by Taryn Quinn
Which might be happening soon.
I’d taken two steps—more like two waddles—when Kendra grabbed hold of me from behind and muscled me back toward the line. “You need to pee. You’ve waited this long,” she said. “You’ll drown.”
“I want to see Kellan,” I wailed.
About three-fourths of the line craned their necks to see who was scream-crying now, though for a different reason than most.
Two teenagers broke free from the pack and held up a signed poster of Bryan, the drummer. He was wearing leather pants in the shot and had signed in Day-Glo green ink right over his crotch. “Kellan’s super hot, but Bry is our favorite,” they said in unison.
Later, I would probably feel bad for my response. Then again, maybe not.
I punched through their poster and left them shrieking in my wake as I charged toward the front of the line, mumbling apologies and possibly prayers as I went.
“Crazy pregnant lady coming through,” Kendra called, chasing after me.
The first notes of “Fool for You” soared through the arena and I started crying for real. I could not believe I’d traveled all this way and endured great personal trials only to have it end here, mere yards from a row of communal toilets.
“Shh, baby girl, they’ll have it all on YouTube,” Kendra soothed.
I cried harder. That was my consolation? That JimmySucksYou in row two might upload some sucktastic footage with grainy vocals and I could watch it from the comfort of my hospital bed while I writhed in agony?
A melee broke out behind us with people scrambling and shouting out expletives, and I turned in time to see Liam jockeying for position in the line.
“You okay?” he asked, hurtling himself at me and nearly knocking me over like a giant pin felled by a wrecking ball. That I remained standing was a testament to my motherly instinct.
Kendra grappled for one arm and he seized the other, then they both pulled me forward. “Dry her eyes,” he commanded Kendra on my other side, who gave him the middle finger without lifting her hand.
It was impressive, really.
“I can dry my own eyes,” I said. “I just want them wet right now. Is that okay with you?” I fully realized he probably couldn’t hear me over the extremely noisy crowd. I did not care.
“Get her nose too,” Liam added.
“Do I look like I carry tissues?”
“In your bra, maybe?” Liam dropped his gaze to Kendra’s chest. Since he had to lean over me to speak to my best friend, I saw it all. And was flabbergasted.
“Oh, hell no,” Kendra said, swinging her tiny clutch with clear intent to do him harm.
I so did not blame her.
“Jesus, K, that’s not what I meant. You’re frigging perfect everywhere and you know it.”
K? Now he had a cute nickname for my bestie? What the hell was going on?
“Oh sure. Try to cover up your lame remarks now. Too little, too late, Kelly.”
I pushed up my arms between them and let out an ear-splitting screech. “Can you not do this right now?”
“Sorry.” Both looked away.
That might’ve appeased me, if the fire-clenching dragon currently shredding my abdomen with its claws had not been wreaking havoc once again. I groaned, gripping my stomach, and threw back my head as lights popped on above me. Seriously bright lights that made everyone yell out in confusion and nearly blinded me from their intensity.
“Straighten her up! Get her shoulders back! They’re about to turn on the cameras!”
I had no idea what my older brother was shouting about. I was seeing spots, doubled over, nauseated, in pain, sweating, and five seconds away from either peeing on myself or having a panic attack when the crowd started to scream and the song changed. “Fool for You” had ended and now they were playing something else, but it wasn’t either of their other two singles, “Felicity” or “I Can’t Sleep.”
Not that I could focus on what song those particular chords belonged to or even what my hot as hades boyfriend was shouting to the audience. Liquid was dripping down my legs, proving that one should never assume a day cannot get worse, because oh, yes, it surely could.
“Fix her hair,” Liam shouted, and they both started patting the sides of my head as if they were beauticians gone mad. I couldn’t even stop them, since I was now weeping tears of joy.
I hadn’t just peed on myself. My water had broken. Oh God.
Someone with a handheld camera pushed their way up to me, getting right in my face, and I didn’t yell. Somehow I could now make out the song that Kellan was singing for me—to me—though I wasn’t where I should be to hear it. The song was one of the ones we’d watched on New Year’s Eve, “Will You Marry Me?” by the Luscious Lovahboys. And I was laughing and crying as people swarmed around us and Kendra and Liam tried to fix my makeup.
All the while, the camera recorded everything, probably showing it to the crowd on one of those big screens.
I hoped JimmySucksYou was still recording. I’d definitely need to see this later, even if I wanted to die over my appearance.
But who cared about smeared makeup and messy hair and muu-muus? I was in labor and I was going to get married.
Maybe. If I lived through giving birth.
The cameraman smiled at me and flipped out his mini screen to show me Kellan on his knees onstage, singing his heart out to the song I knew he hated. More tears flowed down my face, and I swallowed my sobs until it sounded as if I was choking.
Hey, no one ever accused me of being sexy.
Then the song ended and Kellan said a whole bunch of sweet words about how his girlfriend was here, and we were having a baby, and it had been a surprise but the best surprise ever. I was sniffling so much I barely noticed him look straight at the camera.
“I love you, Maggie, my Red Riding Hood. Will you marry me and drive me crazy for the rest of my life?”
The cameraman swung the camera toward me and Liam slapped something near my throat that was either a tranquilizer patch or a microphone. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” I yelled, and the audience screamed and cheered wildly, including most everyone in line in front of and behind me. “Oh, and by the way, I think I’m in labor!” I added, and Kellan went stark white, his grin freezing on his face.
The shouts turned deafening and I glanced at Kendra, who was screaming and crying and jumping right along with everyone else. At her side stood my stoically smiling older brother.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the rest of my family, all wearing smiles as they tried to reach me. It was probably the sweetest moment of my life.
Until Kellan’s eyes wheeled and he took a dive off the stage, right into the first row.
“He fainted!” a woman shouted behind me.
One thing was for sure—our life together would never be boring.
Epilogue
Kellan
New Year’s Eve
“I did not faint. I had low blood sugar.”
Maggie adjusted the blanket around our son in his rocking bassinet then sat on the couch, crossing her jean-clad legs. This year she was not wearing only a towel as we watched that infernal New Year’s show. Far from it. She had on jeans, a hoodie, and fingerless gloves and was still moaning about being cold.
I’d fetched us both a beer and she’d taken one sip before deciding to travel down memory lane. I was merely setting the record straight.
She shifted, drawing my attention to the painting I’d done of her at seven months pregnant that hung on the wall above her head. Just looking at her bare belly, full and round with our child, made me rigid. Even if Maggie in the flesh was currently smirking at me.
Ah hell, who was I kidding? Everything about the woman had me wrapped.
“Sure you did, sweetie.”
I gave her serious side-eye but she wasn’t looking at me. She was focused on the screen. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I had serious stylistic differences with the Luscious Lovahboys, now the mere sight of them re
minded me of singing that crappy song for her, only to have the spotlight pan to her empty seat in the VIP area.
Luckily Maggie’s entire family had known what was going down and Liam’s quick actions had managed to avert a total shitshow. It had all ended up pretty sweet, if I noticed such things. It was just rather shocking to be notified on stage your girlfriend was in labor, that was all.
“You could’ve announced the news with more care.” I crossed my arms. “I don’t hold that against you though.”
“Aww, thanks, sweetie.”
“I am holding your excessive use of lovey-dovey terms during this conversation against you, however. Whatever happened to Wolf?”
Maggie toed the bassinet with her foot to keep it rocking. “Since we named the baby Wolf, it doesn’t seem quite right to shout it out during sex anymore, you know?”
“That was your idea to name him Wolfgang not mine. Gotta say it’s a pretty badass name.”
Wolfgang Redstone—the second part had been my decision, and Maggie still hadn’t forgiven me for ‘ruining’ Wolf with such a stuffy sounding middle name, whether it was for her or not—had been born after eleven hours of hard labor. He’d started coming, then just stopped and chilled for a while until he felt like getting the process moving again. By the time he’d decided to make his actual entrance, I’d revived enough to be pacing at Maggie’s bedside. Then I’d taken up circling the waiting room after she kicked me out. My whole band had been there too to cheer us on and possibly to scoop me up off the floor if I hit the ground again.
Low blood sugar was a tricky thing. I still felt the effects sometimes when I looked at our absolutely beautiful, perfect son, with his red curls, chubby pink cheeks, and sky blue eyes. And I definitely felt it when I glanced up and realized Maggie was looking at me in that certain type of way I hadn’t seen in forever.
Not since second trimester or thereabouts. I wasn’t counting or anything, excluding my Google calendar app that told me how many days it had been since I’d last had sex.
I barely even cared. So what if my fiancée looked absolutely smokin’ hot, even while all covered up in her sweatshirt and gloves? Paradoxically, the way we’d met made me fetishize her in layers. I saw her all bundled up and my dick tried to escape my damn pants.
“Admit it,” she teased. “You’re hoping he ends up with a guitar in his hand just like Daddy.”
I stretched my arm along the back of the sofa and toyed with the ends of her long dark hair. “Right now, I’m thinking about getting something else in my hand.”
She lowered her lashes and scooted away.
I bit off a sigh. That whole screaming “Wolf” during sex thing wasn’t a consideration in our lives at the moment.
After our son’s birth, he had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks because he was born premature. He’d had to gain some weight and show the doctors he had good strong lungs—something that I’d known was a certainty since hey, my kid. We’d both been run ragged spending long hours at the hospital, and then after we’d finally gotten him home and were able to tuck him in his own bed, I’d been needed back in California for final touches on the album releasing in early spring. We’d also had press and shows and all the things that kept me on the other coast, far away from my family.
Among them the fact that our keyboardist had been acting seriously odd for months. Back in the day I’d felt like I knew Myles better than anyone. Now I wasn’t so sure. He’d been acting especially weird since “Felicity” dropped, and I didn’t know if he’d stayed in California for the holidays or gone back to Baltimore with his supposed best friend or what.
Something was up with the dude, big time. I just hoped it didn’t upset the already tenuous balance in the band.
Bryan, fucking any chick that moved. AJ and Cooper, alternating between fistfights and drunken hookups with random girls and writing kickass songs together. And then there was Jake, just doing his thing. Focusing on the music. Imagine that.
Myles was the wild card right now, and I didn’t want to dwell on any of it. Not while I was spending my first holiday season with my brand-new family.
Maggie had been cool about all of it, from the band squabbles to rehearsal changes and penciled-in shows. She said she understood, and she’d brought out Wolf to sit in on some jam sessions once she’d fitted him with his own tiny pair of well-cushioned earphones. She’d also given me one hell of a Christmas present when she told me she’d gotten into UCLA and was starting in January. That meant no more bicoastal living, at least for now.
We were finally going to be under the same roof, all three of us. The way it should be.
The proper clearances from her doctor as far as having sex had finally come through a couple of weeks ago, but since she’d made no move in that direction, I hadn’t either. I was no expert on pregnancy yet even I knew sometimes it took time for a woman to be interested again. That was fine. We could take as long as she needed.
Besides, I had something else to bring up tonight. Something important.
Luscious Lovahboys started the second song of their set, an ode to making love, and I rolled my eyes as Maggie inched forward on the couch. “Seriously? You know we’re number two behind them and you’re still all up in their business? They’re all that’s standing between Wilder Mind and a damn number one record.”
And I wasn’t the slightest bit bitter about that.
“Actually,” Maggie said, rising, “I’d rather be all up in your business.” She put the fingers of her gloves in her mouth and pulled them off, letting them fly before she tugged her hoodie over her head and dropped it behind her.
Underneath, she was not wearing a turtleneck as I’d assumed. Try a sexy purple teddy with more cutouts and lace than a horny guy who hadn’t had sex with his girl for almost six months could stand.
“That low blood sugar thing is kicking in again,” I muttered, making her giggle as she undid the button and zipper on her jeans. She bent over with her ass facing me to shimmy out of them, and I couldn’t resist.
I grabbed her waist and pulled her kicking and screeching with laughter onto my lap, but we both went still when the baby started to fuss. Then I dumped her on her side on the couch and rose to check on our son.
“Hey, buddy, it’s okay. Mama’s fine.” I crouched beside the bassinette and stroked his downy hair until he settled. “See?”
Maggie sat up and flicked her hair out of her face. “I see who comes first with you, McGuire. Even the prospect of hot, dirty fucking isn’t as interesting to you as our boy.” She grinned. “That’s my rockstar daddy.”
“Don’t listen to your mama’s foul mouth.” I pretended to cover Wolf’s tiny ears as he blew spit bubbles at me.
“Oh, I can get much fouler. Want me to tell you how wet my pus—”
“We should go into the bedroom,” I interrupted.
“Why?”
“Do you want our son to end up in therapy in fifteen years?” I tickled Wolf’s belly before returning to the sofa. “Things like this can scar a child.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Yes, so detrimental to him that his parents can’t keep their hands off each other. You’re such an adorable grouch.”
“Adorable? Seriously? You’re gonna pay for that one, Red.” I tugged her jeans down her legs before flipping her underneath me on the couch. She squealed with laughter as I tickled her ribs, but after a minute or so, we both fell silent.
We were literally in the exact same position we’d been in one year before. Except now everything was so different.
So incredible.
“Happy New Year, Maggie.” I trailed my finger over her lips. “An entire year. Can you believe it?”
“No. It feels like I’ve known you my entire life.” Her mouth curved under my finger. “I have sort of known you for most of it, by proxy anyway. You know, since I loved your mom and you loved on my sister.”
I grunted and she laughed again, tipping back her head and exposing her throat. I bi
t her right over her pulse, drawing that delicate bit of skin between my teeth. With my other hand, I cupped her breast and relished her moan. “God, I’ve missed being inside you.”
“That so?”
“Absolutely.” Gripping her wrists, I tugged her arms above her head, stretching her out beneath me so her glorious breasts strained against her teddy. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’m going to fuck you so hard you see the fucking Big Dipper.”
Trembling beneath me, mirth in her big blue eyes, she batted her lashes. “Oh, baby, I already have. Sucked on it too.”
I choked on my laugher. “Goddamn, I love you. What are you doing April fifteenth?”
“Besides paying my taxes? And lighting a candle for the day I was excommunicated from church?”
My shoulders shook as I tried to hold back my laughter. “You weren’t really excommunicated.”
“Tell that to Father Wilkins of Our Holy Mother Church of The Four Corners. He still can’t look me in the eye to this day.”
Her seriousness made me snort. “Babe, I don’t believe for a second you did anything that bad. You still hardly ever even swear.”
“How about streaking through the lower church on a dare from Kendra?”
“What?”
She sighed. Heavily. “We used to play Truth or Dare all the time. I came out on the wrong end that day. Hey, that’s a great idea.”
“What?”
“I should play Truth or Dare with Ken so she has to tell me the truth about what’s up with her and my brother.”
“Which one? You have like five.”
She kneed me entirely too close to my mini mandolin. “Only three, as you very well know. There’s some serious tension brewing between her and Liam. It’s been there ever since they came me to collect me from your place in California.” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe they joined the mile-high club?” As soon as she said it, she shook her head. “Ugh no. Not them. Anyone but them. They’ve hated each other for years. Total opposites.”