Page 118 of All Right No

Liam had status among the troops who helped put on Black Halo’s shows. He might not rank as highly as Ulf, or be as recognisable as Cave Troll, but he was a core player, whereas, as a member of Black Halo he was always going to be the afterthought.

“He was part of their team for a long time. Luthor only schlepped stuff for you for a couple of months.”

Ash grudgingly agreed. “I think he’s going to insist on going back to his old role once the tour’s through. Get this, Paul’s already bandying the idea that Elspeth might be well enough to re-join us by that point?”

“No way! You’re not going to, are you?”

“God, no.” He whistled. “We’d have to be insane. Paul’s out of his mind. I think the lack of constant drama is boring him or something. I can’t think of one good reason why we’d welcome her back at this point. She’s a total nightmare. I kind of like us as an all guy group.”

“Boy band,” Ginny joked. “Although, supposing Elspeth’s changed…” She shocked herself with her apparent willingness to let bygones be bygones.

“Is that a not-so-subtle hint that I ought to consider giving you a second chance too?” Ash asked.

“I can’t tell you what to do, Ash. I’m not going to deny I’d be thrilled if you did, but I totally get why you might choose not to.”

She didn’t like how quiet he went. Only the soft sounds of his breathing assured her he hadn’t hung up. It broke her heart anew every time he lapsed into dark thoughts like this.

“I miss waking up with your arse rubbing against my crotch.”

The revelation struck like one of Cupid’s arrows. A hard lump took up residence in Ginny’s throat, turning her bittersweet sigh into a groan. She missed that too, and the naughtiness that inevitably followed.

“On that thought, I think I ought to go.”

“No, wait.”

“Gin, there’s no point in torturing ourselves.”

This whole dance they were doing was purgatory, but Ginny welcomed the pain in place of his absence from her life.

“Look, I don’t want to have to go on stage wound up.”

Her mind interpreted that as with a hard-on, not merely emotional. Maybe it was even what he’d meant. “We needn’t talk about that stuff. Just tell me what you’ve been doing.”

“Touring, sleeping, playing guitar, the usual. You?”

“This and that.”Following a rock band around Europe, but failing to see them play any gigs for fear of being spotted.“Eating too much ice-cream.”

“Mm, ice-cream. I might find someone to fetch me some. I could totally go for some chocolate fudge brownie, and that stuff with fishy bits.” He made several more appreciative murmurs. “Done anything else?”

“Not as such.” Her life was effectively on hold while she waited for the decree absolute, and tried to figure out whether there was any hope of a future with Ash. “Shall I call you next time?” In the background, she could hear the sounds of other people now, which meant they were likely being overheard, and he was going to hang up.

“No. I’ll do the calling. I need to be in control of this.”

“Of course.”

Neither of them seemed much in control of anything.