Page 12 of Thick as Thieves
I soften a smile at him. “Let me sort out your sons first and then…” I trail off, gazing at this glorious man all the while. His silent communications, so loud in my brain.
He stands and moves behind me with Sorley. “Let me come help you,” he says, his voice still low and gravelly. Stroking my back, he gently pushes me towards the door. “Where are you feeding them, in the small library?” I nod, I can hardly think of any words. “Lead on, my love. Let’s get you sorted.” The salacious grin he shoots my way makes Betty very uncomfortable as we walk past her.
“Better get used to that,” I hear Marshall say to her as we leave the room. “It’s a regular occurrence when he’s here. They’re not shy about anything. Him, Xander, or any of them actually. All as bad. Kasey and Carter, too. To be honest, he’s the worst, him and Gary.” Betty is looking at Marshall in awe.
“Are they all coming, do you think?” she asks.
“If Evie’s here, there’s a very good chance one of them will turn up,” Marshall states confidently, his voice indulgent.
“Oh, right,” Betty mulls over. “Just if Evie’s here, not Kellen?”
“You don’t want him to catch you calling him that,” Marshall’s voice has lost all its joviality. “He won’t like it. He’s Marcus to you and everyone else unless he invites you to call him Kellen.”
“Evie, you, and the other boys call him that.” She sounds like a spoiled child being told no.
“Look, I’ve warned you, he’ll pull you up if he hears you.” Marshall maintains his warning tone.
“How long have you worked for them, Marshall?” she asks primly.
I can hear the grin in Marshall’s voice. “All my life, it feels like. All my life.”
6
Xander
Los Angeles
I don’t goto England or Scotland for Christmas. I hide out in LA.
I FaceTime Kell from Kasey Becker’s New Years party. I can tell he’s a bit jealous at not being here, but to be honest, the party is more show than substance. Even though there are a lot of substances available.
I go through my usual routine of drinks, drugs, and women. Gabe is draped in women, with two hanging off his arms, trying to get him to move to the dance floor. He doesn’t. And as more and more come over to him, he loses his shirt, and they look like they have started on his jeans. He’s totally out of it when Tim comes over.
“We need to get him away. He’s way too drunk to know what he’s doing.” His concern for our bandmate is evident.
“I am not his fucking babysitter. You sort him, Tim, I’m fucking not,” I retort, staring at Gabe annoyed. He’s always the same, it’s Marcus’s presence that usually keeps him in check.
“This is because Marcus isn’t here,” he voices my thoughts. “He usually keeps him this side of a coma.”
I throw my hands up. “He’s fucking thirty-seven, he needs to sort his own shit out. Maybe he needs rehab,” I put in, knowing Tim will have a fit if that’s on the cards.
“We’re going on tour, he better not need rehab,” he hisses at me before going over to move all the women away and get Gabe out alive, if not in one piece.
Levi comes over with a really petite girl on his arm. She looks familiar, then it clicks—she was one of Becky’s friends. I raise my eyebrows at him in question, nodding towards the girl.
“Sometimes you gotta go big and send messages, cos the others don’t get through,” he tells me. The girl is chatting to her other friend, again one of Becky’s.
“This is Carla,” he introduces the friend. “She works with Becky. You remember Becky, don’t you,” he asks me with a smirk. Clearly the girls aren’t bothered that Becky is a friend, or work mate. They’re on a mission.
“Are you the Xander who was in the UK with Becky?”
I look at her and say nothing, just stare, no blinking involved. She lowers her eyelids. Yep, she’ll do.
I gesture to her to lead the way into the house. I haven’t said one word to her yet. Levi and the petite girl who he’s calling Tanya are following behind us.
Carla walks into the house and I point to some stairs and she heads up. Yep, again, so fucking obvious. I open a door to three couples on the bed fucking. I leave the door open but look for another room. Next door is empty so I push the door fully open.
“Here okay?” I ask Carla. I tilt my head towards Levi. “You coming in with us?”
