Page 42 of Centre Stage

Chapter Twenty-Five

Andrea

Weeks had passedsince the disastrous kiss in the studio and Andrea had to comfort Nicolette who came to Andrea in tears because Declan had frightened her. The fact that Declan had been violent had surprised her because the man she knew had never had that streak in him; he might be an ass with the ability to cut with his words, but Declan couldn’t hurt anyone physically.

Even if he had damaged her irrevocably with words.

Andrea had kept herself busy, making plans with Charlie for the office in Cork, dealing with a few loose ends in Manchester, but it wasn’t until the end of their zoom call, after a shirtless Noah had come to kiss Charlie on the cheek before heading for a run with Quinn, that Charlie had brought up Declan.

“I don’t know how to phrase this without adding to your pain but have you decided on what you want to do about the Heartache Melody contract?”

Andrea sighed and shook her head. “Not really. Part of me has all of these ideas and plans for the band and it’d kill me not to push forward with them, but I don’t know if I can mentally take any more where he’s concerned.”

Charlie fiddled with her engagement ring absentmindedly, and Andrea was sure her friend didn’t realize she was doing it. “JJ told me about America.”

JJ had asked her to come to the US with him while he went to shoot the new tv show for a streaming service, and Andrea would be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted. A year spent living in LA with JJ, building up her client base while she soaked up the sunshine seemed like just the right kind of medicine for her right now but there was a Declan sized weight stopping her from saying yes.

“Noah and I argued last night over you two.”

Arching her brows at her friend in question, Charlie waved her hand and chuckled. “Don’t worry, we had lots of make-up sex after.”

“TMI, Charlie...TMI.”

Charlie laughed as she glanced over her shoulder like she expected Noah to come back in and disturb them. “Noah said that Declan looked wrecked. He was arguing that he was in Declan’s position once and someone with a backbone of steel told him that when two people look at each other like you two do, it can only end in love or hate. He really didn’t want it to end in hate for the both of ye.”

Andrea was surprised that Noah had remembered their little conversation and even more so that he had told Charlie. It had worked out for Charlie and Noah, though not without a few bumps along the way, but the odds of it happening for her and Declan as well didn’t look great.

“I told him that things were different for you guys and to just let you sort it out for yourselves. Noah’s response was if no one had interfered with the two of us, then we might not be engaged, or even together, and you and Declan were a hundred times more stubborn than us.”

That made Andrea laugh, because it was true. She was well known for her stubborn streak as was Declan. But she wasn’t ready to come to a conclusion just yet on if she would take JJ up on his offer, or would just admit to being a masochist and continue to work with the band no matter how much pain it caused her.

Andrea was invested in the success of the band, in her brother’s success so there was no right way to go about making her decision. At least JJ had told her to take all the time she needed to make up her mind so she didn’t have to make a hasty decision.

Her phone rang then and she glanced at it, having had the phone on do not disturb for over a week after she said goodbye to Charlie and braced herself for the sound of Declan’s voice on the other end of the private number calling her.

“Andrea Collins.”

“Andrea, hi, this is Cindy Maher calling. I hope you don’t mind but Oli Scott gave me your number.” The woman went on to tell Andrea that she was calling from a well-known radio station that had a section on the show where bands and artists came in to do a live session and then covered a popular song. Andrea’s throat went dry and her pulse quickened because if Cindy was calling about what she thought she was, this could be huge for the band.

“I was chatting to Oli and he was telling me all about this epically talented band from Ireland who had invited him to appear on their debut album and that I should know all about them. Oli normally only likes to blow his own trumpet so I looked the band up. I agree that they are stars in the making.”

Andrea took a minute before she responded. “They are. It’s been a while since a band came from Ireland and could rival the likes of Inhaler, and The Blizzards, and The Coronas. Plus, they are Cork-born and bred so I had to get behind them, even if the keyboard player is my little brother.”

That made Cindy laugh and they spoke at great length about the members of the band, with Cindy telling Andrea that Oli had been quite taken with Luna’s talent on the drums. Cindy offered her hope that Luna’s twin would be okay and then she said the words Andrea was waiting to hear.

“We had a band pull out of a performance next week and would love to get the band on the airwaves. I’ve taken the liberty to book you all into a hotel nearby so all I need now is a yes and we can start advertising the band for next week.”

It was an easy yes for Andrea as her excitement grew and she thanked Cindy for the call and she would see her in London next week. The moment the phone call ended, Andrea jumped up from her chair and let out a whoop of delight, then shot Oli a text to thank him for opening the door for the band.

The first person she wanted to call was Declan, but Andrea was not prepared for how that conversation would start and she was too excited to let Declan drag down her mood. After talking to her brother earlier this morning, Andrea knew the band had been holed up in the studio working on songs so she dialed her brother’s number.

“Andi, hey...I’m with the band so can call you back later.”

She ignored Rhys’s worried tone and told him it was okay and she needed to talk to the entire band so would Rhys mind putting her on speaker.

“Andi, you’re on speaker now.”

For a moment, Andi didn’t know if she could get the words out but then she heard Declan clear his throat as if he meant to say something so she just blurted out the news. “You guys need to get spruced up and to London. I don’t know how he managed it but you lot owe Oli a keg of beer because I have just got off the phone with Cindy Maher who said Oli was singing all your praises.”

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