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Chapter Fourteen
Declan
Weeks had passedsince Declan made an utter fool of himself and had showed up in Manchester hoping...well, he wasn’t sure what he was hoping for but it wasn’t the shitshow that had imploded. There was this look at the end of the night, where Andi had looked like he had struck her, that caused this incredible dart of pain in his chest when she told him to leave her alone.
They hadn’t spoken in weeks apart from Andi calling to tell the band that Emerald Records was having a charity gala in London and attendance was mandatory. She also told them to dress smart because there would be a lot of eyes on the band, and lots of other musicians would be in attendance. She cited this as being a good opportunity to be asked to open a show for an established artist and really kickstart their success.
Luna had been the one to ask Andi if she would be attending with them and on the video call, Declan watched as she shook her head, telling Luna that she was in the process of handing over management of the band to someone else in Rebel PR so they would be in attendance, not her.
It was only then did Declan speak up, shocking the band when he told Andi that Heartache Melody signed a contract to deal with her and not some lackey she deigned to palm off on them. He grunted at Andi that he was more than happy to call Tim and tell him they wanted out of their deal because Andi wanted to alter the terms of the contract.
Declan felt the weight of the band looking at him with wide eyes as he held Andi’s iron stare, her anger palpable even over video link. There was a tense few minutes when he thought Andi would tell him to go for it, but instead, she rolled her eyes and just said fine before she ended the call.
Rhys had words with him after and asked him what the hell he was playing at with his sister. Declan told his best friend that what was going on with him and Andi was none of his business. That had earned him a dark look from Rhys before he told Declan that if he hurt Andi, then Rhys would have no problem breaking his legs, reminding him he didn’t actually need his legs to play guitar.
Declan had been inclined to turn down Noah’s offer to go-karting but then Noah slyly told him Andi was tagging along as well and Declan heard himself say sure, before his brain could catch up with his mouth.
The day had gotten off to a brilliant start when Declan had tried to be all chivalrous and help Andi into her race suit, zipping it up, and then he had allowed himself to leave his hands on her waist before Andi had growled at him and swatted his hands away.
They were already in their karts when Quinn frowned and they realized they had no marshal. Andi all but leapt from the kart before anyone else could offer, yanking off her helmet and telling everyone that she was quite happy to just stand and watch. Andi went and got a chequered flag and waved it to start the race.
It made him smile under the safety of his helmet at just how sexy Andi looked standing with one hand on her hip as she waved the flag about.
He was so focused on admiring Andi that he had a slow start off the line but he should have known that when he was up against seasoned racers, he had little hope of getting any advantage. The racers made him look like a total amateur and he was.
Declan waited until Charlie stopped racing first then he decided that was enough humiliation for a day. He steered the kart off to the side and got out, just as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He yanked off his helmet, grunted as he strode into the garage, and answered his phone.
“Jay, what’s the story?”
“I’ve just had to bail Rhys out of jail.” His friend's rumbled tone came down the line.
Declan let loose an exasperated sigh. Rhys was getting more and more out of control lately and though they all wanted to be rockstars, they didn’t want to be hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
“What he do this time?” Declan asked, dreading the answer.
“Tried to be a hero and intervene when some asshole sucker-punched his girlfriend. He was defending her when the guards turned up, and then Rhys swung for one of them thinking it was the boyfriend’s buddies. Thankfully it was your brother he took a swing for.”
Thank jayus for small mercies.
While his brother Eric was a firefighter, his other brothers were also first responders. Connor was a paramedic and James was a shade, or in politer terms a member of the garda. Rhys was lucky that it was James that he tried to deck and not some fresh meat out of Tullamore looking to make a name for himself.
“You need me to come and have a word?” Declan asked, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Nah, I’ve got him at Niamh’s shop with me. He’s asleep in the back. I’ll give ya a shout if that changes. We owe James a pint.”
When the sun finally set and the racers had finished up with their own competition, Charlie ordered food, and Declan sat down beside Andi, eating his food out of the takeaway box. He started to think about ideas for an upcoming video shoot, if the band could agree on which song to release first and he had already asked the racers if they would be in the video but his mind started to go in to overdrive.
“We could always get little kids in to play you lot as karters, the band playing to the side and then fade to you three strutting your stuff.” He was super excited about the idea and was thinking maybe when the little kids were karting, they could find little kids to play the band as well when he heard Andi speak.
“We could use kids from the program.” Andi mused, pulling out her phone and typing down notes. “Get some publicity for everyone involved.”
“Do you ever stop working, woman?” Declan all but growled at Andi.
“You were the one who brought up the damn music video!”
They scowled at each other with Quinn and Luke snapping photos and he was laughing then at a faced Noah pulled before Charlie agreed to take a snap with him and he almost missed Andi getting to her feet and heading outside. Declan was on his feet and chasing after her a second later.
“Andi.”
