Roman: Book 2 (The Hunter Brothers Series) by L.J. Dee Page B

People made terrible choices while lost in the
awful grip of overwhelming grief. I heard the roar of the bike on the gravel,
tearing down the huge driveway, making my way up to the house to put my sister’s
mind at rest that I wasn’t on the back of it.

 
    Chapter Seven
      “The boys are coming over, do you want to
watch us jam,” Tyler smiled as I nodded excitedly. There was no sign of Jess or
Lucas and I assumed Charlie was still with Scarlett.
    “Absolutely,
Tyler, will you sing Obsession for me?” I asked as he laughed.
    “Sure, and I’ve
got some lyrics in mind about a girl who has two brothers fighting over her,”
he winked as I rolled my eyes.
    “Don’t you start,”
I huffed as he slung his arm casually around my shoulder, leading me into a
room at the back of the house that I hadn’t seen before, soundproofed and
filled with instruments. “Nice little set up,” I smiled as he nodded, picking
up two drumsticks and hammering on the kit that was standing in one corner.
    “We can’t practice
in Roman’s apartment, the neighbours would go mental, and this is more relaxed
than the studio. We can just piss about without everyone from the record
company watching,” he smiled. One thing he’d said had caught my attention.
    “Roman’s apartment?”
      “Yeah. Don’t tell the others, but it’s been
pretty hard to make a living as a musician. Dad flat refused to give me an
allowance, but Mum did secretly. Roman wanted to buy a place to invest some
money, but he needed to do it someone else’s name. He used mine and has let me
stay there since I dropped out of University. I got an advance from the record
company recently, so money is less of an issue, but it’s pretty tough trying to
keep up with billionaire brothers when you’re pulling in £300 a week on the
club circuit.”
    “I can imagine,” I
laughed, wondering if the others realised how much he’d struggled. I doubted
it. They’d have helped him out if they did, and Tyler was probably too proud to
ask for handouts. “What happened to your allowance when your Mum died?” I asked
as he grinned broadly.
    “It just
continued. The old man never mentioned it and neither did I, but he must have
realised that a decent wedge of cash was going into my account every month. It
was a point of principle for him. He always said if I dropped out of school;
that financially I was on my own. Luckily for me, Mum didn’t see it that way,
but he didn’t change it when she died. I guess he wanted to honour her wishes. I
was going to talk to him about it the day I came to visit, tell him I didn’t
need it anymore, but I never got the chance,” he said sadly as his eyes fell to
the floor.
    “I’m sorry,” I
smiled as he looked up at me. “What will you do now?”
      I’ll stay on at Roman’s place. It’s great and
he’s never there, but I’ll be buying my own pad soon,” he smiled proudly,
opening the back door to let his band mates in. They were obviously used to
coming here, taking the opportunity to run their eyes over me as they walked in.
    “You got a new
bird, Ty?” asked a tall, slim man with long chestnut hair who I recognised from
the MTV clip.
    “This is Chas,
she’s a friend of Roman,” he said as they raised their eyebrows.
    “I didn’t think
that bad bastard had friends,” he quipped, laughing and staring at my tits for
way too long.
    I decided to play
on his reputation to ensure the inappropriate glances wouldn’t continue all
afternoon. “Well he does, and you might want to know that he doesn’t appreciate
other men leering at my breasts. So I suggest if you want those fingers to stay
straight, you move your eyes upwards,” I smiled sweetly as Tyler laughed. From
that point on I was treated as one of the boys.
    I could hardly
believe I was getting a private concert and sitting in a jamming session with
Heat. This would be one to tell the Grandchildren. They were playing a mix of
tracks, perfecting their sound before