her’s one of the best things in the world.
Turns me into jelly, makes me forget which way’s up and what I’m even doing here.
I wrap both arms around her, shifting so she’s on top of me and lying between my legs.
It’s slow and soft this time, with no need to take it deeper or make it harder.
One of her hands cups my unbruised cheek while the other drifts under my top, stroking my stomach, sending a path of goosebumps over my skin.
I could do this forever.
We can’t, though. Eventually, we slow into short pecks. Pulling away’s natural, like a mutual agreement to take a break. We’re in tune with what each other needs.
‘Okay.’ I kiss the tip of her nose. ‘I’ve got what I want. You can go.’
‘Oh, you—’ But she doesn’t swear. Doesn’t matter how flushed I’ve made her, she won’t utter a curse. She does whack me on the chest, though, and rolls away from me to the other side of the bed.
I move with her, kissing her shoulder before scooting to the end of the mattress. She’s already reaching for her phone – time to leave our bubble and get back to work.
‘Gonna use the loo before you hog the bathroom,’ I tell her.
A quick nod’s all I get since her phone’s already sucked her in.
I wander into the tiny ensuite, catching my reflection in the mirror as I pass it.
A guy stares back at me, looking crazy happy.
The red mark on my cheek’s blooming into a bruise and some of the pain returns now I don’t have the tonic of being with her to soothe it.
Gonna make me look ten times more badass tomorrow when I hit the venue.
Nobody’s gonna mess with Cai when they see me coming.
I sort myself out, shoving my dirty boxers in my pocket and fastening my fly carefully now I’m commando, then return to the bedroom to the sound of a million alerts pinging onto my phone.
Luce’s already on the end of the bed, shoving her feet into her shoes.
Once they're on and tied, she reaches back to pull up her hair.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask. When I take a step forward to help her, she flinches. What the hell? I only left to take a piss. She can’t already have regrets about us. I’ve not had the chance to fuck things up yet. ‘Luce? Why you leaving? It’s your turn in the bathroom.’
‘Check your phone.’
She yanks open the door and legs it along the aisle. Whatever’s lit a fire up her arse, it’s enough for her to race straight past her bunk without stopping. As soon as she disappears down the stairs, I throw myself on the bed, searching for the phone I abandoned when I got here.
A fuck ton of messages waits unanswered from Cai. He’s abusing our group chat, probably bored and looking for attention.
I sit up, unlock the phone, and wait for the texts to load.
Cai
Guys. Something weird happened. Can you come here so I can show you?
Hello?
I know you're tired, but if I don't hear from you in five minutes, I'm coming there to wake you up.
Or I'll send Gethin.
Talk about fucking dramatic. His messages come in over the span of like, thirty seconds. Impatient little diva.
Seriously??
@Lucy @Rhys Come on!!!! I need you!!!
I'm firing you
Fuck the pair of you!!!
Luce <3
Sorry, on my way now.
A guy can’t take a nap around here.
I shove my phone into my pocket and head out the door. My long legs help close the gap between me and Luce, but I only get to the bottom of the stairs by the time she plonks herself into Cai’s booth, stealing the last seat. A few more strides and I’m with them.
‘I was asleep,’ I blurt out at the same time as her.
Cai’s spitting feathers. Absolutely tamping.
He doesn’t get angry often, but it’s like he stores all his rage for when he needs it.
Thick eyebrows rise above dark eyes, his pupils tiny, agitated dots.
They travel from my messy hair, pause briefly on my neck then scour the rest of me.
Reckon when he gets me alone later, he’ll proper bollock me.
For now, I take his glaring without bitching.
‘It’s good you can sleep while I’m suffering through a crisis.
’ He flips his phone over and over in his hand.
Next to him, Beth rubs his shoulder, whispering.
If she’s trying to calm him, it’s not working.
His left eye’s twitching far too much for words and a shoulder rub to be enough.
Gethin sits in the opposite corner, moustache quivering while he types on his phone.
Great. The whole gang’s here. Does this mean I’m in trouble again?
‘What crisis?’ I ask.
‘Look.’
He shoves his phone across the table. Lucy scoops it up first. Fine. I stoop to read over her shoulder and rest my hand on her back. Her brain must be going a million miles an hour, stressing over not being there for Cai straight away. Anything I can do to calm her inner turmoil’s worth it.
She’s not used to the drama of Cai. The git’s not bleeding out; he doesn’t look like he’s dying. He can wait a fucking minute for us to get to him.
She scrolls the message screen, showing me photo after photo from an anonymous number. ‘What is—’
‘They’ve sent messages to his private socials too,’ Gethin tells us.
Similar snaps wait in Cai’s message requests folder on the account he uses only for his mates.
No fucker has the handle details. Took him two years to accept mine and Aled’s friend requests.
A fucking piss-take, since I’ve known him a lifetime.
For revenge, I only ever send him shit cat reels. The biggest fuck you I could think of.
His phone pings with another text, and they don’t stop coming.
The sheer amount is strange enough, especially since whoever’s doing this is attacking from all angles.
But the photos are bonkers. Like a ransom note, the images consist of cut-up pieces of handwritten poems, the font strangely familiar.
Each snippet is an ode to Cai, telling him how much the author loves and adores him.
Explicit words mingle with softer, more romantic prose.
They ring alarm bells in my head. I’ve read all of this shit somewhere before.
‘Are these your—’
‘—song lyrics?’ he squeezes out. ‘Yeah. Parts of them, anyway.’
I nab the phone from Luce to take a closer look.
There’s no profile pictures, no history to the accounts that might give me a hint of who’s behind them, and when I call the number, nobody answers.
Not that I’d expect them to. ‘Seriously, man, this is fucking weird. And the handwriting. Why do I recognise it?’
‘Because it matches whoever sent the fan mail,’ Lucy replies immediately, thinking the same thing.
Shit. I grab my phone out of my pocket and thumb through my photos to find the samples I took. I place both devices on the table so the rest of them can see the comparison.
‘Good spot, Luce,’ I say at the same time Gethin breathes out, ‘Bloody hell.’
Cai doesn’t bother looking. Too focused on tugging on his hair.
‘These songs haven’t been released yet,’ he says.
‘I’ve been writing for the new album and a charity single Topaz wants to do with me.
If someone’s stolen them, I’ll have to start all over again.
Nobody’ll want to pay for a song when they’ve got a sneak peek at the lyrics for free. ’
Well, fuck. ‘But how would they’ve got hold of them, mate?’
He shakes his head. His hand flops from his hair to cover his notebook. He carries the fucking thing around with him everywhere. Never lets it out of his sight.
‘No idea,’ he says. ‘What are we going to do?’
We can’t just block the number and the accounts. Someone’s been in Cai’s shit. I squat, bringing me to their level. My fingers itch to touch Luce again, but I rest my arms on the table instead. I can’t afford to get distracted. Not now.
‘Are you sure you don’t recognise the guy from the venue yesterday?’ I ask her.
She frowns. The description she gave me for the report’s good enough for a police composite. One look and I was sure I’d never seen the guy before but she’s more detail-oriented than me. Perfect for this sort of thing.
‘No. I’ve not seen him before, and there’s nothing else I can think of that I haven’t already told you. He looked like a regular man off the street. Just a fan.’
Note to self: send her description to the PI.
She’s got more hope of finding him than some random Mancunian coppers.
Our intruder could have been anywhere in the venue before she came across him.
The backstage area’s in the arse end of the arena.
If he could get that far, he could have easily visited the green room or the dressing room, and had enough time to take some pictures of Cai’s notebook.
Everything’s fully protected, but it only takes a guard getting distracted for a moment for someone to use it to their advantage.
Especially if this nutjob’s been watching us for a while.
‘What’s your plan?’ Gethin asks.
‘I’ll ask the police at home to check in on Richie, see what he’s been up to. He’s the only one who knows how we work, where I post my guards. I’ll have to review my plans, shift people around, and look for better ways to staff the venues.’
‘I can help you,’ Lucy says, and I throw her an appreciative glance. Makes shit a ton easier, knowing she’s got my back, that we can work on things together without fighting. Might be some bickering, but none of our full-blown war shit from before.
‘Thanks. We need to get Cai a new number. Put these accounts on hold, too, once you’ve taken screenshots for the police and the PI.
’ Cai’s phone creaks in my grip, and I loosen my hold on it.
Don’t want to get him a whole new mobile if I can help it.
He’ll be mad about the wastefulness. I pass it to Lucy before I break it.
‘Send them to Aled too. See what he makes of it. If he needs it, we can post the sim to Wales so he can do a proper check.’
Gethin finishes scribbling everything on his pad. He lifts his head, giving me a nod to approve my plans before asking, ‘Anything else?’
‘Yeah. We might need to get more people on this. At least Aled, maybe loop Bryn and Alina into the details now.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands.’