Broken Rock

by K. A. Finn

  ‘It’s early days.’

  ‘Very true.’ Bria pulls out a stunning emerald green dress with a full skirt. ‘But after he sees you in this, he won’t be able to let you go.’

  ∞

  Chloe lies back in bed and flicks through the photos of her in the incredible green dress. She’d tried on too many dresses to count, but both Bria and herself had agreed the first green one was the best. She can’t believe how different she looks in it. She’s never worn anything so beautiful.

  Bria hadn’t let her see the total once they’d added shoes and a bag to the bill, but she had no doubt it was quite a bit. Certainly more than she could have afforded. Nothing in the shop had a price label on it which was a dead giveaway that she absolutely couldn’t have afforded anything in there.

  She tried to call Tate to say thank you, but he hadn’t picked up. He must still be busy with the band. They hadn’t made any plans to see each other for the next few days. He was going to be working and she had to get the house ready for her gran. Spending time with Tate had meant the housework her gran was always on top of had been seriously neglected.

  Her phone rings and she smiles when she sees Tate’s name on the screen.

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘Hey. Sorry I missed your call. I’ve been locked in a room all day.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I just wanted to say thank you for today.’

  ‘How’d it go? Bria max out my credit card?’

  ‘Don’t even joke about that. I have no idea how much it all cost. Thank you, Tate. Between the art supplies and the dress I dread to think how much you’ve spent.’

  ‘The art stuff was a present and you wouldn’t need the dress unless you were saving my ass by tagging along. You get something you like?’

  ‘Like? Tate, I love it. They have to make a few adjustments. They said they’ll send it to the hotel in time for the awards.’

  ‘One less thing to lose on the way. So you’re all set?’

  ‘I think so. Bria arranged hair and makeup too. She just needs me to send her the details of where we’re staying.’

  ‘I’ll put Ellen in touch with her. Listen, I’m going to be tied up here for the next few days. I don’t think I’ll be able to get back. As much as I’d love to see you, I’ll be in the studio most of the time.’

  ‘Seriously, it’s fine Tate. Gran is back in a few weeks, and I’ve got a lot to do to get this place up to her standards by then.’

  ‘Don’t forget to take the dishes out of the cupboard over the fridge.’

  Chloe pauses then remembers about stuffing things into random cupboards that first time he came up for coffee. ‘You saw me?’

  ‘Yeah. Please tell me you’ve dealt with them. They’re not still there, are they?’

  ‘I’m going to say no.’

  ‘Yeah, sounds like you need some time to sort it out. Hang on.’ He moves away from the phone but Chloe still hears him shouting, ‘For fuck’s sake, I’m coming!’

  ‘Got to go?’

  ‘Sorry. Gregg is threatening to beat Dillon with a keyboard. Can I call you tonight?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Bye.’ He ends the call before Chloe gets a chance to say goodbye. As she stares at the end of the bed, she hates the empty feeling that follows. It doesn’t make any sense. She’s only known him a few weeks, but he’s got to her on so many levels. Sitting here thinking about him isn’t going to help with the dishes she had completely forgotten about until he mentioned it.

  20

  Chloe sits in the back of the car and pulls down the sleeve of her jacket again. She feels sick. Nerves had taken hold last night and no matter what she tried, she couldn’t distract herself.

  Bria reaches across and squeezes her arm. ‘Relax. Just think of it as going on a date with him. It’s no big deal.’

  Chloe tries to smile but she knows it comes across as a grimace. She’s just grateful Bria offered to come to the pick up point with her. Tate couldn’t get away from work in time to come back to collect her, so he was going to meet her there. Chloe hasn’t seen him for four days and can’t wait, but the whole date, as Bria called it, is terrifying her. The fact they’re meeting the helicopter in a field is just another bizarre detail in this already bizarre date.

  As the Land Rover pulls off the main road and heads down a dirt track between two high hedges, Bria hands her a business card decorated in gold and purple. ‘This is Dani. She’s the hair and make-up expert I was telling you about. She’ll give you a ring when she’s on the way. She’ll also be able to help you get dressed. Ellen booked a suite so there’ll be plenty of room for you to get ready without Tate pacing while looking at his watch. Relax, Chloe. You’ll have a blast. Trust me. You’ll be pampered and spoilt rotten.’

  Chloe smiles feeling a little more at ease. Bria is right. This is the experience of a lifetime. She should be excited. It’s the celebrity thing that keeps rearing its head.

  Since she first found out who he was, it was never that part of Tate that gave her hesitation. When she made that stupid statement about famous people, she honestly hadn’t thought of him that way. But that’s exactly what he is. As soon as she steps out of the car with him, the cameras will be going.

  The car slows and turns through a double gate into a field. The helicopter is sitting in the middle of the field and her nervousness jumps to excitement when she spots Tate leaning against the bonnet of another Land Rover.

  As soon as Chloe steps out of the car, he wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. He pushes his sunglasses up his head and kisses her like he hadn’t seen her for weeks. When he finally breaks contact he smiles down at her.

  ‘Hey.’

  ‘Hey yourself. What was that for?’

  ‘I might have missed you. Did you sort out the dishes in the cupboard?’

  She makes a face. ‘Eventually. Cornflakes are surprisingly resilient.’

  ‘I’m not even going to ask,’ Bria says as she gets out of the car.

  Tate and Bria look at each other, neither one saying anything for a few minutes.

  Tate eventually breaks the awkward silence. ‘Thanks for everything, Bria. I really appreciate it.’

  ‘I did it for Chloe.’

  His face drops and he nods once. ‘Got it. I’ll leave you to it. We’re scheduled to leave in the next ten minutes.’

  ‘Sure.’

  He lowers his glasses and walks back to the other car. Bria watches him leave and wraps her arms around herself. ‘Yeah, that was bitchy.’

  ‘I’m sure he understands. It’s not easy for any of you.’

  ‘I’m hate that I’m hurting him, but every time I look at him I just think about what he did to himself. It won’t go away.’

  Bria looks across the field to Tate, propped up against the bonnet of the car again with his arms crossed. ‘I always looked up to him. He’s my big brother. Shane is amazing, but Tate was the one I grew up with. He was the one who threatened anyone who looked at me sideways. Typical over protective big brother stuff. But I kind of liked it. I knew I could always depend on him. No matter what.’

  ‘He made a mistake, Bria. A really serious one and I’m not taking away from that, but he’s still your big brother. He really misses you.’

  ‘I miss him too. Do you think I’m being too hard on him?’

  ‘It’s absolutely none of my business, Bria. You’ve known him a lot longer than I have. There’s no right or wrong way to deal with it.’

  Bria nods and signals to one of the men standing by the helicopter. He comes over and takes Chloe’s bag from the boot and loads it inside. ‘You better go. Have fun. I can’t wait to hear all about it.’

  Chloe hugs Bria then walks over to the other car where Tate is waiting. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the curt brush-off from Bria had hit him badly. Even from this distance she can see him playing with the ring on his thumb as he stares down at the grass in front of him. He’s so deep in his thoughts he doesn’t realise she’s co
me to a stop in front of him.

  ‘Tate? You okay?’

  He pushes off the bonnet of the car and takes her hand. ‘All good. You ready?’

  ‘Tate!’

  He freezes as Bria runs over and throws her arms around him. Tate doesn’t move for a few seconds then hugs her back.

  ‘Good luck tomorrow. You’ve got this.’ Bria smiles at him then hurries back to the car.

  Tate turns back to Chloe. ‘What the hell did you say to her?’

  ‘Me? Nothing.’

  The look he gives her says he doesn’t believe her for one second. ‘Yeah well whatever it was, thank you.’

  ∞

  Tate slowly gets out of bed and closes the double doors behind him. He’s too worked up to sleep.

  He drops onto the couch, then gets up again and paces the living room. Coming here was a big mistake. He’s not ready to get in front of the cameras again. What if they ask him about where he’s been? What if he zones out and the whole fucking world witnesses it?

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Tate. Get a grip.’

  He opens the doors onto the balcony and leans on the railing, looking down to the street below. There’s hardly anyone around at this hour of the morning. Most people are asleep. Like he should be. He sits on one of the chairs and buries his head in his hands.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  He looks up as Chloe joins him on the balcony.

  ‘Yeah. I just couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you.’

  ‘Did you have a dream?’

  ‘No. Can’t switch off though. You should go back to bed.’

  She holds out her hand. ‘C’mon. You’re coming with me.’

  ‘Seriously, I’m done for the night.’

  ‘Get your ass back in the bed, Tate.’

  He follows her back to the bedroom and climbs in beside her. This is a waste of time, but if it gets her back to bed he’ll play along. Chloe piles the pillows up behind her and lies back against them. ‘Lie down.’

  He rests his head on her chest and she wraps her arms around him. ‘Chloe, this is—’

  ‘Will you stop arguing with me? Please humour me for a few minutes, okay? You think you can do that?’

  ‘Yes, boss.’

  ‘Thank you. Now shut up.’

  Tate does as he’s told and tries to focus on the sound of her heartbeat. Chloe runs her fingers through his hair as her other hand strokes his arm, slowly tracing the lines of his tattoo.

  His last thought is how she’s wasting her time before he drifts off to sleep.

  ∞

  Chloe smiles as Tate comes up behind her on the balcony and wraps his arms around her shoulders. In spite of all his objections, the stubborn man had slept the rest of the night. She had stayed awake for a little while after he fell asleep in case he had a dream, but exhaustion had him firmly in its grasp. When he’d finally woken, he seemed more relaxed than she’d seen him for a while.

  ‘What do you fancy doing today?’

  ‘Do you not have to meet with Dillon, Luke, and Gregg?’

  ‘Nope. We’re heading to the dinner separately, so you’ve got me all to yourself today. Dani is coming at four and the car is booked for six so we’ve got a few hours to kill. I was thinking we could grab some food then do some touristy stuff. You been in London before?’

  ‘Once or twice visiting my sister, but that usually involved being dragged out to a few clubs.’

  ‘Yeah, we won’t be doing that. Anything else take your fancy?’

  ‘Are you okay to just walk around in London?’

  He sits on one of the chairs and rests his feet on the railing. ‘I’m not fucking royalty or anything. Of course I can. Besides, I’ve got my trusty disguise with me.’ He holds up a baseball cap and his sunglasses. ‘I’ll be in stealth mode.’

  She raises her eyebrows and waves her hand at him. ‘It’s not just your face that will get you recognised. Your arms aren’t exactly inconspicuous.’

  He pulls her onto his knee and Chloe straddles him. ‘I guess I’ll just have to rely on my girlfriend to protect me.’

  Chloe beams when he calls her his girlfriend. It doesn’t matter how many times he says it, she doubts she’ll ever tire of hearing it. The fact she’s in a relationship after too many years alone is taking time to get used to. When you add in the small detail of the boyfriend in question being a famous rock star, it makes the entire situation so much more incredible.

  Tate looks up at her and smiles. There are so many photos of him online, but in most of them he’s serious. He absolutely should be photographed more often smiling.

  ‘I’m sorry but there’s no way I’m getting in between you and your fans. I value my life, thank you.’

  ‘I’m sure you can more than handle them. So where do you want to go?’

  ‘You mean like Madam Tussaud’s and things like that?’

  He makes a face. ‘Yeah, no. Not that place. Waxwork figures are creepy as hell.’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Too right. My parents took me to the museum in Dublin when I was a kid. Memorable day out for all the wrong reasons.’

  ‘Anything else a big guy like you is afraid of?’

  He slips his baseball cap on backwards as he thinks. ‘I wouldn’t go calling it afraid. More like I have a healthy distrust of them.’

  ‘Healthy distrust, huh. Okay, so what else do you have a healthy distrust of?’

  ‘Puppets. China dolls. Regular dolls. People dressed up as characters at theme parks. Clowns too. I really fucking hate clowns.’

  ‘Okay. Your parents must have loved taking you out when you were a kid.’

  ‘You could say that.’ Tate smirks at her as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. ‘There’s bound to be somewhere you want to go in London that doesn’t have scary ass clowns.’ He checks the screen and laughs loudly. ‘Now that’s just spooky.’ He tuns the phone around to show Chloe the picture of Dillon and Gregg standing outside Madam Tussaud’s with cheesy grins on their faces.

  ‘That is spooky. Are you sure you don’t want to go meet them?’

  Chloe laughs loudly at the look of horror on his face at the suggestion. ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘Well, there is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go and I’m certain it doesn’t have any rampaging clowns in it.’

  ‘Sounds promising already.’

  ‘You’re going to laugh, but I’ve always wanted to go to the Tate Modern.’

  He grins as he lifts her off his knee and grabs his coat. ‘Absolutely can’t argue with that. C’mon then. Lunch first, then Tate will take you to the Tate.’

  They decide on a small cafe for lunch and eat monstrous rolls filled to bursting with chicken salad, then watch the world go by for a bit while they have their tea and coffee. Chloe is pleasantly surprised that no one has launched themselves at Tate so far, but he’s blending in remarkably well.

  After lunch she spends the next few hours absorbed in the art in the Tate. She rabbits on continuously to him as she moves from piece to piece and he listens to every word. She doesn’t even mind when she loses him for a moment as a group of art students swarm around him, temporarily trapping him in one of the rooms.

  As she orders a couple of drinks in the cafe, he disappears in the gift shop, returning with two bags. He hands one to Chloe. ‘That’s for you.’

  She peers inside and pulls out a snow globe with a model of the museum inside. ‘Very cute. Thank you.’

  ‘Got to get a memento when you visit places like this.’

  ‘You get one for yourself?’

  ‘I got a few bits and bobs for my nieces. I always try to get them something small when I go away. I make up a box and send it to them when I’ve got enough things.’

  ‘That’s so nice. I didn’t know you had nieces.’

  ‘Molly and Tilly. They’re my brother’s kids.’

  ‘How old are they?’

  ‘Molly is eight and Tilly’s four. I don’t get to see them often so I
tend to spoil them. I used to get them Lego sets when I was away but I’ve been banned by my sister-in-law, Annabelle. Apparently it’s taking over their house.’

  ‘You can never have enough Lego.’

  He grins at her. ‘Thank you. That’s exactly what I said. I won’t repeat what she said. Let’s just say she is adamant they have enough. Just keep me out of any toy shops. Better safe than sorry.’

  ‘I used to get a set every birthday and Christmas. It would keep me entertained for hours. Grown up presents aren’t nearly as much fun.’

  ‘I’ll let you explain all that to Annabelle. So, I’ve changed tactics and now I just pick up small things I think they’ll like. I’m also under orders from them to send merchandise every time new stuff is released. They’re my biggest fans.’

  ‘You miss them?’

  He nods and finishes his coffee. ‘Yeah. I try to visit when I can but my schedule has been full on the last few years. They come here every Christmas from mid-December to the end of January.’ He goes quiet for a minute. ‘I missed the end of their visit this year. Shane didn’t want them to see me like that. He sent them home once he knew I was going to be okay. I didn’t get to say goodbye to them though.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Tate.’

  He shrugs. ‘I wouldn’t have wanted them to see me in hospital. I still don’t know what he told them. Annabelle isn’t keen on my talking to them right now. I email them every week or so and sent them a video apologising for not saying goodbye because I had to go away with work. I get she’s protecting them. I’d probably do the exact same thing if I was her.’

  Chloe doesn’t have a response to that. She didn’t realise how deeply his actions had affected both Tate and his family. He’s slowly scratching his arm, something she hasn’t seen him do for a while. ‘So,’ she says, trying to distract him, ‘what’s your schedule like for the next few weeks?’

  He frowns as he looks up at her. He seems to snap out of his daze and drops his hand. ‘What?’

  ‘Are you recording or do you have other musician stuff to do?’

  That seems to do the trick. The frown disappears and he appears to relax a little. ‘Recording I think. So, when do you start at school?’