His Distraction (Assured Distraction Book 2)

by Thia Finn

  Ryan got back in no time and brought all kinds of juice and soups for her. “Sunshine, how are you feeling? I didn’t know what kind of soup you might like, but my mom always gave us chicken noodle when we were sick. Are you hungry?”

  She smiled at him when he came around the corner into the den. The rose petals still scattered all around reminded her that they had made love several times after all of his hard work just to show her how much he cared for her. Deep down, she knew she should tell him right now, but she wasn’t ready to spoil what they had.

  The next few weeks were difficult for Peri. The food poisoning passed but the morning sickness, that lasted all day, did not. She had to spend more time covering the circles under her eyes, and her curves were losing some of their roundness. Another problem was her breasts were getting larger, and they were tender all of the time now. She wondered how long it would be before Ryan commented on their size.

  Her only saving grace was his distraction: Ryan spent time working with Hayden in the studio which kept him preoccupied and the cousins were getting to know one another. The kid’s voice and music he wrote amazed Ryan. He believed even if Hayden did not make it as a performer, he could sell his music and do well in the industry as a songwriter. Ryan planned to talk to the rest of Assured Distraction about possibly recording a couple of Hayden’s songs for future use and maybe trying them out on the next tour. He was even thinking they might consider taking Hayden along for some backup vocals on the road, and they could record a collaboration on a few songs. Whatever the band agreed to, he wanted to try to help Hayden to succeed.

  Krissy walked in the studio to meet with him and had to stop Ryan before he could get past her. “Ryan, we need to find time to talk, you know. This baby will be here before we know it, and I want an idea of exactly what I can expect out of you.”

  “Like what, Krissy? I’ve already told you that I would be there for the baby. All you need to do is tell me what you need.”

  “You’re needed every day, Ryan. I’m tired after working all day, and yet you aren’t there to do anything for me when I get home. It’s as though I’m doing this all alone.” She knew which buttons to push to make him feel guilty.

  He turned and stared her in the eyes. Honestly, he hadn’t paid any attention to her since she told him about this baby unless she caused a scene. Yes, he went to the appointments and at the next one the doctor wanted to do a sonogram, and they could learn the sex if they wanted. The baby bump now visible made him feel guilty. An absent father was not the kind of dad he wanted to be. If the baby were his, he would be present for his child’s life in every way. Maybe he needed to start acting like it now.

  “I know you’re right about this, Krissy. What if I came to the apartment after work once a week and either brought dinner or cooked?” He knew he needed to man-up to his responsibilities, so he decided to start with this one concession for now.

  He could tell by her reaction that she was shocked. Never did she dream he would consider spending time with her, much less preparing and sharing a meal with her again.

  “I’m sure Hayden and Peri would be happy to eat a nice meal together once a week,” he added.

  Wow, her euphoria was short-lived. She wanted Ryan thinking about her and the baby, not simply visiting for the sake of entertaining her or feeding her.

  “Why would you do that to me, Ryan?”

  “Do what? You want me to be there and help you out. I’m offering to spend an evening, once a week, with you and…” he pointed to her expanding bump. “That’s what I’m trying to do. I can do stuff around the apartment then, too.”

  “Peri and Hayden will interfere with our time. And what kind of “stuff” do you think I need you to do? Hayden already does everything.”

  “I’m sure he does. But you’ll need to get some furniture for it, I’m assuming. I can put it together. You’ll need to move furniture to get its bed in there with you if you plan on staying there. Don’t they have other items they need?”

  “Wait. You expect me to stay in that apartment with Hayden after the baby comes? Have you lost your damn mind? I want my own place for the baby and me, not shared space with some kid who comes and goes at all hours of the night!” Her voice was rising in volume and pitch with each statement.

  “Calm down, Krissy. When the time comes, we’ll look at one of you moving. Hayden probably won’t want to live with you either.” Ryan thought about how he wouldn’t want to be eighteen and living with a woman and her new baby, and he’s pretty sure his young cousin wouldn’t either. And when he factored in how needy she always was, he knew after the baby, it would only get worse.

  “So, you are already planning for me to do this alone, aren’t you? Who’s going to help me with the baby once it’s here? My mother can’t come down and stay, so who’s it going to be? Unless you are planning to hire a full-time nanny for me, I suggest you consider moving back in when Hayden moves out.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen, Krissy. I may hire a nanny until you can go back to work and the baby can go to daycare. And I’ll pay to support the baby, too.”

  “You are such a piece of shit, Ryan. This baby is half yours you know, and you want me to work and raise our child by myself?”

  “No, we will have joint custody. After the doctor thinks it’s safe, I’ll expect to have the baby some of each week. As far as that goes, I’ll take the baby when it’s born and raise it myself. What is never going to happen, Krissy is us living together, so you need to understand that.”

  “I will not give up my baby to you, or anyone else, so you and Peri, or whoever your flavor-of-the-month is, will not be raising my child. EVER!” Krissy was crying and yelling. “Get the fuck out of my sight! You make me sick, Ryan!”

  Ryan decided walking away was a good idea right then. He was furious at her comment about Peri being a ‘flavor’. He tried to offer a solution to the situation, but her expectations were obviously unrealistic. When had she become so high maintenance? He supposed he did sound like a prick about all this, but he still was not convinced the baby was his. Until the test told him for a fact the baby belonged to him, he truly did not want to get deeply involved with her or it. If the baby were his, he would happily raise it without her, but a baby needed its mother. He would bide his time until the facts were laid out on the table for all to see.

  After his unpleasant confrontation with Krissy, Ryan lost himself in work with Hayden all afternoon and late into the evening. It became their routine over the past couple of weeks since Hayden sometimes played until late into the night and he worked as Cash’s assistant on the days he didn’t have a set lined up in a bar.

  Ryan called Peri to check on how her day was going. She’d been so busy the last few weeks with work herself; she would sometimes doze off when she came home. She hadn’t regained all of her strength after the food poisoning incident, so she was often tired late in the day. Sometimes he would come home and find her still sleeping and wouldn’t want to wake her, so he would crawl in beside her and simply pull her close and enjoy her sweet fragrance and the feel of her soft body against his.

  He would never get tired of being next to her in their bed. She was always so receptive when he pulled her close. Sometimes she would mumble his name in her sleep. He loved that she was always thinking of him, even unconsciously. He often wondered how he had been so lucky to find a girl like her. She stuck with him even with all the shit he had going on with Krissy. She put up with his awful hours and never complained. She always did little things like send him short texts during the day to just see how things were going. Their decision to get together was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. He hoped she felt the same way.

  She answered drawing him out of his daydream of her. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Sunshine.”

  “Hey, yourself, Mr. Rockstar.” Peri snickered at her comeback since she knew he disliked the title.

  “You just wait, I’ll be rock staring on that pre
tty little ass of yours!” he teased.

  “Bring it on, guitar man.” Their easy banter kept them both smiling.

  “Laters, baby,” Ryan whispered heatedly, knowing she loved the little quote from Fifty Shades, even if he thought it sounded like something a douchebag would say.

  “Hmmm, I like it. Is that a hint of what you have planned for the evening, Sir?”

  “We aim to please, Miss O’Connor” He hadn’t seen the movie or read the books, but he had heard enough quotes Peri and Chandler like to use, so he was aware of a few from the novel.

  “So, what’s going on, Ryan?”

  “I was wondering if you wanted to join Hayden and me at Bender after work. I was thinking about inviting the whole damn group. We haven’t seen everyone since we got out of the studio, and that was all work.”

  “Yeah, that sounds great. I haven’t seen Chan in a while now. You going to call them all?”

  “Yeah, I’ll take care of it. See you shortly.”

  Ryan fist-bumped each band member as he slid into their favorite booth by the pool tables. They were always great people to hang with, even if they worked together. Music never felt like work to them. It was more like sharing their greatest passion with four of their closest friends. Though it was nice to get a break from them after the tour, it didn’t take long to start missing them either. They were the kind of family members he knew he could always count on when he needed them just like his real family. He knew he could call any of them in a crisis. The band was who he called first when he wanted to hang out or simply needed someone to listen, and he knew they all felt the same connection.

  Ryan kissed Chandler on the cheek. “Peri is so glad to meet up with you tonight. Said it had been too damn long. She was going to stop off at the office to finish up a couple of things and then come straight here.”

  “Yes, it has been too long. How have you both been? You know, she works too hard when we’re at home. No, strike that, she always works too hard. The road is just always a lot worse.” Chandler smiled at him. Ryan knew Peri took her job seriously. She always did, but since she had earned the spot as tour manager her hours were never her own, even when they weren’t on the road.

  “I guess KeeMac told you we were both sick with some food poisoning shit a few weeks back? She had to go to the fucking ER with it.”

  Jabbing KeeMac with her elbow, “No, he didn’t. Keeton, why didn’t you tell me they’d been sick?”

  KeeMac shrugged. “I don’t know. Ryan said she was fine the next day, so I didn’t think a lot about it.”

  “Well, I hope she’s okay now? I wish y’all would have called me. I could have come over and stayed with her if you had to leave or something. I’m good at entertaining.”

  “They gave her an IV bag of fluids in the ER to rehydrate her and some meds for her nausea, and then gave us both antibiotics. She’s better now, but sometimes she still seems so tired. I’ve been thinking maybe she needs to see her doctor now to make sure she’s over it, and it didn’t do any damage or anything.” The others could tell he was worried about Peri not recovering from the illness as completely as he had.

  Peri came through the bar and spotted the group gathered in their usual location. “Hey, everyone,” she greeted the group. “Why do y’all always sit back here where it’s so hot?” While she was still smiling, Ryan knew her tone was off, and Chandler caught it, too.

  “We like to be close to the pool tables so we can fuck with each other’s game and make fun of everybody’s shit shots. That’s half the pleasure in coming here.” KeeMac said when she leaned in to let him kiss her cheek.

  Hayden jumped up. “Not mine, I’ve been mastering this bitch while y’all were off banging hot chicks in Europe. I spent hours here each day after work if I could.” Ryan knew immediately why, and that gnawing feeling of guilt returned for pawning Krissy off on him.

  Carter chimed in, “Dude, any fucking thing would have been better than getting bitched at by your new roommate.” The table seemed to agree with him.

  “She’s not that bad. She slept a lot when she got home from work in the beginning, but she seems right as rain now, especially after she finished her first trimester.”

  “Yeah, about that, Hayden. I told her that Peri and I would start coming over once a week to have dinner with her and do shit she needed to be taken care of before the baby was born.” He studied Peri for confirmation of his statement, and she simply nodded her head.

  He hadn’t mentioned this to Peri. She was surprised that he made the suggestion. Maybe he did care about his ex and the baby more than he let on, which came as a surprise, too. She knew if the baby were his, he would care for it. But he had loved Krissy before, so would having the baby bring them back together eventually? What about her baby? She could see Krissy now, trying her best to entice him back into her life, and maybe even back to her bed. Peri trusted him, but if Krissy were the mother of his child, they would bond over the baby. Would he bond with their child as well? Stop it, Peri. You’re freaking yourself out at something that hasn’t even happened yet.

  “That would be good. She’d probably like having the company now, and I won’t feel guilty about not going home after work.” Hayden had a big smile on his face.

  “Dude, it is not your responsibility to care for and entertain her. She’s a grown-ass woman and can entertain herself.”

  “I know, I know, but I don’t mind. Now that she’s better, she cooks pretty good. Some of that shit, though. Ugh! I don’t even know what the hell it is until she tells me, and then I’m afraid not to eat it ‘cause it’ll piss her off. She’s got a temper, you know.”

  Everyone at the table started laughing. They had all been the recipient of Krissy’s outbursts at some point.

  “Hayden, you don’t have to put up with her bullshit. Just walk away.” Ryan knew he owed a lot to Hayden and now was the time to step up. He supposed the once a week thing might need to be more often the closer she got to delivery.

  “It’s fine, really.”

  Peri listened to this banter and complaints about Krissy’s faults and decided maybe she had read his decision all wrong. He didn’t seem that excited to spend the time with her but knew it was the right thing to do. She felt better than when she first learned the news. But some of the nagging thoughts were still running around in her brain.

  They reminisced for the remainder of the evening about their times in Europe and contemplated details about the upcoming tour. Peri was not excited about telling the group and Cash about her pregnancy. No one even brought up Krissy’s baby, so she wanted to let that go for now and enjoy the evening, but the heat and the fried food smell set her hormone-sensitive stomach turning. She hated the feeling but what could she do?

  When the waiter slid steaming hot pizza on the table, the pepperoni ended up directly in front of Peri. It was dripping with its usual orange grease, and she felt an instant wave of nausea at the sight of it. The smell alone was enough to make her stomach churn. She immediately jumped up and said, “I think I’ll wash my hands before I eat.” She almost ran so Chandler decided to follow her out of the booth.

  “Yeah, I think I’ll go, too, before I start on that greasy monstrosity.”

  In the restroom, Chandler heard distinct sounds of gagging before Peri exited her stall to wipe her mouth at the sink. Chandler watched every move in the mirror.

  “What?” Peri asked, questioning the stare Chandler gave her.

  “You tell me, Peri. You haven’t told Ryan yet, have you?”

  “Told Ryan what?”

  “Peri, you can’t lie for shit, girl. You’ve lost weight, but your boobs are bigger and perkier than ever. You always wore your shirts tight, but now they are straining the buttons, which I’m sure the guys are enjoying. You’re throwing up at the smell of something that you’d normally find delicious. Ryan said you’re tired all the time. I’m not an expert on all of this, but all these signs only point to one thing. How long have you known?”

>   Peri exhaled a deep breath and viewed Chandler’s reflection as she wiped her mouth. “Since we went to the ER. The doctor ran the test with all of the others but Ryan wasn’t in the room when he told me.” She was not ready to share this news with the others, but it felt good to be finally able to talk to someone about it, and she knew Chandler would never divulge anything.

  “Why are you keeping it a secret? Y’all are in love and living together, so what’s the problem?” Chandler knew she was prying, but her concern for her friend holding in this huge secret warranted it.

  “I don’t know. He’s never told me he loved me. Yes, we are great together, and we enjoy all of our time together, but love? I don’t know about that. He’s already dealing with all of Krissy’s stupid shit. He’s going to have two babies, three months apart. I guess…I guess I’m afraid.” A lone tear escaped down her cheek as she turned to Chandler, who wrapped her arms around her.

  “You have nothing to be afraid of, Peri. Have you seen the way he looks at you? I’ve seen it a lot, and let me tell you, the guy is in love even if he hasn’t professed it to you yet. He loves you, and he’ll love this baby. I guess the question is, do you love him as much as I think you do?”

  Tears streamed down Peri’s face. “Damn hormones.” She swiped at the tears. “Yes, I do love him. I love everything about him, Chandler. He’s kind and thoughtful in everything he does for me. He’s completely generous with his time. He always puts me first in everything he thinks about doing. And then there’s the way he makes love to me. I can’t even come close to explaining how great a lover he is.”

  Maybe they could do this. Maybe Chandler was right, but she needed to hear those reassuring words from Ryan - when he was ready to say them - to feel good about this pregnancy.