by Thomas, C. M
“That I needed him to make Liam go back to his house alone. Apparently, he isn’t letting Alana out of his sight today.” I smiled at that. I knew how much they had bonded over the last three weeks. But I also knew that it was his way of keeping himself from driving straight over to my house and making me come back with him.
Zane: He is on his way, hope you’re ready.
Me: Thank you.
I looked at the bedroom one more time. I’d lit a lot of candles and turned off the lights. It was not dark outside; it was, after all, the middle of the afternoon. But all the candlelight and the closed curtains were still doing what I wanted them to. I wanted to make this special. I didn’t think about sex, but about telling him that I was staying.
That I would be with him if he still wanted that. That I would go with him on tour. That I thought it was time that we publish a photo of the three of us together. That I wanted him to officially be her daddy.
When I heard the front door open, my heart started to beat fast. I hoped he saw the light from the bedroom and came in here by himself. I sat on the bed, waiting. I heard him walk down the hall and then his footsteps stopped. For a second, I thought he might not come in here after all, but then he opened the door.
“Hi.” I smiled at him.
“What is all of this?” He stood completely still and looked around at all the flames there were flickering in the room.
“Come here.” I held my hand out and hoped that he would come over to me. “Please.”
He looked at me for a moment before he walked over to the bed, sat down beside me, and took my hand in his.
“I missed you,” he said.
“Missed you too.” I turned around so I was looking him directly in the eyes. “I need to tell you something.”
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” He closed his eyes and tried to take his hand from mine, but I held on tightly to him.
“No.” I smiled and waited for him to open his eyes.
“No?” He looked at me, surprised.
“I’m staying here, if you still want me to,” I said.
“Promise?” I really didn’t think that me needing the time to figure this out would make him so insecure.
“Yes. I’m here until you won’t want me anymore.” I hoped that time never came.
“That will never happen, Sunshine.” He smiled at me and pulled me closer to him. I was cuddling up against his chest.
“I have more to tell you.” I looked up at him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He leaned down and kissed me. Just a small kiss on the lips.
“I think it’s time.” He raised his eyebrow, looking at me. Waiting for me to explain. “We need to show the world our girl.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. I want the world to know that you’re mine and that your girl is mine. Ours.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to the guys about it.”
“Anna is doing it as we speak.” I smiled at him. I’d asked her about it before she left after she drove me here.
“You planned this well.” He smiled.
“I did. And I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve if you can take them?”
“Bring it on. As long as you’re staying with me, then I don’t think anything will surprise me.”
“I want to put your name on Alana’s birth certificate.”
“Really?” He let out a small gasp.
“Yes. You’re her dad and she already has your name.” I smiled at him. I hadn’t told him her whole name yet. He never asked.
“She does?”
“Yes.” I grinned.
“What’s her full name?”
“Alana Coleen Camden.” I smiled.
“Wow. My mom will have a heart attack when we tell her that. Thank you.” He kissed my forehead and held me close.
“No need to thank me. Your mom means a lot to me. She helped me a lot when I was a child and a teenager. She always welcomed me with open arms. She still does. I wanted Alana to have her name. That way she would always be reminded of how to treat people. And her last name was always Camden. I mean, look at her.” I laughed.
“I know. She is a Camden for sure. She is a mini me, with small hints of you mixed in.” He laughed with me. “Any more surprises? I didn’t think you could surprise me, but I guess I was wrong.”
“Just one more.” I looked up at him. “If you want us, we would really like to go on tour with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I want us to be together. The three of us. And this is your job, so of course we will come with you. It’s not like I have to work so we can get food on the table.” I winked at him. I wanted to work, but I needed to finish school first. And right now, being Alana’s mom was my job. I loved that more than any other job I’d ever get.
“I know.” He turned me in his arms, so I was straddling him. “I love you, Sunshine. I thought I lost you last night.”
“I’m sorry. I really needed the talk I had with Anna and to cry and break the last walls down. I needed to be okay with my face and name in tabloids. I needed to be sure that Alana is safe.” I rested my head on his chest and held him close to me.
“She will be. I promise you that.” He kissed the top of my head. “Look at me.”
I looked up at him. He smiled at me before he put his hands on my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss. The moment our warm lips connected, I felt the tension leave my body. I leaned closer to him and moved my hands to the back of his head. The kiss was fiery, passionate and hot. Our tongues were playing with each other. Liam’s hands moved down my curvy body and soon they were under my shirt. He pulled the shirt over my head.
“So beautiful,” he whispered. “I love you so much.”
“I love you more.” I pulled his shirt off before I kissed him again. I needed his kisses more than I needed my next breath right now. I needed the comfort and the security. I needed his love. “Love you always,” I whispered into the kiss.
“Always,” he agreed with me. With one quick move, I was under him, and he smiled down at me. “Never run again, okay?”
“Never.” I closed my eyes for a moment, then I felt his lips on mine once again. I looked at him. He was my soulmate.
“Want to go get our girl?” Liam asked me a couple of hours later. We were still in bed, curled up against each other. Naked. After the most passionate and emotional sex I’d ever had, I was exhausted. But I missed Alana.
“Yeah, I would like that. I miss her.” I smiled against his chest.
“She misses you too. She asked a lot about where you were this morning. Last night too. She wouldn’t sleep, so she slept in here with me.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be. I know you needed to figure everything out. I’m just happy I didn’t lose you again.” He kissed the top of my head.
“You never will. Never did. I’ve always been yours, always will be.” I moved so I could see his face.
“Come on, let’s get out of bed and get our girl,” he said with a warm smile.
We got out of bed and got dressed. Then we walked together to Zane’s house. Apparently, Alana wanted to go home with Zane and Anna. Liam got a text from Zane that they were at his house and when we were ready we could come get her.
“We need to talk to the guys and Anna about a statement from us. About you and Alana,” Liam said as we walked hand in hand to get our girl.
“I know. Can we do it tomorrow? Maybe Anna can make a suggestion we can look over tomorrow.”
“We can do that. That way she can talk to Logan too. To make sure he is on the same page as us about this.”
I smiled at him and we walked in silence the rest of the way. When we got to Zane’s house, Liam didn’t bother knocking, he just walked inside. I could hear Alana laugh the moment we
opened the door. I was still surprised how fast she had grown attached to everyone, especially since we weren’t with other people much before we got back here. We were always by ourselves; I didn’t want to talk with the others at Crossroads. And actually, I think that many of the other girls were feeling like me, because I didn’t see many of them more than the times where we didn’t have a choice.
“She looks happy,” Liam whispered, and smiled at me and looked back at Alana. She was sitting on the floor with Zane and both dogs. They were watching her favorite movie, Frozen. Anna was sitting on the couch with her laptop. Probably working. We walked further into the living room. Zane looked over his shoulder and smiled at us.
“Look who’s here,” he said to Alana. She turned her head and looked to where Zane pointed.
“Mommy,” she squealed, and jumped up from the floor and ran over to us. I squatted down and caught her when she came running right into my arms.
“Missed you, baby girl.” I kissed her on the top of her head and held her tightly.
“Miss you too,” Alana said, smiling at me.
“You have fun with Zane and Anna?” I asked her, lifting her up in my arms before I stood up and walked over to the couch to sit next to Anna. Liam walked behind us and sat down on one of the chairs beside the couch.
“Yeah. Me and Zay watch Frozen.” She smiled and pointed to the television. I didn’t understand how she could keep watching the same movie over and over again.
“I can see that.” I looked at Zane. “How many times have you seen that?” I pointed at the movie playing on the television.
“More times than I ever though I would watch a Disney movie,” he said. “But I will watch it a hundred more times for her.”
“Then she can come here when she wants to watch it,” Liam teased. Zane slapped him on the knee and laughed with him.
“Have you talked about how to deal with the situation?” Anna asked.
“We will deal with it tomorrow, all of us together. But can you maybe call and talk to Logan now to see what he thinks it would be best to do? And maybe write the statement for when we meet tomorrow?” Liam asked Anna.
“Sure, I can write something. I’ve already talked to Logan. I kind of knew that this would come.” She smiled at him then looked at me. “You doing better?”
“I am. Thanks for last night.” I smiled at her.
“No problem.” She squeezed my hand. “Meeting here or at your house tomorrow? I will call Caleb and Cole. And maybe Dax or Ryder too?”
“I think that would be best. No matter what, Alana needs to be safe,” Liam said. “And let’s do the meeting at our house.”
“Daddy, me are safe.” Alana looked over at Liam.
“Yes, baby. You’re safe here with Mommy and Daddy.” Liam held his arms out and Alana crawled down from my lap and ran over to Liam to sit with him.
“And with your uncles and aunts too,” Zane added.
“Papa and Granny too?” Alana asked, looking at me.
“Yes, baby girl.” She didn’t know how much chaos there was around us right now. I really liked to keep it that way.
Chapter 24:
Liam
“Ready to do this?” I asked Evie. We were lying in bed and she was curled up against me. After coming home yesterday to find her here, I hadn’t let her out of my sight. I was so afraid that I had lost her. That she would walk away from us, from me. But she didn’t—she came back. She wanted to fight for this, to make this relationship work, despite the fact that sometimes the media would write or tell stories that might not be true. That might try to pull us apart. But we would stay strong together. I had faith in that, at least after she came back to me yesterday. I owed Anna a big thank you for talking to Evie and for being there for her when she wanted to be left alone.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She looked up at me. “We post a picture today, right?”
“Let’s hear what Logan said to Anna yesterday first. But yes, I think that would be the best. That way the first picture is out, and they can’t fight over that to make money.” I really hated that some people would do everything to make money, especially when it was my daughter and girlfriend who were the targets.
“I hope it will work. I want to be able to go shopping without fifty photographers right behind me. I know we can’t get rid of them all. But if just half of them are gone, that would be a great start.”
“I agree. We do this together, okay?” I kissed her nose and looked at her. She nodded and kissed me.
“I love you,” she said when her lips left mine.
“I love you more,” I said. “We should get up. The guys will be here in thirty minutes.”
“Fine, I will go take a quick shower.” She got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom. She looked over her shoulder. “Like the view?”
“Always. You’re hot, Sunshine.” I winked at her. She shook her head and smiled before she walked into the bathroom. I got out of bed and got dressed before I walked out of our bedroom.
When I walked into Alana’s room, I saw our baby girl sitting in her bed and talking to Bear. He was lying on the floor and she could reach him between the bars of her bed.
“Daddy.” She smiled when she saw me.
“Morning, baby girl.” I went over and lifted her up and kissed her on the cheek. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. Bear too.” She giggled.
“I’m sure he did.” He adored Alana just as much as she adored him.
“This is what I’ve come up with. I don’t think it’s important that there are a lot of details. Just that Evie is Alana’s mother, and that you guys are a couple. I talked to Logan. He agrees.” Anna pushed her laptop over to Evie and me so we could see what she had written.
Hi everyone, I promised you a photo of my daughter. Here she is with me and her mom, Evie. Her name is Alana and she will be three this September. Hope to see a lot of you when we go back on tour
– Liam
“Looks great to me. How about a picture?” Evie asked.
“Logan suggested that you posted one along with this statement. That way we take away the tabloids’ pursuit for the first picture.”
“Then that’s what we will do. Can you take it?” I asked Caleb. He was sitting with Alana on his lap. When he came into our house, she ran to him and hadn’t left his side ever since.
“Sure. What do you say, princess? Want me to take a picture of you and Mommy and Daddy?” he asked Alana.
“Yes.” She clapped her hands and I took her out of Caleb’s arms and walked over to the couch. Evie walked behind me and sat down beside me on the couch. Alana was sitting on my lap and I wrapped an arm around Evie and pulled her close.
“You okay?” I asked her, and kissed her forehead.
“I think so. I hope this will help, even just a little bit.”
“It will,” Anna said from behind us. “Logan has a lot of experience in this business and he is sure that some of them will leave town when they find out that they can’t get the first picture.”
“Let’s do this,” Evie said. “Look at Caleb, baby girl.”
The three of us all looked up at Caleb, who was taking a lot of pictures of us. I was just about to say that it was enough when Alana jumped down from my lap and ran over to Caleb.
“You picture too. Zay too. Cole.” Alana grabbed Caleb’s pants and tried to drag him over to the couch. I squeezed Evie and smiled at her.
“Come on, guys, let’s get a group picture for the princess,” Dax said. Cole and Zane didn’t look happy, but they walked over to the couch and sat down in front of Evie and me. Caleb and Alana sat beside me.
“If I’m on the picture, so are you, baby.” Zane grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her down to him when she tried to walk away from this.
“No, I’m not a part of the band,” Anna protes
ted, and tried to get up from Zane’s lap. He just held her tightly.
“But you’re family,” I said.
“Fine, let’s get this over with.” She moved around and tried to move to sit beside Zane.
“Don’t, baby. You sit just fine here,” Zane told her.
“All smile,” Dax said, trying not to grin.
After the pictures were posted on our social media, we went into the city so we could get my name on Alana’s birth certificate. Now we were on our way back home, where we would join the rest of the Camden clan for dinner. And we finally got to meet Dax’s daughter. She had been here a couple of days, but since all this with the press had happened, we hadn’t officially met her. I’d seen her around, and more importantly, I’d seen how Caleb looked at her.
“Is it done?” Zane asked when we walked into my parents’ living room. Alana was sitting between Caleb and Cole; they were laughing at something.
“We did. She is officially mine and a Camden too.” I smiled. I still couldn’t believe that Evie gave her my last name. But then again, if I had anything to say about it, Evie would have my last name soon too.
“What’s her full name? You never told us,” Caleb said, looking at Evie.
“You never asked. Her name is Alana Coleen Camden.”
“What did you just say?” I heard my mother gasp from behind us. She must have joined us after we came in here, because when we walked into the house, she was in the kitchen.
“Alana Coleen Camden.” Evie smiled at my mom and walked over and gave her a hug. “You’ve always been someone I looked up to, I want to be a great mother just like you. And you’re her grandmother, I wanted her to know about you even if she never got to meet you.” Tears were running down both Evie’s and my mom’s cheeks. I walked over to them and wrapped my arm around Evie’s waist.
“It’s an honor to know that. Thank you so much,” Mom said to Evie.
“What’s all this crying about?” My dad came over to us and held my mom close to him. He looked at me, then Evie, and then back at my mom. “Well, care to tell me why you are crying?” He kissed her forehead.