Page 77 of Follow the Rhythm
“Do you have anything to do for the next couple of days?” I asked.
He laughed bitterly. “I’m supposed to be working on the Ellis Fox solo debut, but that’s a lost cause. So no, not really.”
“Good. I’m going up to visit my family. You should come with me.”
He blinked at me. “What? Why?”
“Because you need someone right now, and I’ve already promised my mom I would go home tonight. So, come with me,” I said, as if it were that simple.
“You want me to comehomewith you?”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one thing, I’ve just told you my deepest, most horrible secret, so an invitation to the family home wasn’t first on my list of possibilities,” he said, a hint of his usual irony in his voice. “I was also a total dick to your Omega, along with all of our mutual acquaintances.”
“You know she’s not mine. But you have a point there. Are you sorry? About what you said? How you acted?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“Then apologize. You can start with me, and we’ll go from there.”
Ellis looked at me like I had three heads. “And you’ll just forgive me?”
“Sure. That’s what friends do. They take care of each other.” My arm was still around his shoulder, and I squeezed it.
He sighed. “I am sorry. For what that’s worth.”
I finally dropped my hand. Friends didn’t touch each other for longer than that, and the last thing Ellis needed was me making a move on him. “Good. So you’re coming with me?”
“You’re mad,” he said, shaking his head, then looked me in the eye. “But yeah, go on. I’ll pack a bag.”
Chapter 23 - Kieran
For the hundredth time, I considered calling Deb and Claire and telling them I wouldn’t be coming for a visit after all. But I knew it would break their hearts if I canceled, so I didn’t. When I’d offered to visit, I had pictured Jess coming with me and charming them completely.
The last thing I wanted to do was travel across an ocean without her. But despite my attempts to get information from Grace, I had heard nothing.
I’d only sent Jess one text the day after she’d left my flat:You still can’t scare me off.
But it had gone unanswered. She said she needed space, so I would respect that, even if it killed me.
And it was killing me. I woke up every day remembering the feeling of her in my arms and imagining that I could still smell her scent. My dreams were hyper-detailed recreations of the smell of her perfume, the taste of her lips, the feel of her fluttering around my knot. I only had to picture her that night, her long dark hair falling to the curve of her breasts, the look of sweet determination as she slowly took my cock, to get hard and aching for her.
I had known that if I had her, I’d be ruined for anyone else, and I was right. No one else would ever come close.
But I needed to come to terms with the fact that she truly didn’t want what I did. And if that was the case, putting an ocean permanently between us would be for the best.
Deb and Claire had been my first call after Ellis and I inked the buyout agreement with Echelon, releasing us from any further obligation and officially killing the tour. They’d been disappointed to hear the tour was ending. I hadn’t shied away from laying the blame at Ellis’s feet, but I felt guiltier than ever lying to them about the unreleased album. I owed them a visit.
I landed late morning in London, jetlagged as fuck, and made my way to Fulham, and the semi-detached home Michael and I had bought for his mums after our first album’s success. It was a far cry from where we grew up in Tottenham. We’d been so proud that we could give them a nice, private place to live.
“Hello, pet,” Claire said when she answered the door. Her scent was a mix of jasmine and vanilla that immediately put me at ease, especially when she pulled me into an embrace. She was Jamaican, with dark curls peppered with silver and cropped close to her skin, and nearly as tiny as Jess. Michael had inherited her large dark eyes and curls, but her skin was a shade darker than his had been.
“Hiya,” Deb said heartily from the hallway behind Claire. She was blonde, now fading to silver, freckled, and much taller than her Omega at six feet. Her strong black tea and honey scent tickled my nose when she gave me a firm hug. “How was the flight?”
I recounted the journey to Deb while Claire made tea in their eat-in kitchen. The door to the back garden was open. Late summer sunshine streamed in, and a soft breeze fluttered in the white linen curtains. At the bottom of the garden, I could see the garden beds Michael had built when they first movedin. Deb grew tomatoes, runner beans, and okra. As usual, these memories of Michael caused a physical pain in my chest, like a clenched fist had replaced my heart.
“How’s Ellis?” Claire asked after I’d helped myself to some biscuits she’d laid out.
