Snake Bandit - YA Rockstar Read online

  Chapter 24

  Gigi sighed as she buttoned up her jacket and did one final check in the mirror. She wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing going out on a date with Billy, particularly so soon after what had happened with Drayton, but she liked him. He didn’t expect anything from her and when they went for a coffee a few days before, he’d been fun and interesting and had talked about his love of football and his desire to be a solicitor like his dad. He’d also listened to her go on about cookery school and had even asked her to give him cooking lessons as he’d spent his first year at university living off Pot Noodle and Ginsters pasties.

  “Oh God,” Martha gasped behind her. “Is it your date with Billy tonight?”

  She smiled at her eldest daughter and pulled at one of the curls she’d put into her long dark hair.

  “You look beautiful, sweetheart. I love it when you put curls in your hair, it reminds me of when you were little.”

  Gigi rolled her eyes but grinned. “Thanks, Mum.” She chewed on her bottom lip and picked at the bottom button on her jacket. “Do you think I’m being stupid by going?”

  Martha frowned and moved closer. “If you don’t feel ready Gigi, then I’m sure Billy will understand if you want to cry off.”

  “No, I don’t,” she replied, with a vigorous shake of her head. “I really want to go. I like him, but I’m worried that everyone will think I’m an idiot and asked for everything I got with Drayton.”

  Martha’s face hardened. “You did not deserve anything. I know it could have been much worse, but that boy should not have put his hands on you, particularly as you said no. And if it’s your papa that you're worried about, don’t be. He is worried about you, but he’d be worried about you anyway, even if it hadn’t happened.”

  “So, he’s okay about me going on a date then?” Gigi asked with a small smile at her lips.

  Martha shrugged and grinned. “What do you think?”

  “He’s probably got some bodyguard guy set up to follow me and watch from a distance. That’s what I think.”

  “You’ll never know he’s there.”

  As Gigi’s eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to protest, Martha began to laugh and nudged her daughter with her shoulder. When Gigi joined in the laughter she relaxed, grateful that her daughter didn’t seem too broken by what had happened with Drayton Carmichael. Martha shuddered inwardly, scared at what could have happened. It was bad enough that he’d bruised Gigi but if Rocco hadn’t got there when he did, Gigi may well have been hurt in much worse ways.

  “Go and have fun,” she said and leaned in to give Gigi a kiss on her cheek. “Papa will be fine; I’ll talk him around.”

  Martha’s heart started to beat a little faster as she thought of exactly how she would bring Luke around to her daughter going out on a date. The gorgeous man still had it and regularly rocked her world.

  Gigi took a deep breath and checked herself in the mirror again at exactly the moment her mobile pinged with a text.

  Billy: I’m here, is it okay to knock on the door or would you rather I wait in the car?

  Gigi smiled as she knew that Billy’s cousin, Freddie, had obviously warned him about the daddy bears of Dirty Riches.

  Gigi: You big scaredy cat. I thought you were a man!

  “Okay, Mum, I’m off,” Gigi said as she picked up her bag and moved toward the front door. “Billy is here.”

  “Have fun and if you feel uncomfortable at any point, even if it’s not Billy that’s made you feel that way, ask him to bring you home.”

  “I will.”

  With one last smile she walked to the door and was about to put her hand on the handle when a loud knock sounded out. With a frown Gigi swung it open to be faced with Billy, whose bright blue eyes twinkled from beneath his dark hair.

  “Who are you calling a scaredy cat?” he asked with a huge smile which showed his perfectly white teeth.

  Gigi gasped and clasped a hand to her neck which she knew was bright red. “I thought you were waiting in the car.”

  He shrugged. “I realised that if I was taking you out on a date, the least that I should do is introduce myself to your mum and dad.”

  Gigi’s eyes went wide, and she glanced over her shoulder toward her mum who was still hovering in the background. Martha gave her a sly smile and stepped forward.

  “Hello, Billy,” she said as she edged past Gigi. “I’m Martha, Gigi’s mum.”

  “Hi, Mrs Mahoney.” Billy held his hand out to Martha.

  “Please, call me Martha.” She and Billy shook hands and Martha was pleased to see he looked directly at her as they did.

  “Is Mr Mahoney home?” Billy asked.

  Gigi almost choked as the breath that rushed from her lungs went down the wrong pipe.

  “My papa?” she croaked.

  Billy grinned. “I’d like to meet him. Let him know that I’ll look after you.”

  Gigi coloured up again. She’d told him all about Drayton and what her crush on him had led to. Billy had been furious and had told her that if Rocco hadn’t already punched him then he’d have been glad to.

  “I’ll make sure he knows,” Martha said as she grabbed Gigi’s hand at her side. “And it’s great to know.”

  She studied the young man who looked very much like his father, Niall Devine, who was married to Charlotte Price, a girl who’d been a couple of years above her at school and she felt comfortable in the fact that he would indeed look after her little girl. His eyes held honesty and were gentle as he looked at Gigi and the fact that he wanted to meet Luke proved that he was a decent boy.

  “Are you ready?” Gigi asked as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

  “Yep sure, if your dad isn’t around.” Billy grinned again and reached for her hand. As soon as his fingers linked with hers, Gigi’s heart flipped, and heat spread through her. She looked at Billy to see his gaze was on her and that made her feel hotter. He was much more handsome than Drayton Carmichael and now when she thought about it, Gigi wondered what she’d actually seen in the wannabe rock star. He wasn’t even a nice or interesting person and only ever wanted to talk about himself.

  “Enjoy yourselves,” Martha chirped as she pushed Gigi in the small of the back. “And don’t forget if you need to come home...”

  Billy stalled and looked at Gigi with concern. He’d wondered whether it was too soon for her to go out on a date after what that prick had done to her. God, he wished he could meet up with him, he’d punch his fucking lights out for doing that, especially to someone as sweet at Gigi. Billy hadn’t known her that well when they were all at school together, as he was more Rocco’s age, but he’d always thought she was pretty and seemed like a nice girl. Now that he knew her better, he realised that she wasn’t simply pretty; she was beautiful, with big brown eyes and thick dark hair and she was so much more than nice. Billy liked that she listened and that she didn’t seem to be affected one little bit that her dad was in one of the biggest bands in the world. He wanted to spend more time to get to know her and the thought that Drayton fucking Carmichael may have spoiled that chance made him feel an anger like he’d never felt before.

  “Are you sure you want to go?” Billy asked and pulled on Gigi’s hand.

  Gigi nodded. “Yes, definitely.”

  “I told her if she felt uncomfortable in any way, to ask you to bring her home.” Martha held a hand up. “And don’t think that I don’t trust you, Billy, but you have to understand Gigi is my main concern.”

  “I do, definitely,” Billy replied. “And if there’s even a little bit of you unsure that you want to go out, Gigi, we don’t have to. I’m happy to stay here, or even do it another time.”

  Gigi shook her head. “Nope, no way. I want to go out and I want to go out with you, tonight.”

  Billy’s shoulders dropped with relief and he smiled widely. “Good, because I’ve been looking forward to it, but like your mum said, if you want to come back at any time, just let me know, okay?”
/>   Gigi glanced over at Martha who was smiling at Billy and laughed quietly. Her mum looked totally smitten and would no doubt persuade her papa how lovely Billy Devine was. “Where are you off to?” Martha asked as Billy started to pull Gigi through the door.

  He glanced over his shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind, Mrs Mahoney, but it’s a surprise.”

  Martha placed a hand against her heart. This boy was most definitely going to be good for Gigi, she had a feeling in her bones.

  Once they were in the car and buckled up, Billy turned to Gigi and gave her a sweet smile.

  “At any point you don’t like what I’m doing, or saying, or if anything is making you uncomfortable, promise that you’ll tell me.”

  Gigi nodded. “I will, but I’m sure I’m going to be fine.”

  “I won’t force you to do anything, Gigi. He was wrong and a total prick.”

  “I know all of that too,” Gigi replied and leaned across the console to kiss Billy’s cheek.

  “Now, come on, let’s get going before my papa gets home and barricades the drive.”

  With a quiet groan Billy flashed her a smile and started the car, excited to be spending time with Gigi Mahoney.

  Chapter 25

  Freddie smiled widely as he flicked through Eliza’s notebook full of songs. Every page had her spidery scrawl over it, which he found unusual for a girl because weren’t they supposed to have neat and precise handwriting? Evidently not as far as she was concerned, because some of it, Freddie had a real job to read. Some of the words were obliterated by crossings out, with a fairly heavy hand if the tiny holes in the paper were anything to go by, and other words were written in the margin with an arrow to where they were supposed to be. There were quite a few ink splodges too, in fact it would have been a total mess but for the beauty and sentiment behind the words.

  Eliza was extremely talented, and Freddie was sure that if nothing came of Snake Bandit then she could definitely make a living as a songwriter. Every single song was heartfelt and full of emotion and read like a beautiful poem.

  When he started to read one called ‘Friend with a Stranger’s Heart’, he rushed out a breath as the words punched at his chest. It was probably the most emotive thing he’d ever read about a girl’s love for the boy who looked at her but never actually saw her; the boy she’d known all her life.

  As a peel of laughter rang out, Freddie looked up from the book and looked over in the direction that it was coming from. Eliza was talking with Ethan and Rocco, who was talking animatedly as he thrashed his arms around in the air. He leaned closer to Eliza and said something in her ear, something funny because she dropped her head back and sounded out the dirtiest, loudest, chime of joy that Freddie had ever heard.

  “Shit,” he muttered as he glanced back down at the notebook.

  He slammed it shut and threw it onto the chair next to him, as if its pages had burned his fingers. He’d known that Eliza had a crush on Rocco, every girl in their school, even in the whole damn county had at some point in time. He just hadn’t realised that she’d been in love with him – maybe was still in love with him. The words in the song certainly sounded as though it was a never ending, heart wrenching kind of love and that she would never get over it. If that was the case, why was she with him and more importantly why was he setting himself up to eventually be heartbroken? Freddie knew, without doubt, after just a couple of weeks of dating Eliza that when it ended, and he had no doubts now he’d read her song that it would end, he would be gutted. He’d never liked any girl as much as he liked her. Even when he cried over Petra Fitzsimmons in the second year of high school, he’d soon got over it, especially when her friend, Zoe Whittaker, offered to give him a hand job to cheer him up. At the time he was only twelve and wasn’t really sure what she was offering so had politely declined, but when he did finally take her up on the offer, on the school skiing trip only six months ago, he kind of wished he’d been a braver twelve-year-old. Now though, knowing how it would hurt him if the tables were turned, he wished he’d been nicer to Zoe afterwards. He’d basically ignored her for the rest of their trip and not once stopped his mates from whispering and laughing behind her back. What he did know was that there was no way he’d ever treat Eliza like that.

  Freddie blew out a breath and looked back over to where Eliza was now standing with her back to the boys while she tuned her guitar. Rocco was definitely checking her out and seemed to be seeing her with different eyes if the way he was staring at Eliza’s backside was anything to go by.

  “Yeah, well fuck you, Mahoney,” Freddie muttered to himself. “You had your chance, and you blew it.”

  “Who you talking to?” Hendrix asked as he plopped down onto a stool opposite Freddie.

  Freddie had been going to brush it off, but he couldn’t help but cast a glance in Rocco’s direction.

  “Ah, so I see you’ve realised that Rocco has finally noticed my sister is hot.” Hendrix leaned forward and patted Freddie’s knee. “Honestly, she’s happier recently than I’ve ever known her to be before. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “She was in love with him, Hen,” Freddie groaned and rubbed a hand down his face. “She wrote a song about him.” He pointed to the notebook on the chair next to him. Hendrix’s eyes went wide. “Does she know that you’ve read that?”

  “Yeah, she gave it to me and told me to pick a song I liked for us to add to the set.”

  “So, what are you stressing about?”

  Freddie shrugged.

  “She gave you the notebook, she let you read it and she asked you to pick a song. I don’t think she’s ever even let Rocco know of its existence.”

  “Yeah but—”

  “No but about it, Freddie. My sister likes you and you’ve nothing to worry about. She’s coming over now so stop thinking about something that might never happen and tell her which fucking song you like.”

  Hendrix looked up at Eliza as she approached them and smiled. “Freddie was telling me you want him to pick a song for the set.”

  Eliza blushed and looked at Freddie who sat back in his chair and reached for her hand. “Did you find anything you liked?” she asked as she linked her fingers with his. Freddie nodded. “I found quite a few, if you must know.” He pulled Eliza to him until she was standing between his legs and then looked up at her. “You’re so fucking talented, Eliza. I’m so proud of you.”

  Eliza’s cheeks heated again but this time it wasn’t embarrassment, it was purely Freddie. He was so unbelievably sexy and absolutely the sweetest person she’d ever met. He made her want to do things that she’d never considered before, even with Rocco.

  Freddie’s hands clutched the back of Eliza’s legs and he rubbed his thumbs in slow circles over her thick tights, just below the hemline of her denim shorts.

  “I really like Stampede,” he whispered.

  Unable to hear him properly over the noise of Ethan thrashing out a heavy beat, Eliza leaned down to bring her ear closer to Freddie’s mouth.

  “Which?” she asked.

  “Stampede,” Freddie repeated and then captured her mouth with his to give her a long, lingering kiss.

  “Shit,” Hendrix grumbled. “This I do not need to see.”

  Eliza giggled and pulled away from Freddie. “What’s got into you?” she asked as she brushed his hair from his eyes.

  “Nothing, just wanted a kiss that’s all.” He pulled Eliza closer and wound his arms tighter around her waist.

  If she wanted to be with Rocco then he would have to accept that, but Freddie was determined to fight for Eliza. He liked her a lot and wasn’t going to give up easily.

  “Any one of those songs could be added to the set,” he said as he looked up at her with his chin against her stomach.

  “Really?” Eliza asked as she chewed on her bottom lip. “You’re sure?”

  She wanted Freddie to love her songs because they meant everything to her and she liked him, and if he hated her work then she wasn’t sure ho
w she would feel about it. Disappointed most definitely, but it would feel as though he’d told her she was ugly because every word within the notebook was a part of her; they all came from her soul and if he hated them, then surely that would mean he hated her too.

  “Very sure,” Freddie confirmed. “You pick your own song, El. Don’t let anyone else ever tell you what you should do or sing.”

  Eliza sighed dreamily and bent down to kiss Freddie again. This time it was closed lipped and short, but it was hard and meaningful.

  “You want to get out of here?” she asked with a thought in her head that had been there for almost a week.

  Freddie let her go and sat back in his chair. “We finished for tonight?”

  Eliza nodded. “You and I are,” she giggled and turned toward the boys who were standing next to Ethan, discussing whether he should add more bass to his beat.

  “Guys,” she called over to them.

  The three of them gave Eliza their attention, with Ethan giving his drumsticks a few twirls as he listened.

  “Freddie and I are going back to the house to use Dad’s piano rather than the keyboard. We want to try some new arrangements out for ‘Stampede’. Are you okay to lock up when you’ve finished?”

  “I’m not staying if you’re not,” Ethan growled and pushed up from his stool. Rocco nodded. “Yeah, we might as well all call it a night too.”

  “No,” Hendrix said as he flashed his sister a grin. “We can go over ‘21st Century Vision’ again, we don’t sound quite right when the piano part stops.” Rocco frowned and rounded on Freddie and Eliza who were walking hand in hand toward them.

  “Well shouldn’t Eliza stay for that?”

  “Nah,” Hendrix said as he looked down at his guitar and started to play a few chords.

  “She’s got it, it’s just us that need to be tighter.” He flashed a smile at Freddie who silently mouthed ‘thank you’.