“Don’t make me cry, Dad. It took an age at the MAC counter to look like this.”
“Yeah, well. Might as well go all in. I love you, kid.”
Cerys nodded, unable to quite put words to how she felt.
“Cerys, my love,” her mum shouted from the entrance, and Cerys exhaled sharply and shook her head to clear the tears.
The door to the studio opened and Jimmy smoothed his white shirt down and checked the collar in the glass through to the recording booths.
“Opening night,” her mum said, stepping into the room followed by Jase, who winked at her. Her mum hugged her like it had been years since she’d seen her rather than the previous weekend. She’d had her hair blow-dried for the occasion, and her green eyes positively glittered with excitement. “I saw Zoe on the way in. She looks well. And this, it’s beautiful, love. How does it feel?”
How did it feel? She’d been so caught up in the day-to-day logistics of opening Bexter Studios UK that she’d barely had the time or energy to process it was all done.
“It feels like home, Mum,” she said, glancing over at Jase, who had leaned back against the desk, arms crossed, ankles crossed, with a smile on his lips that made her melt inside. “All of it. How was the train ride?”
“Good. And it made it so much easier that Jase could kindly pick me up. Oh, Jimmy,” she said, tugging her hair behind her ear.
Cerys watched as her dad stepped forward, reaching for her mum’s hand and sandwiching it between his own. “Siân. It’s good to see you.”
And, oh my god, the way the two of them looked at each other after all this time.
Her mum smiled as she looked up at him. “How are you, Jimmy?”
“Better for seeing you.”
It had train wreck written all over it. Or perhaps the cutest second chance romance ever. Shit, she didn’t need to see it.
“Jase, I need some . . . we should . . . can you help me with something in the office?”
Jase grinned and reached for her hand. “Is that a euphemism?”
“It better not be,” her father muttered gruffly from over her shoulder.
Cerys bit back a grin and let Jase lead her to the office where he promptly kicked the door closed with his foot and lifted her into his arms and backed her into it.
“Did you see the way my mum and Jimmy looked at each other?” she said.
Jase pressed his lips to the side of her neck. “No. Because I was thinking how great your tits looked in this shirt and had to relive City’s defeat to Wigan in the 2018 FA Cup to keep Little Jase from coming out to explore.”
Cerys grinned and placed her hands on his cheeks to lift his face so she could look at him. “I’m serious.”
“I’m serious too. Little Jase woke up all ready to say hi this morning and was crushed to find you not there.”
“Little Jase can be overdramatic. You were back late from the gig in Liverpool, and I thought you might want to sleep in. But let’s talk about my parents. I don’t want my mum to get hurt again. And I like my dad. I don’t want to have to hate him.”
Jase kissed her chastely and lowered her to the floor. “I know you don’t. It’s a bit of a leap you’ve taken from them looking at each other all starry-eyed to them falling in love then falling out of it again. But it’s their call, sunshine. You can’t control what other people do.”
Cerys sighed. “I know. You’re right. It’s just . . .”
“It’s hard to love someone so much that you worry about them and want to keep them safe.” He lowered his forehead to hers.
“Thank you for picking Mum up.”
“You’re welcome. It may work in my favour at some point to keep your mum on my side. But I think it’s appropriate that you should show Little Jase just how grateful you are.”
Jase nudged her back against the door, and she could feel the hard length of him pressed against her stomach. It was tempting to take him up on the offer, especially as his hips rolled against her. The sparks of pleasure rippled through her. “Goodness knows the stress relief would be invaluable right now, but I have guests coming in”—she glanced at her watch—“twenty-two minutes.”
Jase stood back, affronted. “Little Jase will do all the work. He knows your guaranteed-to-come position and prides himself on fast delivery when required. We could have you filled with happy orgasm endorphins and be done in seven minutes.”
Laughter bubbled up inside her until she couldn’t help but let it out. “Little Jase needs to know I’m proud of him for doing all that research and for being so willing to help me out for what I am sure are purely selfless reasons. But I need to go.”
His palms cupped her cheeks. “I know you do. And we can wait. I just wanted to take that slightly stricken look off your face and replace it with the bright eyed, flushed cheeks sunshine I fell in love with.”
Cerys placed her hand on his chest, over his tattoo that combined the best of the two of them. “All of this, the recording studio, my dad, the experience in Detroit. It was all wonderful, but finding you was the very best part of it.”
Jase grinned. “I know. I’m pretty damn special.”
He kissed her one last time, then held the door open for her to slip beneath his arm.
“Hey, if I forget to tell you later, when I finally get you out of here and into one of our beds, I’m really fucking proud of you, Cerys. What you’ve done here, being here with me, what you’ve built. It’s amazing.”
“Thank you for dealing with all the frantic moments.”
As they entered the main reception, the rest of the band, along with Nan, Pat, Izabel, and Chaya were just arriving. She stepped towards them, but before she could get too far, Jase slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her back to him. He buried his nose in the side of her neck, kissing her one more time. “I think I’m prouder of what we’re building. You. Me. Our families all here.”
“I heard you stood up to my dad.”
“He told you?”
“Yeah. Said you were right.”
“I’m always right, sunshine. You need to pay attention to what I say more often. Seven minutes. No one will notice if we sneak back in there.”
She slid her hands over his. “I love you,” she whispered. “And Little Jase. But still no.”
Jase laughed and laced his fingers through hers. “Rain check at midnight?”
“It’s a deal.”
EPILOGUE: LUKE
The party was a blinder. And he’d lost track of how many drinks he’d sunk. Sure, he’d laughed in the right places. Got Nan a shandy when she’d asked for one. He’d watched his sister smiling across the room at his best friend and band mate, Matt, and had felt . . . absolutely nothing. No residual anger for Matt hooking up with his sister behind his back. No happiness for Izabel who certainly deserved it.
Absolutely nothing.
News that they needed to start practicing for a tour hadn’t gotten a flicker of interest out of him, either. He wouldn’t even be here tonight if Matt and Iz hadn’t dragged him along. He’d still be in bed. Or on his couch watching the footie.