The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (53 page)

  
‘What is it? Sam, what’s
going on?’ Jane demanded.

  
‘The lying bastard! I’ll
bloody kill him.’

  
‘Who? Why?’ Jane shook
her head.

  
‘
Roy
, of course. He’s lied to me. He
wasn’t at the accountant’s on Monday at all. Nor could he have been at John and
Margaret’s on Sunday night. He wasn’t home until the early hours and slept in
the spare room. He deliberately hid that postcard from me. He disappeared soon
after I left for work, dressed up to the nines. Then those phone calls this
morning and the caller hanging up every time I answered. What do you make of
it, Jane? If that was a list of things Ed had done, what would
you
think?’

  
‘To be honest, I’d
suspect he was having an affair. Oh, but
Roy
can’t be, Sammy. That’s a
ridiculous notion. He’s been all over you the last couple of days and you’ve
both been so happy.’

  
‘Well
I’ve
been
very
happy, but you can bet your life
that for
Roy
it’s guilt. God, I feel so bloody
angry. I’ve had my suspicions for a while. I didn’t mention it to you because I
thought I was being paranoid. There’s been the odd thing. Like, he’s not really
listening when I’m speaking to him and there’s a faraway look in his eyes. I
thought it was because he’d got lyrics going through his head. You know how
temperamental he
and
Ed can be when they’re working on new songs. So I
dismissed it. But now I’m wondering if I was right to be concerned.’

  
Jane chewed her lower
lip. ‘Go home and talk to him before you jump in with both feet and accuse him
of anything,’ she advised. ‘You’re probably barking up the wrong tree entirely.
I’ll ask Ed if he knows what
Roy
’s been up to, discreetly, of
course.’

  
Sammy snorted. ‘They’re
as thick as bloody thieves. I bet Ed’s covering for him.’

  
‘He’d better not be,’
Jane said. ‘Or
I’ll
have a thing or
two to say about
that.
’

  
‘I tell you, Jane, if
Roy
is
having an affair, I’ll
castrate the bastard. He’ll never perform again. Not with me,
her,
whoever she is, or anyone else for
that matter.’

***

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Roy
stretched his arms above his head.
‘Those tracks are fucking brilliant, Ed. Let’s hope that
Perry’s Dream
bunch can do ’em justice. Got any dope? I could
murder a spliff before I face the wrath of Sammy.’

  
‘On the shelf above the
mixing desk. You roll up; you’re neater than me.’

  
‘It’ll give me Dutch
courage,’
Roy
said, expertly rolling a fat joint. He lit up and inhaled deeply.
‘Ah, bloody hell, that’s lovely. Here you go, Ed.’

  
They sat back in their
respective chairs, sharing the joint and chatting amiably.

  
‘If even one of those
tracks is a hit, it’ll keep us going for a while longer,’
Roy
said. ‘When Tim gets back I fancy
going straight into the studio. Do a Raiders hits album or something.’

  
‘That reminds me, I spoke
to Tim earlier and he’s really excited about reforming the band,’ Eddie said.
‘We need to contact Phil and Carl, see what their thoughts are. I’ll call them
when we get back from
London
.’

  
‘Count me in,’
Roy
grinned. ‘How’s Pat?’
 

  
‘Doing great apparently
and looking forward to coming home.’

  
They sat in companionable
silence for a while. Eddie stubbed the joint end out and stood up. Hearing car
tyres on gravel he looked out of the window.

  
‘Shit, Jane’s home. Is it
that time already? Jess and Nick are coming to eat with us and I haven’t even
started
dinner. A man’s work, and all
that crap.’

***

Jane was standing by the Welsh dresser as Eddie and
Roy
strolled into the kitchen. Mellow
from the joint, Eddie caught her in his arms, whirled her round and kissed her.
‘You look tired, sweetheart. Had a busy day?’

  
‘So so,’ she replied,
looking at
Roy
. ‘I think
you’d
better go straight home.’

  
‘Oh!’
Roy
raised an innocent eyebrow. ‘Why
is that, Jane?’

  
‘I’m not at liberty to
say. Just go,
Roy
, please.’

  
‘Okay. See you tomorrow,
Ed. See you, Jane.’

  
Eddie closed the door
after
Roy
and turned to Jane as she
muttered, ‘He’ll be lucky,’

  
‘What’s that supposed to
mean?’

  
‘If he sees you tomorrow,
he’ll be lucky,’ she repeated.

  
‘Why? What’s wrong?’

  
‘As if you didn’t
know.’
 

  
Eddie shrugged. ‘Haven’t
a clue what you’re on about.’

  
‘What’s he been up to,
Ed? I want the truth, don’t you dare lie to me.’

  
He shook his head in mock
bewilderment. ‘He’s not been up to anything. He just picked the kids up from
school and we’ve been working. He was home with Sammy all morning.’

  
‘Where was he yesterday
morning, and Sunday night until the early hours?’

  
‘He was with the
accountant yesterday and then he came over here. I don’t really know where he
went on Sunday night after he left me. He might have gone into town for
supplies.’ Eddie wasn’t going to perjure himself by saying that
Roy
was with Mac, in case he’d thought
up a better excuse on his way home.

  
‘He’d have told you if he
was meeting Mac. You’re lying, Ed, so is
Roy
. He wasn’t with the accountant at
all, Sammy checked. Have
you
been up to something, too? Are you covering
for one another?’

  
She was getting really
angry and Eddie put his hands on her shaking shoulders and pushed her gently
down onto a chair.

  
‘If I find out that
you’ve been cheating on
me
, Eddie Mellor, I’ll never forgive you as long
as I live.’

  
‘Jane, for fuck’s sake,
love, I haven’t and I never will. You know that.’ Damn
Roy
he thought, now
I’m
getting
accused of something I would never dream of doing. ‘I love you. Didn’t we have
enough problems at the beginning of our relationship? Do you honestly think I
would jeopardise what we have now for a cheap fling?’

  
‘I hope not, Ed,’ she
sniffed. ‘But Sammy’s certain
Roy
’s having an affair.’

  
‘What reasons does she
have for thinking that?’

  
Jane told him what Sammy
had deduced and he shook his head.

  
‘Admittedly it sounds a
bit dodgy. But don’t you think
Roy
would tell
me
if he was having a bit on the side? He usually tells me
everything.’ Shit, he hated lying to her, but he and Roy went back even further
than he and Jane. There was a certain amount of loyalty they owed one another.
But if this
mes
s jeopardised
his
marriage, Eddie would find it very hard to forgive
Roy
.

  
‘There must be a simple
explanation,’ Jane sighed. ‘Anyway, no doubt we’ll hear from Sammy later. We’d
better get dinner ready. Jess and Nick are expecting your Spag Bol and they’ll
be here soon.’

***

Roy
let himself into the house and
strolled through to the lounge. He casually flung his leather jacket onto a
chair.

  
Sammy was sitting on one
of the cream sofas in front of the marble fireplace, clutching a brandy glass,
her face, pale and tear-streaked.

  
‘Hi, Sam, everything all
right?’ He ducked as the glass sailed past his left ear and smashed against the
wall.

  
‘You tell me!’ she
yelled. ‘You waltz in here without a care in the world and ask me if
everything’s all right, when you know full well you’ve been screwing around.’

  
‘Sorry?’ he replied.
‘What the fuck are you on about? I haven’t been screwing around. Where’s that
notion come from?’

  
‘You fucking, lying
bastard!’ She launched herself at him and slapped him soundly across the face,
sending him flying backwards onto the other sofa.

  
Roy
protected his face with his hands
as the blows rained down on his head. He grabbed Sammy’s wrists and wrestled
her to the floor, pinning her down with his body whilst trying to dodge her
feet as she lashed out in a vain attempt to kick his nether regions.

  
‘Stop it, Sam; stop it.
Stop it right now!’ he yelled, shocked by her extremely out of character
hysteria. Her body went limp beneath him as she sobbed.

  
‘Who is she,
Roy
? Some tart you picked up in the pub?’
She wriggled into an upright position and pushed him away.

  
‘I don’t know what you
mean.’

  
‘Yes you do. You’re
having an affair.’

  
‘I’m not. What on earth
makes you think that?’

  
Between sobs, Sammy
presented him with her evidence.
Roy
was ready with his excuse for
Sunday night, but for Monday morning he had none. Christ, he was well and truly
up Shit Creek without a paddle. Should he just get it over with? It couldn’t
get any worse, could it? He decided to go for it and tell her the truth.

 
 
‘It’s Livvy Grant,’ he muttered quietly,
putting his head in his hands.

  
‘What?’ Sammy gasped.

  
‘It’s Livvy,’ he
repeated, looking at her.

  
‘You must be joking?’ Sammy
got up off the floor and sat back on the sofa, eyes wide with horror. ‘How
could you,
Roy
? She’s only a kid. For God’s sake, you’re old enough to be her
father.’ She looked at him, his eyes holding her gaze. ‘Do you love her?’

  
‘I do,’ he replied
truthfully. ‘But not in the same way that I love you.’

  
‘How long?’

  
He shrugged. ‘Since May.’

  
‘Is she better in bed
than me?’ she choked. ‘Is that it,
Roy
?’

  
‘No, of course she’s not,
she’s just different,’ he finished lamely.

  
‘Oh,
Roy
, you don’t know where she’s been
or who she’s been with. You know what kids are like; they change partners all
the time. You could catch all sorts and pass it on to me.’

  
‘She’s not like that,
Sam. She’s never slept around.’

  
She looked at him aghast.
‘You mean you were her first? Oh, God, that makes it even worse.’

  
Roy
clapped his hands to his head.
‘Well I can’t fucking win either way!’ he exclaimed. ‘So what does it matter?’

  
‘I hope to God she’s on
the pill. She is - isn’t she?’

  
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Of
course she is.’

  
‘Do you want to be with
her? Are you planning on leaving me?’

  
He got down on his knees
in front of her. ‘Do you
want
me to go?’ He took her hands in his. She
was cold and shaking, tears running freely down her cheeks.

  
‘No, of course I don’t
want you to go. After last night and this morning I thought everything was
perfect between us. I was so happy and now this. Oh,
Roy
, you were with her yesterday
morning and then you made love to me last night. How could you do that?’ Sammy
sobbed. ‘And she was at Jane’s last night. What must she have been thinking? I
bet she was laughing at me behind my back.’

  
‘Sam, please don’t think
like that. I’d already made up my mind to finish with her and I went to do that
this afternoon, but she wasn’t home. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise you.’
 

  
Sammy shook her head.
‘You won’t. You don’t see her again, or you’re out of that door for good and
there’ll be a part of you missing, because I’ll chop it off!
I’ll
call
her now and tell her that it’s over. Was that her phoning this morning?’

  
‘Yes, it was.
 
I’ll
have to tell her, not you, that’s
not fair. She’ll be so upset.’

  
‘Well tough. If you go to
her, you never set foot in this house again. I mean that,
Roy
. It’s your choice.’

  
The door between the hall
and lounge opened and Jason’s worried face peered around it. ‘I heard shouting,
is everything okay?’

  
‘Oh wonderful, Jason,
absolutely bloody wonderful. Your father’s only been screwing your friend Livvy
for the last few months!’

  
Jason gasped, the colour
draining from his young face. ‘Dad, no! You haven’t - have you?’ His tone was
incredulous.

  
‘Yes he bloody well has,’
Sammy answered for Roy who hung his head, unable to look Jason in the eye. She
spoke again, quieter this time. ‘Just leave us alone, Jason love. We’ve a lot
to discuss. I’ll come up and see you later.’

  
Jason nodded. He left the
room and closed the door quietly.

  
‘Did you have to tell him
like that?’
Roy
said.

  
‘Well why not? He’s a
grown up. You’re always telling me not to baby him. I’ll tell Nick later, too
when he phones. In fact, I’ll phone him at Jane’s and tell him now. Let him
know what sort of animal he’s got for a father, seducing his young friend. I’m
surprised you haven’t made a play for Jess, you’re always ogling her when she’s
around.’

  
‘That’s uncalled for,
Sam. Jess is Ed’s daughter, my son’s fiancée. I would
never
do that.’

  
‘Only because Ed and Nick
would annihilate you if you did,’ Sammy responded tartly.

  
‘Sammy, this is getting
ridiculous. I’m going to go now and tell her it’s over.’ He picked up his
jacket and made for the door.

  
‘You go to her now, Roy
and you don’t ever come back to this house,’ she said.