Page 30 of The Devil's Detail
Kasey has tears in his eyes at my impression of Gary. James grins and Bucky grimaces.
“He dissed my best drumming T-shirt. You should have let him turn up, sit down at the fucking table, and let them film you telling him to ‘do one,’ while you gouged his eyes out with a spoon.” He does an impressive pantomime of a spoon as a weapon of mass destruction. This boy should be in the movies with his acting ability and dramatics. When he’s done, he sits back as if he’s watching the playback in his mind.
James is cackling at him. “Bucky, let it go, man. You love your T-shirts. You drum, he doesn’t. And the rate his show is going, it won’t be long before he’s out anyway.” James, as astute as ever, has picked up on how things are going for Gary.
Jackson has clearly heard enough of our banter. I can see his eyes roll from across the room before he takes over the discussion. “Right, now that that’s out of the way, we need to sortout how he found out where you were. I’m assuming only our team knew. Kasey, no leaks on your end?”
“None,” he states confidently.
“Carter, do you want to do this with everyone here, or do you want to wait and we can talk through the issues alone?” Clearly Jackson has something on his mind. His hands keep bunching into fists at his sides.
James watches him for a minute, then stands and says, “We can go, Uncle Jax, if you need to sort stuff out. Just glad we could help.” He touches my elbow and grins up at me. “Got to keep you safe for Rio. She is a total gem.”
The boy smiles at me, and goes to shake hands with me, but I stand and pull him into a hug. “I appreciate it, boys. That little concert will be talked about for ages. I’ll dine out on it for weeks. Gary will be forgotten. I just need to make sure he doesn’t come back. He’s like a freaking bad penny. I mean, I told him I wasn’t interested months ago. If he didn’t get the message before, hopefully he’s got it now.”
James shrugs. “Yeah, but he needs your light and fame, Carti.” He puts on an insipid voice as he pulls out that ridiculous name. I told Gary God knows how many times I hated it, but of course he ignored me. “He’s just another dresser without you,” James continues. “And it’s a cut throat business. He’s already so desperate to be relevant, he’s resorted to the age-old tactic of being ‘controversial’.” He air quotes the word. “He’s started dissing people rather than dressing them, and he won’t reign long with that tactic. Yeah, it gets headlines. But only if people actually think you have something to say. Or are important to listen to. It all feels very year 2000.” He says that as if it’s the dark ages, and I smile on the inside. “We’ve already moaned about him on a chat show. You can see how annoyed Bucky is. I think he’s pissed at us because he thought we were his friends. He’d been to Devon, for God's sake.”
That was my doing. I took him there. I open my mouth to apologise, but James holds his hands up to me to stop me.
“But we weren’t his friends. We were yours. We’ve not used him since you dumped him, and he’s upset about it.”
“If your dads get hold of him trying to weasel his way in there again, lord help him,” Kasey states.
They’re all standing now, ready to leave. And I’m not sure I want them to. Jackson looks super annoyed, and I’m trying to read the room. I’ve already had one pretty explosive argument with him a few weeks ago, and I really don’t want another one. He might not go as hard on me if some people are here. He might temper the anger I can see bubbling under the surface.
“Look, you can all stay,” I blurt out, unable to take the tension anymore. “Jackson, I understand you’re angry with me about the school. But honestly, I didn’t tip anyone off. Not this time.”
We all look at him, and I see James touch hands with him as he goes to get a bottle of water out of the fridge. What is going on there?
Jackson nods and shrugs. As if them being here won’t make one iota of difference.
Fuuuuck.
“Okay, if you want them here, that’s fine. But I won’t be holding anything back. Don’t expect me to give you an easy ride just because they’re here.” He tips his head, looking at me from the side. Shit, he’s really annoyed.
And obviously I’m as easy to read as a children's picture book. I need more work on that with him.
His deep voice cuts through my nerves and soothes me. My face is flushed, and the usual feeling of being alone and having to make decisions, which is so hard, feels lighter when he’s here. Dammit, I really don’t want him to quit.
20
Jackson
My recap isfor everyone’s benefit, but I’m also very aware some of this is information Carter doesn’t know. There’s no way I could tell him everything. He’d be too freaked out to leave his house.
“Okay, well, we knownowyou ended it with Gary on Christmas Eve, and in what manner.” Who the hell does that? Cold-hearted bastard. He could have at least waited until Boxing Day. I spot James side eye me, thinking the same thing. “Clearly he hasn’t taken the not-so-subtle hint. I think tonight, however, he will have.”
I grin at them, but my voice is full of menace. I watch Carter blanche, Kasey look afraid, and James and Bucky grin like lunatics.
“Yes, Greystones, get in there,” James states quietly, but so fucking smug. Clearly my look is telegraphing different things to everyone, just as I’d intended.
“Should I know what you did?” Carter asks tentatively.
I shake my head aggressively. “No, Carter. What you don’t know, you can’t lie about. And no one can say you knew anything. We’ll call it plausible deniability. And no, what we’ve done is not illegal, but he won’t be back,” I state, confidence oozing from me.
“Can you give me a little teeny, tiny hint?”
Carter can’t contain himself. He’s such a natural gossip. I can also see Kasey hankering after the juicy bits.
