The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (78 page)

I poured the large bag of popcorn into the bowl, handing it over to an overly eager Micha who was happy to hold it as she began to devour the contents. We’d chosen her room as it was the furthest away from Josh’s. Of course he had been his usual arrogant self, making it more than obvious that his plans for the night were to shag another faceless girl. Corinne’s face dropped at the sound of his taunting voice and my heart broke for her. It took me back to the time when Joel and Mike  constantly goaded about their long list of one-night stands. The memory alone made me shudder, and I quickly put that thought out of my mind. How I managed to maintain my cool back then I don’t know, but Joel and I were in more than an amazing place. I just needed to help Corinne find hers.

“Right, we have three tubs of Ben & Jerry’s, huge bowl of popcorn, extra-large bag of Doritos and of course our wine. Are we missing anything?” Corinne mused.

“Well, actually, guys—”

“What? Did you invite someone?” They both looked slightly annoyed at the thought of an unwanted visitor, but I knew as soon as Elijah popped up on my iPad screen all would be forgiven.

“He’s not here in person but he soon will be.” They looked at me mystified as I picked up the iPad within seconds a booming voice came through.

“Hey Iz, I’ve been waiting a while, all excited for Ryan Gosling night. Well, introduce me to your new friends. I cannot wait to meet these ladies.”

They both grinned and I sighed with relief as I pointed the iPad in their direction so he could have a better look.

“Oooh sexy ladies, if I wasn’t gay, I’d be asking for your numbers. Introduce me, Iz, you know I don’t stand on ceremony.”

I rolled my eyes as they all laughed. I knew he would instantly have them charmed. It was always the case.

“This is—”

“I’m Elijah, Izzy’s bestest friend ever. We’re soul mates, and we have to do all things Ryan Gosling related together. We made a pact that Izzy almost broke, but as I can’t be there this is the next best way to join you ladies. Now have you got any questions for me? But just remember I’m gay and happily taken.”

They both laughed, well Corinne snorted much to our amusement.

“Well damn, why are all the good guys gay?” Corinne sighed.

“All the hot guys with a fabulous taste for fashion usually are. Check out my onesie, I can’t even do casual without bringing a little moi into it.” He ran the iPad down the length of his body, showing off his black designer outfit. It was fitted within an inch of his life showing every single muscle, and the zip was halfway down his chest revealing his naked torso. He had certainly been maintaining that physique, I’m sure Corinne and Micha would agree. Eventually he returned the iPad to his smiling face. “Now ladies, no more drooling, it isn’t attractive.” He winked.

“Okay, enough of hogging the limelight it’s nearly eleven thirty, we need to get this film rolling,” I said, cutting in on the conversation.

“Fine—” Elijah pouted. I guessed he was more than enjoying being the entertainment.

“What do you have snack wise?” I asked curiously.

“Your favourite cupcakes.” He grinned as I scowled.

“No way,” I huffed in annoyance.

“Yep.”

“Did you do this on purpose?” I pouted, already missing the sweet strawberry goodness. God, I wanted one so bad.

“I’m just reminding you how many good things are waiting for you when you return home, me being the top one.”

“Did I tell you he is shameless?” I said, looking at both Corinne and Micha. They both grinned in reply. I could tell whose side they had taken already.

“Oh I love him, I want a gay BFF.” Micha sighed.

“Me too. Elijah, you need to get yourself to one of our shows, we have to meet you in person,” Corinne chirped enthusiastically.

“Oh I’m coming to the Manchester one next month. I’ve already arranged my outfit and will be bringing Izzy her cupcakes to keep that smile on her face. We have to go out and party. I am so up for kicking my heels off and hitting that dance floor.”

“Oh lead the way and we will follow,” Micha added. Her eyes full of excitement at the prospect.

“Cannot wait, it will be fabulous, but I think we’ve got to dial it back and relax and just enjoy the amazingness of Ryan Gosling.” Elijah gave me a wink indicating he was ready for the film to begin.

“True, Corinne hand me the Doritos, I am ready for this.” Micha flopped down on the bed as we all arranged ourselves in various positions ready to begin the film. I turned and faced Elijah so he had a good view and sighed as the titles rolled on the film that would never fail to steal my heart.

* * *

“Does he always cry this hard?” Corinne asked, looking slightly amused though she swiped away a little tear before it escaped down her cheek.

“Yep.” I blew my nose and dabbed my eyes. It was always the case with us no matter how many times we watched it. The ending always had the same effect of totally destroying us.

“Man, that film is a killer at the end, but sheesh, I wish Noah would build me a house and of course live with me so we could have some hot sex.”

“Ewww, Micha, and you’re taken too,” Corinne complained.

She scowled. “I’m allowed to look at the goods. I just can’t touch, but maybe for Ryan I would make the exception.”

“That’s what I always tell Izzy,” Elijah piped up. “I’m allowed to admire other hot ripped guys. It’s only human nature to be attracted to other people, it’s when you cross the line that it becomes an issue.”

Micha held up her drink. “I toast to that. We are still human after all.”

“Well, I don’t look anywhere,” I huffed, annoyed just at the thought.

“That’s because you have Joel, the walking Adonis.” Corinne snorted.

“Oh tell me about it, the dreams I’ve had about that hot guy.”

“Elijah,” I barked.

“Oh quit bitching, Izzy, I wasn’t going to go into details unless you want me too.” He winked.

Corinne’s eyes widened in response. “I wouldn’t mind hearing—”

“Nope, both of you shush,” I said, glaring.

“Elijah, we can swap numbers and compare,” Corinne said, pulling out her mobile.

“Seriously?”

“Oh hush, Izzy.” He winked as I rolled my eyes they were both shameless.

Micha piped up, “So when will you be coming to the show. We are there for a week, if you come on the Friday or Saturday we could hit the town and really make a night of it.”

“Saturday the twenty-sixth  Sam and I will be arriving. We have our tickets and hotel booked. Sam is driving us up so I might begin the party a little early.”

“Sounds good.” I yawned. It was way past my bed time now.

“Am I boring you, Izzy?”

“No, but performing takes it out of you, I am wrecked.” I was more than ready to hit the hay.

“Oh I wish I was on stage with you guys. I really need my big break too, I was born for the stage, I just need someone to recognise that.” He sighed almost despairingly making me sad.

“They will, your talent will shine through,” I soothed. I could almost guarantee that one day he’d get his big break too.

“We could have a word with Tony, the director. He’s working on some other projects after this and will be auditioning once this run is over. We will gladly put your name forward,” Micha offered.

“O-m-g, really?” Elijah shrieked. “Shit, I may have just woken up Sam, and he won’t be happy. I might have to go and do some damage control, ladies. If you know what I mean.”

We knew exactly what he meant.

“You are shameless, Elijah, but I love you already. The twenty-sixth cannot come fast enough. We need to have another girls’ night before that,” Micha beamed, and I couldn’t have agreed more tonight had been fun.

“We could always invite Channing along next time.” He winked.

“Oh my, I could climb him like a tree.” Corinne giggled.

“Oh me too, anyway, I hear movement upstairs so I’ve got to love you and leave you, ladies. Perfect night, just what I needed. Iz, I’ll be ringing you tomorrow to talk wedding place cards, favours and seating arrangements. Don’t pull that face, it all has to be done. This wedding will be perfect if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Fine,” I snapped. “We’ll chat tomorrow then.”

“Remember to stay fabulous, ciao.” He gave us an air kiss before disappearing from the screen.

“He is hilarious,” Corinne remarked

“Tell me about it.” I chuckled. I was glad that they had equally loved him as much as I did.

“I wish he could join the tour, he would be so much fun.” Corinne sighed.

“We have got to have a word with Tony,” Micha insisted, almost looking like she would make sure he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“He would be over the moon. He’s only been doing small parts, for him to be in a bigger production would mean the world to him.” It would be so good to perform together, to not have any distance between us.

“Then we have to make it happen.” Micha grinned.

I could only hope they could make his wish come true.

“So I’ve got some amazing news to tell you,” Joel breathed down the telephone. My ears instantly pricked up at the thought of good news. I let out a long yawn, last night had been amazing to hang out, but I was still overly tired.

“Oh am I keeping you up?” he mocked and I giggled.

“Sorry, we were watching The Notebook till nearly two. Elijah watched it with us and met the girls. He had a blast. He’s coming to see us at the end of the month so we’re all excited about that.”

“I’m glad I was hundreds of miles away,” he replied mockingly.

“Oh shush, you know we love our film nights,” I chided.

“I can only imagine the oohing and ahhing over Ryan.”

I could almost see him rolling his eyes. “How did you know we were watching Ryan?”

“Because it’s all you do. Anyway, do you want to hear my news or should we continue on with how Ryan is so damn dreamy,” he added sarcastically.

I pulled a face. “Ugh, please don’t mock Ryan, but go on tell me your news.”

“Well, we’ve been doing the odd performance here and there, nothing much, small crowds in a pub, but we got asked to play at a bigger venue, where there is a big line-up. We got a good response.”

“Oh that’s amazing,” I crooned, happy they were starting to slowly get noticed.

“Hang on, that isn’t the good news. Afterwards we were approached by a promoter, her name’s Chantel. She’s pretty big helping out small local bands to build their audiences. She’s great on social media for driving more people our way, and she’s said she’s going to help us with the promotion side, to speak to more organisers so we can play in their venues. She said it would only take a few months before we might be able to play larger venues than just back street pubs.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. I know how much all this means to you, you must be so excited.”

“We are. The guys were getting a little bummed out at the lack of enthusiasm when we played. To be honest the money, we earned by the time we forked out for petrol and split it between us all it, was next to nothing.” I could almost hear how disheartened he was by it all.

“Sounds like she could be exactly what the band needs.” I hoped so, the band needed someone to work their magic and get them the kind of notice they deserved.

“She is, you know I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook, so our band page was in serious need of a revamp and to be constantly updated. She’s taken that off our hands, and she’s getting in an expert to redo it. We’re getting some professional photos done free of charge through her connections, and she said our Facebook likes will soar after that. I am just so grateful we stumbled upon her, it was like fate.”

“Sounds too good to be true.” There was a part of me wondered what the catch was.

“I know, but she rhymed off all the bands she has helped and they are flying high now, so it’s got to be our turn next. Oh hang on, Iz, she’s just texted me saying she needs to speak to me urgently. I better see what she wants. I will ring you later, baby. Bye.”

He hung up before I had chance to speak, which was not like Joel, but I was more than happy for him. I would just look forward to his call tonight so that he could keep me updated on his exciting news.

* * *

A week went by, with rehearsals and performances my days were non-stop, but I enjoyed each and every moment. Micha and Corinne were good company, but I felt bad for Corinne as with each day that passed Josh only seemed to up the taunting. It was like he was in tuned and wanted to push her as far away as possible. She never spoke anymore about it, but we saw the hurt in her eyes with each teasing word he spoke. It was like he got off on her pain and was pushing it as far as he could. There was a limit to how much a person could take, and I was just about ready to snap and unleash my fury onto him. I knew Corinne wouldn’t want me to interject. She had told us on enough occasions that she was handling it herself, but I knew I had to do something before he totally broke her spirit.

Joel’s calls were filled with the band. Their Facebook page had been taken down while it got a revamp. They had done the photoshoot with Joel taking centre stage. I wasn’t so shocked that his looks would be the main focus, after all sex sells in that kind of industry. He was quite embarrassed by the whole thing and took a right ribbing from his bandmates, but I loved how grounded he stayed throughout it. I had asked to see an early preview of the pics but was told no by Chantel. Joel apologized as he passed the news on, her reasoning being that she wanted to unveil it all at the same time. It was pretty stupid as I was hardly a fan that would leak anything, but I bit my tongue not wanting to cause Joel any problems.

Elijah was badgering me as to when the unveiling would be. He was more than excited to add the pics to his ever-growing collection. Eventually Joel rang to say the unveiling would happen that night, so I made sure to inform Elijah and Corinne and Micha as we waited with bated breath.

“Is the page back online yet?” Corinne asked for the fiftieth time.

“Nope,” I sighed, this was pure torture. Joel was busy at another gig but said he would ring after he finished. We hadn’t long finished our performance ourselves and were sat showered with wet hair waiting for the big moment. I clicked on the page again re-loading it in the rare chance it would now be online and squealed the moment I saw it in all its glory. The cover picture was breathtaking. They were all lined up looking styled but with a rocky edge with Joel was stood in the middle. His stare was breathtaking, I couldn’t take my eyes from him.

Corinne and Micha soon joined me, and we started to flick through the pics from their photoshoot. I froze when I saw one with just a half-naked Joel.

“Holy shit, I think I’m drooling,” Micha exclaimed, eyes wide as she took in my fiancé in all his half-naked glory.

“He’s a little more underdressed than I hoped,” I muttered, not liking this at all. I knew I should have been prepared for this but seeing his picture there only confirmed how naïve I had actually been.

“Izzy, they will use Joel to sell the shit out of this band. Look at him, fuck me, you are one lucky bitch,” Corinne shrieked, poking me in the ribs.

“I could stare all day,” Micha added, sighing.

I pursed my lips. “Okay, okay we’re moving on.” I clicked on the arrow, there was only so much a girl could take.

“But—”

“No buts.” There was no going back, they had drooled enough already.

“It’s fine. I’ll save it to my phone later.” Corinne winked as I scowled. I didn’t like this one bit and it had barely been up seconds. Within minutes, the page likes had gone up from two thousand to four thousand, doubling. The amount of likes and shares were steadily growing, and I was astounded with each refresh the difference in numbers.

My phone began to ring I clicked on without looking expecting Joel.

“Holy shit, Izzy, did you see the pic with Joel in just those tight jeans holding a microphone? Fuck me, that body, that stare, they are going all out with this band. I downloaded the pic to my laptop. It’s already my screensaver. This is going to be huge.”

“Yes, I saw,” I bit out, unable to get out much more.

“Oh sweetie, I know it’s hard for you to see him being used as a way to sell the band, but good things will come from this.”

“I know, as long as Joel is happy then I just have to suck it up, I guess,” I huffed. It was all I could do.

“Try not to be too jealous, Iz. It will take the shine off it if he thinks you’re not happy. This is the way the music world works and unfortunately hot guys will get a lot of female fans. It’s just something you’re going to have to learn to put up with.”

“I guess, anyway I’d better go, Joel should be calling me soon to see what I think.” I didn’t want to discuss the matter anymore.

“Try to be happy for him, sweetie,” Elijah added, like I needed to be told again.

“I know, Elijah,” I bit out.

“Okay, miss snappy pants, I’m off to drool over your fiancé again. Will ring you tomorrow, bye.”

God, he was shameless.

I clicked the phone off and sighed. Judging by Elijah’s reaction the whole female population had seen the new band page and would be reacting the same.

“So I take it Elijah was pleased?” Micha snorted. Yeah, that was merely an understatement.

“We could hear him all the way over here,” Corinne added, grinning.

“Yep, he was over the moon. He now has Joel as his screensaver.” I rolled my eyes just at the thought of him drooling.

“You got to admit that it’s a great pic. I could see him on a magazine cover. Fuck, I’d buy that and frame it,” Micha remarked. Maybe she was a little too honest for her own good.

“Err, can you tone it down or a least keep those thoughts to yourself? Thanks.” I did not need to know every single pervy thing that was going through their heads.

“Sorry, Iz, do you fancy watching a film, maybe take your mind off it?” Corinne offered, but I just wanted to escape back to my room where no one would be telling me how much they were lusting after Joel.

Locking the door, I grabbed my pyjamas and quickly changed, climbing into bed. I clicked on the remote and let the room fill with the background noise. There was a film playing but I didn’t take any notice, just stared blankly at the screen as I patiently waited for Joel to get in touch.

An hour later, I had dosed off and woke up to the sound of my ring tone. I sat upright quickly silencing the TV and clicking on the accept button.

“Hey Iz, sorry it’s late. We’ve just been celebrating and it was hard to get away. Chantel threw a surprise party after the gig, and well, I had to hang around and it was far too noisy to call. But what do you think? Be truthful now.” His voice was almost hesitant to ask.

“It’s amazing, Joel.” I could do this I would not be the jealous fiancée. I had grown over the years. I was the woman he was marrying, and it was his ring I wore on my hand. I just had to suck it up and let all the women lust after him. At the end of the day, he was mine.

“Oh thank god, that one picture of me, I was worried you’d have an issue. I wasn’t happy about taking my top off, but they have a way of persuading you and then when I saw the proofs, I was afraid you wouldn’t approve.”

“Is that why Chantel wouldn’t let me have a sneak peek?” I could almost guarantee it was.

“Probably, she was adamant she was using it even if it didn’t come with your approval.”

“Charming.” I snorted. She was already starting to grate, and I hadn’t even clapped eyes on her.

“I know, but I’m so happy you’re okay with it. I was dreading ringing in case you weren’t. It’s all out of my hands, we either accept the help or we lose it all, but it’s hard trying to keep both of you happy.” He let out a long sigh, and I could only imagine just how much pressure he was under to keep everyone happy.

“I’m fine, stop worrying. The whole page looks so good, and the amount of likes and shares is growing all the time.” I was proud of them all, to see the start of the band receiving the fame they deserved.

“I know, I just checked and we’re at six thousand now. Chantel said we’ll be up to ten soon, but I’m just happy where we are.” His voice had a level of excitement that made me smile.

“Anything is a bonus, and I’m sure you will do just fine.” I could almost guarantee it.

“I love you, Iz. Sorry I haven’t been able to ring as much, but you do understand, right?”

“Of course I understand, Mr Rock Star,” I jested.

“Don’t, Iz, not when it’s just us. I’d rather you just call me my main title, your fiancé.”

“I love that word.” I sighed. In some ways I still couldn’t believe it.

“Me too.”

“I love this ring.” My eyes automatically fell on my hand, taking in the elegant ring that was sat perched on my finger.

“Maybe if we start to perform more at bigger venues I could get you another—”

“No way, this ring means everything to me. This was the ring that you proposed with, and this is the ring that will stay on my finger for as long as I live. I don’t want a big rock. I wear this ring to signify our love for each other not as a fashion accessory to show off,” I huffed. I couldn’t even believe he would say such a thing. Didn’t he know me at all?

“You make me smile. You know I love your feisty side,” he breathed.

“Good to hear, now no more talk of getting a new ring, it offends me to think you thought I’d ever wanted to change it.” I pouted at the thought of it.

“I just want to give you the world,” he explained, trying to make me understand.

“Well, all I want is you.” Nothing else mattered.

“You have me.”

His words made me smile. “Then I have everything I need.”

“Promise me you’ll marry me when things settle down, after the tour I want you to be my wife.” I could almost hear the panic in his voice.

“I promise.”

“Really?” he asked doubtfully.

“Elijah is slowly turning me crazy with the arrangements. Trust me, this wedding is happening.” And I would probably go crazy in the process.