by Nikki Ashton
The rest of their set was completed without any incident and they finished to rapturous applause from all around. The crowd, who might have thought they were just a bunch of rock star’s kids without any talent, had been corrected; there were already whispers going around of people wanting to buy their album when it came out.
Snake Bandit all took a bow and each one felt exultant at the reception they’d received, but not one of them felt the innate need to do it again.
Eliza particularly was shocked by how she felt because she’d always believed that it was what she wanted. She, Donna and Lynsey were always going to be the best female rock band the world had ever seen, but now she’d performed once, it felt as though that was enough to fulfil her dream. Her dad had been right all along when he’d said she should get an education and work toward another career first, just in case. Maybe he’d seen it wasn’t really in her, he hadn’t seen that same desire that he’d had at her age, that all of Dirty Riches had.
Rocco led the way off stage and into the open arms of their parents, all offering congratulations. When his papa pulled him into a bear hug and said he was amazing and had made him proud, Rocco couldn’t help but feel emotion wash over him. It was all he’d ever wanted to do, make his parents proud, but he’d acted like a dick and played up and acted like the douche of a rock star that his papa had always endeavoured not to be.
“Rocco,” a soft voice said in his ear as warm arms enfolded him. “I’m so proud of you, your grandpapa would have been too. You were so like your papa up on that stage.”
Rocco turned into his Nonna’s embrace and hugged her tight. She was much frailer these days, and he saw with each passing year that the time was coming when they’d all have to cope without her, so he treasured every hug and kiss that she gave to him.
“Thank you, Nonna, it was awesome out there.”
“You think you’ll follow Papa’s footsteps?” she asked.
Rocco didn’t hesitate. “Nah, it’s not for me. I loved it, but once was enough. I’d like to go into the music business though, having spent the summer with Papa it’s given me a good insight.” A large hand landed on his shoulder.
“Good to know this summer has been useful then.” Rocco turned to see Luke’s smiling face and nodded.
“Yeah, Papa it has.”
“Ooh,” Lucia said, pointing. “Look who’s here.”
“Hey, little brother, that was amazing.” Luke and Rocco turned to see Betty and Noah walking towards them. They were hand in hand and grinning.
“Booboo!” Rocco welcomed his elder sister into his arms and hugged her tightly. “When did you get here?”
“Just as you started,” Betty replied, kissing her Nonna and then moving to Luke and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Hi, Papa.”
“Hey sweetheart. God, I’ve missed you.” He reached out and squeezed Noah’s shoulder. “Noah.”
“Hey, Luke,” he replied, a little tentative still finding it hard to drop the word Uncle. Once he’d married Betty, Luke’s stepdaughter, it had seemed strange calling him Uncle Luke but still felt weird not to.
“Where’s my beautiful girls?” Luke asked of his granddaughters.
“They’re back at the hotel with Mum,” Noah replied, giving Nonna a hug. “She said we deserved a night off. They said to say they love you and will see you tomorrow.”
“I’m going to go back there now,” Lucia said, shaking her head. “It’s all getting a bit much for me. Luke could you take me to the car that’s waiting for me please?”
“Sure, Mama.”
Luke beamed at Betty and kissed her head. He missed her, Noah and the girls so much with them living in London, but they had a great life, and he was proud of them, especially Noah who ran the record label for them.
“Okay,” he said taking hold of Lucia’s hand. “I’m going to take Nonna to the car and then get ready for our set. See you guys later and Rocco, well done again, son.”
He went to ruffle Rocco’s hair but when he ducked out of the way, they all started to laugh.
“Some things never change,” Betty said with a glance at Rocco’s hair. “Still protective of it.”
“Hey,” Rocco said, giving her an earnest look. “Don’t mess with perfection, Booboo.”
“Oh God,” Noah groaned. “He’s getting worse.”
While Rocco patted his hair in place, Eliza was searching around the crowd of people for Freddie. He had barely looked at her and she knew he’d got totally the wrong idea about her and Rocco. She only hoped the song she’d added in for his benefit had proved the point to him.
Finally, after pushing through everyone she spotted him about to go down the back steps with his mum and dad.
“Freddie, stop,” she cried and ran toward him. “Where are you going?”
Bets, Freddie’s mum gave Freddie a soft smile and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “You stay with Eliza and we’ll see you once the gig has finished.”
“But I thought we were going to go back to the hotel?” he questioned and looked between his parents and Eliza.
Tom, his dad shook his head. “No way, there’s free beer in the VIP section and me and your mum are enjoying ourselves, aren’t we babe?” He slapped Bets’ bum and she jumped and giggled like a teenage girl.
Freddie rolled his eyes and Eliza sighed as she thought how wonderful it was that they were still so much in love.
“Please, Freddie,” she said, rousing from her romantic musings. “I need to tell you something.”
Freddie’s heart thumped wildly, and his hands began to shake at the realisation that the time had arrived to be dumped and his own parents had thrown him under the bus. He turned to tell them he would go back to the hotel on his own, only to see their backs disappearing through the crowds.
“Great,” he muttered and turned back to Eliza. “Okay, just say it. Break my fucking heart so I can leave.”
Eliza reached out for his hand. “I knew you’d get the wrong idea, and I should have made you talk to me earlier.”
“I don’t see how Mahoney with his hands all over you and kissing you is the wrong idea. I saw it Eliza.”
Eliza gasped. “You saw him kiss me, I thought you’d only seen him hug me.”
“Yeah, I saw him kiss you and you kiss him right back.” Freddie’s chest heaved with each word he spat out as he tried desperately not to beg her not to dump him.
“I didn’t kiss him back at all. You did see me punch him, didn’t you?”
Freddie tilted his head back to look her directly in the eye. She certainly didn’t look like she was lying. “You punched him?”
“Yes!” she cried. “Of course, I did. I’m with you, why on earth would I let him kiss me?”
Freddie looked around and bent closer to her to talk in a whisper. “But you love him.”
“Did Freddie, did.” She rolled her eyes. “And anyway, it wasn’t really love, it was a crush.”
“How do you know?” he asked with his arms folded over his chest.
Eliza paused as she wasn’t sure whether this was all too soon, but if she didn’t tell him now, Freddie may well walk away and believe that he wasn’t who she wanted.
“I know because it’s nothing like how I feel about you, you idiot. He has never cared about my feelings like you do, he’s never made me laugh like you do, he’s never made me feel all damn girly like you do and you know how I hate to feel girly.” She lifted up on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear. “And he’s certainly never made me come like you have.”
“Fuck,” Freddie groaned and pulled Eliza to him. “So, you really punched him?”
“Yeah,” Hendrix said over Eliza’s shoulder, “she really punched him.”
Eliza giggled as Hendrix kissed the back of her head and ruffled Freddie’s hair.
“Come on you two,” he said. “Dirty Riches are about to take the stage and you don’t want to miss it.”
“And what about the song?” Eliza brushed Freddie’s hair from hi
s eyes. “Didn’t you realise that it was about you?”
“Was it?” Freddie narrowed his eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, really. The line about his hair falling in his eyes didn’t give it away then?” she asked.
Freddie dropped his head back and groaned. “I thought it was about Rocco.”
“As if he’d ever have a hair out of place.”
They both glanced over at Rocco who was talking with Gigi and Betty and laughed when his hand came up to smooth back his hair.
“Are we okay then?” Eliza asked as she turned back to look into Freddie’s eyes.
He leaned down and kissed her softly. “Yeah, we are. Something I need to say first though.”
“What?” Eliza arched a questioning brow.
“I fucking love you.”
Her heart faltered and she felt every drop of blood in her veins heat up and start to swirl. “You do?” she asked in a quiet whisper.
“Yeah, I do, and I’m sorry I punched Rocco, but the thought of you being with him just kills me.”
Eliza gave Freddie a quick closed mouth kiss and stroked a hand down his face. “It’s not going to happen, because I love you too. A lot.”
Freddie’s mouth twitched and when Eliza reached up to kiss him again, he couldn’t help but smile against her lips.
“Thank fuck for that,” he said and pulled Eliza against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
“Oi, Price,” Jake’s loud voice boomed across the stage.
Freddie and Eliza turned to see Jake, with his guitar strap around his neck and bottle of water in one hand. They both laughed as Jake pointed the bottle at them.
“Put my fucking daughter down.”
Eliza giggled and when she heard Skins’ first drum beat of Dirty Riches’ anthem ‘Evil Disaster, she wrapped her arms around the boy she loved and hugged him tight.
Chapter 30
Amber swivelled and saw Jake standing with his hands on his hips staring at Freddie and Eliza who were holding hands. It was the exact same scene she’d witnessed at a Dirty Riches Christmas party almost fifteen years before.
“Jake, what the hell are you doing?” she asked. “Eliza sweetheart, why don’t you and Freddie go and enjoy the party and I’ll sort your dad out.”
“Now wait a minute,” Jake cried, putting a hand on Freddie’s shoulder. “He’s not going anywhere until I’ve had a chat with him. I haven’t forgotten you kissed her just as I was about to go on stage.”
“Dad,” Eliza sighed. “Really?”
“Freddie, just go, take Eliza and leave this idiot to me.”
Freddie smiled tentatively at Amber and with a quick glance at Jake, grabbed Eliza’s hand and practically ran for the bar.
“Freckles,” Jake warned. “I’m not happy about you sending him off like that. We needed to talk.”
Amber wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck and kissed him gently. “I’m sure we can find something more interesting to do than discuss our daughter’s sex life.”
Jake’s eyes bugged out and he staggered back a step. “Who the fuck said anything about sex?”
Tom and Abbie looked over to see why Jake was bellowing, but when they followed his gaze to Eliza and Freddie kissing at the bar, they both laughed.
“God help the Price kid,” Tom said as they turned back to Lessie and Matilda. “Now, as we were saying, tell us about these photographs of your brothers which you’ve been selling.”
Lessie and Matilda shrugged as they’d already made a pact to deny, deny and deny.
“We know you did, Matilda,” Abbie said as she placed a hand on her daughter’s head. “We’ve seen them, and we know how much you charged.”
Matilda wondered how on earth her parents had found that information out, but even though she wanted to confess as she hated lying to them, she’d already promised Lessie that they wouldn’t admit it. Lessie glanced at Matilda to check she wasn’t going to give the game away, but to her credit she looked steely and determined. One thing Lessie did want to know though was who had snitched on them.
“Where did you hear that rubbish?” she asked.
Her Uncle Tom rolled his eyes while Auntie Abbie smiled at them softly.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tom replied. “We know you did it, now we’ve agreed nothing more will be said if you give the money to the charity foundation.”
Lessie stood steadfast, but Matilda, ever the sweet and charitable one, bounced on the spot and spoke. “We still have a hundred pounds left.”
Lessie groaned and shook her head, deciding that next time she had a money-making scheme, she wouldn’t be offering a share to Matilda.
Rocco and Ethan were swigging on bottles of beer when Luke and Skins joined them, and as they stood together, it wasn’t difficult to see what both the younger men would look like in another twenty years or so.
“We come with good news,” Luke said as he tapped his bottle with Rocco’s.
“Yeah. What’s that?” Rocco asked. “Because I’ve got to be honest Papa, I’m not sure band life is for me.”
“Nor me,” Ethan added. “All that rehearsing is not only boring, but my arms are knackered.”
Skins let out a loud burst of laughter. “Yeah, but look at the muscles”
He flexed his biceps which caused a groan from the other three.
“Well, if you’ve finished preening,” Luke sighed. “We’ll give them the news, and no it’s not a record contract.”
“You’ve worked hard over the last month or so with the band, plus the work you did at the start of the summer,” Skins said.
“Yeah, you have, so my boy,” Luke grinned at Rocco and slapped his back. “We’ve decided you can have the rest of the summer off.”
“No more fetching and carrying?”
“Or washing dirty dishes?”
Luke and Skins shook their heads.
“That’s awesome, this deserves a shot Ethan,” Rocco said and pulled his friend toward the bar.
“When do you think they’ll realise that’s only a week?” Skins asked.
Luke nodded in the direction of their sons who were chatting animatedly. “In one, two, three and...”
“For fuck’s sake.”
Skins and Luke roared with laughter at Rocco’s curse and high-fived each other, happy that they were still able to get one over on their sons.
“Luke,” Martha said, coming up alongside them. “You haven’t seen Rafa have you?”
Luke pulled her to his side and kissed her temple. “No babe, but if you find Hettie, I’m sure you’ll find Rafa, they’re joined at the hip.”
Martha shook her head and sighed. “No, she’s missing too. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll turn up soon.”
It was then that Tom, Abbie, Jake, Amber and Stacey joined them. All were holding drinks and had huge smiles on their faces.
“How did the chat with the love birds go?” Luke asked Jake.
“Badly,” he grumbled. “Apparently I’m mean and overbearing because I’ve said he can’t move into Eliza’s flat with her when they’re at Uni next year.”
“I didn’t know he was going to university,” Stacy said as she took Skins’ arm and wrapped it around her shoulder.
Amber grinned mischievously. “He took a year out, so starts this year, doing music management and business.”
Martha gasped and grinned. “Not at the same Uni as Eliza, surely.”
“It’s not funny, Mahoney,” Jake grumbled. “It’s making me ill thinking about it.”
They all burst out laughing but, when a whoop of excitement was heard, their heads all turned to see Gigi racing across the room to jump into the arms of Billy Devine and wrap her legs around his waist.
“You made it,” she cried and smothered his beaming face with kisses.
“Anything for you, baby,” Billy sighed before he took her mouth in a heart stopping kiss.
“What the fuck?” Luke cried and turned to Martha. “How long has that been going o
n.”
She shrugged. “A few weeks, maybe five or six.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?’
“Oh, stop being all grumpy,” Martha replied and poked his stomach. “He makes her happy, he’s a nice, considerate and polite boy. And he’s cut a boy’s weekend short to be here because Gigi wanted him to be.”
“Shit, he sounds exciting,” Tom muttered, earning himself a pinch from Abbie.
“He’s lovely and the main thing is,” Martha said as she gave Luke a wide-eyed stare. “He makes her feel safe.”
Luke glanced back over to Gigi who was being carried by Billy toward two big tables where the rest of the kids, including Betty and Noah, were seated, and his eyes softened.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “She does look happy.”
“I don’t know,” Stacy sighed as they all turned their gazes to their children, all laughing and joking together. “They’re all growing up so fast.”
“Yeah,” Abbie said. “We’ll be grandparents before you know it.”
“Price,” Jake cried as he pulled away from the group. “I want a fucking word with you!”
Epilogue – 8 years later
@Eliza_Price—watching a band sing your song at Glasto is awesome especially when the whole crowd sing along and the gorgeous @FredPrice2000 was with me to make it ten times better. Looking forward to going home to Rickeby now.
@FredPrice2000—so proud of @Eliza_Price not just as her manager but her husband too. The whole of Glasto singing the song she wrote for Alchemy Dreams was amazing. Time for you to put your feet up now Lizzy and enjoy the next 2 months before baby Price arrives. <3 u both, more than anything.