Page 28 of Losing the Forbidden
“Morning,” I grunt, walking into the kitchen to find both Nic and Liv cooking up something that smells fantastic.
“I hope you don’t mind. We raided the cupboards.”
“Knock yourselves out.”
I get myself a coffee before refilling Dec and Liam’s, who are sitting at the table watching their girls. Both of them have freshly fucked smug smiles on their faces.
“Which one of your headboards was banging all night?”
“Ours,” Dec and Liam say in unison as the girls deny everything while turning a nice shade of pink.
“Mum said you can stay, not that you could turn the place into a knocking shop,” I say with a laugh, falling down onto a chair with the guys.
“Oh please, like you didn’t get up to all sorts here when you were a teenager.” Everyone falls silent and realisation dawns on Nicole as to what she just said. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
“It’s fine. You’re right, though. I’ve done my fair share of sneaking around in this place.”
“Is that right?” Mum asks with a wink as she joins us.
“It’s probably best we change the conversation.” Mum laughs, and it’s the first time since I’ve been back that I’ve seen her smile meet her eyes.
She walks over and gives me a hug. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll see.” I nod at her because I don’t want to ruin her good mood, but right now I’m getting fed up of everyone telling me that.
We’ve just finished eating when my phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, my brows pull together at seeing Liv’s name on the screen.
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s your surprise.”
“You got Rita fucking Ora tickets for tonight?”
“I did.”
“How? It sold out months ago?” I ask, totally forgetting any attempt to cover up my slight addiction to the singer.
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I got them.”
“You’re a fucking legend.” I jump from the chair and have her in my arms in seconds. I spin her around as she squeals and the others all laugh.
“So you want to go then?” she asks as she tries to stand steady once I’ve lowered her to her feet.
“Fucking right I do. I seriously can’t fucking believe this.” The smile splitting my face hurts as I stare down my phone once again. I’m going to the fucking O2 tonight to see Rita fucking Ora. What did I do to deserve friends like these?
“This is so fucking awesome.”
“It’s good to see you smile again, dude,” Liam says, clapping me on the back.
I guess that’s why the muscles in my face are aching so much; they haven’t really been used a lot lately.
“So what’s the plan, then? We’ve got hours until the concert. There’s no way I can sit around here waiting.”
The girls announce that they’d like to go shopping, so we end up spending the afternoon walking up and down Oxford Street while Dec and Liam carry their bags.
We have a great afternoon, but seeing the four of them together is only a massive reminder of what I don’t have. I’d give just about anything to follow Lauren around each and every shop, holding her bags and giving her my advice, which of course would be that she always looked incredible.
I tried phoning Erica before we left the house this morning, but all my calls went straight to voicemail. I may be bouncing about what tonight is going to hold, but everything she told me yesterday isn’t far from my mind. I intend on making the most of having my friends here, but I need to find out just how bad a shape the business is in, and even more, I need to find out what exactly Nick did to Erica.
Before I know it, Dec, Liam and I are all sitting in Mum’s living room, waiting for the girls to appear.
