Falling Like The Stars (Book 3)

Chapter 14 - 100 Suns

" I believe in nothing
Not the end and not the start
I believe in nothing
Not the earth and not the stars

I believe in nothing
Not the day and not the dark
I believe in nothing
But the beating of our hearts. "

'100 Suns' - Thirty Seconds To Mars

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It was whilst Shannon was in the process of reading the text that Lauren had sent to him that Jared phoned.

"Shan. I need you to come over to The Compound." Jared blurted out as soon as Shannon accepted his call.

"Good Morning to you too, Jay."

"Sorry yeah. Same. I need you to come over to mine."

"Ok, well...Em is here and we kind of had-"

"That's fine bring her along as well."

"JAY! WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME!" Shannon yelled, frustrated in trying to get a word in edgewise over his brother's persistent demands.

"Geez. What's all the shouting about?" A voice cut through the tension between the two brothers.

Shannon turned around at the sound of Emily's sleepy voice coming from behind him as she wandered into the kitchen. She still looked effortlessly beautiful to him; currently dressed simply in one of his cut up Harley t-shirts.

She yawned and made her way over to his percolator where one mug of coffee had been made, but the other had been abandoned midway during the process.

"It's OK. I'll finish up making that for you." Shannon smiled at her softly. "You go and sit down."

Jay's impatient voice suddenly floated over to him from the other end of his cellphone that he still held in his hand.

"Are you talking to Jay?" Emily questioned, turning away from the coffee. "Well. Shouting at him." She added, rolling her eyes slightly.

Shannon's jaw tightened at the tone of her voice towards him, before once again, Jared's voice interrupted so he turned his attention once more back to his phone.

"What!"

"Just be at mine for 11, OK?" Jared told him sternly before hanging up, leaving the end of the line, dead.

"Fucksake." Shannon muttered to himself, pocketing his phone as he made his way back over to the two abandoned coffee cups that sat on the side.

"What's happened now?" Emily questioned.

"Oh nothing. I was trying to tell my brother that we had plans today, before he rudely interrupted them in demanding that we go over to his."

"Well, we can do that and then do whatever we like afterwards." Emily shrugged.

"Yeah, but you know what he's like. It won't be just for a couple of hours or whatever, somehow he'll manage to hijack the entire day." Shannon sighed deeply, adding oat milk to both of their coffees and turning to place Emily's on the kitchen island behind him.

"Ok...is that such a bad thing?"

"Well. Yes it is actually, because I had planned to take you for a nice picnic down at the beach before I drop you off at the airport later tonight. It looks like it's going to be a nice day. But it seems that you're not so bothered about that anyway." He snapped at her, fed up of her starting to side with his brother.

"What the hell has crawled up your ass Shannon? What's with the bitchass attitude? I flew here to support you with your store opening and you've done nothing but make snarky comments at me since we got back last night." Emily huffed crossly and picked up her coffee, making her way out to Shannon's patio, wandering down onto the terrace, where she proceeded to sit down on the grass and stare out the view before her of Downtown LA.