Brody (Default Distraction Book 1)

by A. S. Roberts

  Saved by the bell.

  ‘I HAVE NEWS!’ she shouted as she very quickly appeared in the doorway of the office. Her bright eyes found mine and she smiled, accentuating her already flushed cheeks as she barrelled into the room to offer me a hug. ‘You’re a sight for sore eyes, I must say. I’m so sorry about your nan… Are you okay?’ she asked moving away from me and pulling her face into a severe expression.

  ‘I’m fine.’ I nodded back to her in reassurance. ‘Come on, tell us your news.’

  ‘I have been offered a HUGE job.’ As usual, Winter gesticulated as she spoke, opening her arms up wide to emphasise the most important words.

  ‘Go on then.’ I smiled at her in encouragement. I was already pleased for her, just looking at her body language. I couldn’t wait to share her news, and if the truth was told I was so pleased she had arrived when she had. I hadn’t the words yet, to describe to Lauren how I felt about her new engagement.

  ‘On a date, yet to be confirmed sometime early in the new year, wait for it…’ She held up her hand to us. ‘I’m off to Vegas. VEGAS! Can you believe it? Cade and the others have made me an offer I can’t refuse. After the successful opening of The Manor, I’ve been offered the contract of opening the next three hotels. The first one is in Vegas. What do you both think?’

  ‘Cade?’ fell out of my mouth before I got it under control. As her eyes darted to mine once again, I spoke. ‘That’s fantastic news!’ I congratulated her.

  I’m not sure which one of us moved first, but soon the three of us were jumping up and down in each other’s arms, trying to avoid crashing into the furniture. Our screams must have been loud enough to hear outside of the building as we celebrated and equally, I felt, commiserated with each other. For the first time I could ever remember since we had all been friends, the celebration, although acted out the same way as always, felt false. I wondered if they knew what my screams and whoops of joy were masking, and if their reactions were the same as mine.

  Things were changing, I could only hope that all the changes would be for the best.

  ‘Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful bride,’ I heard Winter exclaim as Jack and Lily entered the marquee hand in hand to thunderous applause.

  She was right, Lily had appeared a little shyly from behind him in an emerald coloured dress. It was a fantastic choice with her dark hair and it made her green eyes pop. The deep, rich colour was so right for a winter wedding and with the white of the snow on the ground it was a fantastic contrast. But as I looked at her closely, I realised it wouldn’t have mattered what she was dressed in, how much money had been spent on the flowers, or the amount of people invited. It was the way they looked at each other that gave her a luminosity that just lit her up. Sitting on Jack’s shoulders in an outfit that matched his dad’s, was their young son. The three of them together were an absolute picture and I was ecstatic to be sharing their day.

  ‘You know how much I love the Carpenters, right?’ I heard Lauren as she spoke quietly onto the side of her glass, trying to stop anyone lip reading her words.

  Winter and I turned our heads further, to look at her in question.

  ‘But, have you seen how well Jassy and Bella have done for themselves?’ We both followed her eyes to the top table and looked at Jack’s sisters with their husbands.

  Winter and I laughed our answer.

  Of course, I’d seen them around occasionally with their other halves. But to see them all in one place, with the men in dark grey three-piece suits, she was right, the testosterone was almost overwhelming. Especially hot in my eyes was Bella’s husband, Nathan. He appeared to have already discarded his suit jacket, his waistcoat was unbuttoned and his tie had gone. Even through his smart white shirt, I could see his tattoos and I now realised just what those did for me. Unashamed as I was, I appreciatively watched him unbutton his shirt sleeves, then roll them up exposing his forearms and the said tattoos.

  ‘Who would have thought that our small village would ever contain so many hot men all at the same time?’ I heard Winter, as did everyone else stood around our table. She had never managed the art of whispering and although she had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth she hadn’t, I had learnt years ago, been given a filter. I felt the others on our table look at her and smile.

  I rolled my lips inwards, clamped down on them tightly with my teeth and supressed the sudden need to wet my lips at the view. Then I let a big grin take over my face at my internal thoughts. Sweeping my eyes up and down the top table I looked at them all again as Jack and Lily took their places in the middle of his family.

  I had already known that all the men were devastatingly handsome, albeit in different ways. But I was now grasping, as I watched them, that it wasn’t their obvious looks and money that made them that way, it was the way they looked at their wives. They looked at them liked the sun rose and set within them. It was the way they touched them like they might never be able to do so again. They kissed their fingers, whispered private thoughts into their ears to make them smile, and it was magnetising to watch. In return, Bella, Jasmin, Lily and Frankie came alight under their ministrations.

  I thought back to Daniel and how he made me feel when we were together and the way he touched me with his flesh, his soul and, I now believed, with his heart. I understood, watching them, that I had a chance of having what they all had. My heart soared at the realisation I was falling in love with him. I looked at my friends standing clapping beside me and I wanted it for them, too. I said a silent prayer that one day they would also know what it was to be so adored by their soulmate and then realisation hit.

  Toby didn’t treat Lauren like that, he pawed at her like she was a possession and she in turn seemed to shrink away from his touch. I looked again at the ring on her finger. He owned his own business and was comfortably off, yet the diamond on her finger was a mere chip. It wasn’t that I thought money could cement a relationship, it wasn’t that at all. But surely, if he had found the love of his life and knowing that money wasn’t really a problem, he would want to spoil her as such? Personally, I thought he would want to spend some money and effort on her.

  I shook my head to get me out of my thoughts, as once again we sat back down at our table and began to listen to the speeches.

  The evening rolled on and it was great to spend some real down time with Winter and Lauren. We didn’t discuss anything deep, we didn’t question each other’s motives for our new choices, we just enjoyed each other’s company. Knowing our threesome was about to be broken up for a while made it even more important to do so. The moment our conversation drifted towards anything remotely questionable, we would shake our heads at each other and go on as before.

  After the speeches, the marquee had been opened outwards to one side. It had revealed another gas-heated area with a premade dance floor and after leaving our handbags behind at our table, we had been throwing some moves to whatever the DJ played. With all that was happening in our lives it was good to just have some plain, simple fun. I was pleased I’d chosen to wear trousers to the reception, I felt smart in the black, cigarette style. I’d worn an off the shoulder, Bardot top in a burnt orange colour to compliment them. I felt appropriately dressed, but comfortable enough to dance the night away.

  Lauren touched my shoulder. ‘Do you want another drink?’ she mouthed as she lifted her cupped right hand up to her lips gesticulating, in case I couldn’t hear.

  ‘Please.’ I nodded back enthusiastically.

  Winter and I continued dancing to Try by Pink, singing to the words loudly. I looked around us, most of the wedding party were up on the dancefloor almost turning it into a family mosh pit. I soaked in the happiness.

  At the end of Try the DJ, for the first time that evening, didn’t blend straight into another song. Instead he took his mic in his hand and made an announcement. Winter and I stopped dead on the spot where we had been dancing at the back of the room and lifted our heads to listen to him.

 
; I heard Winter groan beside me. ‘Not more speeches?’ she said a little too loudly. I reprimanded her by glaring and lifting my eyebrows at her.

  ‘Okay, everybody. That’s me for about an hour.’ He grinned at our cries of ‘Awwww.’

  There suddenly seemed an influx of bodies carrying amps, microphones and drums on stands onto the large stage behind him. In a matter of a few minutes, the DJ had finished telling us what an awesome audience we were and how much we were going to enjoy the surprise set up by the best man Charlie and the groomsmen. I looked across at Jasmin’s husband John as he nodded with reservation at the appreciative crowd on the dance floor. Then at Charlie, who in complete contrast was stood close to us in the middle of the dance floor, with his pint glass raised high in his hand, turning around full circle absorbing everyone’s cheers.

  ‘Mr and Mrs. Jack Carpenter, ladies and gentlemen, I give you… the one… the only… DEFAULT DISTRACTION!’ The DJ stepped back at the same time his equipment was lifted away to reveal the bands instruments set up behind him.

  I felt Winter grab my bare forearm, as in silence we watched the drummer, with his sticks raised high in acknowledgement, enter onto the stage first. The attitude that just exuded from his body was completely captivating. I didn’t think I had ever seen a drummer with so much stage presence.

  ‘Evening.’ He bent to speak into a mic, placed to one side of the drum kit. He raised a green glass beer bottle up to the happy couple and pointed the neck at them. ‘Congratulations, to the mad couple.’ The crowd cheered and laughed at his words. He then took a swig and placed his beer on the floor.

  While he was still standing, he began to start to tap out a beat on one drum. It seemed to be a beat that most people recognised instantaneously. He flung his leg high over the stool already in position and sat down, his other hand then entered the beat with a flourish. I watched as he closed his eyes and lost himself to his passion. The floor beneath my feet began to pulse as the crowd around me started to jump up and down to the rhythm. Butterflies began to dance inside my stomach, at the fact I was about to watch a band I had only ever heard of, perform.

  I looked over at Winter as she watched the stage, her mouth was open and she seemed totally mesmerised by the man on the stage. I smiled as I realised she liked the foul-mouthed Cade much more than she had admitted to. As my body reacted of its own accord and started to join in with the increasingly loud stamping of feet on the wooden boards, I gave the recognisable drummer the once over. Dirty-blond hair and with his chin held high as he perused the crowd, he gave off an air of complete confidence. He was wearing heavy boots and his jeans were ripped to the point of almost hanging off him. A loose fitting, black vest meant you could see his worked-hard-for muscular frame and he was wearing more chains and wrist cuffs than I could count.

  Winter was still beside me. I tried to speak to her but the marquee was filled with so many noises, it was in vain. I could see she was now looking behind us for Lauren. She obviously wanted a drink more than I had first thought. I let my body lose itself into the excitement around me.

  The crowd grew louder as one by one the band members came onto the stage in an obviously well practised routine. I saw the man who had been waiting for the young woman in the tearooms a few days ago, come onto the stage. He carried his bass in one hand and he pushed it higher to show his appreciation to the excited crowd. He quietly took his place and started strumming the chords in time with Cade.

  The atmosphere in the marquee grew to a frenzy as off stage the lead guitar started playing a well-known riff that sent the people around me wild. I watched in pride as our local boy Rafferty walked out, in his trademark leathers. He blew a kiss out into the crowd as his eyes wandered over the top of us all. I knew right at that minute he was searching for Lauren and when his eyes remained stuck fast in the doorway behind where we were jumping up and down, I knew he had found her. I looked over, to see her standing stock still, with her mouth wide open. Her fingers were turning white as her grip tightened on our three drinks.

  I pulled my arm free of Winter’s ever tightening hold, to go and help her out.

  Standing in front of her, I used my fingers to tip her chin upwards and grinned at her as she closed her mouth. I wrestled one glass away from her deathlike grip, afraid that the three drinks would prove to be too much and that she might drop one.

  ‘What a surprise?’ I shouted over to her.

  She just stared back at me.

  I hadn’t thought the crowd around me could get any louder, but the excitement in the air ramped up as the lead singer entered the stage. Hearing the screams, I turned around to face back towards the stage to watch as the tall figure entered from the right and walked onto the stage with a swagger that immediately spoke to my insides. I moved my head from side to side trying to see around the sea of jumping bodies in front of me.

  The lead singer took his place in front of the mic that had been centralised to the front of the stage. He had a leather pork pie hat on his head and was looking down, I couldn’t see his features around the brim. I joined in with the claps and cheers as the band stood complete in front of us. Looking around the bodies in front of me I took in the lead singer, well-fitting black jeans and a plain blue T-shirt that was ripped in places showing his many tattoos underneath. I looked at his hands cupping his mic and then to his ring-covered fingers.

  I was suddenly aware of Winter and Lauren either side of me and I linked my arms with theirs in my excitement.

  The crowd was already singing the words to the song that Default Distraction were playing and when the lead singer finally lifted his head, two-finger saluted at them and joined his amazing voice with theirs, the marquee erupted and they were all projected into a frenzy of excitement.

  When he’d finished singing the note he’d entered on, his eyes opened.

  His teal orbs found mine, and I disintegrated on the spot.

  I lifted my glass to my lips. My hand was trembling but I was helped by the fact that my shaking limb was wrapped around Lauren’s. She supported me as I poured the amber liquid down my throat in one gulp. Winter then prised the empty glass from my fingers and replaced it with hers.

  In my shock, I downed that one too.

  I could feel them both as they tried to make me go backwards to where we had left our handbags earlier, but my feet refused to budge. My eyes were focussed solely on Daniel and my head had decided to punish my stupidity by refusing to let me leave.

  But he isn’t Daniel.

  For the life of me I couldn’t remember what their lead singer was called. The only name that suited him at this moment was lying bastard.

  His voice was captivating, his movements well practised and they were obviously achieving the desired effect on the crowd, as the noise in the room had increased to a crescendo. Watching him as he acted in front of them with a confidence that must have taken him years to develop, my heart sunk. As the second song went into the third, the third to the fourth, I slowly came to realise that the past week had been a complete lie from start to finish.

  I wasn’t normally this stupid.

  Was I?

  Anger flared up inside me and I stood there stoking it to the point of incineration. I wanted it to burn red hot. I wanted it to engulf me in its flames. I wanted to use that anger to cleanse my bloody stupid self. I needed it to completely envelope the hurt that had erupted from inside my heart. The same hurt and pain that was now flowing around my body. I could still feel his touch, hear his words and feel the way his body had sustained mine. I could still see the depth of those eyes and what he had tried to wordlessly tell me over and over.

  But the Daniel I had met and nearly fallen for didn’t exist, he hadn’t told me the truth about who he was. So, everything we had been together was a lie.

  The man on the stage making everyone fall for him with his stage presence, his voice, those damned good looks and that amazing body of his, had lied to me. He wasn’t who he had pretended to be. He wasn’t th
e man who had tempted me to trust him. As far as I was concerned he no longer existed, just another actor like my mum. He was, in fact, just another celebrity using people for his own devices and pleasure. I wondered how many other unsuspecting females he had duped into caring for him. He probably had many around the world, all thinking he was giving them his all.

  My heart bled for them and myself.

  Watching him on stage commanding the crowd, was mesmerising. Even now as I stood there rooted to the spot with rage erupting and flowing fast around my body, I had to admit he was the best looking man I had ever seen. His muscular body was honed to absolute perfection and it just begged “made for sex.” I was at least fifty feet away, but my insides had traitorously sparked to life. My core was involuntarily aching and my knickers were damp. Yes, there really was bad damp. I was sure I would find my eyes dilated if I could see them. I watched him own every square inch of the stage the band were on, getting ever angrier with myself for allowing him to make me feel this way. I hated him for lying to me, and just to make things a whole lot worse I realised that I wasn’t falling for him, I was already in love with him.

  But, right at this moment in time, I was pleased to feel that anger felt the strongest of all the emotions coursing around my system.

  I watched him as he sung, with his worried eyes fixed on mine. But I stared him out, no way in hell was I running away this time. He raised his eyebrows in question at me, and when I made absolutely no effort whatsoever to answer his unspoken question, concern overtook his expression.

  Yeah, you should be worried.

  The aversion to him, bubbling around inside me, was so intense because of the way he had used me, that I wanted to show him that I also wasn’t who he thought I was. I wanted, if it was at all possible, to hurt the man inside his manufactured façade.

  Without thinking about what I was doing, I jerked myself forward, effectively releasing my arms from Winter and Lauren. I pushed my way to the front of the stage, lifted my arms up high into the air and right in front of him I began to dance to the music.