by TM Watkins
“Fuuuck, Frankie. Shit, I completely forgot.”
I cracked an eye, turning my head to look at him. Shamefaced and looking like he was expecting me to yell at him.
“What?”
“Condom.”
It was then that I could feel the icky sensation of liquid sliding down my inner thigh. I stood up, trying to hold all possible muscles together to stop any more from leaking. Shit.
“Bathroom's uh, down there I think.”
I kicked off my shoes and picked up my panties, awkwardly walking down the corridor.
As I sat and waited for the semen to drain away, I closed my eyes and tried to find a calm place. Two days in and he's trying to get me pregnant. Because I knew it wasn't an accident. I was just lucky that I knew my dates well and hoped that being a couple of days away from my period would be beneficial.
I knew I'd have to be more mindful of this. He wouldn't do it again for a while but if he was determined then there was a multitude of things he could do. Like putting pin prick holes in a condom or even slipping it off right before entry.
I sighed and wiped the tear away, when we got back from LA and I had confirmed I wasn't pregnant, I will be going on the pill.
Warily I walked back into the study, he was leaning on the desk seemingly looking over the plans.
“Don't you think it's a bit early on?”
My voice was calm, I wasn't going to yell, this wasn't going to be an argument. Curtis said nothing as he rolled up the plans.
“I'm going to have a shower.” I said softly as I picked up my shoes and walked away.
Chapter Eight
The lovely and fiendish Lola Cooper was sitting out on the balcony at Jaxon's apartment. She was slinging back a beer when I approached.
“Evening hun.” she smiled brightly. “Look at you, rockin' the threads.”
I laughed a little and sat on the chair beside her. It was a simple combination of jeans that were intentionally worn and ripped, a shirt and a leather jacket. Oh, and let's not forget the ankle boots with pencil thin heels.
“You want a beer?”
My mouth was ready to say yes but the old brain was screeching no at me. This wasn't about being a designated driver, this was about the fact that someone had tried to knock me up earlier on.
“I might pass.” I said, a little too grim.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, her pretty pink pout pressed a hard line. Lola Cooper was a pretty woman, long luscious blonde hair and the same deep green eyes as her son. She was fairer than he was, he was more tanned.
“What's going on Frankie? Last night you knocked a few back. Are you unwell? You should have stayed home. Do you want me to clip Curtis across the ear for you?”
“I'm good.” I grinned slightly.
She was mother to all, apparently.
“Don't think I've ever seen him this happy.” she mumbled into her beer bottle, taking another swig.
My fingers knotted on my lap as I mindlessly nodded.
“How long have you known him?”
“Since he was knee high to me, we were neighbors before the boys hit the big time. Then we all moved, mostly for security reasons.”
She patted my arm in a motherly way.
“Don't stress about his parents, they are going to love you and if they don't then fuck 'em. Curtis won't give a shit what they think.”
Oh well that's a relief off my mind, one that hadn't even occurred to me. I nodded again.
Curtis walked out and held out a beer for me, I looked up at him with a frown.
“I'm good, thanks anyway.”
“It's cool Frankie, I'm not drinking so you don't have to worry about driving.”
I glared at him, wondering if he had forgotten about this afternoon. Surely he didn't think it was okay to drink.
“It's okay, I won't be drinking tonight.” I said as I raised my eyebrows at him.
Take the hint and stop pushing it. He stared at me for a moment and then without another word, he walked back into the apartment.
I wanted to sag into the chair, groaning that it was becoming too much but I could feel the deep stare from Lola.
“You know.” she began. “There are a few reasons why a woman would refuse a drink. One might be that she wants to remain sober for the event that she is at. I could understand that, given last night and his behavior. Another reason might be that she's driving but we both know that you're not doing that.”
I looked up from my knotted fingers to the supreme smile. She knew.
“Another might be that she's pregnant and doesn't want to harm the child. But that's not possible considering that you've known him for what? Forty-eight hours?”
I silently nodded.
“But then again, it is entirely possible, isn't it Frankie?”
“Yep.” I sighed. “He forgot. We were both wrapped up in the moment, shit happens I guess.”
It had occurred to me that he wasn't solely to blame. That it takes two to tango, so to speak. Sure, he might have had the intention to go bare for the purpose of getting me pregnant. But he might have actually forgotten, he might have been so caught up in acting out the fantasy that he just plain ol' forgot about that one little detail. And, I should have realized. I should have questioned it. I didn't hear the rip of the packet and it was too late now. Now I had to suck it up and accept that accidents happen.
“Evan was an accident.” she said quietly. “But a day does not go by that I do not thank the almighty for the gift that he gave me.”
“We hardly know each other.”
She shrugged and took another swig of her beer.
“Worse things have happened. I knew Evan's father. I was a stupid teenage girl living in a fantasy land, pining for one of her teachers.”
My eyes widened at the revelation.
“He was thrown in jail for it and banned from seeing me when he got out, not that he wanted to after the trouble I caused and I was sent here, to live with my aunt. My mother never really spoke to her anyway, she thought she was more trouble than her own daughter. Not by much though.”
She grinned wickedly and I knew where Evan's naughty streak came from.
“She was a bad person in my mother's eyes, but that wasn't the truth. She just annoyed my mother and the idiot cut almost all ties with her. So I came here to live with her. It wasn't exactly easy but it wasn't hard either. My aunt thought that I had to learn from my mistake. She bought a trailer for me to live in, put it up against the house and told me that was my home and I would raise my son there. I had to get a job and work until I was a week off having him and I had to save every single dollar I earned. Of a night time I was ordered to continue my education and I was expected to pass with good grades. My aunt told me that I was going to be the perfect example to my child, to show him that it doesn't matter what adversity life tries to throw at you, you fight back and give them hell. She was always there for me and I was never alone but I had to do the right thing. I was fifteen when I gave birth to Evan.”
“Holy crap.” I whispered.
“I wasn't allowed to give him away, she said that I would regret it. I never understood what she meant, figuring it was just her bullshit psychobabble.” she frowned. “She was studying to be a therapist. But after hours of being in labor and then finally holding him in my arms, I understood. I couldn't let him go. Because when you love them, you never let go.”
No wonder Evan doted over his mother, she had given up so much to keep him. Regardless of what her aunt had made her do, she could have easily runaway and got an abortion or given him up. Instead she stayed and raised him.
I could see the underlying message clearly. Don't give up, just because it seems hard it isn't always the case. Things work out okay in the end.
Curtis was hard work, I didn't need a degree to figure that one out. He had something going on in that mind of his, some kind of insecurity that was about to explode out everywhere.
“Your aunt's psychobabble, did she tell
you any of it?”
“Somethings she would, mostly when she was dealing with a hormonal teenager with a screaming baby. What's going on?”
I turned and looked at the party, people were laughing and drinking. Jaxon was on the coffee table dancing with two women. Curtis was in the corner talking to Fraser, still not drinking. I turned back to Lola.
“Before they managed to get me fired from my job, I worked at Vinnies. He had been going there for two months before he finally said something, then it was as he beat the shit out of some guy that was giving me a hard time. Well, the girlfriend was, not the guy. All that time, he was there and said nothing, then one night the guys give him shit over his disappearing every Friday and Saturday night and he has to reveal himself. Next morning he's in my apartment, cooking breakfast. Why? Well that's because he told them I was his girlfriend and they believed him. Now he's stuck in some crazy place which I don't know if he really wants to be in it. Is it because his friends are watching every single god damned move we make or that he truly wants to be with me? But after this afternoon, I can't help but wonder if there's something going on that I don't know about.” I sighed as my shoulders hunched. “Please don't tell the guys about what he was really doing, Curtis says they like to rip into each other.”
“They do and I won't say a word.” she smiled warmly. “Well, Evan hasn't said of anything terrible going on, aside from having to go to LA tomorrow. He hates the place, Curtis I don't know. I heard his brother and the wife just had a kid, maybe that's got something to do with it. You know, sibling rivalry.”
Lola got up and closed the door, keeping the sound of the music and chatter down.
“I've never suffered it, I was an only child. From what my aunt said of her relationship with my mother and my grandparents, I know it can be hell. Curtis has three siblings.”
I nodded as I looked up at her. She had her hand firmly planted on the handle of the glass sliding door, ensuring that she would stop any unwanted visitors.
“His brother is a lawyer, one that is really successful. Imagine what mommy and daddy think of him.”
“The sun shines out of his ass?”
She nodded with a large grin.
“One of the sisters is a specialty doctor, the other is studying to be a doctor as well. So you've got three kids that are all in high end professions and one that's a musician.” she held her hand up to stop my objection. “I know, a bazillionaire musician. One that earns more than all of his siblings combined but remember, it wasn't always like that. Those boys struggled to get where they are.”
“So he's lived in his brother's shadow.”
Lola nodded at the statement, leaning on the glass instead of holding the handle. She took a long slug of her beer and cast it to the bin beside her.
“Evan was going through an angry stage when he was about thirteen, you know hormones and not really knowing what's going on. The school suggested I find an outlet for him. I didn't really want him getting into a boxing ring or anything that physical so I bought him a drum kit. He'd bash away at it and vent his anger but he never really got into it. One day Curtis came over and was angry about something to do with his parents or his brother so Evan told him to get on the drums and beat his anger into oblivion. Then Austin started hanging around, I think that he was good company for Curtis when they weren't at my house. Almost like a buffer between Curtis and his parents. A month or so later they had met Jaxon who had moved here from Texas. Evan begged me for a guitar after seeing the one that Jaxon had. My wonderful aunt cleared out her garage for them, she doted over Evan more than I did. Then the little bird across the road ventured out from his mother's wing and finished off their group perfectly.”
She smiled weakly as she looked into the apartment, looking a little morose.
“You can understand why he became as good as he has, any little trouble with his family and he'd be at the kit bashing at it. I'd woken at three am one morning when the boys were sixteen, found Curtis at the kit lightly tapping away at the snare. He shared a bedroom with his brother who had brought a bottle of alcohol into their room and blamed it on him when caught. His parents banned him from playing, said it was sending him down a dark path. He apologized for breaking into the house but he was leaving and wanted to play it one last time. It took a lot to convince him not to leave. I had to make one hell of a deal to ensure that he stayed.”
She chuckled when my eyes widened, leaning over to grab another beer.
“Suddenly the five of them wanted to play soccer and good old mom, she's going to pick us up from school every Friday afternoon and take us to practice.”
The lid popped off and Lola tossed it to the bin.
“It was terrible having to keep a secret from my neighbors, I don't think that they have ever forgiven me for it. Even if it's made their son happy and incredibly rich. So for two years I drove those boys to a rehearsal room. They got better and better, they wrote songs, they practiced so damned hard. Then one day, just a week or so before Fraser turned eighteen we walked into the rehearsal room and it was being used by another band. I cracked it big time, I had reserved the room for the entire year. Every Friday afternoon from four until six it was theirs but the jackasses had mixed it up. So the band's manager is watching on, sees these five kids with their instruments and one crazy as shit mother who is yelling at some poor sap behind a desk. The manager comes over and tries to placate me, I said there was no placating until my boys had their room. With one nod their lives changed forever. The manager clears out the room, waits for the boys to set up their equipment and listens to them.”
She swirled the bottle and took a sip, pondering her thoughts with a soft smile.
“Jerry said that his reason for listening to them was simple. If I had dedicated so much money to them, so many hours dragging them and their equipment back and forth, then they had to be good. He listened, he asked for another. He spent the whole two hours listening to everything they had to offer and at the end of it he handed me a card, telling me to call him in the morning. Our issue was that they were still underage. Austin, Jaxon and Fraser's parents were more than willing to let them become whatever they wanted to be but not Derek and Emma. They had his whole future planned out for him, universities were being considered, applications being filled out. It was painful, he was months off turning eighteen so Jerry sat him down the next afternoon and gave him options. Without parental permission he couldn't offer him a contract, Curtis wasn't allowed to sign it unless he was over eighteen. However, he could emancipate from his parents.”
“Holy shit.” I gasped. “He divorced his parents?”
“It was for the best Frankie, they were fools for not allowing him to do as he wanted. It hasn't been the easiest path for those boys but it's what they love. They wake up of a morning and they are happy. In those few days where Curtis thought that his music was being ripped away from him, he looked miserable. Once he was free of them he signed his own papers and decided his own fate. So if you want issues in his life, start with his entire family. I don't know what to say about the restaurant thing, he's always been a quiet soul. He would have eventually worked up the courage to talk to you properly, it might have taken another two months though.” she grinned wickedly.
Lola lifted herself from the glass door and returned to her seat, sipping her beer and stretching back to look at the night sky.
“As for his intentions with getting you pregnant, maybe that's got to do with his brother. No doubt his parents have been on the phone gloating about how great it is to be grandparents.”
“Do the sisters have kids?”
She shrugged. “Don't know. He's never mentioned it but then again, he doesn't talk about his family much.”
Her head turned to me with a wicked grin. “You're going to the ceremony, aren't you?”
“Yep.”
“They'll be watching, I can guarantee it. Got a nice dress?”
“Gorgeous. Elegant.”
“Good. Make them e
at shit Frankie.”
I sat back and looked at the sky, thinking that I would do just that.
Chapter Nine
Muffled murmurs against the curve of my neck spurned me on, Curtis was going slow. A needful and loving session of sex that seemed to go on forever. Not that I was clock watching or anything. But I totally was, I was still getting used to mister built like a frickin' horse. Not that I look at horse dick or anything. He lifted himself to his elbows, kissing me softly as he continued his rhythmic movement.
We had left the party early, stating that we wanted a good night's sleep unlike the other idiots who were still going hard and would likely continue until the early hours. They hooted at us, yelling that we didn't need to go home to do what we were really doing, that the bathroom would be more than sufficient. We ignored them.
Lola's admission about the past had been an eye opener. I would not have expected to learn such details so early on but maybe she saw something that I couldn't. Maybe the fact that Curtis had pretty much stalked me in silence for the past two months said more than I realized.
I was on a mission now, I was determined to ensure that his parents would find out about us and I could only hope that it would be through the media and not their son. How could they be so stupid? He was so sweet and underneath all those tattoos, piercings and muscles there was a sensitive young man.
Curtis hadn't said much when I briefly glazed over the fact that Lola and I talked about the beginning of Night Fire. His words were that his parents didn't want him to be in a band so he left home and lived next door for six months. He said it was hell and moved in with Austin as soon as he turned eighteen. That was the extent of the conversation about the past.
It moved onto the fact that he doesn't have any diseases and that I didn't need to worry about what happened this afternoon. Aside from that one little thing that could be slowly growing. I didn't know what to do, I was so conflicted. Part of me was shit scared, I didn't believe I could be a mother at such a young age. But then I remembered Lola, she was fifteen and had a baby. If she could do it then I could do it at twenty. With that thought, my mind would flip on me and become desperate to be pregnant. It made me want to pray, beg and barter, anything that would make it real.