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‘Go for it.’
‘Why was Pippa not here tonight?’
He looks down at her. ‘Pippa? Why would she come?’
‘I know me being here wasn’t planned, but I was just wondering why Luke didn’t bring her with him.’
Tate doesn’t answer her immediately. Instead he plays with the ring on his thumb as he frowns at the ceiling.
‘Okay. Spit it out. What’s wrong.’
He licks his lips then frowns again. ‘Okay. Pippa may not be overly... she doesn’t... There was this thing and I’m fairly sure she hates me because of it. Not that I’m losing any sleep over it.’
Chloe pushes on to her elbow and looks down at him. ‘What thing?’
‘I may have said something she didn’t appreciate hearing.’
‘Oh Tate. What did you do?’
‘Okay, there’s something you need to understand about Pippa. She’s a heartless, soul destroying, money grabbing leech.’
Chloe stares down at him and gets a really bad feeling. ‘Please tell me you didn’t say that to Luke?’
‘What? No of course not. What do you take me for? I said it to her.’
Chloe laughs and shakes her head. ‘Well, that could explain why she’s not fond of you. What possessed you to say that to her?’
‘I was drunk at the time. Probably more than just drunk thinking back, but that’s not the reason I said it. I would have said it to her even if I was sober.’
‘Helpful.’
‘She was giving Luke serious attitude about spending time with us. What we do... it’s more than standing on stage and singing a few songs. We have to practice a hell of a lot. Then there’s all the other stuff like interviews, photoshoots, touring. It’s part of the job. We can’t just pick and choose which bits we want to do. Pippa’s happy to spend his money but gets her nose out of joint when he leaves her for five fucking minutes.
‘We were due to fly to London for an interview and performance, and she kicked off. She wanted him to go to some work do and, strangely enough, we needed him on stage with us, so I said no using a few choice words. She argued back, called me a few interesting names. I countered by telling her what I thought of her. She went red, slapped me, and we haven’t spoken since.’
‘She slapped you?’
Tate shrugs. ‘More like a tap but Ellen decided it would be best if we steered clear of each other. There’s the odd time she has to go to things I’m attending too, but I just smile politely, curse her under my breath, and leave her to it.’
Chloe lies on his chest and traces the tattoo with her finger. Luke seems so... normal. She can’t imagine what Tate just described. She’s also no desire whatsoever to meet the delightful Pippa. She pauses as a thought hits her.
‘Is she going to the awards?’
‘Unfortunately. Don’t worry though. I’ve already asked Dillon and Gregg to keep me the hell away from her. Ellen’s apparently had a chat with her too. Luke said it didn’t go down well. Big surprise there. The delightful Pippa has been told to give me a wide berth for the evening. The last thing Broken needs is more bad publicity. We’ve all to be on our best behaviour.’
‘So do Dillon and Gregg have scary girlfriends too?’
‘Nope. Dillon isn’t a one girl kind of guy. He’ll be one of those old rockers with a twenty-year-old on his arm. Gregg...’ He shrugs. ‘I’d like to see him find someone. To be honest, I thought he’d settle down before me. Funny how things work out.’
He rolls onto his side and hugs her to his chest.
‘Well, I’m beat. Night.’
Chloe smirks against his chest as a certain part of his body presses against her leg. ‘Is that so? You might want to tell your friend to go to sleep.’
‘He never listens to a word I say,’ he mutters into the pillow.
‘Tate?’
