Page 128 of Rock Giant

Balin stood and wrapped her in an embrace.“The fuck he is.I’ll kick his arse if he even thinks about it.I’ll go kick his arse for you now if you like for making you suffer.”

Quiet tears slid down her face as he crushed her against his shoulder.He smelled good.He always smelled good, but no amount of distracting herself with that thought could distract her from the truth.Life was about to pivot.Unless some sort of miracle occurred, she was going to lose everything.She curled her fingers into the back of his shirt and held on tight.

They spent the rest of the journey together on his bunk watching a movie on his phone.Leastways, Balin was watching.What was playing in her head was the last few weeks.

When the bus finally rolled to a halt, Lee poked his head around the bunk room door.“Last stop until Trondheim.Guys, you have to see this.We’re staying in real log cabins.There’s grass on the roof and everything.”

“Sounds cool, right Jo-Jo?”Balin stood.He was upright for all of a second before Lee hooked his fingers through the belt loops of his jeans and started tugging him towards the front of the bus.

“I’ll tell Nash you’re not mad,” Balin said to her as he was dragged towards the doorway.

“Please don’t.”

He caught hold of the doorframe.“Wait.So, you are mad?”

“No.I’d just...I’d rather you didn’t say anything.”

“Stop fucking tugging, Lee.”

“How about listen to the lady and stop meddling, Bayley-boodle-oo,” Lee said, continuing with the tugging.“If the lady wants to be pissed at her darling dick-for-brains fiancé, then let her.He probably deserves it.Has cuntface been a cunt to you again?”

“Jeez, Lee, undo all my hard work why don’t you.”Balin twisted, aiming a swat at Lee’s head, who pre-emptively ducked, then rose, his fingers still hooked through Balin’s belt loops, and lifted Balin off his feet for a second before the loops snapped, throwing them both off balance.Lee’s back collided with the toilet door, throwing it open.Balin fell over the top of him and wound up with his hand in the bowl.“Jesus, shit!”

Balin lurched towards the sink and started fiercely pounding the lever on the liquid soap.“I just bought these, you stupid fucker.You owe me a new pair, Murphy.And I did not need to shove my hand down the bog.”He started scrubbing his nails hard.

Lee patted his friend’s calf, while he remained on his back laughing.“Should have stuck to quality Pri-mani, instead of Armani.”

“I don’t do sweatshop wear.”

“Aw, is that why you’re nearly always walking around with your tackle out?”

“That’s ’cause he thinks he’s still in Sri Lanka,” Jez called from the lounge area.

“People don’t walk around naked in Sri Lanka, Starlord,” Balin yelled back.“They wear sarongs.”

“What’s that, thongs?Sheesh, I thought all the panties lying about around here were dropped by young ladies, not that they’d caressed your smelly bollocks.”

“My bollocks are not smelly.”

“Not what she said,” Lee quipped, from where he was still spreadeagled between Balin’s legs.

Balin aimed a kick at his band mate’s head, and yet again missed thanks to Lee’s lightning reflexes.“Excuse me while I throttle him,” he said to Jo, before chasing Lee out into the grassy valley that housed their lodge for the night.

Jodi followed only as far as the bus’s main lounge area.The lodge was exactly the sort of place that she’d normally have gushed over.It was also the perfect spot for a romantic getaway or a holiday with friends.Sadly, right now all she wanted to do was get away.Away from the questions and Nash’s butt hurt silences.Away from the pious imps in her head that were flagellating her with tiny whips for her heinous sins, and far away from the possibility of running into Rock Giant and wondering what to say.That was assuming she could even summon the courage to look at him without breaking apart at the seams, or that he’d acknowledge her.

He’d offered her everything.All the love she could ever want or need, and she’d turned him down.

And why?

Not because of Nash.

Well, yes, because of Nash.

But mostly, because he deserved someone better than her.

Someone who didn’t fuck up everyone and everything.

“Are you going to take Balin’s advice?”Jez asked her.She turned to find him cross-legged in the corner of the banquette, his long wavy hair shrouding his face, and his dogeared notebook on his lap.