Black Girls and Bad Boys: Changing his Tune by Neneh J. Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

Dave asked.
    “I haven’t got anything else in mind.” He hoped the evening would be
less eventful than their lunch. But Dave wasn’t making him feel very confident
about that.

CHAPTER 6
    ––––––––
    B ack at the house, Dave made it very clear that he didn’t want
Angelique hanging around while he caught up with his old friend. She was
reluctant to leave Noah in his hands, but after sitting with them in the
conservatory and getting the sort of looks that were intended to give her
second-degree burns, she decided she’d have to trust Noah to make the right
choices.
    She didn’t go far – the dining room next door gave her somewhere to
sit and pretend she could concentrate well enough to read her Nora Roberts. She
was thinking about offering to cook dinner when the doorbell rang. Should she
answer it? Her duties probably didn’t extend to that. There were sounds of
movement in the neighbouring room and she got up to see what was going on.
    When she looked out, Noah was walking across the hall to open the
front door. As soon as he turned the handle, about five guys with hair of
varying lengths and a selection of black t-shirts for bands she’d never heard
of swarmed over the threshold.
    “Noah, man.” Bear hugs were exchanged.
    This didn’t look good.
    “What are you lot doing here?”
    All of them were holding bags. The beer bottles that poked up
through some of the handles made her wonder what else they’d brought.
    “Dave said there was a party.”
    Shit. She opened the door wider to go out there and say something,
but then a second wave of men appeared and she got nervous. They weren’t going
to like it if she got in the middle of things and spoiled their fun. Even if
Noah backed her up that would only make two of them against more than ten. And
she could hear another car pulling up outside.
    Dave came out and started clasping hands and patting backs. “This
way guys.”
    Noah looked shell-shocked. When everyone had trooped past him to the
conservatory, Angelique took the opportunity to slip over to talk to him.
    “I know what you’re going to say, but I had no idea they were
coming.”
    He looked worried enough for her to believe him. “This is a bad
idea, Noah. They’ve all brought booze.” She could already hear them cracking
open cans and clinking bottles together in the other room.
    He looked in their direction. “I can’t ask them to leave. I haven’t
seen some of them in years.”
    She could sense the yearning coming off him like pheromones. “You
can’t drink.”
    He shook his head. “I know. I wouldn’t.”
    But she knew what the need was like. All the good intentions in the
world wouldn’t be enough if he spent too long in there with them drinking in
front of him. And if they were anything like Dave, they’d all be offering him a
beer as soon as he set foot in the room. “You can’t cope with that. Not so
soon. I know I couldn’t.”
    He looked at her. Really looked into her eyes until she could see
the depth of his sadness. He wanted to be with his friends. He wanted to be
normal – the kind of guy who was able to knock back a few drinks without a care
in the world.
    That could never happen again.
    “I won’t drink.” He turned away from her and went into the party.
    A moment later, loud music started up. She walked up to the glass
door of the conservatory, but Dave slipped through it and stood in her way.
    “Sorry, love. You’re not invited.”
    She’d thought she’d seen the worst of him back at the tapas place,
but the glare he gave her was more full of hatred than anything he’d managed
that lunchtime. The doorbell went again.
    “Excuse me.” He very deliberately shut the door behind him and went
to let in a group of women in short skirts and skinny jeans. She could see Noah
through the glass, throwing his head back and laughing. There was no reason for
him to look up and see her, but it hurt when he didn’t.
    Standing in the hall, she didn’t know