Page 7 of When We Fell Again
As long as no one got wind of the playground incident and the aftermath.
The Crafty Fox was half-empty. On a sunny Friday afternoon, there were way better things for people to be doing than being inside having a cheeky pint. Probably hanging out down the kids’ playground, I joked to myself. The relative quiet suited me, still not really functioning at one hundred percent.
“What do you want to drink?” asked Kelvin before he sat down.
Levi, Jude, and Robbie ordered pints.
I hesitated. The one time I’d tried to drink beer on these painkillers, it had taken me almost twenty-four hours to come around. “I’ll have a pint.” I paused for dramatic effect as Levi shot daggers at me. “Of orange juice and lemonade.”
“Dick,” he hissed as Kelvin went to the bar. “You going to let him know how shit you’ve been feeling?”
Rubbing my nose, I shook my head. “Nope. This is happening.” If I could convince others, then maybe I could convince myself as well.
Once Kelvin brought the drinks back, he flipped open the cover on his tablet and jabbed at the screen. “Right, let’s get to it. You’ve all seen the schedule and day sheets, right?”
A mumbled approval went around the table. As far as the band went, we weren’t exactly the most up-to-speed on the admin side of things. One of us—usually Levi—would read it and then tell us where we had to be.
“Good. So, as you know, there’s been a change of tour manager.”
The four of us exchanged a look. Clearly, Levi had let us down on this one. He shrugged, eyes darting between me and Kelvin, mouthing ‘sorry’.
The silence that had descended over the table told Kelvin everything he needed to know about how prepared we were for the tour. Rolling his eyes, he scrolled down the document on his tablet. “It should have been Chris Thomas, but he’s been called away on some urgent family business. The tour company has found a replacement, an Alexis Jagger. She’s been on tour recently with…”
At the sound of the name, I lost track of what he was saying. Levi kicked me under the table, his eyes wide at the revelation.
Alexis fucking Jagger.
Of all the people…
My ex-girlfriend was coming out on tour with us.
I could feel Jude and Robbie’s eyes on me too. They knew what had happened. How it had all gone wrong with Lex and me. And how, for the past five years, we’d managed to avoid each other.
Right up until the most important tour of my life. The one that would decide whether I still had a future in the business.
Fucking fate really could deal a cruel hand.
Totally oblivious to the sub current going on around him, Kelvin glanced up and looked at us. “I know it’s a little different having a woman managing the tour, but I have it on good authority from Theo Spicer that she’s outstanding and doesn’t take any shit.”
I knew both of those things from experience.
“We… sort of know her,” admitted Levi.
For a moment, I thought he was about to spill my entire romantic history to our manager, which I really didn’t need.
“Shit.” Kelvin let out a hard sigh. “You’ve slept with her, haven’t you?”
“Absolutely not!” snapped Levi. “She was at uni with Jordan. Moved in the same circles, that sort of thing. Loved music, so I guess it’s not surprising she ended up in the business. It’ll be good to see her again.”
I shot a thankful glance in his direction. The story at least sounded plausible and didn’t land me in the shit.
Kelvin’s gaze swivelled my way, eyes narrowed. “Sure you haven’t slept with her?” His phone trilled at that moment, diverting his attention and letting me off having to answer. “It’s Theo. I have to take this.” He answered, then stood up and moved away from us.
Levi, Jude, and Robbie immediately began speaking all at the same time.
“Alexis Jagger? Seriously?”
“How the fuck are you going to handle that?”
