Page 69 of Not Another Rockstar
“Welcome home!” Nick grabbed Axel and kissed his cheek. Phoebe chuckled at the sight, but he wasn’t amused.
“How could you throw a party? Did you not talk to Anita about the threats against Phoebe?” Axel shrugged off his friend, only for him to wrap his sister in a hug, pulling them apart. Nick was too drunk to notice they were holding hands.
“Anita yapped on about you two heading off to Italy, I didn’t pay much attention to the rest. What harm is there in a little party? We’re alive, so we should celebrate. Well,Iwanted to celebrate—August is sulking with some girl in the hot tub out back.” Nick swayed as he spoke.
Axel glanced at Phoebe, who looked a nice mixture of annoyed and amused.
“Do you know half of these people?” she asked Nick, overwhelmed by the sea of unfamiliar faces.
“Why do you care? Neither of you were here.” Nick picked up an open bottle from the piano and slugged a stranger’s beer.
“That’s disgusting.” Phoebe wrestled the bottle from her brother. He soon gave up the fight.
She turned to Axel. “You get everyone out of here, and I’ll get him to bed.”
“I don’t want to go to bed,” Nick groaned, wrapping his arm around his sister’s shoulder. “Come have a drink with me, and you can tell me all about your trip.”
“I’m afraid packing up the villa wasn’t all that exciting, and I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Phoebe said, while Axel helped him up the step to the stairs so he wouldn’t trip and land flat on his pierced face.
“Party poopers! The night is only getting started!” Nick yelled, and everyone cheered.
Axel didn’t even recognise half the people there. He guessed word had got out, and Nick wasn’t checking at the door. Neither was Olivier—Nick must have given him the night off to host this mess. It was probably Nick’s way of dealing with the stress, given the threats against his sister, but that didn’t stop it from being irresponsible.
“You can party all you want, but I brought you back a present from Italy,” Phoebe told him. “It’s upstairs with our bags.”
Axel tried to hide his amused grin; Nick could never resist gifts. She didn’t need to tell him twice as he headed for the stairs.
“How could he be so careless, letting people come and go like this?” Axel muttered to himself.
Someone tried to grind on him as he walked through the makeshift dance floor. He rolled his eyes and reached the speakers. His eardrums thanked him as he turned off the music.
“Party’s over.” Axel shouted, standing on the expensive coffee table that was now stained and marked with burn marks. How could they have done so much damage in such a short amount of time?
There was a burst of boos and a few curses, but as soon as he turned on the lights, the protest dissipated as everyone started to leave. Seeing the mess left behind, and the red wine stains all over the cream couch, he ran his hands over his head. The cleaning lady came on Fridays, but he figured they could use a hand cleaning up. He texted her to see if she could come in early the following morning to help sort out the mess. He offered double her pay for the inconvenience.
With the inside guests filtering out, he just had to deal with those in the gardens. He slid open the patio door. The heaters were on, and the hot tub bubbled around the corner by the BBQ patio.
He found August in there with not one but two girls. He wasn’t paying them much attention, but it was clear they were happy to be sitting with him.
“Please tell me Nick locked Cillian’s door?” Axel asked.
August ignored his question and grabbed a bottle of vodka from the side of the hot tub.
“You good?” Axel prompted, wanting to make sure he wouldn’t drown if left unattended.
“Are you?” August asked coherently, taking a swig.
“Fair enough.”
Axel was far more concerned about any curious eyes sneaking into Cillian’s room, or worse, taking some souvenirs for themselves or to make a quick buck off.
“Come and join us, there’s plenty of room,” the bleach blonde asked with a chemically induced pout.
“Another time, and I’m afraid the party’s over. Ladies, if you wouldn’t mind?” Axel nodded to the door, but they snuggled closer to August. The more he drank, the less he minded physical contact.
“Don’t worry, they can stay with me,” August said, and the women giggled.
They were sober enough to make their own decisions, and Axel had enough to deal with already. On the way upstairs, he texted Olivier to come over and secure the house and the grounds to make sure no one else was lingering. He guessed Olivier had already had his suspicions about what was going on, because a few seconds later he replied that he was on his way.
