Page 79 of Forbid It

I swallow harshly. “Oh. Can you get a plane from anywhere closer?”

“The only flights that fly to LAX this side of the city are private jets.” He sighs heavily. “And I don’t know if you know this, but one flight with a private jet causes like a billion tonnes of CO2.”

I nudge his chest with the back of my knuckles as a soft laugh escapes me. He grabs my hand with his and uses it to tug me further into his space. He brushes the hair that’s escaped my bun away from my face and cups my jaw.

“I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, trouble.”

This is it then. The end of the bubble we’ve been cocooned in for the last few days. The real world is waiting for him after a long haul flight, and mine is behind this door.

His hand sweeps around my back, tugging me closer.

“If you see my dad⁠—”

“I’ll let him know you’re perfectly satiated.”

The laugh that escapes me is almost guttural, and it causes a wide smile to break out across his face. “If I see your dad,” he tells me, tilting my chin up, “I’ll tell him I have no idea where you are.”

A sliver of guilt pierces my gut at the thought of the lies I’ve told my parents, the lies I’ve made my friends tell, that I’m asking Robbie to tell his boss.

“Trouble,” Robbie says, his thumb brushing against my lip. “He’s not going to ask me.”

“I don’t want to make you lie to him.”

“Let me worry about that,” he tells me. “Do you regret this?”

His hand rubs underneath my shirt, his fingers tracing the waistband of my jeans.

“No,” I whisper as his lips inch closer to mine. “No, I don’t regret anything.”

His grip tightens on my jaw as he tilts closer to me, and I sink into his kiss. He clutches me tightly as he devours me, savoring the last time we’ll be able to be like this. I don’t want to think about him leaving, or what’s facing us when we both get back home. All I can think about is his tongue in my mouth, and his hand loosening the clip in my hair, the curls tumbling across his grip.

“Okay,” he says, finally pulling away. “If I don’t go now.” Another kiss. “I won’t leave.”

“Oh no,” I whine with a grin as I chase his lips with mine.

His laugh rumbles in his chest as he finally pulls away. He stares at me a final time as if he’s capturing the moment. “I’ll see you,”

“Bye.” I stay where I am as he pulls away and climbs into his car. His hand waving out the window is the last thing I see before his Range Rover speeds up the drive.

A loud screech echoes from the studio.

“We figured out the speakers!” Danny calls from inside.

I rub my hands across my face and twist my hair back into it’s clip before spinning towards the studio, ready to finally make some fucking music.

35

ROBBIE

“Alright, that’s enough,” Florent calls from the sidelines. A collective groan echoes through the team, and even I let my hands rest on my hips, desperately sucking in oxygen. I let my head tilt back and my sternum expand, my head baking under the July sun. We’ve been back from our recess for less than a week, and though the owner was happy for us to escape on a jolly, our manager is back to making us suffer.

“I knew I shouldn’t have eaten a toffee apple a day,” Santi groans from beside me, hands braced on both his knees. “I’m being punished for spending a week in the happiest place on earth.”

I think about the bed I left Cassie in. “Me too.”

“Okay, cool down and then move out,” Florent calls.

I take a deep breath and break into a slow jog, keeping pace with Santi as he drags his feet beside me. This fucking sun. The heat is unbearable on the back of my neck, sweat gathering across my collarbone.