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That was the only greeting Shay had in her to offer him because she didn’t have any other platitudes to offer him. she wasn’t happy to see him. She didn’t want to tell him he looked well, and from the rounded belly, well tailored suit and gold cuff links, her dad was still rich as fuck.
“Still forsaking your art degree to work at the convict’s tattoo studio?”
“Still making money by helping Cork’s criminal underworld stay out of prison?” Shay tossed back, barely glancing over her shoulder as Barry make a swift and cowardly exit, no doubt having realized who her father was.
Her dad’s face remained impassive, but Shay saw a muscle twitch in his face, the only indication that Shay was pushing his buttons as much as he was pushing hers.
Glancing at his watch, Seamus Gleeson, huffed out an exaggerated breath, then completely ignored his only child and strode into the restaurant, where Shay watched as he shook hands with a well known gang boss, then made their way to the more exclusive, elite back rooms for privacy.
Shat wanted to storm into the restaurant and start shouting the odds at her dad, the hurt and anger she felt towards him, and her mother who supported her husband and not her child, seeping into her bloodstream until her entire body was shaking.
“Shay?”
Shay jerked as she felt a hand graze her arm, whirling around to see a very sweaty Rhys Collins looking at her with concern in his eyes.
“Jayus, you look like you’re about to cut a bitch.”
Rhys flashed her a very sexy half grin that made Shay bark out a laugh and move way from the restaurant and her father. Rhys fell into step beside her, and Shay leaned on the railing by the river and looked at Rhys.
He was dressed in shorts that came down to his knees, a hoody that was too big for him but Shay suspected it might have fit him at some stage, the sleeves rolled up. His face was slick with sweat and his face was as striking as it always had been, but he seemed more relaxed since the last time she saw him.
He tapped the side of his earphone, then took it out of his ear and repeated the action with the other, stashing them in the pocket of his hoody before he spoke. “Not gonna lie and pretend I didn’t see the interaction with your ole man. Or the fact that the frat boy did a runner.”
“It’s nothing.” Shay replied, the lie coming out with a little more harshness than she intended. Rhys held up his hands in a show of peace.
“Hey, I’m just checking to make sure you’re okay. Let me walk ya home.”
A flush crept over her skin at the innocent words, but if her face had gotten red, Rhys didn’t seem to notice as they headed off toward Shay’s tiny bedsit on the other side of the city, near to the tattoo shop. Neither of them spoke for the longest time, and Shay wondered why Rhys was out late running the streets in the dark, and when she asked him, the rockstar didn’t seem reluctant to answer him.
“I got used to working out while I was ... away. Running by day means more chance of getting recognised, than if I run at night. Plus then I’m so fucking wrecked that all I want to do is go to bed. Less chance of me overthinking shit and wanting to go party.”
Shay blinked at the brutal honesty and her face must have shown her surprise because Rhys chuckled, a warm, gravelly sound that made Shay want to hear it again. If she wasn’t careful, she’d embarrass herself in front of the man she had a foolish crush on.
She wasn’t about to be another notch on the Rhys Collins bedpost...as tantalising as it sounded, or how much her body wanted her to indulge on her little fantasy.
“I get it,” Shay found herself saying. “Luna tells us all the time how she gets stopped on a run to sign autographs. I mean, if someone snaps her at the shop, we have fans turning up just to peer though the window.”
Rhys grinned over at her. “Jamie has that problem when he works a shift at Rebel Books. It used to bother him so much he’d text me to come over and pose in the corner like I was auditioning for the Insta page, Hot Dudes Reading.”
Shay laughed, shaking her head. “I bet you loved the attention.”
Rhys ducked his head, as if embarrassed. “I did, once. Now it’s just a part of the job. It’s like I’m two different people – the Rhys Collins who is the ultimate showman on stage and the Rhys who is just tired of it all. Hell, sometimes, I don’t even like myself.”
Shay reached out and grabbed Rhys elbow. “Hey, you’re not so bad. And I know that the onstage persona can be different. I was worried for Sinéad when she started dating Jameson. And Cathal. But Jameson and Luna are awesome people. You must be too if they let you hang with them.”
Amber eyes ablaze in the dark of the night, Shay watched as Rhys swallowed then expertly changed the subject, asking Shay if she had any new designs she was working on. She told Rhys about the flames and the shadows and her ideas, and he listened intently, far more than she expected.
Shay found herself laughing and smiling as Rhys walked her home, then waited until she was inside before he popped in his headphones and took off running, and Shay watched him until his shadow disappeared.
Rhys Collins was a distraction she didn’t need in her life, but her curiosity might just be her downfall.
ChapterNine
Shay
Shay wassill thinking about the enigma that was Rhys Collins on Sunday when they were trying to decide on a colour scheme for the shop when it reopened. The shop was closed for the day and next week, much to Cathal’s stress, the shop would close for two weeks while they knocked out the existing wall and created the bigger space that Cathal had been planning for the last couple of years.
Today, her friend and boss was stressed out that the shop would be closed and would remain closed if there were any delays in the building work. He also couldn’t stay in his apartment while the renovations were going on, but had declined Shay’s offer of her couch in favour of crashing at Luna’s brother’s new place that he shared with his partner, Danish soccer sensation Emil Anderson.
