UNBROKEN (Friends, Lovers, or Nothing Book 5)

by Jackie Chanel

  I took the phone and checked my messages.

  Hubz: A courier dropped off the wedding pics

  Hubz: When will u be home?

  Hubz: Can u come home now plz?

  I only replied to the last message because I knew why he needed me at his house. I was torn between wanting to be there with him when he found the results and wanting to hide under a bridge until nightmare was over. I chose a happy medium.

  ***

  Rarely is Aiden’s house quiet. Someone is usually home or there’s music playing, violent video games being blasted from the game room, or kids crying. Often times, it’s Marisol and her girls going around cleaning and talking amongst each other in Spanish.

  When I walked into Aiden’s mansion later that evening, it was as quiet as a funeral home. The stillness in the house worried me. Every car that Aiden owns was in the driveway so I knew he was home. I went out back but he wasn’t in his studio either. I knew he wasn’t with Winter and Summer because I just left them. The girls were with Jess and Dina at my house.

  There was only one other place he could be. I found him lying across the sofa in his music room. His eyes were closed, hands behind his head, and his headphones on. There was a white envelope sitting on his chest unopened. I sat down on the floor with my back against the sofa. He was listening to Prince at a volume way too loud for headphones. I tapped his leg to get his attention. Without sitting up, the music stopped and Aiden took off his headphones.

  “Why haven’t you opened that?” I asked. “You’ve had it for hours.”

  “I was waiting.”

  “On me?”

  Aiden reached for the envelope and took it out of my hand. “No. You said you were too busy to stop working. I didn’t open it because I wasn’t ready to open it. But thanks for giving a shit.”

  “Did you expect me to stop what I was doing to run home and find out if you have another kid or not? I was supposed to drop everything because of something that I don’t even know if I’m ready to deal with?”

  “Then it’s a good thing this doesn’t concern you, huh? I mean, you may or may not be a stepmom to a kid we’ve never met, but this is just my problem.”

  “Aiden,” I sighed. “Don’t do that.”

  “You know, I’m a little bothered that it’s been three days and we haven’t talked about what’s going to happen to us when I open this envelope.”

  “Nothing definitive can be said until you open the envelope.”

  Aiden stood up quickly; the envelope fell to the floor beside me.

  “You open it,” he grumbled as he walked out of the room.

  He wasn’t going to get away with acting like a brat. There’s no reason he should be mad at me. I was clear in New York that I didn’t know what was going to happen. I know he’s nervous but I’m not that concerned about his feelings. I can’t be. Not right now.

  I married this man. I have two kids with this man. I don’t care if not wanting him to be the father of another child is selfish. I didn’t choose this for us. I didn’t fuck Ramey. He did.

  I don’t know how long I sat on the floor holding the plain white envelope until I ran my finger along the edge then pulled out the single sheet of paper bearing the DNA testing center logo.

  The alleged father, AIDEN TYLER, cannot be excluded as the biological father of HENDRIX TYLER HALL. Based on the genetic testing results, the probability of paternity is 99.99% when compared to an untested random man of the North American population. At least 99.99% of the North American population is excluded from the possibility of being the biological father of the child.

  “Damn,” I whispered.

  It wasn’t hurt that brought tears to my eyes. Nor was it anger. Maybe it was knowing our life together had changed to drastically in such a short amount of time. We haven’t been able to get used to be married and having Winter. Now there’s this…another child. A son.

  That singular thought was powerful enough to bring down the wall of denial that I was carefully building. Bringing my knees to my chest, I wept as quietly as my heart would allow.

  Ramey always accused me of ruining her marriage, of being in love with Aiden when he should have been in love with her, and destroying a bond that she believed was sacred. When their divorce was final, she sent me a one-line text.

  You won.

  But did I really win?

  Sure, he’s mine now. We have two beautiful little girls. But the paper in my hand confirmed that no matter how great our life is, Ramey will always be a part of it. She’s given him the one thing that I wanted so desperately to give him, the thing he wanted most in the world.

  She’s given him his firstborn son. Seems to me that she’s the one who is winning.

  Chapter 38: We Need a Resolution

  I FOUND THE DNA results sitting on the floor in my music room the next day where Sunny had left them. I’ve been carrying them around in my wallet for two days. Seeing those words in black and white wasn’t as big of a shocker to me after speaking to Ramey face-to-face. Sitting across from her in the Sprinter, I could tell by her body language and the octave her voice hit when she screamed, ‘I don’t want you to be my son’s father!’ that she already knew.

  Hendrix Tyler Hall.

  No wonder she stayed out of the public eye the entire time she was pregnant. No wonder she didn’t tell me his full name or write it in her book. The world would have figured out her secret in two seconds, myself included.

  The question remains though. What do I do now?

  Parenting a child with Ramey is going to be an uphill battle that I do not have the patience for. I’m about to be on the road for six months starting next month. I’ll barely see the two kids I have now, and I know she won’t be as accommodating as Sunny.

  I was sitting in the studio control room ignoring the notifications and alerts that kept making my phone vibrate. My life has because a circus, an annoying and disruptive circus, since Tina Maddox blogged her review of End of the Runway. Before nine this morning, I’d never heard of Tina Maddox. Now, I wish she didn’t exist. Apparently, this Tina person has the most popular book blog on the Internet and more Twitter followers than Taylor Swift.

  The most intriguing part of #EndoftheRunway? The mystery father of @RameytheModel’s son.

  Could it be her ex-husband @aidentyler perhaps?

  The tweet heard around the world.

  Shanda had a statement prepared that went out immediately that basically confirmed what Tina tweeted. Tracy released her prepared statement just a few minutes after Shanda but the damage was already done. Typically, a statement issued that fast from my team is usually effective and shuts people up. Not today. Almost immediately, the speculation of why we were so quick to respond overshadowed the actual statement.

  The insinuations made by Ramey Hall in her newly released book, End of the Runway, have not been confirmed by either party. Until then, this remains a private issue between Aiden and Ms. Hall. At this time, Aiden asks that you respect that privacy of his family and all other parties involved as he deals with this matter.

  I really don’t care what Twitter has to say. I care about the discussion that Sunny and I need to have and the one that I’m going to have with Ramey as soon as she answers the goddamn phone. All that really matters is that I have a son.

  A son.

  I have a son.

  The real issue isn’t Ramey or Sunny actually. I have a son. I think I’ve been a damn good father to my girls. Summer is the queen of my heart. But a boy...I wanted a boy. I needed a boy. What man doesn’t want a son to carry on his legacy?

  But I feel guilty. Hendrix’s mom is not someone that I planned on dealing with for the rest of my life. She’s not even someone I want to deal with for the next eighteen months. Sunny should be his mother. As thrilled and excited as I am, I can’t forget Sunny’s feelings in all of this. I hope...desperately hope...that she can move past her feelings towards his mother and this situation. I fear that she can’t.

 
I looked up from my Mac and stopped reading the email from Spence. He wanted me to try out a new distortion pedal from Voodoo Lab. Seems like he’s working a deal that will get me a hundred grand if I use it on this tour. Not a bad deal if I like it. Still, two weeks to try out a new sound before the tour starts isn’t really something I should be doing.

  When I glanced up, Sunny and Delilah were standing in the doorway with identical frowns affixed to their makeup-less faces. Good Lord, I don’t need this shit today.

  “What’s up? What’s wrong?”

  Sunny walked in first. She snatched my phone off the table and opened my calendar.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” she muttered then glared at me. “You’re an hour late for your photo shoot. You had all of us waiting for you. Photographer, wardrobe, makeup...everyone. How can you be so inconsiderate of other people’s time?”

  “What photo shoot are you talking about?”

  “It’s for your tour artwork that we’re using for your concert posters and program,” Delilah answered.

  “I didn’t know about any photo shoot.”

  “It’s right here in your calendar,” Sunny snapped. “You have this phone in your hand morning, noon, and night. Not one time did you think one of those alerts might be for something that you actually had scheduled, not just your Twitter groupies DMing you?”

  “I’ll head over now. I’m only an hour late. I know everyone is still on set.”

  “You still have zero respect for anyone’s time. Your sister spent weeks working with your tour managers to come up with the look for this artwork and you didn’t even bother showing up!”

  I knew Sunny’s displaced anger had nothing to do with a missed photo shoot, especially since I was only an hour late for an indoor shoot. It wasn’t like we were losing light or anything. I asked Delilah to give us the room for a minute. When she left, I pulled Sunny into my lap and held her there. We haven’t seen each other in two days because I felt she needed a minute to herself.

  “Wanna talk about the real problem because I know you’re not this mad about me being late to a shoot.”

  “I can’t,” she said.

  “Eventually, you have to. We have to.”

  “I don’t want to,” she whimpered.

  I held her tighter. “I know, baby. I know this hurts. I’m sorry, Sunny. You know I never meant to hurt you like this.”

  “I know and you didn’t. I’m not blaming you, Aiden. I just don’t know how to handle this. I don’t want to make this any harder for you, but I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Sunny, no one, especially me, expects you to deal with this like it’s the best thing ever. Things are going to change, but, when all is said and done, I just want to be your husband and the best father I can be to all three of them and any other ones we may have. Even though this is weighing on you, you still have to remember what we talked about in the hospital. You and I can still have kids. If you want another kid, we can do that whenever you’re ready. This doesn’t make you any less significant in my life. In fact, it makes you more. I need you to know that.”

  Sunny ran her hand down the side of my face. Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. I felt horrible because I have never seen Sunny cry as much as she had these past few days.

  “You are a good father. You’re just not starting off as the best husband though,” was her thinly veiled joke.

  “I’ll do better. I promise.”

  “How? You’re going to be on the road for six months.”

  “I’ll be on tour for six months, but believe me, I won’t be on the road the entire tire. And you’ll be there some time, right?”

  “I don’t know. Two kids, a nanny, and a PA seem excessive to travel with just to see you play the same stuff I saw you play a year ago.” Sunny eased off my lap and adjusted her dress. “Let’s go, Superstar. There’s an army of paparazzi parked at the end of your driveway. It took me and Bubbles ten minutes to get through them.”

  I’ve never seen this side of Sunny. When she’s angry or hurt, she yells. She curses. Her temper has always made communicating with her a problem. But this…this sad and quiet woman hiding her emotions. This is the worst. Indifferent…Sunny doesn’t do indifferent. I can’t make this transition from wife and mother to wife, mother, and stepmom easier for her if she refuses to talk about it.

  ***

  “Peaches, you gotta talk to your daughter. Please,” I begged.

  After another two days of everyone walking on eggshells around Sunny, something had to give. She was making everyone uncomfortable. Even though Ramey’s book and book tour was causing a media frenzy, the only people who weren’t talking about it lived in my house. Sunny was actually walking around like nothing had happened. She wasn’t talking about my son, but she was talking about everything else, which made everyone around her avoid any conversation that included babies aren’t hers, books, models, or the move to Atlanta which was paused until she made a definitive decision if she was still coming or not.

  I couldn’t even talk to Ramey. Winter, Summer, and Sunny were practically glued to my hip. Every time my phone rang, Sunny silently dared me to answer it so I was sending all of Ramey’s calls to voicemail until I could get a minute alone. I was speaking in a low whisper to Peaches from the bathroom of the Water Grill downtown in a desperate attempt to get any type of resolution. That’s how bad it’s gotten.

  “Why? What happened?”

  “You know what happened, Peaches.”

  “Aiden,” Peaches said, obviously agitated that I’d interrupted her TV show. “I ain’t talked to Sunny in about a week. What’s wrong with y’all now?”

  “She didn’t tell you about the DNA test?”

  “What?” Peaches screeched. “Jermaine! Turn that down! Aiden’s on the phone talkin’ about some DNA test. I’mma put him on speaker.”

  I heard some shuffling then Jermaine asked what I was talking about. I couldn’t believe that Sunny had not told her parents what was going on. The whole world was wondering if I was the “mystery father” and her family wasn’t aware? This can’t be good.

  “Oh Lord,” Peaches said when I finished explaining the situation. Then she laughed. “I don’t even know what to say. They sure got a mess on their hands, don’t they, Jermaine?”

  “What’s that the kids be sayin’?” he asked. “A hot ass mess? But why are you callin’ us? That ain’t our baby.”

  “Because your child is acting weird. I don’t know if she’s coming to Atlanta or going to file for divorce or beat Ramey’s ass. She’s driving me crazy.”

  “I ain’t got nothin’ to say but congrats on your son,” Peaches continued to giggle. “I ain’t gettin’ involved in what you got goin’ on.”

  “What my wife is tryin’ to say,” Jermaine spoke up, “is that you and Sunny made vows. The issues that affect your marriage are your issues. Like Pastor Hodges said, y’all are the only two people that can make your marriage work. The two of you have to learn how to work out your shit without the interference of anyone else. I’m sure your mother is thinking the same thing, which is why you’re on the phone with us. We’re done raising y’all. We can’t fix your problems anymore. Y’all wanted to be married and this is marriage. Handle it. You can do it, son. You ain’t got much of choice, do you?”

  “I guess not.”

  Those words weren’t what I was expecting. It’s funny how marriage changes people, especially parents. When Sunny and I were just dating, everybody and their mama had a say in what we should do. Now, all of sudden, we’re on our own. Nevertheless, this is one thing that I don’t think we can fix on our own.

  Chapter 39: Guess Who’s Back

  “SUNNY RAIN!”

  Jade hopped up from her desk when her assistant led me into her office.In the midst of everything going on, I wasn’t too pleased to be summoned to Jade’s office. She was the main person I’ve been avoiding because I didn’t want to confirm anything about Aiden, Ramey, and their child.

&nb
sp; “Sunny, Sunny, Sunny.” She smiled widely. “You make my life so easy sometimes. My bank account thanks you.”

  I sat on one of the sofas and crossed my legs. “What did I do?”

  “I just got off a conference call with the executive producers of Project Runway. They are offering you twenty-five grand per episode if you sign on to be the mentor for the next season of All-Stars. That’s three hundred grand for six weeks in New York with you doing what you love in the city that you love. Are you ready to make your television debut, Miss Rain?”

  I was speechless. Project Runway is huge and I’ve never done television before. Until now, I’ve never wanted to do television. I’d be insane to turn this down. That money could finance my new studio and my next collection easily.

  “Umm, I’d love to take it but Aiden’s going on tour for six months. He leaves in two weeks and I don’t know how he’d feel about me being in New York for two months when we have the move and everything going on in Atlanta.”

  Slowly, Jade sat on the edge of her desk. Two expressions crossed her face, shock then anger. I should have known. She always gets upset when I mention Aiden.

  “Really? After all he’s done to you? After all this Ramey bullshit that he put you through? You’re really going to sit there and tell me you have to talk to him? You’re really going to play the good wife now?”

  “He’s my husband. I can’t make this type of decision without getting his opinion on it.”

  “He’s a lying cheating bastard is what he is,” she hissed. “His opinion shouldn’t matter. Did he ask your opinion when he fucked his ex-wife and got her pregnant? This has got to be a joke. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Jade has said some messed up things to me in regards to Aiden over the years, most of which were said before I walked down the aisle and married him. No matter what I felt about him at the moment, he’s still my husband, and there’s not a woman alive that will ever get away with talking about him like he’s some random piece of shit. I snapped.

  “Do I look like I’m kidding? Does my marriage seem like a fucking joke to you? That man that you think so badly of has done more for me and my career than you or anyone else in this fucked up town! That man whose opinion you think doesn’t matter is more important to me than you, my job, and the numbers in my bank account. If it weren’t for Aiden Tyler, you would not even know who Sunny Rain was. So, you should be grateful and respectful when you speak his name. You work for me, Jade, not the other way around. So before you speak on my husband and our personal life, think about whether you want to keep your fucking job.”