Free Keep Me (Beggar's Choice #3) by Lily Morton Page B

Bram says firmly. He turns
to me making sure that I can see his face. “This is Charlie, Alys. He is a
professional skirt chaser. Do not ever remove your knickers in his
vicinity.”
    I’m trying hard not to laugh. “I will try Bram I promise,
but what about when I’m not wearing any?”
    He lets out a pained groan. “Alys did we not also
have a long chat about making provocative comments in mixed company?”
    I smile. “No.”
    “Well consider it done.”
    I nod solemnly. “I’ll never do it again Bram I swear. Did
you want to point the way to the nunnery while you’re at it?”
    Bram’s hiss is covered by Charlie’s bellow of laughter. When
Charlie sobers he stares at me hard making me squirm a little. “I like her
Bram,” he says finally. He looks at both of us. “Matty was right.”
    “Right about what?” Bram gives Matt a long look which he
studiously ignores by looking at his nails.
    Charlie smiles. “Oh nothing. Shall we take Sister Alys over
to meet everyone?”
    I laugh and Bram huffs. “I try and look after a woman and
all I get is piss taking. Okay fool go ahead,” and he smiles at me as Charlie
grabs my hand and draws me after him. His mood has done a complete flip now and
his air is one of a brother as he walks me up the stairs pointing out various
celebrities along the way, all of whom come over to shake his and Bram’s hands.
    The club is packed and the lights are low but the boom of
the music makes the soles of my feet tingle. Clubs can be tricky for me because
I can’t always hear what song is playing and the crowds pushing can make me
panicky. But I always put myself near the speakers where I can feel the music,
and I’m actually at an advantage because I can lip read so I can actually
usually follow conversations.
    We push our way through people dressed in exquisite costumes
and it’s noticeable that there are no tacky, plastic, hooker costumes in sight.
We climb some steps until we reach some doors and Charlie opens one and draws
me into what I see is a huge, light room with one wall of glass looking down
onto the dance floor. There’s a bar on one side of the room, a long table
covered with sumptuous food and lit up like a grotto, and people lounging on
squashy settees dotted around the room. The door shuts behind us and I breathe
a sigh of relief as the noise of the music instantly stops, meaning that I’ll
be able to hear better.
    A cheer goes up as Charlie and Bram enter and they laugh.
Bram holds his hands up like he’s a conquering hero and I see several women sit
up straight and pull their costumes down a bit over their chests but he ignores
them, grabbing my arm from Charlie and steering me over to some people sitting
on a group of settees near the glass wall. They all smile as we draw nearer and
a giant of a man with shoulder length black hair and dressed as Conan the
Barbarian gets to his feet. “Bram,” he shouts slapping Bram on the back and
making him wince slightly as the large hand makes contact. “Is this Alys?”
    Bram nods and gestures to me. “Alys this is Seth.” I
recognise the drummer from photos but nothing does justice to his bottle green
eyes or their kindness and I like him immediately. He has a very steady calm
air about him, almost gentleness.
    “Come sit down honey,” he says making sure that I’m looking
at him and I realise that Bram’s warned them so that I don’t feel
self-conscious if I can’t hear anything. I allow him to draw me towards the
place he was sitting at while Bram taps my arm.
    “I’ll get you a drink. Usual?” I nod gratefully and then
turn to see a very beautiful dark haired woman looking at me who is dressed as
an old school Hollywood actress in gold lame.
    I smile a hello as Seth drags his large hand down her
bare shoulder and I see her shiver slightly like a tree in a breeze but she
wipes her face clean when he smiles at her. “This is Viv, Alys. She’s a friend
of mine.”
    I smile at her and sink into the place