If Meinir Davies thinks tricking me into lunch with that coward of a musician who couldn’t even bother to show up to his best friend’s funeral is clever, she’s more delusional than I thought.

But she pulled it off, didn’t she?

I should’ve known something was up. The good china. The shepherd’s pie. The overly casual, “Just stay a bit, Cerys bach, I’ve made plenty.”

Should’ve bolted there and then. But I didn’t. I stayed, like a bloody fool.

And then in he walked.

Nick bloody Lewis.

Eight years since he disappeared, leaving a black hole where our friendship used to be. Eight years since Gareth — my Gareth and our best friend — died. And Nick? He didn’t even show his face at the funeral.

Not a call.

Not a card.

Nothing.

The audacity of him, sitting at Meinir's table, smiling like he hasn’t spent the better part of eight years pretending this place doesn’t exist. Like he hasn’t left behind a mess I’ve been quietly cleaning up ever since.

And the worst part?

He looks better than I remember.

It’s infuriating, really — how time’s been kind to him. Broader shoulders, arms that look like they’ve seen their fair share of gym sessions, and that ridiculous jawline that could probably cut through steel.

But it’s the eyes that get me. Those same blue eyes, just as bright, just as impossible to ignore. They still hit me the same way they did when we were kids — like they see right through every layer of armour I’ve built up since he left.

And I hate it.

Hate the way my stomach twists, the way my heart trips over itself, like it’s forgotten all the reasons I should hate him. Hate that after all these years, he can still make me feel like the girl who used to laugh too loud at his jokes and hope too much for something that was never mine to begin with.

And then Meinir leaves. Of course she does. The storm washes out the roads, floods the village and traps me in a farmhouse with Nick and enough unsaid history between us to fill the silences Meinir usually would.

What would you do if you were me?

Would you ask the questions you’re not sure you want answers to? Or would you sit quietly, pretending it doesn’t matter while the tension between you crackles like a downed power line?

If you want to find out how this ends, you’ll have to pick up Rockstar Regret.

-Cerys

P.s. if you missed the chapter 1 and 2 preview, you'll find them here.​

P.S.S. Did you see there's Audrey Harper's been busy interviewing Nick for New Hollywood? Need to catch up on New Hollywood? You'll find the archive here.