Everybody Knows (Razes Hell 2)

Mack and Joey burst out laughing, and I turned to them. “Seriously, what’s wrong with him?”

Mack shook his head, grimacing in Drew’s direction. “I think you need to tell her.”

“Tell me what?”

Drew rolled his eyes. “Well, I don’t much have choice now, do I?”

True story. Once I had a hint of something, I wouldn’t shut up about it until I knew the full story. The journalist in me wouldn’t let up until I had the details. And from the way the guys were grinning, it had to be something good.

Drew turned to me, smiling nervously. “I’m proposing to Ellie tomorrow.”

A gasp left my lips. “Really?”

“Really. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and trying to work out the best way to do it, and… I think it’s the right time.”

I squealed and leapt out of my seat to hug him. I would soon have the coolest brother-in-law in the world. Because, obviously, Ellie would say yes. The two of them were nauseating sometimes. The thing I loved the most about them was that while they both had their fun, exciting sides, mostly they were so grounded that nothing would ever tear them apart. They had some of their best times together at home, watching movies in their PJs. And it worked for them.

“So, how are you going to do it?” I asked.

“Okay… I know this is going to sound a bit crazy since we like to keep our private life out of the spotlight, but I’m going to do it on stage tomorrow night. You know Nobody Knows has never been played in public before?” I nodded. “Well, we’re doing it. I’m doing it.”

He couldn’t have surprised me more if he’d stripped his clothes off and streaked through the club. “You? You’re going to sing?”

Just to put this in perspective, Drew didn’t even sing backing vocals on stage. He’d never joined in on a karaoke night, and I’d never so much as heard him quietly singing along to his car radio.

“Yes. I’m going to sing.”

“Whoa.”

He smiled. “I know. But I wrote that song for her and she’s never heard me sing it. I can’t think of a better time to do it.”

Ellie wasn’t a fan of grand gestures, but this? She’d love this. This was something she’d remember and appreciate for the rest of her life. I was almost more excited about hearing Drew sing than I was about the proposal!

“You have to stay cool around her tomorrow, Luce,” Drew said. “I know how excited you are, but she can’t suspect anything.”

“I can do that.”

Actually, I wasn’t sure I could but I’d have to try. Drew had obviously put a lot of thought into this, and I wouldn’t ruin it for him by getting hyper and accidentally giving it away. He was pretty brave to trust me with it when, as he said, he knew how excited I would be. My sister’s happiness meant the world to me, though.

But it was going to be a hell of a long day.

For a while, I lost myself in thoughts of Ellie and Drew’s wedding day. God, who knew what they’d want. They were most likely to want something private but our family was pretty big, so keeping it small might not be an option. Unless they went for one of those ‘closest friends and family only’ weddings. It might be kind of nice to have one day, one moment, that was just for the people who knew them best. No matter how much they wanted to keep their personal lives to themselves, they knew the price of Drew’s success was satisfying public curiosity, and they did so through tweets mainly. It meant people got a snapshot of their lives, so they didn’t pry quite as much. Their wedding day was different, though. That was something to keep between the people who cared about them the most.

I decided to brave the bar again to get another round of drinks. No easy task since people were now drunker and ruder than when we’d arrived. I lost count of the times I got shoved in the back as people jostled to get served. After another fifteen minutes, I managed to grab bottles of beer for all of us, and shove my way out of the crowd. As I did so, I spotted Jason. He stood surrounded by two guys, their heads down, and one of them slipped something out of his pocket and offered it to Jason.

I had to fight hard to cling onto the bottles and stop them crashing

to the floor as time slowed down, along with my heartbeat.

Chapter 6 – You Couldn’t Kick My Ass

No. This is not happening.

I watched, rooted to the spot as Jason shook his head. The guy holding the tiny packet moved it towards him again and Jason stepped back. I read his lips as he told him no.

Come on, Jason. Walk away. Please. Just walk away.

The dealer took Jason’s hand and placed the packet in his palm, then shook his hand as if they were business partners.