Page 49 of Girls Just Want to Have Sun

Alex raises a pencil-thin eyebrow. ‘Yes, we all know how wild Nacho can be.’ She says ‘wild’ as though she means slutty and effectively ruins my case for the defence. ‘That doesn’t explain why you embarrassed my business partner by singing love songs and staring at him all night.’ She gives me an evil glare. ‘And you’ve obviously been stalking him on social media. He’s the boss. He’s paying you good money to do a job. Show some respect.’

Even the Dollz are rattled and, for some reason, I’ve lost my voice.

‘But she was great on the boat,’ says Cherry, leaping to my defence. ‘Apparently.’

She only has my word for it.

Alex sighs elaborately. ‘I know exactly what happened.’ She points angrily at me again. ‘We rented that yacht at great expense, and don’t get me started on how much damage you girls caused with the fire. You ruined the event. We lost a serious amount of money because of you.’ Our heads hang down as Alex tears strips off us. ‘If I had been there, I would have sacked you all, but Matteo seems to think we can’t replace you at such short notice. He is furious with you all, of course. Furious.’ Alexsweeps her disapproving gaze across us, resting it on me. ‘I advise you to stay away from him. Is that clear?’

She continues to stare at me.

‘I will be at the festival tomorrow to personally oversee your performances. Your only job is to warm up the crowd and create a good vibe before the real acts come on, understood? The real singers. The ones withrealtalent who write and perform their own music. All you have to do is show up on time and do your job. It’s not much to ask, is it?’

We shake our heads.

‘She’s going on a bit,’ Tash mumbles.

‘If you let me down, you will never work outside of the UK again. Is that clear?’ Alex tuts and waves us away as though we are naughty children being dismissed from the head teacher’s office. It is humiliating.

Once we are back outside, we all look sadly at each other. ‘What is her problem with you, Connie?’ Tash exhales loudly. ‘Christ, babes, she really had it in for you.’

She really did.

‘Does anyone want to eat their feelings? Who knows where Tapas Alley is?’ asks Big Mand. ‘I could do with some comfort food.’

‘I hope they do kebabs and chips, dripping in garlic sauce,’ Liberty says as I lead the way.

You can take the girl out of Newcastle…

17

After a few hours in the Old Town, sitting in a quaint tapas bar, we have successfully dissected and analysed what we think Alex’s problem is. ‘She’s unfulfilled. She has a crush on her business partner, and after the way Connie threw herself at him on stage, she now sees her as a threat and is determined to get her off the scene.’

I swallow, amazed at how astute Liberty is with her observations. It’s incredible. Just goes to show you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

‘Yeah,’ says Tash. ‘Connie, do you have a massive crush on the boss?’

What sort of question is that to ask? We’re not twelve.

‘No, of course not,’ I lie, my whole face burning up.

‘He’s definitely a hunk of spunk,’ she says. ‘And he looks super shredded to me.’

‘Does he?’Christ, I hope they don’t probe too much.‘I hadn’t really noticed.’

‘It’s just that we heard you singing earlier in the shower. Your voice really carries. And you were singing a love song.’

‘So?’ I say, aware of the defensive tone creeping into my voice.

‘It was about a moody, dark-eyed fella who refuses to love you back.’

‘No, it definitely wasn’t about him.’

‘And you mentioned the name Matteo quite a lot. It’s a difficult one to rhyme, isn’t it? Mind, you gave it a good go, didn’t you, pet?’

Crap.

‘The way to a man’s heart is through his loins,’ says Liberty with some authority. ‘It’s all about confidence. Not size, colour or shape.’ She sweeps an eye over our group, stopping at me. ‘Connie, you have no confidence.’

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