by Cat Mason
We know it doesn’t take that long to pee.
“Food’s here, ladies,” I yell, tapping on the door. “Let’s eat so we can get back on the road.”
Hunter’s words repeat in my head. The insecurities that I have always buried deep, he was all too eager to admit to me just now. He doesn’t feel worthy of Chase, doesn’t understand the things she sees in him, but yet, here they are. Happy, in love. If anyone has had his share of fuck ups in life, it’s Hunter Chesterfield. That is the main reason I bonded with Hunter so quickly when I was brought on here by the label. We are a lot alike, using our humor and charm to avoid the tough shit and keep it light. Jokes and pranks quickly became my escape from reality. It gave me something to fill the void of what I knew I couldn’t have.
The chaos of our very fast-paced life makes it very easy to get lost in everything around you. Now, though, there is no ignoring the truth. I need her. Whether I deserve her or not, doesn’t matter anymore. It’s not a choice, it’s necessity.
The bathroom door swings open, the three girls slamming into me, all gasping in surprise. “Sorry,” I say, taking a step back. “Didn’t want your food to get cold.”
Chase and Cam thank me for the heads up, quickly stepping by me to head back to the tables. Bracing my arm on the wall, I stop Ireland from following. Closing her eyes, she blows out a breath. Her lips moving slowly as she counts to ten. Turning her body, she presses her back to the wall before meeting my eyes. “What?” she asks, a bit of the bite that I have missed, back in her voice. “Do I not get to eat now?”
“I can’t stand us like this,” I say, stepping closer. “Tell me what to do.” Unable to help myself, I brush her jaw with the back of my other hand, needing to touch her, desperate for the connection.
“No,” she whispers, turning her cheek away. “There is no us.”
Cupping her jaw, I brush my thumb over her cheek, catching a tear as it spills down. “That’s where you’re wrong, Baby. Eight years ago, you were the first woman to ever look at me like I was worth a damn. I fucked that up because I was a stupid kid who thought he knew best. Anyone you’ve been with since, you’ve secretly wished was me. Each one left you only feeling more and more empty inside. I hurt you. Cut you deep, and I’d do anything to change that, but I can’t. All I can do is prove to you that I’m not going anywhere.” Leaning in, I tip her chin upward, and brush my lips over hers lightly, groaning the second her taste hits my mouth. My hand slides down her throat, stopping on her chest. Her heart hammers beneath my fingertips as she looks up at me.
“There is no us,” she repeats, sounding like she is trying to convince herself just as much as me. “If you want to do something to make things right, you can leave me alone. You can let me go and we can go back to hating each other.”
“I can’t,” I say, wanting to pull her in my arms and make her believe me. “And you can’t say anyone else will ever make you feel the way you feel when I touch you.”
She shakes her head. Pushing off the wall, she adjusts her bag, hoisting the straps back onto her shoulder. “You act like you have a choice, Mack.” The words I have said, over and over to her, come back to bite me in the ass in more ways than one.
Knowing that I can’t stop her without making a scene, I step back and let her pass, but not without letting her know one thing. “Ireland, I’ve never had a choice. It’s always been you; I’m done denying that. You’re the only choice.”
Her hand presses against her chest, as she breathes. I wait, putting all my hope into her saying something, anything, but she doesn’t. Instead, she turns her back and heads back to the table without another word. She takes her seat beside Aaron. He smiles at her, and my blood boils. His eyes go straight to her tits, eyeing her like she should be laid out on his plate and not the turkey club he ordered.
Motherfucker.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I resist the urge to bash his face in for now, telling myself that I’m getting through to her. I turn for the table, a flash of white and blue catching my eye from the floor. Bending down, I grab the little white piece of plastic with a blue lid covering one end. My eyes widen when I realize what it is.
A pregnancy test.
And according to the little guide on the side, the two lines staring me in the face mean it’s a positive pregnancy test.
Shoving the damn thing in my back pocket, my eyes go to the people who are not just my friends, but my family. I glance at each of the three women as they sit there eating. One of which is having a baby, but not one of them is giving anything away. My mind begins to go wild with the possibilities, but there is really only one question.
Who’s the mommy?
***
“Thanks for helpin’ me get everything in place for Jasmine,” Hunter says, slapping me on the back as we make our way up to the staging area where everyone else is hanging out before the show starts.
After dinner, our first night away, I called to check in with Henry and got bad news. Jazzie had taken to her room with Bits and refused to leave it. Even for cookies. This sent Hunter and I into overdrive. For the last few days, he and I have been working on a little something guaranteed to put a smile on her face. Between knowing we had a sad kid, the state of things with Ireland, the scandalous pregnancy test that I have yet to mention to anyone, and Aaron, the bearded bastard, you could say I have had my hands full.
I have begun narrowing down my potential baby baking suspect. Out of the potential five women, two aren’t even here, so they were eliminated quickly. Ireland, I immediately cross off my list of suspects because the idea of any other man putting his dick in her makes me want to buy semi-automatic weapons and I can’t exactly go to prison today. Someone getting her pregnant? Just the idea of it makes my chest ache. That only leaves Chase and Camaron.
Things with Ireland and I haven’t changed much. She keeps herself busy. If she isn’t chatting with the girls, or working on music with the guys, she is spending time with Aaron. You know, anything that involves ignoring me or pissing me off. She knows, all too well, I can’t stand that prick, so she has made him her new best friend.
I am not going anywhere and I have made that very clear. Though I am giving her space to process what I have said. It also puts some room between her right hook and my face.
Eventually, it will all be worth it. Right?
“Something good needed to come out of this shitty day,” I say, checking the time and shoving my phone back in my pocket.
Everything has gone wrong, each step a constant leap of faith and strain on my sanity. The road crew managed to damage one of the big speakers, along with one of them putting a huge crack in one of the pieces to Aiden’s kit. Which they kept from us until this morning before the band is scheduled to do their sound check.
Aiden rightly lost his shit and nearly beat a roadie named Austin to death with his bare hands. This clusterfuck of a situation meant Camaron and I spending an hour on the phone trying to find replacements. Putting the band over two hours behind by the time everything was said and done and Aiden on the warpath for having his iron clad schedule broken.
“Damn straight,” Hunter whoops. “Though watchin’ Aiden lose his shit always puts a smile on my face. Don’t get crazy Aiden often now that Cam can reel him in so easy.”
“Of course I’ve hit it more than once. That cute little bassist can’t get enough of me, man,” the unmistakable sound of Aaron’s voice echoes through the hall causing the hairs to stand up on the back of my neck. “Girl sucks cock like she’s tryin’ to strip the bark off a tree. No doubt I’ll be gettin’ myself an eight second ride later on tonight after the show.”
Then silence.
“Is that...” Hunter asks after a minute, but I stop him before he can finish.
“Sounds like he’s on the phone,” I seethe, ready to tear the bearded bastard limb from limb.
Rounding the corner, my eyes land on the bearded bastard. “Eight seconds? Huh?” I ask, making him jump like a little bi
tch. He whips around to face us, eyes going wide. “If you can’t hold on any longer than that, Man, it’s a waste of her time.”
“Hey, uh,” he stutters, looking like he may piss his pants.
Good.
“So, Aaron?” Body checking him, I cage him in between me and the wall. “You wanna tell me when, on my goddamn watch, have you ever even laid a fuckin’ hand on my woman?” I ask, grabbing his cell and tossing it to Hunter.
“Sup, motherfucker,” Hunter says into the mouthpiece. “Aaron’s gotta call ya back. Mhm, he’s about to get a Mack size ass whoopin’.” Ending the call, he throws the phone to the ground without a second thought.
Grabbing a hand full of blue and white flannel, my other fist connects with Aaron’s jaw. He groans, trying to fight back, but I throw him into the opposite wall. His body crumples to the ground like a ragdoll, and I laugh. “Look, Hunter, this bitch couldn’t even last eight seconds with me; but, apparently, he walked right onto the bus and started fuckin’ my girl.”
Chapter Twenty
Ball Sack Beat Down
Ireland
“Almost time to head up to the stage!” Aiden shouts, pounding out a beat on the table in front of him. “Schedule is not being broken again. Move your asses, people.”
“Oh, I’m beyond ready to get out there.” Bouncing on the heels of my brand new black Converses with kick ass silver lightning bolts, I shake out my arms, working out the kinks in preparation to command the stage.
Seeing as how we won Scrabble, the girls and I made sure to exercise our shopping skills the moment we spotted the shoe store around the corner from the hotel. “Sold out arena, the energy out there is amazing, and nothing that has gone wrong has kept us down. We got this!”
“Where the hell is Hunter and Mack?” Cam says, looking at her watch. “I swear, one more thing goes wrong today and I’m not going to be responsible for the hormonal explosion that comes out of me.”
To say Camaron has been a little keyed up since we left the house is an understatement. She is overly emotional, easily distracted, and so jumpy we have secretly switched her to decaf coffee. Aiden senses something is up, just as we all do, but with all the stress on her shoulders of the tour right now, I think he is trying to figure out how to help her without causing her to totally meltdown.
“Secret mission,” Chase says with a knowing smile. Grabbing the door, she flings it open. “They’re probably on their—”
A crash has everyone on their feet and barreling for the doorway. “Clueless motherfucker,” Dominick roars.
Shoving my way past Chase and Aiden, I freeze when I see Dominick wailing on a bleeding Aaron while Hunter stands there grinning like he scored front row seats to the MMA fight of the year. “Careful you don’t kill him,” Hunter says, leaning back on the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. “Still need the lyin’ bastard to drive the bus, don’t we?”
Bending down, Dominick hauls Aaron up by his throat and pins him to the wall. “Right,” he agrees, punching him in the stomach so hard Aaron makes a little gargling sound as all the air leaves his body. “Though, I’ll tell ya, he’s gonna wish I’d killed him.”
“What the hell is this?” I shout, about ready to throw a few punches myself. “Let him go!”
“Oh,” Hunter says, with a huge smile. Pushing off the wall, he starts for me. Dominick freezes mid-punch, dropping Aaron to the floor. “Hey, Aaron, look! It’s the cute little bassist that can’t get enough of you,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders when he reaches me. “What was it you were sayin’? Somethin’ about strippin’ bark off a tree?”
“The fuck?” I ask, shoving him off me. “I know you’re not talkin’ about me.”
“Oh, yeah,” Hunter says, jumping around like he’s riding some invisible horse. “Just heard him on the phone sayin’ he’s hopin’ to take you for another eight second ride later.”
Making my way over to where Aaron lies slumped over in the floor, I wait for him to say something. Anything. To defend himself, at least, because that’s nothing like the man I have gotten to know over the last few days. “Aaron?” I ask, holding out my hands, offering to help him to his feet. “Are you okay?”
Taking my hands, he manages to get to his feet. His eyes rake slowly up my body, stopping on the tight black tank top with silver lightning bolt that matches my new sneakers. His gaze lingers on my breasts a little too long before finally meeting my eyes. The hairs rise on the back of my neck, warning bells going off in my head like storm sirens. I take in his beaten face. His jaw is swollen, darkening with a big bruise already to match the black eye it looks like he will be sporting.
“Fine, Darlin’,” he says, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. “Don’t you worry yourself about me.” His hand slides down my back, stopping just at the top of my ass.
A growl tears out of Dominick, “Hope you can ride one handed,” he roars from behind me. “I’m gonna rip it off and feed it to you.”
“You know, I was thinkin’ more along the lines of a ball sack beat down, Mack,” I say, my hands sliding up to Aaron’s shoulders. Bringing my knee up, I slam it into his balls as hard as I can before yanking his head and sending his nose into it as well. There’s a loud crunch, blood spraying all over my pants leg, shoes, and the floor. Crossing my arms, I smile down at the man who led us all to believe he was a sweet country boy now attempting to fumble away from me as blood oozes through his fingers while he whimpers in pain. “Your eight second ride, Darlin’,” I say, resisting the urge to kick him before he can get to his feet again. “Isn’t even worth the cost of my Brazilian wax.”
Looking up, I meet Dominick’s stormy blue eyes, his nostrils flaring with each breath he takes. Pressing up on my toes, I grip his forearm and kiss his cheek softly.
His eyes widen, shock registering all over his face. “What’s that for?”
Chase and Cam make these little sniffly ‘aw’ sounds that make it all too clear they are on the verge of tears. Aiden and Gray chuckle, while Hunter does some ridiculous hip thrusting that must be part rain dance, a little touch down hustle, mixed with some taboo mating ritual shimmy.
“Because that was possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” I say, releasing my hold on his forearm. “Now,” I breathe, turning back to the Cam, Chase, and the guys. “Philly is waiting to be Shafted.”
The lights shine out into the screaming sea of people, all hyped up on the adrenaline of the moment as the opening act finishes up their set. I missed this. The intended calm of days, home in Nashville, did nothing to relax me. This is what I need. The rush. Music pumping through the speakers while thousands of people sing along and chant our names.
“Before we go out there and give Philly a good hard ride,” Hunter says, holding up a bottle of amber liquid. “I call Shaft tradition.” Turning, he reveals a corner table filled with shot glasses for everyone. Ripping the cap off, starts pouring. “No one is exempt. We all toast, we all drink.”
My eyes go to Camaron and Chase, knowing that this is a problem. Both of them stand slack jawed and wide eyed, unable to speak. Shit. This is bad. Hunter is wrong about one thing. One of us won’t be doing their shot tonight, or any drinking whatsoever for a long time. “Shouldn’t we wait to do this until after the show?” I ask, hoping to buy some time to come up with a better plan.
Hunter shakes his head. Grabbing glasses, he begins handing them out. “Please,” he huffs, shoving one at me. “The tradition has always been everyone. Bottoms up, bitches. Give it a slap and tickle before you tongue that hole.”
“Seriously?” Aiden asks, shaking his head. “Do you hear the shit that comes out of your mouth?”
“Great shit, isn’t it?” he asks, handing out the last of the shots. “Now,” he says, holding his up high. “Tonight, there are people missing from stage left who cast a great shadow. We aren’t whole without them here with us, though they are here in spirit. Tonight, we rock the shit outta Philly for the
m!”
My head spins, as I stare at Camaron and Chase, wondering what the hell we are supposed to do now.
“Wait!” Dominick shouts, stepping in the middle of all of us, and blocking my view of the girls. Reaching in his pocket, he holds up a pregnancy test and my stomach drops into my toes. “No one drinks until someone claims this.”
Well, fuck me on a sinking ship. This is not how the secret is supposed to come out. After the double lines showed up, the three of us girls, with some help from an emergency bathroom conference call with Daisy, had come up with a plan. A sure fire way for her to deal with the jitters of what is to come before letting the cat out of the bag to her man so they can tell everyone else the news.
Instead, it looks like that evil little cat is coming out of its bag now, whether we like it or not.
“I’m sorry, Mack,” Gray says, with a laugh. “You’re great, but I just don’t like you, like you. You know what I mean?”
Aiden laughs, “Congratulations, Bro. I’m sure your asshole will swell with pride.”
“It’s not mine,” Dominick says, shaking it at them.
“Dude, watch where you shake that fuckin’ thing!” Hunter shouts, stepping back. “Someone peed on that! That’s a bodily fluid limit I will not cross.”
“One of the girls dropped this the other night at the diner,” Dominick says, narrowing his eyes at the guys. “Shaft tradition is going to be exempt one baby momma while the rest of the bottle goes to poppa.”
The guys look between the three of us. Mixed emotions on all their faces as they scrutinize each one of us possible baby bakers. Men. Always trying to figure shit out on their own, when it’s just easier to ask the questions everyone wants to know the answers to.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” I shout, rolling my eyes. “Say it already, or I will.”
“It’s mine.”
“Tiger Lily?” Hunter asks, the color draining from his face. “You’re pregnant?”
Eight sets of eyes all land on Chase. Her eyes filling with tears as she wraps her hands around her middle. “I’ve been carrying that thing around in my bag, even after the doctor confirmed it the day after Kara was born. Doesn’t seem real that there is this tiny life growing away inside me. This piece of both of us.” Her eyes go to Hunter, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Baby. I was so shocked, then with everything going on, I just couldn’t find the words.”