by Thia Finn
“Oh, fuck NO! That is not going to happen.” Ryan stopped in front of her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead.
“Ryan, leaving her there with Hayden is wrong, and you know it.”
“Hell, I know, but I don’t want to be away from you. I realize this is too much to ask of Hayden, too. He’s done enough already dealing with her while we were gone. I wish the kid would have told me when he found out.”
Laying her head on his chest, she said, “It wouldn’t have changed anything. It’s not like you could drop the band and run home.”
“Peri, if that were you, I would have damn sure dropped everything and come home to be with you.”
“But it is your baby, and you should feel the same about it, regardless of who the mother is.” She untangled herself from him, unhappy with his comment.
“Yeah, and what if it’s not my baby?” he whispered. “I’m going to insist on a paternity test as soon as possible. Can they do that before the baby is born?” He grabbed her hand.
“I believe they can, but I think it’s not the safest thing to do. You need to find out before you ask her because she’s going to have a fit when you bring it up. You know that, right? She seemed pretty certain the baby is yours.” Peri glanced at him, with questions in her eyes. “Do you think there’s a chance it’s not?”
“Hell, I wouldn’t put anything past her at this point. I thought I knew her but after the shit she’s pulled, who knows?”
“The timing is right, isn’t it?” Discussing his sex life with his ex was not high on Peri’s list of favorite topics, but this was medical and it all needed discussing.
“I guess it is. We had sex a lot before she got all pissed about me being on the road, but I can’t tell you when the exact last time was.” He tried thinking back before he left for Europe.
Peri thought back, too. So much had happened since then; she couldn’t recall those days leading up to their departure for London and she knew he would have a hard time with it as well.
He stood and ran his hands across the top of his head and down his face. “What the hell am I going to do? I want to do the right thing here, Peri, but I want to be with you. You know that right?”
“Yes, I know that Ryan, but you have others to think about for now instead of yourself, and you can’t afford to put me first in this situation. That child needs to come first.”
He bent forward and put his hands on his knees and blew out a long breath. “I know it. Damn it, I know it.” He paused and then added, “Peri, why don’t you head on home and I’ll be there after a while. I’ve got to make some decisions about this whole ordeal, and I don’t want you to feel like you’re now tied up in my mess.”
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t want me tied up in it’?” She couldn’t believe he said that to her. She was trying to be as supportive as she could be about the entire situation, and now he was going to make decisions without even talking to her about them. “No, Ryan. That’s not going to happen. If I’m going to be part of your life, then we need to make a joint decision.”
He saw that she was serious. “I don’t want you to feel like you are stuck with me and the baggage I’m about to drag into our lives.”
“If I felt stuck Ryan, I would back out now. I’m no quitter and you know it. We do what we have to and we do it together.”
“Are you sure about this?” She nodded her head yes. “Okay, then. We’ll deal with it together. What I don’t want is for this to come between us. I guess I’m moving in today. I might have to pay for her a place of her own until the testing if Hayden doesn’t want to put up with her shit. Let’s get my things while the place is empty.” They left through the front door, forced to pass by Krissy’s desk.
“What? You have nothing to say to me, Ryan?” Peri knew from her comment that Krissy was set on a confrontation with him.
“No, Krissy. I’m moving my things out of the apartment. You and Hayden will have more room that way, and we won’t have to deal with each other.”
“Where are you going? I thought you would want to be with our baby and me when you got home?” The surprised expression she was wearing didn’t faze Ryan.
“I’m moving in with Peri. I came down to tell you. I didn’t expect to get blindsided with your news.”
“Peri?” Krissy stared back-and-forth between the two and had no words.
Peri wouldn’t meet her eyes at first. She hated being in the middle. “He’s going to stay there until you decide what you’re going to do.” It sounded like she was simply offering him a place to stay, instead of proclaiming their new relationship.
“I’m not going to do anything but live with my baby’s daddy and raise our child.” Krissy’s anger was now boiling over, and Peri knew she expected Ryan to man up and be the father to her child.
“No, Krissy, that’s not going to happen. Peri and I are seeing each other, and we are moving in together. Even if we weren’t, I wouldn’t be living with you now or after the baby is born.” Peri eyed Ryan, surprised at the way he confirmed their relationship to Krissy. “I’m not going to lie to you, Krissy. You need to know about us now before this goes any further. Of course, you can stay in the apartment until the baby comes and then we’ll go from there. The first order of business will be to make sure the baby is mine.”
“NO FUCKING WAY! You did not just say that, you son of a bitch!” She rounded the desk coming at him. “How can you even think that? You know this is yours!” Krissy’s loud yells prompted several office doors to open and people to come running from the back.
Peri was shocked when Krissy started swinging at Ryan, and watched as he did all he could to hold her off. “Krissy, STOP! That’s enough. You’re going to hurt yourself and the baby!” He yelled in her face, stunning her and the force of her hits faded. She broke down crying hysterically and fell to the floor with his arms around her.
“You can’t do this to yourself, Krissy, or to the baby. We’ll figure out something before the baby gets here, but for now, you need to calm down. You’ll end up back in the hospital, and that’s not going to help anything.” Peri and Ryan stood her back up and led her to the sofa. The spectators went back to their offices, and Peri was glad not to have an audience present to witness Krissy’s meltdown.
When she calmed down and stopped crying, she stood assuring everyone she was fine. She dramatically took a deep breath. Peri and Ryan watched her carefully.
“I’m fine. Just go. I don’t need you, but I do expect you to take care of our baby. If you even think about being a deadbeat dad, you better get yourself a lawyer now.” The phone rang, and she snatched up the receiver immediately changing her tone and effectively dismissed them so she could do her job.
On the way to his truck, Ryan’s mind still hadn’t wrapped around this new turn of events. He didn’t know if he could be a daddy to anyone right now. Peri could tell he was trying to wrap his head around his thoughts of the news.
Hayden was getting up again when they arrived back at his apartment. He’d had a show the night before returning home in the early morning hours. He rarely had the opportunity to drink at his shows since he was underage, but some of the bartenders would slip him a beer now and then. Last night he wanted a drink badly, worried over facing Ryan after keeping Krissy’s condition from his cousin. Krissy threatened to reign hell down on him if he said anything. She wanted to be the one to tell him, so he let it ride. Now he wasn’t sure it was the right decision.
“You have a show last night?” Ryan observed Hayden’s tired face.
“Yeah, and that bartender is pretty cool with letting me drink as long as I don’t make a big thing out of it and have a ride home. I guess I got in around four this morning.” Ryan just nodded at him, realizing that this was a lifestyle he was well-acquainted with and one that was hardly conducive to raising a kid.
“From the look on your faces, I guess you’ve talked to Krissy, huh?” He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot.
<
br /> “Yeah, that’s right. What I want to know is why the hell you didn’t think that was important enough to tell me about, especially when she was in the damn hospital?” Ryan didn’t yell, but Hayden knew he was angry.
“She warned me not to. She said she wanted to be the one to tell you since it is y’all’s baby.” Ryan didn’t know to say to him.
“I guess I’ll start searching for a place of my own now that you’re back. I was hoping to stay a little longer but it looks like I need to do it a lot sooner.
“A head’s up would have been fucking nice, Hayden. Shocked the shit out of me when she dropped that fucking bomb on me.” Ryan’s anger came out.
“I know. I was shocked when she told me too, but I should have known when she got up every morning sick like that. She couldn’t keep anything down for so long. I was afraid to leave her alone.”
“Kid, I’m sorry you had to deal with her shit in my absence. I suppose I should have been here for her when all that was happening. She should have told me herself rather than waiting all this time for me to come home.”
“I think she was too afraid. At first, she didn’t want to believe it herself. I kept telling her to tell you, but she wanted to wait until you got back. I think she just needed time to accept it and hoped when you saw her, you would be happy about it and take her back. But I guess from the face you’re making, you’re not too happy about it?” He poured his first cup and gestured an offer to Ryan and Peri before taking his first hot sip.
“You think? I am definitely not happy about it. I can’t help but wonder if the manipulative bitch did it on purpose. She wanted me to quit the fucking band and stay home with her, and when I told her that was not happening, I think she made up a plan. Baby or not, Krissy or not, I would never quit the band.” He and the rest of the guys worked too hard to get where they were now. It was ludicrous to think he would back away now.
Ryan walked into his bedroom Krissy had taken over in his absence, and searched around. He stuck his head out the door, “I’m going to take the rest of my stuff today over to Peri’s house. What I want to know is how you feel about staying here with Krissy?”
Hayden looked at him over the top of the cup. “I guess it will be fine.”
“No, I want the damn truth. I told you that you could live here until you were ready to move on. I doubt you are making enough to move out yet, but I don’t want to burden you with my shit, either. Believe me, I know Krissy is going to be a problem.” Ryan loaded his things into a duffel bag while he talked. He finally returned to the living room and sat down next to Peri, who had been watching the exchange.
“Honestly, she hasn’t been that much of a problem. She’s been pretty nice to me. She usually cooks dinner when she feels good enough, so I get to eat good food before I have to go to play my set. I give her money for groceries since she takes care of shopping. We get along now.”
“Yeah, I know she was a huge pain in the ass in the beginning. I guess a letter from the lawyers helped out.”
“After she figured out she was pregnant, she got in a panic over where she was going to live. I told her not to worry about it since I was the one who told you about what she was doing. Seemed like she was sick all the time after that so I didn’t have to worry about her getting in my bed.”
“That’s a good thing, then, huh? I don’t like hearing she was sick.” Ryan reached for Peri’s hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He was glad she responded to him and allowed their contact.
“Has she been sick since she got out of the hospital? She looks like hell and way too skinny.” Ryan finally asked Hayden. He’d never been around a pregnant woman, but he didn’t think they were supposed to lose weight or appear as bad as she did.
“Yeah, she wakes up and eats crackers before she gets out of bed, and that seems to help. I make sure she has them before I get into bed every night because waking up to someone yakking is not my idea of a good morning.” Hayden smiled a little at his admission.
“So, if this plan is alright with you, she can to live here until the baby’s born, and then we’ll see what’s what. You can live here until you are ready to move. I’ll pay the rent because I don’t want her living in some hell hole, and I’ll pay for groceries, too. I want her eating right for the baby and all. She has insurance now, and mine will cover the baby, too.”
He turned to Peri. “What did you say about seeing a special doctor? You were telling me things I needed to know at the studio, but my damn mind was in a bit of a haze at the time.”
“She might need to see a specialist since she’s already tried to miscarry once. You need to talk to her about that complication. Also, you have to be nicer to her. She’s already feeling bad and is hormonal. The last thing she needs is you yelling at her or saying mean things to her.” He knew Peri was probably already angry for what he had already said.
“I know and I’m sorry for doing that, but she brings out the worst in me. I’m not a dick, you know that. I’ll be nicer from now on. I still want to check into having a paternity test done before the baby’s born. I want to know for sure it’s my kid.”
“Whether it is or not, she needs to be in a calm environment. Her getting upset is not great for that little one.” Peri told him and he knew she was right.
“Okay, Dr. Oz, I’ll make sure to hold off on the bitching. Don’t want to see the pregnant woman get mad. And you,” he pointed to Hayden. “No more secrets about her health. If she’s having a problem, I want to be the first one to know.” Hayden nodded his head. “Also, if she gets to be too much, I want you to tell me. She is my damn problem, kid, and I don’t want you to feel responsible for taking care of any of the shit I’ve caused. You’re caught in the middle too much as it is.”
“Right, you’ll be the first one I call when she’s got barf between her toes and all over the damn wall. That was just great fun cleaning up. She was crying and I was cleaning. Let me tell you, it was not a good sight.” Hayden laughed at Krissy’s expense, but he knew she ended up laughing that night too when it was all over.
“That’s some fucked up shit there, Hayden. You can keep that information to yourself. I probably would have been cleaning up after myself, too.” They all laughed at that comment as Ryan and Peri made their way out the door with the last of Ryan’s bags.
On Monday, all of AD made their way back to the studio to listen to the music the producers mixed while they were gone. They needed to start rehearsing the new music they worked on while on tour, too. It was a great way to spend their down time, not that they had much of it.
Peri walked in the rehearsal room and gazed around at the group as they lounged around. “What’s going on in here? Y’all are supposed to be working, not being lazy.”
“Damn, girl, we just got home. I’m still living on Paris time.” Gunner said.
“You wouldn’t be if you’d stop your fucking crazy hours Skyping with your hot little French piece.” Carter slapped him on the back of the head.
Gunner jumped up and rounded on him. “Don’t talk like that about Layla. She’s not a piece of anything to you.”
“Whoa, dude. Sorry, I didn’t know that subject was off limits.” Carter backed away.
“She’s off limits to your brain, fuckface. Don’t think about her in any of your usual terms.” Gunner sat back down on the stool.
The rest of the group openly gawked at Gunner. He had never given a second thought about a single girl he’d met on the road, especially one as far away as France.
“That’s a long fucking distance relationship you’ve got going there, Gunner,” KeeMac told him with a laugh. “How are you going to pull that off?”
“Don’t know yet, but we’re only talking right now.”
“And spending a lot of time with your right hand?” Carter added.
“Shut the fuck up, asshat. That’s it. I’m not fucking telling you shit anymore.” Gunner went after him again.
Peri stepped in between them this time. “That’s eno
ugh Carter. What he does in his time isn’t any of your business. You do have work to do, so you all need to get started.” She eyed at each one separately and left the room.
“Guess we might as well get on with the magic.” KeeMac grabbed his guitar out of the case and did a little tuning while the rest got setup. “Chandler and I worked on the first song before we got here, so let us show your punk asses what we’ve got so far.”
They spent the next four hours fine-tuning the song that was started on the bus somewhere in Austria. They worked the music over, and it sounded close to perfect by the time they quit for the evening and everyone, including Cash who had stopped in to listen, was satisfied that it would be perfect to finish out the album.
Cash talked to them about the tour and how happy the label was with the play they were getting in Europe. He wanted to stick around when Peri spoke up to tell them the good news: their sales had skyrocketed while they were touring, which meant their royalties had, too.
“I wanted to tell you all,” Peri started, “that two of the singles that dropped while we were in Europe have now been at number one on the charts for the last ten weeks, and your last album has gone platinum. You know this means that you’ve sold over a million copies of the cd, right? The band has also garnered multi-platinum status for digital downloads which means there has been over 400,000.”
The noise level rose with all of their cheers and whistles of celebration over the news. “You’ve all worked hard and paid your dues, and the work is finally paying off. You will each be getting a check deposited to your accounts for royalties. It will be a little more than you’ve been getting while we were gone.” Another round of hurrahs erupted. “We’ll see you back here tomorrow morning at nine, please. I expect you to put in a full day.”
“Wow, listen to our little Peri being all authoritative and bossy,” Gunner said to the group.