Broken Rock

by K. A. Finn

  Gregg grins widely. ‘That ingenious plan was all me. Fucker had to go and actually learn the damn thing though. He’s scarily good at it too.’

  ‘So is it on ongoing thing? The dares I mean.’

  Gregg wiggles his eyebrows and smiles widely at Chloe. ‘Of course. I think the London dare is the most interesting one?’

  ‘No way,’ Tate says, pushing upright in the seat. ‘Not going there. Gregg, shut it.’

  ‘Oh button it, Tate. Chloe asked a reasonable question. It’s only polite we answer it.’

  Dillon nudges Tate in the ribs. ‘Quit glaring. So, we were in London two years ago. It was the last day of our European tour so we went out afterwards. Ellen recommended this authentic Chinese restaurant in town. Top class joint. Bit different from our usual haunts, but we thought we’d push the boat out. In all fairness, the food was the best we’d had for a while, especially after being on the road for so long. We had an amazing meal.’ Dillon grins at Tate. ‘Well most of us did.’

  ‘What happened?’ Chloe asks, leaning forward in her seat.

  ‘During dinner Gregg mentioned he’d dared Tate to learn a new instrument in a week a few years ago and Tate did it. So we decided, thanks in part to a little too much beer, that we’d dare him to eat something he really didn’t fancy. A century egg.’

  Chloe covers her mouth. ‘Oh God. Those are the black eggs, right?’

  ‘Fucking rotten things,’ Luke continues. ‘It had to be done. So we dared him to eat two or face a forfeit.’

  ‘Did you eat them?’

  Tate makes a face. ‘Of course not. The look of the damn things was enough. There was no way I was going to stick one in my mouth let alone two.’

  ‘Understatement. He bolted for the bathroom after looking at them.’ Dillon snorts and shakes his head. ‘Waste of an expensive meal.’

  ‘I’m fairly fucking sure you were quick to follow me in there,’ Tate fires back at Dillon.

  ‘Of course! I was watching out for you. It’s what mates do.’

  Tate snorts as he looks over at Dillon. ‘Is that what you were doing? Cause it sounded like you were throwing up.’

  ‘This is about you, buddy. Not me,’ Dillon replies as he grins at Tate.

  ‘So what was the forfeit?’ Chloe asks.

  As one, Dillon, Luke, and Gregg point to Tate’s groin and he grins.

  Chloe looks at the four men sitting opposite her and then down at Tate’s groin. ‘Hang on one second. Are you saying you wouldn’t eat rotten eggs so you had to get yourself pierced? Is that seriously what you’re telling me?’

  They grin and Tate nods. ‘Believe me. It was better than eating the eggs.’

  ‘But why the two piercings?’

  ‘Two eggs,’ Tate explains.

  ‘He cried like a baby when he was getting them done.’

  ‘I did not cry, Gregg.’

  ‘There was a tear in your eye.’

  ‘There were two needles in my dick. It wasn’t entirely comfortable.’

  Luke snorts and waves his hand at Tate’s arms. ‘Like all those tats were comfortable. You had no problem with getting the piercings. You were just pissed you lost the dare.’

  ‘Of course I was.’

  Chloe shakes her head as she looks at the four of them. ‘I can’t believe they actually let you four out unsupervised. You need a babysitter. So are you done with these dares now?’ Chloe asks.

  Gregg makes a face. ‘I’d love to say yes, but you see Tate here isn’t one for backing away from something. He was the same in school.’

  ‘Half of the trouble I got into was down to you.’

  ‘Right back at you mate.’

  Luke snorts and reaches out to take his glass from the table. ‘From what I heard, you were both as bad as each other. Still are. You can’t help winding each other up. Best thing all around is for both of you to avoid all contact. Stay the hell away from each other. Actually scrap that, one of you needs to move to another country.’

  Chloe stands up and puts her glass in the kitchen. ‘Well as informative as this has been, I’m tired so I’ll leave you all to it.’

  Tate follows her into the kitchen and moves her out of earshot. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Of course I am. You need time with them alone. I’m going to get some sleep.’ She winks and walks up the stairs, waving over at the guys as she goes upstairs. Tate goes back to the couch, wincing when Dillon kicks him in the shin.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You,’ Dillon answers. ‘Gazing after her with a goofy smile on your face. She’s got you mate.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Luke says with a smirk.

  ‘I have to wholeheartedly agree.’ Gregg raises his glass to Tate. ‘It’s about time you found someone half decent.’

  ‘Hey, watch it.’

  Dillon stretches out his legs, resting them on the coffee table. ‘No, I know what he means. The last few you’ve been with weren’t good for you. Take Astrid for example. Pampered spoilt princess. Of course she was going to go for someone like you.’

  ‘Hold up. What exactly do you mean by someone like me?’

  ‘Someone Daddy wouldn’t approve of. She was with you to prove a point and get a few steps up the social ladder. You used her for—’

  ‘Stop right there.’ Tate interrupts. ‘I’m begging you not to finish that sentence.’

  Dillon grins over at him. ‘Reckon she liked the idea of being with you more than actually being with you.’

  Gregg nods enthusiastically. ‘To be fair, Dillon, I’d imagine most people would prefer the idea of being with Tate more than the reality. Grumpy fucker.’

  Tate rests his arm along the back of the couch and glowers at them. ‘Grumpy fucker? Cheers. Luke, you fancy chipping in?’

  Luke smirks and shakes his head. ‘Nah, I’m good just watching the show.’

  ‘Chloe’s leagues apart from her,’ Dillon says, his face turning serious. ‘She likes you. The real you. She’s good for you, Tate. We can all see it.’

  Tate crosses his arms and looks at them, waiting for the imminent joke or dig, but there’s nothing. He can’t remember the last time they approved of anyone he dated.

  ‘She’s coming to London with me.’

  Gregg smiles widely. ‘Hang on one second. We may have just entered a parallel universe. Are you telling me you’re bringing a date?’

  ‘I’ve brought dates before.’

  Gregg shakes his head. ‘Once, and it was Bria. Your sister doesn’t count. You have never ever brought an actual date to any of these things. Ever.’

  He frowns as he thinks back to the numerous events he’s attended in the past. He’d brought dates to parties, but Gregg is right. He’s always gone to these things alone. ‘You think it’s too fast?’

  ‘You’re thirty-six and you’ve finally asked someone to go with you to a work do. I don’t think too fast is the term I’d use to describe it.’

  ‘You know what I mean. Am I rushing things with Chloe?’

  ‘You know what I think?’ Dillon says as he gets up and opens a few kitchen cupboards.

  Tate glares across at Dillon. ‘No, that’s why I’m asking.’

  Dillon grabs a few bags of crisps and hands them out. ‘I think the fact you asked her is all the answer you need. Go with it, Tate. What did Ellen say about it?’

  ‘I haven’t told her yet. I have to ring her in the morning.’

  ‘She’ll be fine with it. Think she’s given up worrying about who we’re seeing. First public event though. Is Chloe prepared for what that means?’

  Tate opens the crisps and stares into the bag. ‘Don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Not properly. We haven’t been out in public together. Just hope it doesn’t freak her out and scare her off.’

  ‘Hey. It’ll be grand, okay. We’ll keep an eye on her on Saturday. There’s no way she’ll be overwhelmed with all the celebrity bullshit with us four louts hanging around her.’

  Tate has to laugh at that. Dillon has a poi
nt. ‘I just wanted to bring her. Let her experience one event like this in case we’re not nominated again.’

  Dillon, Gregg, and Luke look at each other then over to him. Gregg holds up his glass. ‘We started this band in your parents’ barn. A few years later we’re headlining venues that hold thousands. No award is going to change that.’

  Dillon taps his glass against Greggs, followed by Luke. They look over at him again and Tate slowly clinks his glass against the others. ‘Thanks.’

  Gregg waves the comment away. ‘Don’t go getting all mushy on us. Besides, there’s nothing to say we won’t clean up this year. Chloe could be our good luck charm for the evening.’

  ‘Could be. So no more talking about dares or anything I may or may not have done in my past. The last thing I want to do is send her running for the hills... again. I’m already on my last life with her. I don’t need any more help messing things up.’

  ‘We’ve got your back, Tate,’ Dillon says. ‘She’ll never know about the karaoke bar incident. I promise.’

  ‘Don’t even joke about that.’

  Gregg shakes his head and looks over at Tate. ‘Now I wouldn’t just go agreeing to that so fast, Dillon. I reckon we should see how much it’s worth for us to keep that particular embarrassing incident from Chloe?’

  ∞

  Chloe tucks the duvet around herself and breathes in Tate’s seriously intoxicating scent. He’s still downstairs with the others but it sounds like they’re wrapping things up. She smiles as they burst into laughter. Tate’s deep rumble is clearly audible among all the others.

  The last two days have been incredible, but she knows it has to come to an end. She’s starting work in a few weeks and he’ll be doing whatever he normally does when she’s not around to distract him. The new album will be released soon and from the conversations tonight, the second leg of the tour he had to cancel will be rescheduled for the upcoming months. That’s something she doesn’t want to think about at the moment.

  She has no idea how touring works. She doesn’t know if he’ll be leaving for months and won’t be back until he’s finished or if he’ll be back every few weeks. She presumes he’ll stay in contact but will he give her his schedule or timetable or plan so she’ll know what city he’s in? Or what country. It’s all so alien to her.

  And that’s before she gets to the whole famous singer part of the equation. Screaming fans. Meet and greets. Autographs. The dreaded groupies.

  If she allowed herself to think about all that, she’d head down a rabbit hole she wants to avoid. She still hasn’t quite got her head around the fame part. It hit her again when he asked her to go to the awards evening with him. She doesn’t think of him as famous. It would have been a great idea not to actually ask if she would meet any famous people. Another comment to go down on the ‘Did you really say that, Chloe?’ list.

  She hears footsteps on the stairs. Tate told her the guys always stayed the night when they came over. Probably because, in the past, they would have had a few drinks. The fact that all of them had stuck to soft drinks is a testament to their friendship. She seriously doubts Tate would have stopped them if they’d wanted a drink, but they hadn’t even suggested it.

  As much as she doesn’t want to, she should probably go home tomorrow too. If she doesn’t get some clean clothes, he’s going to kick her out himself. Either that or insist she ditches her clothes altogether.

  The door opens and she smiles as he locks it behind him. Tate undresses, his impressive body silhouetted in the dim light from the bedside table. He climbs in beside her and she wraps her arms around him.

  ‘I thought you were asleep. We didn’t keep you up with all the racket did we?’

  ‘No, you didn’t. I think I dozed off for a bit. Has everyone gone to bed?’

  ‘Yeah. They’ll be off early enough in the morning.’

  ‘I don’t think there’s anything for breakfast for them.’

  ‘Coco Pops. Always plenty of Coco Pops.’

  ‘Of course. How stupid of me. I was thinking I probably should go back to Gran’s tomorrow.’

  He sighs and rolls onto his back, pulling her close to his chest. ‘I was kind of expecting you to say that. Guess I can’t keep you locked away in here forever no matter how much I want to. I can bring you back in the morning after the guys leave. I probably should sort things out with my folks too before they change the locks and completely disown me. I’m really not looking forward to that conversation.’

  He kisses her on the forehead and tucks the duvet around them.

  ‘Tate? Can I ask you something?’

  ‘Go for it.’

  ‘Why was Pippa not here tonight?’

  He looks down at her. ‘Pippa? Why would she come?’

  ‘I know me being here wasn’t planned, but I was just wondering why Luke didn’t bring her with him.’

  Tate doesn’t answer her immediately. Instead he plays with the ring on his thumb as he frowns at the ceiling.

  ‘Okay. Spit it out. What’s wrong.’

  He licks his lips then frowns again. ‘Okay. Pippa may not be overly... she doesn’t... There was this thing and I’m fairly sure she hates me because of it. Not that I’m losing any sleep over it.’

  Chloe pushes on to her elbow and looks down at him. ‘What thing?’

  ‘I may have said something she didn’t appreciate hearing.’

  ‘Oh Tate. What did you do?’

  ‘Okay, there’s something you need to understand about Pippa. She’s a heartless, soul destroying, money grabbing leech.’

  Chloe stares down at him and gets a really bad feeling. ‘Please tell me you didn’t say that to Luke?’

  ‘What? No of course not. What do you take me for? I said it to her.’

  Chloe laughs and shakes her head. ‘Well, that could explain why she’s not fond of you. What possessed you to say that to her?’

  ‘I was drunk at the time. Probably more than just drunk thinking back, but that’s not the reason I said it. I would have said it to her even if I was sober.’

  ‘Helpful.’

  ‘She was giving Luke serious attitude about spending time with us. What we do... it’s more than standing on stage and singing a few songs. We have to practice a hell of a lot. Then there’s all the other stuff like interviews, photoshoots, touring. It’s part of the job. We can’t just pick and choose which bits we want to do. Pippa’s happy to spend his money but gets her nose out of joint when he leaves her for five fucking minutes.

  ‘We were due to fly to London for an interview and performance, and she kicked off. She wanted him to go to some work do and, strangely enough, we needed him on stage with us, so I said no using a few choice words. She argued back, called me a few interesting names. I countered by telling her what I thought of her. She went red, slapped me, and we haven’t spoken since.’

  ‘She slapped you?’

  Tate shrugs. ‘More like a tap but Ellen decided it would be best if we steered clear of each other. There’s the odd time she has to go to things I’m attending too, but I just smile politely, curse her under my breath, and leave her to it.’

  Chloe lies on his chest and traces the tattoo with her finger. Luke seems so... normal. She can’t imagine what Tate just described. She’s also no desire whatsoever to meet the delightful Pippa. She pauses as a thought hits her.

  ‘Is she going to the awards?’

  ‘Unfortunately. Don’t worry though. I’ve already asked Dillon and Gregg to keep me the hell away from her. Ellen’s apparently had a chat with her too. Luke said it didn’t go down well. Big surprise there. The delightful Pippa has been told to give me a wide berth for the evening. The last thing Broken needs is more bad publicity. We’ve all to be on our best behaviour.’

  ‘So do Dillon and Gregg have scary girlfriends too?’

  ‘Nope. Dillon isn’t a one girl kind of guy. He’ll be one of those old rockers with a twenty-year-old on his arm. Gregg...’ He shrugs. ‘I’d like to see him find s
omeone. To be honest, I thought he’d settle down before me. Funny how things work out.’

  He rolls onto his side and hugs her to his chest.

  ‘Well, I’m beat. Night.’

  Chloe smirks against his chest as a certain part of his body presses against her leg. ‘Is that so? You might want to tell your friend to go to sleep.’

  ‘He never listens to a word I say,’ he mutters into the pillow.

  ‘Tate?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I’m not tired.’ She laughs as he scrambles to tear off his boxers and pulls her on top of him.

  17

  Tate slips on his sunglasses then starts the engine. He’s knackered. Chloe had kept him up until well after four. The stunning woman was impossible to sleep next to without wanting to do a hell of a lot more than sleep. He’s definitely paying for it now. No complaints though. If anything, it’s the thought of bringing her back to her gran’s that’s getting to him, which was strange.

  He’s always preferred his own company to others, especially at home. He loved having the guys over but it was maybe once or twice a week at most. The rest of the time he w as alone. And he loved it. Or did.

  Coming back home tonight without Chloe doesn’t feel right. It’s throwing him how much he wants her around. That’s probably the best reason to have a few nights away from her. It’s too soon to be living in each other’s pockets.

  All he can do is keep busy, work out for a bit and hopefully grab some sleep. He’s got a call scheduled with his counsellor tonight anyway so he’d prefer she wasn’t around for that.

  She climbs in beside him and he turns the truck around and heads out the gate.

  ‘So, I sent Bria a text while you were seeing the guys off. We’re going to go shopping in a few days. She’s going to make an appointment at a boutique in town.’

  He’s slightly taken aback by the willingness of his sister to help Chloe. It’s not a bad thing at all. Maybe he’s a little jealous she’s so eager to meet Chloe but can’t answer the phone when he calls.

  ‘That’s great. She’ll be able to sort you out. You got the photo I sent you?’

  Chloe nods. ‘I know it makes no sense, but she looks like you.’