Jonny's Redemption (Gemini Group Book 7)

by Riley Edwards

  That wasn’t what he needed but he didn’t know how to put into words what he was feeling. It was impossible. It also sounded weak, like he was a scared little boy needing his mommy. But the fuck of it was, that was exactly who Jonny had been—a little boy who wanted his mommy to love him. And the uncomfortable truth was he’d wanted care and love from his father as well.

  Jonny couldn’t change the past, none of them could. There was no way to rewind his life and have his parents be what he needed them to be. What he’d missed out on having. That was the loss he needed to forgive. Not the lies, or the secrets, or the mean words his mother spewed when she drank.

  The loss of love and affection.

  Fuck.

  In the end, forgiveness had to come from Jonny the man, but it had to start with Jonny the little boy who’d craved love.

  “All I wanted was for them to love me. I wanted a dollar under my pillow after I lost a tooth. I wanted cuddles on the couch. I wanted movie nights. I wanted hot chocolate and bedtime stories. I had that, Bobby, I can remember it, then she took it away. I fucking hate her for it. I hate him for hurting her. I hate Doug and all he represented. Goddamn, I hate them so much for stealing my life. But mostly I hate that I’m such a pussy I can’t stop wanting my fucking mommy to hug me and make this pain go away.”

  Two things happened at once and both happened fast. Bobby threw her leg over Jonny and rolled astride him, then her hands went to cup his jaw. When she had captured his undivided attention, her face a mask of fury and pain, it hit Jonny that Alec Hall wasn’t only smart—he was manipulative. He knew how Bobby would react, hell, everyone knew her loyalty to those she loved was unparalleled.

  “You are not a pussy, Jonathan,” she growled. “Don’t you ever say that again. There is nothing wrong with wanting your mother to love and care for you. Do you hear me? Nothing. It’s what a mother is supposed to do. You were a child hungry for your parents’ affection and neither of them was capable of giving it. I get it, why you hate them. I understand what you’re feeling. But something you told me hit home—I want a future. And what I want is in front of me, not behind me. You and me, Jonny, we have one option and that’s to look forward—together. Step into the unknown with me. I promise it’s not as scary as I thought it would be. Though the first step isn’t forgiving them, or even yourself, it’s way harder. And the realization is a slap in the face and a kick to the gut. They aren’t the ones holding you back, it is you who will not let go. Two out of the three people who did you wrong are dead. Two important men in your life that you have not allowed yourself to mourn—and, honey, it is okay to mourn them. You have to.”

  Her eyes bored into his soul. “Please, Jonny, admit to yourself you still love your mom and want her well. It’s a beautiful thing, the love a son has for his mother. It’s beautiful that you love yours so much, so unconditionally, that you still need that affection from her. That doesn’t make you a pussy. That’s makes you a son who loves his mamma.”

  Unable to take it a second longer, Jonny wrenched his eyes closed. But Bobby, being the woman who was in it for the long haul—meaning forever—was undeterred. She didn’t roll off Jonny and allow him to retreat. Instead, she lowered herself down, shoved her face in his neck, and blanketed his body with her own. She was literally covering him and he could feel the warmth of her love seeping into his skin. And the longer she lay there, the deeper the heat tunneled, until those lacerations began to mend.

  Jonny wrapped his arms around Bobby and held on. With each thought that flitted through his mind, his embrace tightened. Each transgression he let float away, each good memory he allowed himself to feel, and he had to admit that he had loved his father. Despite what the man had done, as a little boy, Jonny had loved him. He’d loved his brother, too, before it had all gone bad. And now they were dead. The grief of losing them felt fresh and new, a love that had nowhere to go. There would be no opportunity to fix things, no way for them to make amends with Jonny, each other, or with Anita. A family lost. He had to let that go, too.

  Whole heart. Whole soul.

  Those were Jonny’s final thoughts when he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. But the ceiling was not what he was contemplating, the smell of Bobby’s hair was. Peaches and vanilla. The scent he associated with peace, with love, with his future.

  “I loved them,” Jonny whispered. “When my brother first came to live with us things changed but not all at once. He was so sad, he missed his mom. And one day he was crying in his room and he told me was scared he’d never see her again. I don’t remember what I said to him, but it couldn’t have been anything reassuring because I was a little kid. But I do remember we pulled the sheets off his bed and mine and we built this huge fort in his room. When we were done he said he wanted to live in there forever. And Doug was the master of card games, we’d play Old Maid for hours. I wanted him to be my big brother.”

  Bobby hummed and nuzzled closer.

  It would be a long time before Jonny ran out of stories and drifted to sleep with Bobby covering him, keeping him safe. But it would be longer still before the ache in Bobby’s heart subsided enough for her to drift off. Jonny’s strong arms holding her tight.

  24

  Thank the good Lord for private jets and little babies who were perfect angels. Those two things made it possible for me to nap the whole flight to Nashville. Sure, it was only two hours but it was a much-needed two hours after going to bed late then waking up at four in the morning to start work.

  I had Evie’s schedule down jam-packed. The unfortunate side effect of her not flying in until the morning of the concert. All the promos had been filmed at the studio—thank goodness for technology. The sound clips I’d had cut from the jam session with Sean, Evie, and Penny had been “leaked” and fans were dying to know more. Once Penny Cash started trending, the event coordinator for the concert was more than happy to shift things around to give Penny her five minutes on stage.

  Though, that shift meant I had to scramble because Evie decided she wanted to change the outfit she was wearing from country chic to rock chic, and finding something that said country legend slash rocker cool was damn near impossible when the country legend was heavily pregnant and hated every outfit. After we sorted the outfit, that necessitated a hair and makeup change with no time to have the stylist fly back to Maryland, therefore Evie was going to have to deal.

  Now we were getting into the SUVs. Kennedy, Noah, Macy, McKenna, Holly, Charleigh, Faith, Silver, Dylan, Mandy, Zack, and Jameson were heading to the hotel. Nixon, Weston, Alec, Chasin, and Holden were going straight to the venue. Evie, Jonny, and I were also going to the hotel but we would go in the service entrance. Evie would freshen up, get her hair and makeup done, Chasin would meet us there, then we’d walk out the front where the paparazzi would snap a million pictures.

  After that, the mayhem would begin.

  I was exhausted but I knew the adrenaline would kick in as soon as the first camera flashed.

  “Stay with Jonny,” Chasin murmured and kissed Evie’s cheek.

  “Yes, dear.”

  “Don’t be a smartass. Just please don’t leave his side.”

  Evie stopped rolling her eyes and I knew she saw what I saw. Chasin was worried. She was pregnant and there would be a ton of people vying for her attention, some of whom could get handsy.

  “I promise, Chasin. I’ll be safe with Jonny. And Bobby knows the drill. Don’t think she won’t kick someone’s ass if they come too close. And you’ll be with me when I walk the press line. It’s gonna be all good.”

  “I know it will.”

  “Now wish me luck and go check out the venue.”

  “You need luck getting your hair and makeup done?” Chasin laughed.

  “You have no idea. By the next time you see me I’ll be all glammed up and you won’t even recognize me.”

  “You know, I could make a joke about getting some strange—”

  “I wouldn’t joke with a tired, starving, h
ot pregnant woman if you wanna keep your testicles where they are.”

  “Good luck, baby,” Chasin wisely said then looked over at Jonny and dipped his chin.

  “I got her,” Jonny assured Chasin.

  Goodbyes were shouted, men kissed women, hugs were given, more kissing, and freaking finally people started piling into SUVs.

  “Is it just me or did this go a lot faster when it was just me and you?” I asked Evie.

  “Faster, yes. Better, no.”

  I squinted at my friend and pouted, “Are you telling me I wasn’t good company?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you,” Evie teased. “That and with all the kids on the plane making noise, I no longer have to listen to you snore.”

  Those were fighting words.

  “I don’t snore,” I snapped.

  “Someone’s touchy.” Evie turned to Jonny. “Tell her she snores.”

  “I do not,” I protested. “Tell her she’s crazy, Jonny.”

  “You totally do,” Evie pushed.

  “Baby?” Jonny called and my gaze went to him. “I’ve never heard you snore, though you do mumble in your sleep. Now can we please get into the car before someone sees Evie?”

  “Sure,” I chirped and smiled at Evie.

  “Bobby?” I looked back at Evie and she gave me her, I’m-a-kickass-country-star smile. “Love you, chickie, and because I know shit’s gonna get crazy as soon as we get into the car and you glue your phone back to your ear—couldn’t do this without you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  “Jesus,” Jonny muttered.

  I took in the suite and laughed. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

  Evie was dressed and ready. Chasin had shown and it was go-time.

  “It takes a lot to transform Evie into Vivi Rush,” I told Jonny.

  “Baby.”

  “Huh?”

  “That dress?”

  Oh.

  He noticed.

  “This ol’ thang?”

  “Jesus,” he repeated and tagged me around the waist. “Do not under any circumstances bend over.”

  One could say my cream mini dress was mini. It was so short I had to wear a pair of booty shorts under it. Though it was flowy, no cleavage, just lots of leg.

  “And those boots, Bobby. I don’t know where you’ve been hiding those but they’re sexy as fuck.”

  I jerked back and looked up into his sea-blue eyes. He wasn’t lying, he liked my boots.

  “Didn’t know you had a cowgirl fetish, darlin’, or we coulda been havin’ fun.”

  Jonny dipped his chin and his lips brushed against my ear, then he whispered, “Tonight you’re leaving those boots on, and you’re not gonna hide the sexy accent. I don’t know why but since the moment we touched down in Tennessee that drawl has come out and you’re not even pissed, which is the only time I get the pleasure of hearing it. Don’t know why you insist on squelching it in the first place.”

  He didn’t know why?

  “It makes me sound simple.”

  “No, baby, there’s nothing simple about you, accent or otherwise.”

  Damn, but I loved Jonny Spencer and I really wish I had time to tell him all the reasons why, but we had to go.

  “Tonight,” I promised and lifted to give my man a kiss.

  The kiss was meant to be a sweet peck, but Jonny had other plans that included my toes curling in my boots and me needing to reapply my lip gloss.

  “Chop, chop, Vivi. Time to bounce.”

  Evie blew out a breath and our eyes locked. She was nervous. Then again, Evie was always nervous when she became Vivi and it only got worse if I tried to tell her there was no reason for it. So I let her work it out on her own.

  I knew the second Vivi Rush slipped into place. It was strange to think that one person could be two totally different people. Vivi lived and breathed for the stage. Evie lived and breathed family and tranquility.

  “Shit, I need…” Evie trailed off when I held up her good luck charm.

  A silver dollar coin she’d found on the ground behind the venue the night of her first show. She’d stepped off the bus, stopped, and I’d slammed into her back almost knocking her over. But her eyes had been fixed on the head-side-up coin. She rocked the house down that night with that coin in her back pocket, and since that night, she never hit a stage without it.

  “I couldn’t…no, I would never do this without you, Roberta Layne. Never forget that.”

  Wet hit my eyes and Evie dropped the coin down into her cowboy boot.

  “What?” Evie asked when she saw me staring at her. “It was either there or in my bra. And my boobs are five times bigger than normal, so I don’t think there’s room in there. But if you want, you can try to rearrange these—”

  “No. I love you but I’m not rearranging your boobs. I don’t even know what that means and I’m still not doing it. And if Chasin offers, I’m leaving and you walk the gauntlet by yourself.”

  Chasin chuckled and slid his arm around Evie.

  “No one arranges your boobs but me.”

  “And with that, I’m leaving,” Jonny announced.

  So was I.

  Actually, we all were.

  We had a concert to rock.

  Okay. So. I have watched Evie perform hundreds of times. Every time she amazes me but—and there is a huge but—watching Chasin watch her perform is next-level awesome. Combine that with Jonny standing right stage with his arm around me and getting to see him watch her perform—next next-level awesome. And looking out and seeing all of our friends mesmerized by her talent made me want to cry.

  By the time Evie and Sean Lovette took the stage the crowd was primed and on their feet. Sean and Evie did a duet of her hit You Can’t See and the two of them slayed it. And that wasn’t me blowing sunshine or being biased because Evie was my best friend.

  The stadium ignited when Evie looked to the side of the stage and made a show of pointing to Chasin who was not visible—but he didn’t need to be. Everyone knew she’d written that song while she was falling in love with him. So it wasn’t a stretch for her fans to know he would be there, on stage where he belonged.

  Evie wasn’t done. She’d made another last-minute change, and now the crowd was in a tizzy as the house band exchanged acoustic guitars for electric while Sean entertained them. He was saying his thank-yous—little did they know he’d be back for another song.

  “Evie’s gonna rock the hell out of this!” I shouted.

  “Don’t know how she can top her last song,” Jonny returned.

  “You ain’t seen nothing. I told you she was magnetic. She feeds off the crowd.”

  Colored lights flashed and the stage turned a hazy red as the strains of Heart’s chart-topping song, Barracuda filled the venue. Then Penny Cash came in on the drums and I got a small taste of what Evie felt. The sounds, the lights, the beat of the music flowing all around like a living, breathing entity.

  Evie had handed off her guitar and now that the instrument wasn’t obstructing her stomach her huge baby bump was clearly visible as she yanked the microphone off the stand and strutted center stage.

  I glanced over at Chasin and he was smiling so big I know he saw it, too. Every so often the strobe hit her belly like a spotlight.

  Oh, yeah, hell yeah, Evie was kicking serious ass. Tonight she wasn’t feeding off the crowd. Tonight she was all about Chasin. Tonight her man was watching her and she was showing off big time. Her hips were swaying, she was stomping, she was in the groove.

  Then suddenly she stopped singing.

  The band kept playing but Evie’s head was tipped back, both hands were on her belly, and Chasin was on the move. Jonny followed and I was right on their heels.

  Evie righted her head and smiled.

  Not her I’m-a-kickass-country-superstar smile. Oh, no—it was her I’m-a-woman-in-love-mom-to-be smile.

  “Sorry, everyone,” she said to the crowd laughing. “You see, my boy in here, he loves musi
c.” Her hand went to her stomach and her gaze caught Chasin. “And he loves rockin’ with his mamma. Chasin, darlin’, I think he’s gonna be a drummer, he’s got the rhythm and the energy.”

  At that, the decibel level rose to deafening as people cheered, shouted, and went berserk. Jonny guided a near-frozen Chasin back into the wings and Evie picked the song back up like she never stopped.

  When the song came to a close, Chasin was laughing and shaking his head.

  “When the high wears off, how mad do you think she’s gonna be she slipped and announced to a few million people we’re having a boy?” Chasin asked.

  “At least she didn’t say his name,” I returned.

  “Only because I haven’t told her what we’re naming him.”

  “What? You’re naming him?”

  “Yep. I get this one, she gets the next one.”

  That was a good idea.

  “What’s his name?”

  Chasin shrugged but I didn’t have time to pressure him into telling me before a kick-ass drum riff hit and a second later the bass joined in. Evie started the vocal arrangement, coming in first this time. Then Sean Lovette came back on stage and picked up the refrain.

  “Holy shit, here she comes.” I bounced on my toes and held my breath.

  Jonny fitted his front tight against my back, his arms went around me, and his hand rested on my stomach.

  “Breathe, baby. She’ll do fine.”

  “Holy shit. Wait for it.”

  “Very superstitious…”

  And with those two raspy words, Penny Cash made her world premiere. Evie stepped to the side, dancing and swaying to Penny. Sean freaking Lovette country megastar was jamming with a girl so fresh on the scene the stage manager had to pull her aside and give her a quick lesson on the equipment.

  “Damn, she’s good.”

  Penny Cash was better than good.

  “They love her.”

  Penny was still banging on her drums, ending the song when Sean Lovette boomed over the crowd.

  “Ladies and gentlemen. Penny Cash.”