by Becky McGraw
Wade hadn’t realized how loud he’d evidently been, and shook his head, then walked outside with Beau, before he said, “And I can’t believe she was hitting on you tonight, either…she’s a piece of work.”
“She wasn’t…that was all an act because you were using Katie Upton to try and make her jealous…you succeeded, and evidently, so did she. Maybe ya’ll just need to act like mature adults and work things out, for the kid’s sake?”
Wade didn’t know why, but relief poured through him, then guilt about what he’d been thinking about the leggy blond, which evidently was off base…at least somewhat. “I’m going to work things out all right, and she probably won’t like it,” Wade told him angrily. “That baby is mine too, and she’s not going to keep her from me.”
A whimper sounded behind Beau, and Wade saw Jazzie take off running toward the van behind the tent. That’s all he needed, another woman with a broken bone tonight, Wade thought, then took off after her. It didn’t take much for him to catch her, and grab her up off of her feet, but it took a lot to hold the little wildcat, who was kicking him in the shins with her spiked heels and flailing her fists around his head, landing blows now and again.
He squeezed her tighter, and hissed near her ear, “Settle down, Jazzie…”
“Let me go, asshole, or I’m gonna do some damage, no surgeon is gonna fix,” she screamed and kept fighting.
“Fuck!” Wade shouted and let her go, when her heel connected with his calf, and he was sure it was embedded there. She took off for the van again, and he let her go, but Beau ran after her now.
He saw Beau catch her right before she slammed the van door in his face, and he opened the door and leaned inside to talk to her. Wade didn’t know what he was saying, but it didn’t look like it was having much of an effect on the Latina hellion. She was waving her hands around and yelling, then she stopped and evidently tried to crank the van, because it made a few loud popping sounds, then he saw smoke coming out from under the hood.
Beau pulled her out of the van then yelled, “Someone get a fire extinguisher, quick!” then he leaned in and popped the hood latch, before running around the front to open it. When he raised the hood, flames shot out and he leaned back and shielded his face from the heat.
Jazzie ran inside the tent, and came back out with one of the caterers a minute later, who had a fire extinguisher and immediately squeezed the trigger and blasted the engine with white dust. The slight breeze blew it back all over them, and when the flames were finally extinguished, Jazzie’s black hair and olive skin were white, and she let out a wail that could be heard all over the pasture, then stomped her feet. The other band members who’d been inside came running out and stopped short when they saw the disaster their van was now.
Wade stopped rubbing his calf, and hobbled over to the van to inspect the damage to the van, but stopped short when Jazzie turned on him. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and she pointed to him, then hissed, “This is all your damned fault! You better figure out how to get me to the that hospital to get Jess, right now!”
Beau put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off and stomped over to Wade, and he took a step back, because he didn’t want round two with her, that was for sure. “That’s right, buddy—you better be scared,” she said with some neck action, then added, “If my friend is hurt, I really am going to kick your ass, and I have five big ass brothers who will help me!”
“If you’d stop being so dramatic, and calm down, I’ll take you to the hospital,” Wade told her trying to be calm, hoping that would defuse her.
“Damned right you will,” she grated then stomped past him toward his truck.
He heard Beau snort behind him, and looked back at the grinning fool then gave him a heated look. Following Jazzie to his truck, Wade opened the door for her, before he went around and got in.
Without a word, he cranked the truck and put it in drive, then glanced over at the furious woman on the other side of the truck. He wanted to laugh, because she looked so ridiculous with her arms folded under her breasts, her top half coated in the white fire extinguisher dust, which made her angry black eyes, and her red lips stand out like beacons in her pale face. Jazzie looked like one of those mimes he’d seen in New Orleans when the rodeo held a competition there, but Wade wasn’t taking his life in his hands by laughing right now, because he had a feeling she really would kill him.
Shaking his head, Wade hit the gas, and headed back to Henrietta for the second time tonight. This time though, he really wanted to be there…he was going to meet his daughter tonight, and he was going to get some answers from Jess Sparks. Like how the hell he could have a daughter, when he’d used condoms every time they’d had sex that night.
Not one word did the angry woman in the truck with him say, during the thirty minute drive back to the hospital. She just sat there with her arms folded, her legs crossed shaking her foot in agitation. Wade swallowed down the added layer of guilt that just flopped down on the humble pie he was building inside of him, when he pulled up under the canopy in front of the emergency department, and saw Jess sitting there slumped in a wheelchair sleeping, with a bright green cast on her leg.
Jazzie sobbed then opened the door, before the truck even stopped and slid to the ground, then ran to her friend and pulled her into her arms. Jess jerked in the chair, then her arms went around her friend and they hugged tightly, both of them crying.
Oh Lord, Wade thought, now he had two emotional women to deal with, and he knew he was in for a long night. He didn’t know what to do with one, much less two. When he walked up to them, he stood back and kept quiet, figuring that was the best thing he could do to avoid more drama. It didn’t help though, because when Jess noticed him standing there, she narrowed her eyes and hissed, “What the hell are you doing back here?”
“We have things to talk about…” he said firmly, because talking about his daughter with this woman was not something he was going to delay, broken ankle or not.
Jazzie sobbed again, then told her friend with tears tracking through the white dust on her face making a paste of it, “He tricked me, Jess…he knows about Angel.”
Jess grabbed the handles on the wheelchair and shot to her feet then yelled, “What?!?!” The wheelchair shot out behind her and her arms flailed.
Wade caught her right when she was falling backward, and swung her into his arms. “Calm down, Jess…it’ll be okay…let’s just get out of here, so we can talk,” he said calmly, because she was hysterical, sobbing, dry heaving and hyperventilating all at the same time. He whispered near her ear, “Shhh…I want to meet our daughter, don’t be upset, I’m happy about it,” then kissed her hair.
Sucking in gulping breaths she told him, “She’s my d-dd-daughter…”
Wade’s body tensed, but he wasn’t going to let her goad him into losing control. If he argued with her, he wouldn’t get to see his baby, and that’s probably what she wanted. He needed to stay calm, so he could calm these two women down…and so he could talk sensibly to Jess. Beau was right, they needed to act like mature adults.
Jazzie picked up the crutches beside the wheelchair, and walked to the back door of the truck then threw the crutches on the floor, “Put her in the back, so she can lay down,” she ordered and he stepped off the curb to do just that when she moved aside.
After he laid her gently on the seat, Jess curled into a fetal position and her body shook, as she silently cried as if her world had just come to an end. Wade’s heart clutched and he was tempted to pull her back into to his arms to comfort her, but he didn’t, he sucked in a deep breath then softly closed the door and then went around to get inside.
After Jazzie got inside and put on her seatbelt, he looked over at her and asked, “What hotel are you staying in?”
“Motel…the Overnight Inn off of 148, south of town,” she told him. “It’s a dump, but the best we could afford.”
Wade flinched, because he knew that hotel, had passed it on the way to Henrietta numerous
times, and it looked like rent-by-the-hour place. He didn’t say anything else for a while, until he heard soft snores coming from the back seat, and he turned on the radio low, figuring he’d take the opportunity to get some answers from Jazzie, if she was willing to talk.
“Why is money so tight?” Wade asked her what he’d been wondering, since Jess had been worried about losing her boots, because they’d have to cut them off at the hospital.
Jazzie snorted, folded her arms, then told him belligerently, “You try to pay for diapers and formula, traveling expenses for six people, then ask that question.”
“I thought you guys had a big contract pending the last time you were in Bowie, that’s what Cassie said anyway…what happened?”
“Jess couldn’t travel like that pregnant, so she didn’t sign. We laid low in Dallas, until she had Angel, and she cut some demos.”
“Couldn’t she just call them now and sign?” Wade asked wondering why she hadn’t.
“It doesn’t work that way in the music business…they make an offer and if you don’t sign, they move on to the next greatest thing. Travis is starting from scratch trying to get some interest stirred now.”
Wade groaned and said, “I wish she’d have told me…”
“How could she? She didn’t even know your fricking name, or where you were. Besides, she felt like it was her problem, not yours…a freak accident that she was going to deal with herself. That’s how Jess is, she doesn’t ask anyone for help…not even me. If I see she needs help, I have to insist, before she’ll accept it.”
“So why didn’t she tell me once she saw me today?” Wade wasn’t buying into the martyr thing, because she’d had every opportunity to tell him.
Jazzie looked at him and said bluntly, “She’s afraid you’ll try to take Angel from her.”
“I wouldn’t do that, unless I thought the baby was in danger, or that she wasn’t a good mother…”
“Don’t forget, she doesn’t know you from Adam…you were a one-night stand, which by the way, she’d never had before. The last guy she was with screwed her head up pretty badly, so it had been a damned long time, since she’d been with anyone. I had to push her into pursuing you.”
“She told me that…” Wade told her, and he’d believed that at the time, but had rethought it today, after what she’d done with Beau.
“Well, she told the truth…and you’ve treated her like garbage…I know what you did with that redhead.”
“She’s a friend, and I didn’t do anything,” Wade told her shortly.
“You were using her to make Jess jealous tonight,” Jazzie accused and flipped her hair over her shoulder, causing white dust to float in the air.
“Yeah, I guess I was…” Wade admitted then told her, “I tried to talk to her before the show and she shot me down, so I was a little pissy.” He pulled the truck up into the potholed motel lot, then asked, “What number?”
“Eight…that’s where she and Travis are staying,” she said.
That name had been bandied about a lot tonight, but he didn’t know who the man was. Fear that it might be her boyfriend caused a lump to form in his throat, and he grated through his teeth, “Who the hell is Travis?”
Jazzie looked at him with a smug smile and didn’t say anything for a minute, evidently letting him stew, before she told him, “Her brother and her manager…tonight her babysitter”
Wade huffed out a relieved breath then said, “I want to meet my daughter,” before he shut off the truck and got out, going around to the back to carry Jess inside. Jazzie yelled over the truck to him, that she’d be in room nine if he needed her, and then walked off. He guessed she was going to give them some privacy, and he was thankful. There would be enough drama in a minute, without adding that spicy little woman to the mix.
When he opened the door, Jess opened her red-rimmed, sad green eyes and her lips wobbled again. “Shut off the waterworks, sugar, you’re gonna make yourself sick,” he said gently, then told her, “We’re at the motel.” He pulled her shoulders until she was at the edge of the seat, then put his arms under her and lifted her into his arms.
“I can walk, just get my crutches,” she said brokenly.
“You’re not going to walk though, I’m carrying you, so just shush and enjoy the ride,” he told her with a grin, trying to coax a smile out of her.
She sighed then laid her head on his chest. “Angel’s probably sleeping, so be quiet.”
Wade kicked the door shut, then walked to the motel door with the brass number eight hanging drunkenly on it, then kicked it twice. He didn’t care if he woke the baby or not, because he planned on doing that anyway. A soft mewl, sounded behind the door, then it turned into a lusty wail, and he heard a man curse, then the door was flung open. Now that Wade knew the man was Jess’s brother, he could see the resemblance between them, and his heart did a little dance of relief in his chest.
“Lord, Jess, what the hell happened?!?” he shouted when he saw the cast on her leg. He stepped aside and Wade walked past him to gently lay her down on one of the double beds, though he didn’t want to when he saw the nasty looking, stained comforter.
Searching around with his eyes to find the source of the tiny whining still filling the room, Wade smiled when he saw the top of a port-a-crib poking over the far side of the other bed. He walked quickly over there and laid eyes on his baby girl for the first time, and a swirl of emotions swept through him like a tornado, taking his breath away. He felt tears burn his eyes, as he saw her tiny fists flailing in the air.
She had her momma’s temperament, he thought, but her dark hair was his. Reverently, he leaned over the crib and put his hands under her arms to lift her against his chest. When she quieted then cuddled into his neck, he lost the battle with the tears he’d been holding back. Rocking her gently in his arms, he cooed to her and she sighed, then her little body relaxed against him. Wade’s knees got weak when a wave of love so strong it almost overwhelmed him, crashed through him, and he reached behind him, then sat down on the bed.
“What are you doing here, asshole?” Travis piped up and walked over to face him, then tried to take the baby from his arms.
“Back off, or I’m gonna make you wish you had…” Wade gritted through his teeth. “Take care of your sister and leave me and my daughter alone.”
Wade heard Jess whimper from the other bed, then rustling like she was trying to get up. He stood with the baby in his arms and said, “Lay down, Jess…did the hospital give you prescriptions you need filled?” He saw the pain on her pale face when she tried to get up, and figured surely the doctor had given her something for pain.
“Yeah, but I’m not filling them,” she said then sat up.
“Yes, you are…go get them butthead,” he ordered Travis, then tossed him the truck keys. “You can take my truck to the pharmacy.”
“I’m not getting them filled,” she said again, this time more forcefully.
Wade knew it was a money issue now, and he told her brother, “Reach in my back pocket and get my wallet, Travis. There’s enough cash to take care of it. Get some diapers and formula too,” he told him.
Travis looked shell-shocked, but he got Wade’s wallet and took out some bills then threw it on the bed, then he went over to Jess and held out his hand to her, “Give me the scripts, sis.” When her face pinched and she crossed her arms over her chest, he leaned down in her face and said, “Now—or I’m going to go in after them!” This guy was starting to grow on him, Wade thought. At least he was being cooperative, and knew how to handle his sister.
The baby squirmed in his arms, and sucked her fist into her mouth, her bottom felt a little soggy too. He knew what that meant from being around Will…time for a diaper change, and probably a bottle. Wade sent up silent thanks for the training Sabrina had given him, and asked, “Where are the diapers?”
Jess pushed up to her feet, and pulled out the prescriptions then handed them to Travis, and said, “I’ll get it, can you bring her
over here?”
“You lay back down, I’ll get it,” Wade said in a non-compromising voice, then asked, “Where are the diapers and bottles?”