"Put me down, you arsehole bastard." She shouted, trying to beat at my back. That amused me even more. It was like cotton wool balls bouncing off me.
What I wasn't expecting was for her to reach out and grab my hair and pull it… hard. In a cross between the fact it goddamn stung, and my very distracted thoughts of if she could tug that hard I was gonna have some fun with those hands at some point before I died, I dropped her.
She screeched as she hit the floor and then she went, "Oh."
"Son of a bitch." I looked down at Freya. She was fine due to the fact she'd landed on the most sumptuous rug money could buy, which was on the most luxurious carpet I'd ever come across.
"We're almost there. Two more doors. Can you walk okay? I'm not so keen to carry you since you pulled half my hair out of my head."
"I didn't ask you to carry me in the first place." She retorted.
"For the love of all that is holy, why did I mate-match with the most infuriating woman in the world?" I was about to yank my own hair.
"Says the wanker who treated me like shit all week?"
"Oh, here we go."
She stood up and tilted her hips as she put her hands on them. "Just point to where my room is and then leave me the hell alone, Beast."
"Why are you addressing my cock? Are you not talking to me directly now?"
"Gaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh."
I could tell she wanted to stomp again, but she didn't know where to stomp to.
"Follow me. I'll take you to your room and leave you alone."
"Thank you." She snarked.
We made our way for the next minute in total silence. I pushed open the double doors to the Buttercup suite and revealed the room to Freya in all its glory.
Floor-to-ceiling windows held pale lemon drapes, currently pulled back to let the sunlight in. Double doors in the centre led out to a balcony with a wooden table and four chairs and there was a parasol folded and stored in the corner. The chairs had padded seat cushions covered in a buttercup design. The balcony looked out over the gardens and woodland.
The same buttercup design was on the wallpaper on the bedroom wall side of the room and the living area side. A huge king size bed with white bedside tables rested against one of these walls, then there was a few feet of space before the emerald green velvet sofa which faced the other feature wall, a wide screen TV hung there.
It was a room the colour of sunshine and you just couldn't be miserable in it.
"There's a Kindle in the top drawer that has books pre-loaded, but it's attached to an account so if there's anything else you want to read just download it." I told her as she began to walk in.
"Which side?"
"There's one at both sides."
That earned me an eye-roll.
"In the desk/dresser in that corner there are some books too, but again I have Amazon Prime installed so feel free to get some more delivered tomorrow. Same with DVDs. The television is also set up with Netflix and Prime."
"It's even better than the hotel. I can't believe this room. It's… too much, Rex." She sighed looking around her. "I feel overwhelmed."
"Look, you said yourself that you're tired and hungry. Just pretend you're back at a hotel again and tonight is for settling in. Everything will be better after food and a good night's sleep."
She lifted her shoulders up and down and I tried and failed to not watch her tits jiggle. "I guess so." She gasped and her eyes widened. "Oh, I don't have any clothes or toiletries."
"I'm going to organise someone to go and pack your belongings. Do you just want your clothes, books etc, or do you want me to have the whole house packed up?"
Her jaw dropped. "Just my clothes and things like that will be fine."
I didn't bother informing her that if I had my way she may as well bring all her things here. That could wait. At least right now she was talking to me again.
"Okay. I'll leave you to settle in as I have a few errands to run. Don't forget, you can ring 1 on the phone, or you can call me on my mobile. If I don't speak to you before, I'll see you in the morning for breakfast, say nine am? The band will be here, and of course, Erica."
A grin broke out across her face. It was like the sunshine in the room had taken possession of her body.
"I forgot she'd be here. Oh thank God. I need to see my friend more than I need air to breathe right now."
Her tummy rumbled and she looked down bashfully.
"I'll go and chase up that food." I said and I left the room wishing I could make that smile appear across her face, rather than a scowl.
It was nice to be home after six months on the road. I hadn't actually spent that much time here, but as soon as I'd found the place with its large grounds and attached woodland it had sung to me of home and settling down. The band's success following the end of the competition had been a whirlwind, making us millionaires almost overnight, but we'd hardly had chance to take in the reality of it all, sucked into a constant cycle of touring, recording, guest appearances, and interviews. My plans had actually been to have a weekend of rest this weekend initially. That had been thwarted by the mate-calling. At seven pm, Zak, Erica, and Roman would be here. They were staying for a while. Zak and Erica had stayed at the Poppy Hotel until today as Zak had yet to find somewhere to live, and Roman slept mainly outdoors.
Roman had recently purchased an old car park and a large piece of woodland attached to the far side of my own woods, separated by a stream. The car park had been cleared and he was in the process of having a luxury lodge built. I'd told him he could share my woodland too whenever he liked, as long as he was okay sharing with wolves when they dropped by.
He had of course asked before purchasing something so close to my own property, saying he didn't want to be too far away, as the band were the only family he had. Suddenly, I felt sorry that I'd caused him some distress. I’d have to make it up to him… after I'd had a little more fun at his expense.
I would have told Freya that Erica was coming tonight if I’d not thought she would have kept herself awake. She needed to sleep. I'd messaged Zak to tell her to come over and let it be a nice surprise. Noah and Stacey had their own place and so Noah would be coming to record only and I'd see him in the morning. Stacey was starting rehearsals for her upcoming stint in the West End. Noah knew if we ended up recording into the night there was a bed for him here. There was room for all of them and there always would be. They were my family, just as much as my real family.
And thinking of which, I'd need to tell the staff that the bedrooms needed to be aired if my family were coming.
I plodded about the house for a while; had something to eat, looked through post, drank a beer, until the doorbell rang signalling that my guests were here.
Miles showed them in and Erica came forward and hugged me. Zak gave me the middle finger and Roman stood there… shaking.
"Man, you're not still fucking scared after what happened in the hotel room, are you?" I scrunched up my nose at him. I turned to the others. "Look at his grave face. Gosh, I thought you'd be dying to get here, Roman."
As his fist swung and hit me square in the jaw, I realised my friend had not been shaking with fear after all, but rather shaking in rage. Fuck me, a satyr in a temper was strong.