Ready For Flynn, Part 2 : A Rockstar Romance (The Ready For Flynn)
Page 35
RedA fans and some old Major ScAlz fans had found out where we lived through the press. They had flocked to the gates of Valerie’s parents’ place and had formed some kind of vigil. Lee being true to his word had interviewed some security for Valerie and our son. One male and one female were hired, and two more were given jobs as general security for the studio and gates.
I knew Valerie hated the thought of more security, but she would have hated the thought more of her privacy being invaded. Saying that, the fans were decent people and generally good-natured, but there was bound to be at least a few crazy motherfuckers out there that wanted blood because Valerie was the mother of my baby.
We were fortunate that the land surrounding their place in Iowa was pretty wild, her father had let it go since the boys’ deaths, and there was a high wall on the two ends that ran along the gates until the creek met it on both sides. Since my money issues had been resolved I’d had a state of the art CCTV system installed with monitors both in the houses and covering the property, and regular patrols from a security company down the south side of the property as well. Lee was happy, so I was happy that my family had enough protection to keep them safe.
*****
Twenty-five days after Liam was born we got to take him home. Valerie was ecstatic about having him there. I’d been around for the last two and a half weeks at the hospital with her, and even though I’d felt confident in the hospital, the thought of having him home gave me goose bumps and my self-confidence was zilch. What do I know about being a dad?
Watching Valerie with him gave me a lot of satisfaction. She was a natural, and I’d never once heard her complain about being tired, sore or any of the other things she must have been feeling both physically and emotionally. Of course, I helped as much as I could, but at that stage, it consisted mainly of lying with him on my chest and changing diapers.
Valerie’s parents, Kayden and Amber were amazing. They’d take turns of walking Liam around the grounds while Val and I caught a nap sometimes. That kept me sane with the night feeds. Apart from that Valerie insisted on taking care of Liam ourselves.
On the band front, we’d been lucky to have a natural break in our schedule and Javier had taken on a lot of Valerie’s menial work and had become schedule manager for the band. We were grateful for his input, but within two weeks of Liam being home, she was clawing back more and more control.
Apart from places we could travel to in a day, we refused gigs, but since we were in the studio again cutting another album we had an excuse for the media. However, we’d allowed a couple of journalist’s access to do a fly-on-the-wall documentary as a way of keeping us current, and as always, Valerie was relentless in riding Javier’s ass metaphorically speaking, to get regular messages out to the public. Alison was proving her worth as my social media prodigy and was able to post without edit, once she’d got the hang of the vibe we wanted to create.
*****
On the day Liam would have been due, he was seven weeks and three days old and looked like a normal newborn baby. He was born five pounds two ounces and was a hefty six pounds five ounces by his actual due date.
Valerie set up a session in the studio for the family, and had captured some truly beautiful images of Liam with his grandparents, then added us to that, then a family one with Kayden and Amber. She took a couple of Kayden and herself with him, then some of her, Liam and I as a family.
After that, there were a few of her and Liam, and then tons of him and me. When I looked at them, I saw the talent Valerie had on the other side of that lens. She’d captured our Liam’s face looking up at mine, and we both had the same expressions.
Despite Valerie’s promise not to take pictures at home while we learned the ropes as parents, she had. I’m glad she broke her word because she’d taken a candid one of Liam and me, and put it on a massive canvas. She hung it on the Mezzanine rail while I was in the recording studio one day. Every day since then when I opened our door, it was the first thing I saw.
In it, I’m lying on our huge white bed wearing a pair of black shorts and Liam is curled up on his knees sleeping on my chest. The dark ink of my tattoo next to his pure, unblemished skin gave him an extra layer of purity and looked awesome. My huge hand spans his back from his shoulders to cover his butt, and it epitomized my love for my son. Every time I look at it, I think it’s about the best image of fatherhood anyone could have taken.
Valerie had recovered from her surgery, and although it had taken a while, her stomach was flat again. Apart from the scars, and a few silver stretchmarks she was pretty much the same as before, figure-wise, but even more beautiful in my eyes. She was a little self-conscious about me seeing her post-baby figure, but I’d have loved her no matter what, and if I’m honest, I actually loved feeling those lines that have faded to silver because they remind me she’s mine because I helped put those there.
When Dr. Clark said to Valerie not to lift anything heavier than her baby, I think she took that literally, but I had to smile when I saw Liam strapped to her front like an extension of her. Whatever she was doing she seldom put our baby down or gave him to anyone else. If it couldn’t be done with him attached to her, she wasn’t doing it. That was fine until I wanted to take her out to dinner when Liam was almost three months old.
Getting time alone had been difficult, and it had been over five months since we’d gone out by ourselves. While I loved being a dad, I found I’d been missing that part of our close relationship. For someone so laid back in her approach to things, when it came to Liam she was fiercely protective of her role.
Valerie was only just twenty-years-old, and sex for us had taken a back burner, or it was a hurried grope in the bathroom or upstairs when we found the time, and she wasn’t too tired. Liam’s needs were great, and with Valerie being a new mom, we’d kind of pushed us aside and put our baby first.
I’d been tolerant to a fault, but after five months, I finally talked her into a night out with me. Amber and her mother had agreed to babysit, and I was so fucking excited about having Valerie all to myself.
It had taken Amber and me a lot of persuasion she agreed on our third attempt. Her mom had reassured her by listing our son’s routines and pre-empted every catastrophe Valerie could imagine. Eventually, she took a deep breath and slipped her arm around my waist and allowed me to lead her out of the door. When she saw the helicopter land she squealed with delight because I’d had Lee arrange it for us—she’d never been in one before.
Excitedly she asked where we were going, and I knew I was taking a chance, but when I told her I was taking her to St. Cloud for the evening. Her smile froze for a second then she nodded her approval and squeezed my hand, too choked to speak. Valerie had never been, and although I was a little apprehensive about taking her, I wanted her to know the place where Martin had spent three happy years of his life.
The ride to St. Cloud from home was smooth and in less than two hours we were walking my old college campus on that beautiful summer’s evening. It was almost deserted because it was summer break.
I’d taken her there to bury some ghosts. Martin had loved the place, and it felt right for her to know that. She said she’d felt close to him as we wandered around, but after an hour I knew she was ready to leave, so I took her to a drive-in movie near the lake, and we sat making out for almost all of the movie, in a blacked out hired sedan. She fell asleep near the end so I quietly drove back to the chopper, and we headed for home.
On the way home, she asked why I’d chosen to do what I had, and my answer was simple.
“I wanted to take you to where my love for you began. When I was rooming with Martin, we clicked instantly. We had no secrets from each other. He was a kind, caring guy who was full of humanity, but funny as fuck as well,” I snickered, and Valerie smiled her beautiful smile and dipped her head to look at her lap.
“I’d figured Martin was everything I wasn’t, but he liked me anyway. Listening to Martin talk about you, and your family made me
live vicariously through him. His family was the one I should have had. Even though I’d never met you, Valerie, I knew more about you than I’ve ever let on.”
Valerie frowned, puzzled by what I meant. “I know that Buster is your dog and that you got him as a puppy for your tenth birthday. I knew about Bradley and Heidi because Martin wanted to drive down and beat the fucker senseless when he’d found out what he’d done. I knew about your uncle that passed, and how Martin beat himself up because his finals kept him from paying his last respects.”
I watched her bright, loving eyes as they ticked over my face in the moonlight, and I watched Valerie swallow as if it were painful to do so. “The bracelet with the music notes Martin bought you for your sixteenth birthday…we’d picked that out together at this old-fashioned jewelry store in St. Cloud. He was struggling for something special because it was your sweet sixteen, and he’d wanted you to have something you could keep forever. I’d remembered him talking about how you loved playing the guitar and when I’d seen the bracelet it had been almost hidden on a bottom shelf in the store. I’d asked if you might like it and he told me you’d love it. When he saw the price he was thirty-five dollars short in his wallet.” I didn’t have to tell her I helped him with that, after all, she was wearing the bracelet.
“When I asked him to show me pictures of you, he refused and told me that I’d fall in love with you. He said he wouldn’t do that to me because you deserved better than a raggedy assed musician. He was right on that count. That day when he invited me to your place for Thanksgiving, I sat for three hours while he told me he’d cut my balls off and feed them to me with a toothpick if I as much as kissed you, and I promised him I’d leave you alone.”
“You kissed me,” she whispered.
“No, Valerie, I pressed my lips to yours. That wasn’t the same thing. If I’d kissed you like I’d wanted to, l would have kissed you like I’d never have seen you again, and that would have destroyed both of us. You weren’t ready for what we have now, and neither was I, so I did the right thing.”
“Did you and Martin ever discuss me again? I know he said you argued.”
“The morning we left after Thanksgiving, Martin asked me again if I’d made a move on you. I was honest with him, Valerie. I told him about our conversations, and I told him I’d tried to stay away. Martin being the kind of guy he was told me that he had to accept some responsibility for that because he’d already known the likely outcome before he’d brought me to meet you. I told him that I’d left my number, and I’d stay away, but if you ever called me, then all bets were off.”
“So, all I had to do was call you?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Walking back in the dark she slipped her hand under my t-shirt and scored her nails down my chest. I shivered, and my dick was instantly hard, “So, Mr. Docherty, here we are like an old married couple? Who’d have thought three years ago we’d ever have a family?”
“Nothing old about me, babe,” I chuckled and tickled her ribs.
“I love you, Valerie Docherty,” I said. I’d wanted to say it out loud and let her hear what having my name sounded like.
Valerie stopped and gave me a soul-searching look in the dim light, and I held my breath.
“Do we need labels and names? Do we need rings, and contracts, Flynn?”
I stared back, and my heart sank, disappointed at her response because despite what we’d been through Valerie was young and she had her reasons for not wanting more. Maybe she genuinely didn’t need it, or maybe she just wasn’t ready to make a lifetime commitment.
“I never asked you and it’s plagued me. I didn’t ask, not because I didn’t want to be tied down, Valerie. It was because I don’t feel worthy of you.”
“Of course, you are, I’m only a girl, Flynn. So I’ll ask you again, do we need rings for people to know I’m yours? Would a ring bind me to you forever?”
“It’s only a symbolic gesture, Valerie. I’d give you the fucking world if I could.”
“I know, and I’d give you the same. Why do we have to declare our love in front of others? What does that do for us? Would it make us behave differently toward each other?”
I shook my head because we were solid and happy as a couple, and completely committed to each other. I could see her perspective, and I knew it wouldn’t have made an ounce of difference one way or another to her.
I loved Valerie with everything in me, and I knew she felt the same, so I let the non-question I hadn’t asked her go. I hadn’t prepared to propose marriage to her, each time it had entered the conversation had been purely organic. I was happy to have her in my life and in my bed. I knew emotionally she was mine, but she didn’t seem to want to be possessed.
Who was I to argue with someone who was so secure in her love for me, or was she just not ready? Maybe one day she’d realize it was more about my sense of belonging to her not just hers on paper, and she’d make that official. For now though, I was happy.
End of Part 2
Other Titles by K.L. Shandwick
Lily’s story (The Everything Trilogy)
Book 1 Enough Isn’t Everything
Book 2 Everything She Needs
Book 3 Everything I Want
Love With Every Beat (Alfie’s POV on music, fame and love).
just Jack (Jack from the Everything series)
Everything Is Yours (An Everything Novella)
The Last Score Series
Gibson’s Legacy
Trusting Gibson
About K.L. Shandwick
K. L. Shandwick lives on the outskirts of London. She started writing after a challenge by a friend when she commented on a book she read. The result of this was "The Everything Trilogy." Her background has been mainly in the health and social care sector in the U.K. She is still currently a freelance or self- employed professional in this field. Her books tend to focus on the relationships of the main characters. Writing is a form of escapism for her and she is just as excited to find out where her characters take her as she is when she reads another author's work.
Website:
http://www.klshandwick.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kl.shandwick
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/klshandwick
Pinterest:
https://uk.pinterest.com/kshandwick/
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 ~ Flynn
Chapter 2 ~ Flynn
Chapter 3 ~ Valerie
Chapter 4 ~ Valerie
Chapter 5 ~ Valerie
Chapter 6 ~ Flynn
Chapter 7 ~ Valerie
Chapter 8 ~ Flynn
Chapter 9 ~ Valerie
Chapter 10 ~ Valerie
Chapter 11 ~ Valerie
Chapter 12 ~ Flynn
Chapter 13 ~ Valerie
Chapter 14 ~ Valerie
Chapter 15 ~ Flynn
Chapter 16 ~ Valerie
Chapter 17 ~ Flynn
Chapter 18 ~ Flynn
Chapter 19 ~ Valerie
Chapter 20 ~ Flynn
Chapter 21 ~ Flynn
Chapter 22 ~ Flynn
Chapter 23 ~ Valerie
Chapter 24 ~ Valerie
Chapter 25 ~ Valerie
Chapter 26 ~ Valerie
Chapter 27 ~ Valerie
Chapter 28 ~ Flynn
Chapter 29 ~ Flynn
Chapter 30 ~ Flynn
Chapter 31 ~ Flynn
Chapter 32 ~ Flynn
Chapter 33 ~ Valerie
Chapter 34 ~ Valerie
Chapter 35 ~ Valerie
Chapter 36 ~ Valerie
Chapter 37 ~ Flynn
Chapter 38 ~ Flynn
Chapter 39 ~ Flynn
rom.Net