by Watkins, TM
Austin the singer of the band found out about long range lenses the hard way. He'd gone to Florida to see his parents, met a girl and fell in love. Only problem was the paparazzi were watching. Pictures of them swimming in a lagoon surfaced and Abigail was rather topless. Austin wasn't impressed, the quiet one that mostly kept to himself could be heard from two towns over in the days after the pictures surfaced.
As I pushed the trolley into the bay I looked around the street. Down one end was a gathering, flashing of cameras and beefy security guards. Yep, the paparazzi were around and thankfully they were otherwise occupied. I quickly scurried back to the car before they lost interest in whoever it was and set their sights on me and the boot full of baby goods.
I looked at the clock, it was already ten am. Time had escaped me in my mad spending and worried thoughts. As I turned into Fraser's street, I saw a glossy red car sitting outside his house. I hadn't ever seen the car before, though it could be one of Jaxon's. He seemed to be into the sports cars. Low and sleek, way too fast.
The garage door slid up, Fraser lifting it with a hurried flick of his hand. I looked around the street as I pulled into the driveway, unsure of his insistence. Maybe the baby was giving him grief. Or maybe it was the owner of the car. Maybe the bitch of a mother had returned and decided that she had changed her mind. Over my dead body.
Chapter Four
Darkness shrouded the garage as the door slid down, clattering to the ground with a lot of noise. Another thing that he could easily replace. Automatic doors were a great invention yet the rich man lived with a door that he had to get out of the car just to open.
Fraser opened the car door as I collected my bag and pulled the keys out of the ignition.
“Where the hell have you been, did you go to LA to get the shit?”
“I bought essentials Fraser, the place was massive and you'd be surprised how much one little being needs.”
I could hear the little being complaining.
“Come on.” he groaned. “Don't think Kevin's doing a good job. She sicked up on his suit.”
“He's here?” I gasped as I followed Fraser into the house.
“Yeah, well apparently you said first thing this morning.”
“Then I realized that you probably wouldn't have a car seat.” said the lawyer sitting on the lounge.
A gleaming white smile greeted me as I walked into the lounge room, Kevin and another man were waiting for us. Yes, Kevin did have baby sick on his suit. It looked like he'd tried to wipe it clean and hadn't been successful.
“And I realized that it might be a good idea that Fraser and bub should lay low for a while, so I rang and said we'd come here. All done.”
Kevin jiggled a little padded bag, the associate stood with a pile of papers in his arms.
“Once we've proved Fraser is the father we'll organize everything else. Should take about two weeks. When does the tour start?”
“Two weeks tomorrow.”
His eyebrows raised in response. Yes, it was cutting it fine and yes, it was going to be a hellish two weeks. As Fraser walked into the lounge room to tend to the crying child, I followed Kevin and his associate to the door. On the other side of the partially closed door, I stopped him.
“Kevin, you make this concrete. Don't let that bitch have even a chance of getting her back. Did you read the note she left?”
He nodded ruefully.
“She called her an it, Kevin. What kind of mother does that?”
“One that needs help.” he said dryly.
I agreed with his thoughts on this, I didn't need to be a mind reader. Kevin flicked his hand through his waves of mousy brown hair. He was a man that was arrogant and probably thought that his shit didn't stink but he was a pretty good lawyer. Even if he had been fooled by a pregnant woman.
“Look Eden, I'll get it organized. Just got to prove the kid is his and then we can go for full custody.”
“Good. Keep us posted.”
I walked back into the house, hearing the soft whispers of Fraser singing a song. Not a man to be satisfied with a lullaby, this rock star sang his daughter to sleep with Stairway to Heaven. I leaned on the wall, watching as his fingers grazed over her head, slowly lowering to kiss it.
Pretty sure that my heart just melted which was great, it could put out the explosion that was my ovaries disintegrating in an inferno. Walk away Eden my mind scolded me. It was right, I shouldn't be standing there and watching him like that. Anyone would think that... nope. Not going to happen.
I walked to the garage, retrieving the travel crib. For two weeks this was going to be how it would be. Living with a newborn baby that might be ripped away from us without care. Kevin did say that the woman was adamant, how could she be certain unless there hadn't been anyone else?
Discarding the thoughts, I carried the cumbersome bag into Fraser's room and began to set up the travel crib.
“Uh, your room would be much better.”
I looked up to the door, the baby was asleep in his arms. That view right there, that was seriously hot. Mommy porn had nothing on this view. She was so tiny against his huge frame, her length spanned his forearm.
I snapped out of my dreamy gaze and ignored the biological clock that just started to tick louder.
“Your kid Fraser and my room is ten minutes away.”
“Nah, it's right there.”
His head jutted to the next door along. Momentarily I had forgotten he had suggested moving in here. I hadn't even started to pack my things. I'd barely started to organize being away from the place for a year.
“I'd rather not have the one right next to yours thanks.”
There are a multitude of things that could and should not be heard.
“Well then it's the lounge, other rooms got my gear in it.”
“Fine but we need rules. I don't want to hear you and whatever bit of tart you've brought home going at it for hours. Same goes for the tour. You want me around to help you with the baby then you've got to have a little respect.”
“Fine. Same goes for you too.”
Yeah my mind snorted with laughter they're queuing at the door as we speak.
“Sure.”
I wrangled the cot into an upright position, clicking everything into place.
“I got sheets for the bed but they should probably be washed first. Got a clean sheet?”
He nodded and walked away, returning a few seconds later with a black cotton sheet. Once it was made he laid her onto the thin mattress. No, I did not step back one large step so that I could get a great view of his ass as he bent over. What an utterly ridiculous notion. So yeah, the view was great.
Fraser looked at me after standing upright, then back to the baby.
“I uh... I might get started on the washing.” I murmured, fleeing the room.
For a rock star his place was so mundane. The bed was probably the largest that he could get but still, the covers were a plain and boring black. A built in closet but no bathroom. Even my apartment had a master en suite. Wood floors, the same throughout the house. Walls, an off white and again it was the same throughout. At least the room was tidy, that was a bonus I suppose.
I had brought everything into the kitchen, at one end of the room was a vast space which I guessed might have been for a table. After collecting all of the clothes and linen I wandered to the laundry. Clean. Crazily clean and orderly too. It was like looking at designer home magazine.
Once I had started the washing machine I looked out the window. The back fence looked like it had seen better days, a harsh wind and that thing might topple over. Not sure why mister moneybags wouldn't lash out and have a new fence built. The back yard was a bland and boring grassed section with a shed to one side. Boring it might be but at least when the baby was walking she wouldn't get into any trouble. Once her papa fixed the fence and put a lock on the shed.
I could hear Fraser muttering, taking a peek through the door to the end of the room I could see him looking
through the baby things.
“Something wrong?”
“A warmer?” he frowned as he held out the box. “What's wrong with a microwave Eden?”
“Microwaves are renowned for uneven heat distribution, that particular product guarantees that both milk and food will be heated evenly.”
He rolled his eyes and dumped it onto the bench, picking up the bath aide.
“What the hell is this?”
“You put it in the bath and lay her on it, that way you've got both hands free to tend to her needs.”
I walked over to him and took it from him, putting it onto the bench the right way round.
“See, lay baby here and look both hands free and baby is safe.”
Fraser looked at, tipping his head slightly as he assessed it.
“Anything else?”
“Why did you get more blankets? She has one, isn't that enough?”
“Yeah until she drops a runny shit or pukes everywhere, what are you going to use then? And besides that rug that she came with, you need to burn it. Erase all memory of her dead shit mother. Either that or take it back to the hospital that she pinched it from.”
He stared at me blankly, lost for words at my sudden outburst. I didn't have time in my life for his miser ways or dead shit women that call their own flesh and blood an it.
“You need to clean out the spare room and start preparing it for her. There's a catalog of baby things that you can pick from and order over the phone.”
“What if she's not mine?” he said softly.
“So you're suggesting that her mother sleeps around?”
Fraser shrugged. “Wouldn't know.”
It didn't surprise me that he hardly knew anything about her. I'm surprised that he actually remembered her at all.
“Do you know her Fraser? If you walked past her on the street, would you be able to point her out to the child and say that's your mother?”
He said nothing and he didn't need to, I already knew.
“That's pretty fucked up Fraser, do you realize that?”
Lucky for him he nodded.
“I'm going to pack my things, I'll be gone for a couple of hours at least. In that time I hope that you sort through that stuff and start organizing your life around her needs, not your own.”
When I said that I was going home to pack, I may have forgotten to mention that I didn't have much to do. Which was mostly because I hadn't had the time to do much unpacking after moving here. The place came furnished for which I was eternally grateful. Not only did I not have to go and buy furniture but if the place got knocked over in the year that I was gone, I didn't have to worry about it. It was a modern two bedroom place that was decorated in muted taupe tones and had a view of a mall. Not overly picturesque but was great for lugging the bags of shopping from.
I guess that it had been selected for that purpose, considering that I hadn't been to Nevada before this job. It made life easier for the first few days while I settled in, I didn't have to stress about finding food. Not that I ate here much, I seemed to float from place to place and picked at whatever was on the table. Which for these guys wasn't healthy.
In my years as an assistant to musicians I'd seen some interesting riders. They could vary from bottled water that had to be from the purest of mountain springs to the skankiest brands of alcohol this world had ever seen. Temperature controlled rooms with air purifiers and mood lighting to beds with mirrors on the ceiling. Why anyone would want to have sex in a green room was beyond me.
Yet the rider for the events that I had been to with Night Fire was somewhere in the middle ground. At the beginning as Curtis was finding his sobriety, it was alcohol unlimited. Since then it has been water and alcohol. They didn't care for what furniture there was so long as it was comfortable and there was sufficient for everyone. The food was pure rubbish, it was like they were teenagers that were running amok in a house without parents. I'd never seen so much junk food in my entire life and I wondered how it was possible that they weren't fat. In fact they were all lean and well-toned. Maybe it's all that groupie sex that burns the pounds, maybe I need to find myself some groupie action on this tour. Kill the inches on my thighs and backside.
“Sounds like a plan.” I grinned as I dumped a bag by the front door.
I chuckled to myself and continued to pack everything that I owned and boxed what food I had in the kitchen.
It hadn't been home for long, it didn't even feel like a home. More like an odd hotel room. I had barely flopped onto the lounge to rest from the heavy exertion before the phone rang. I watched the screen light up with Fraser's name, my mind willed my hand to reach for it but the stubborn thing just wouldn't do it. He hadn't left a voice message but seconds later the phone beeped at me, a text had come through from him.
Curiously he wasn't using the band messenger app, no doubt he wanted to keep the newest addition to his life a secret for a little while longer. The guys were going to give him hell for it and I could only hope that I would be there to watch it. It would be a glorious moment, one that I would happily remember for a really long time.
Fraser: She puked in my mouth, get mouthwash and hurry up.
I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Now I was sorry I had missed out on that, it would have been perfect to watch. Maybe I could have got the video going on my phone in time to record the vision for her twenty first birthday party. I paused, looking across the sparsely furnished lounge room. I really was getting ahead of myself. As if I'd be around for her twenty first birthday.
Fraser: I think I swallowed some of it. Is that dangerous?
I nearly fell off the lounge because I was laughing.
Eden: Only for my health. I nearly fell off the lounge because I was laughing so much.
Fraser: Why are you sitting around? I need mouthwash, hurry up!!
With a groaned huff I got off the lounge and started dragging my things to my car. By the time I had packed everything and checked the apartment for anything I might have missed because I was tired. My phone beeped in my pocket and I wanted to cry with the pain from this tumor.
Fraser: What the hell is this?
There was a picture of the baby carrier. She was probably a little too tiny for it at the moment but I was thinking long term when I put it in the trolley.
Eden: Baby carrier.
Fraser: You've got arms, this is unnecessary.
Eden: No, it is necessary. While you are off being lord and master of your music world I will have to deal with her and still be the bands assistant. Life will be much easier with the baby safely stowed in that device, clinging to my body while I go about my duties. Stop being such a tight ass or I'll ring Jaxon and tell him about your delivery.
Amazingly there was no further messages from Fraser. Jaxon held a great purpose in this world. He was like a tabloid magazine, one whiff of anything that might be a little off and he'd be blaring it to the world.
Fraser was dumping the trash into the bin when I arrived, as I slowed and pulled into the driveway I watched as he lifted the garage door for me. God, it was not fair. Seriously not fair. Somewhere during the morning he'd lost his shirt again. Magically they always managed to fall off his body, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. He waited until I drove into the garage beside his car, a mustang from somewhere in the seventies. I didn't know much about cars, all that I knew was from listening to everyone else talking about them. Fraser talked about his car like it was the only thing on this earth that mattered.
I withheld the smile as I looked at the two door beast, not ideal for the parent of a newborn child. It would be hard to get her in and out of the car seat. When she was old enough she would demand food and I wanted to chuckle with the thoughts of food and liquid being spilled on the back seat. And if she was anything like my sister Reese, then this pretty blue mustang would be covered in stickers of kittens.
“What took you so long?”
“And hello to you too. Thanks for a
ctually coming back Eden. I could imagine that this is quite daunting and I appreciate that you actually did return.” I turned to him with a plain face. “Even if I don't deserve it because I speak to you like a total asshole.”
“You said you wouldn't be long and I have every right to speak however I want.”
“Keep pushing me Fraser.”
I lifted the boot and shoved a box of food into his arms.
“I actually said that I'd be a couple of hours at least. And whilst you might have every right to speak as you want it doesn't mean I have to listen to it. Either you speak to me properly or I walk away... permanently.”
His eyes flinched as I stared at him, waiting for him to do something. Nothing was offered as he turned and walked into the house. I sighed as I moved to the garage door, as I pulled it down I saw a familiar car slowing as it turned into the street.
“Fraser!” I yelled as I pushed the door to the ground and turned the lock.
“What?”
He almost skidded on the floor as he returned to the door.
“Company.”
Panic filled his face as he dumped the box onto the garage floor, rushing from the room. This was hell, Evan had turned up and no doubt he would want to go out on the town tonight, prowling the land for a friend. His cohorts were slowly dwindling, more than he realized. How this played out would be interesting. Would Fraser refuse a night of partying with his friend for his child or would he dump her on his conveniently placed assistant? Suddenly my moving in here wasn't such a good idea.
I could hear things moving, being dumped with a lot of noise and complaints because I wasn't helping.
“Eden! Come on.”
As I walked out of the garage I could see the pile of baby things in my room, the door being slammed shut by a panicked man.
“They have to find out sometime.” I muttered as he pushed me into his room.
“Yeah I know, just not today thanks. Keep her quiet if she wakes.”