Love is a Drum Beat (Rockstars Anonymous)

by Michelle MacQueen

  Jo sighed and leaned her head back on the headboard. “Just call them.”

  Ben hesitated a long moment before starting a group chat with Noah and Drew. Drew answered first with the phone held so close to his face only his eye was on screen.

  “Aw, Drew,” Jo said. “This is a much-improved picture.”

  “Jo is there too?” He held out the phone so they could see his full face now.

  Noah answered next. “Hey, man, what’s up?”

  “And woman.” Ben tilted his phone so they could see Jo.

  “What are you guys doing?” Noah leaned closer as if that would make him see them more.

  Drew looked behind him. “Piper, your boy toy is in bed with another woman.”

  “She cute?” Piper yelled back.

  “Adorable.”

  Jo scowled at Drew’s word choice.

  “I am air fiving you, Ben.” Piper lifted up a hand. “Go you.”

  “Pipes.” Noah chuckled. “Why doesn’t she believe the Ben Evans could end up in someone else’s bed?”

  Ben sighed. “Because when I haven’t been on tour with her, I’m living the hermit life too.”

  “Dude!” Jo stared at him. “Didn’t you give me grief for that very thing?”

  When he didn’t respond, Noah chuckled. “Jo, you’re avoiding me and Mel. Why?”

  “It’s not just you,” Drew chimed in before hollering at someone. “You, dancer. I need you to hold the phone while I talk so they can see every glorious inch of me.”

  Nolan appeared, making a face at Jo as he took the phone. “He’s been doing this thing where he pretends he doesn’t know everyone’s names. I saw him do it to his girlfriend yesterday.”

  “Nolan,” Drew said slowly. “You aren’t supposed to talk to my friends, you’re supposed to help me talk to them.”

  Nolan made another face that had Jo laughing before he turned the phone on Drew.

  Melanie appeared on Noah’s screen with the kind of smile Jo could really use right now. She loved all these guys, but what she really wanted, what she needed was Melanie.

  “We all here?” Melanie asked.

  “All except Dax.” Jo didn’t like doing a meeting without him.

  Ben gave her a look. “I talked to Dax. He’s cool with this. The meeting isn’t about him anyway.”

  Jo shrank back in the bed, putting a protective hand over her stomach. “Just give it to me.”

  They all started talking at once, trying to be louder than the rest. Jo didn’t like video calls for that reason. She’d rather see them in person than listen to the non-stop chatter.

  “Guys,” she groaned. “Use your inside voices.”

  That quieted them. Each of the boys had sheepish expressions, but Melanie’s eyes cut into her.

  “Jo.” Melanie spoke with a low, measured tone. “Are you okay?”

  Jo sighed. She was tired of being cooped up, tired of feeling like a beached whale, of being woken in the night by sharp pains and an even sharper need to pee. But she didn’t say all those things, she couldn’t. It wasn’t what they wanted to hear from the Jo they knew.

  “I’m just tired.” She mustered up a weak smile. “And I’m out of ice cream.”

  All four of them relaxed at the ridiculous need that told them she was still their Jo. Ben side-eyed her. “You should have told me. I’d have picked some up on my way over.”

  “Yeah, don’t send Dax.” Drew laughed. “He might get in another fist fight.”

  “Wait a second.” Noah took the phone from Melanie. “Fist fight? Dax?”

  “It was epic.” Drew grinned. “Sending you the link now.”

  “How did you not see it?” Ben asked. “It was everywhere.”

  “We’ve been avoiding all news lately.”

  That didn’t sound like Noah, like the guy who loved to create scandals and then watch the media explode. A sudden jealousy ripped through her. Noah found someone to love, the best someone. Ben and Piper had 'meant to be' etched into their foreheads. And even Drew had Lola, the only girl who could stand him for long periods of time.

  That was a joke. Sort of. Her boys… they had good hearts, and she was happy for them.

  But it was hard being around all the happy couples.

  Soon, she’d do the single mom thing, but she’d be okay. She always was. “Now that you guys have seen me, can we hang up?”

  Protests came from all the faces on the screen. Jo waved and hung up.

  Ben laughed. “You’re probably the only person who has ever hung up on Drew.”

  Jo shrugged. “It’s good for the ego. Now, as for you…” She studied the ends of her hair. “I need your help.”

  “With what?”

  “First, with getting out of bed. We’re going to need to do this in the bathroom.”

  “That’s not normal. You know that, right? What possible reason do we have for hanging in the bathroom?”

  “I’ll show you.”

  He pulled her up, keeping a hand on her until she was steady.

  Inside the bathroom, Jo searched the drawers for what she needed. “Ben, can you go look in the kitchen for scissors?”

  This time he didn’t protest. When he returned, he held up a pair of blue-handled scissors.

  “Perfect. Okay, so, here’s the deal. I promise to get back in that bed for the rest of the day—Dax’s orders—if you help me with one thing.”

  “You want me to cut your hair?”

  She nodded. “I need a change, something that makes me feel human again.

  “And you think I’m the right person to help.”

  “Not really, no. I wish you were Melanie, but you’re here, and it hurts to move most of the time. So, we have to make lemonade.”

  “How short?”

  “As short as you can get it on the sides, but longer on top. I can have my stylist fix it after my alien is born.”

  Jo watched Ben in the mirror, she watched him swallow and suck in a breath preparing himself.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  She nodded. “Just do it.”

  The first sound of the scissors cutting through hair was so satisfying Jo shivered. Pink hair fell around her shoulders as she became someone else, a new version of herself.

  It happened so suddenly, Jo froze. “Um, Ben. This is totally embarrassing, but I think I just peed myself.”

  She hadn’t even felt like she needed to pee. Her gaze fell to the tile floor where a puddle of clear liquid now stood. Her eyes traveled back to the mirror where one side of her head sported uneven short hair while the other was still long.

  The baby kicked, as if reminding her he was in there, and Jo’s eyes widened. “I…”

  Ben put a hand on each of her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I don’t want you to panic, Jo, but I don’t think that’s pee.”

  “Panic? Who’s panicking?” She’d practiced this in her mind a million times. “My water just broke.”

  She was supposed to have another month, yet she’d known an early delivery was possible, maybe even safer with her condition.

  But it didn’t make it any less real.

  “I’m having a baby,” she whispered to herself before looking to Ben. “I’m having a baby.”

  Ben’s grin stretched wide. “Let’s get you to the hospital. What do you need?”

  “There’s a go bag in the corner of the room.” Why wasn’t she moving faster? Her limbs felt like they were stuck in mud as she changed her clothes. “I need to leave a note for Dax.” She refused to interrupt his recording session. Not for this.

  Instead, she scribbled out.

  At hospital.

  Don’t worry.

  And sorry about the mess in my bathroom.

  “Should we clean up the bathroom before we go?”

  Ben gawked at her. “No. Hospital. Now.”

  Jo struggled to pull on her shoes but managed to get them laced.

  Ben held the door open, her go bag in his other hand. He
waved her by him like they were in a giant hurry while she was still in shock.

  The baby had seemed abstract even when she was confined to her bed. Now, it was time to meet the kid.

  Ben threw his phone to Jo as he slid into the driver’s side of his car. “Call Noah.”

  She hoped Noah could give her some calm as Ben pulled onto the freeway.

  “Ben?” Noah sounded sleepy.

  “No,” she said.

  “Joey?” He sighed. “Calling to hang up on me again?”

  “Noah…”

  “I miss you, Jo, and I don’t like you ignoring me these days.”

  “Noah…”

  “We’re coming back in a few weeks so we can be there when you—”

  “I’m having the baby.” She yelled the words and listened to the silence on the other end. “Did you hear me?”

  “Joey, our baby is coming?”

  She was tired of telling the guys the baby wouldn’t be theirs, so she only nodded, knowing he couldn’t see her. “Ben and I are on the way to the hospital.”

  “Mel,” Noah yelled. “Jo is having the baby.” His voice vibrated with excitement. “We’ll hop on the first plane we can. You have to stall, Jo. Don’t let the baby come until we’re there.”

  “That’s not how it works, Noah.” A sharp pain ripped through Jo, and she cried out.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, Noah. I’m fine. Just get here. Please. I need you.”

  “Jo Jackson, I wouldn’t miss this for anything. We’ll be there.” His words soothed her through the next pain after she hung up.

  “Almost there.” Ben sped up.

  “Don’t crash, dude. It’s not like I’m having this baby in your car.”

  “You might!”

  “Have you ever had a baby? It’s not like the movies, Ben. In the real world, most babies give their mommas time to get to the hospital.”

  Ben’s jaw softened, but he didn’t slow down until he reached the lobby doors. He handed his keys to the valet. “We need a wheelchair.”

  A moment later, a young man pushed an empty chair toward them. Jo barely saw any of the people they passed as she retreated into the panic that hit her.

  Not about the labor.

  Just the kid.

  “I don’t know if I can do this, Ben. What if I screw up like my parents?”

  He didn’t stop pushing her through the waiting room. “The fact that you’re worried about that tells me you won’t end up like them.”

  They reached the reception desk, and an older woman barely looked up.

  “I have a woman in labor here.”

  The woman glanced at her, taking in the half-cut hair and scowl. “Has your water broken?”

  “Yes!” Jo yelled, panic in her voice. “My doctor should be here. I think I’m having contractions.”

  The receptionist frowned. “Young lady, you have many hours of this ahead of you. Can you fill out some paperwork?” She held out a clipboard.

  Jo took it with a huff. Ben pushed her to a row of chairs.

  “When she’s not looking, we’re going through those double doors.” She pointed to them. “I’m texting my doc now.”

  “She’s probably going to let us through in a minute. Jo—”

  “Don’t try to stop me, Ben. I’m sitting here with half-cut pink hair, a man who is not my baby daddy, and pants that are damp, and I can’t tell if it’s more water or pee. I’m making a break for it.” She watched until the woman was helping someone else and stood.

  “Jo, sit down, I’ll push you.”

  “No.” A camera flashed from someone, but Jo didn’t pay them any mind. She used her arms to propel her forward in a form of pregnant speed walking. Ben didn’t leave her side.

  The woman yelled behind them, but Jo had the door open. She slipped through, thankful to find Doctor Lawrence on the other side.

  “Doc, time to get this baby out of here.” Noah wasn’t there with her, Dax didn’t yet know she was here.

  But at least she had one member of Rockstars Anonymous.

  She snorted. “I’m guessing you never saw helping the pregnant chick as a part of joining the support group.”

  “I didn’t see a lot of things.”

  Doctor Lawrence smiled at them as she walked closer. “I have a room ready for you on the labor and delivery floor.” They took the elevator up two floors and stepped out into the quiet hall with only a single woman’s screams echoing off the tile.

  “Ben,” Doctor Lawrence started. “I’m afraid I’ll need you to stay in the waiting room since you aren’t family of Jo or the baby.” She looked to Jo. “Unless you want him there.”

  She shared a look with Ben. He’d helped her enough. “Can you call Drew and tell him so he doesn’t get mad at me?”

  Ben nodded. “I’ll be right down the hall if you need me.”

  Doctor Lawrence led Jo into a room that looked just like any other. Sterile. The doctor helped her onto the bed and checked out her… baby hole?

  “Well, Jo. It looks like things have definitely started. I’d say we’ll see a baby in twelve hours or so.”

  “Twelve hours? No. Get it out. Get it out now.”

  “Hang in there, honey. It looks like you’ve done a nice job taking care of yourself. Despite the preeclampsia, I don’t expect this to be a complicated delivery.”

  Jo leaned her head back. Twelve hours.

  Ben was in the waiting room, she could get him to come entertain her.

  But he wasn’t the person she wanted by her side.

  The one who’d been with her all along.

  Not Ben or Drew or even Noah.

  She wanted Dax.

  And she wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  20

  Dax

  Dax loved playing the piano because it gave his mind time to decompress, to think. There was a time when he’d compose lyrics in his head while his fingers drifted over the keys. Now though, there was too much uncertainty clouding his brain.

  That had never happened before.

  He missed a note in the song and then another before slamming his hands down on the keys in frustration. The piano made a dying sound, and Dax rubbed his eyes.

  Marco leaned forward, turning on the intercom. “I’m guessing that track isn’t the winner.”

  Dax sent him the kind of scowl he always reserved for Marco. There was a reason Marco was the label’s top producer. He was good.

  Dax was better.

  But it put them in a battle of wills, trying to determine the right path for each song.

  “Your phone won’t stop ringing, man.”

  Dax shook his head. “I can’t answer it until I finish this song. Who is it?”

  “Noah.” Marco raised a brow. “You know Noah Clarke?”

  Dax shrugged. “We’re friends.”

  “Is that why you’re not answering your phone?” He held it up as the screen went black.

  “I’m not answering because we aren’t done.”

  “If you’re friends with Noah, you should let him rub off on you. Not all music is life and death. I produced Noah and Jo Jackson’s last album. Noah is my favorite client to work with.”

  “Shame. I thought you loved me.” Dax wiped his sweaty face on his sleeve. He’d never cared what people thought of him, not until Melanie forced him into Rockstars Anonymous and the guys—and gal—bulled their ways into his quiet life.

  Marco shrugged. “Noah is different. Basically, he listens to me. He’s willing to learn.”

  Dax stood from the piano and walked out of the booth. “I don’t have anything to learn from you.”

  “Ah, there it is. Your arrogance is blinding.”

  “You say arrogance, I say confidence.” Music was the only area of his life where he had confidence to spare. He didn’t see why anyone would want him to hide his talent or his knowledge. “Marco, you’re brilliant at what you do, and together we are going to make my best album yet. But we won’t get t
here by letting each other have our ways. The more we argue, the sooner we’ll arrive at the right decisions.”

  He grabbed a towel the studio always made sure he had plenty of. The booth was hot, and Dax played piano with his entire body.

  So, he sweat. A lot.

  Rubbing the towel over his face, he held out his hand. Marco gave him his phone, and he searched for any missed calls from Jo or Ben. He contemplated calling them to check in, but he knew Jo would laugh in his face.

  “Why has Noah called me three times?” His brow creased. “And Melanie called twice.”

  Marco shrugged. “Maybe something happened?”

  The first thought that came to mind sent pain searing through him. Stella. Had something happened to Stella?

  He dropped onto the couch and called Noah. It rang three times before Noah picked up.

  “About time you rang me back, mate.”

  Dax leaned forward. “Is Stella okay? Melanie?”

  “Yes, they’re both fine.” An announcer’s voice came through the phone, calling for boarding.

  “Are you getting onto a plane?”

  “Yes, I don’t have much time. Apparently, Jo told Ben she didn’t want to interrupt you in the studio, but I don’t care about all of that. You need to be there.”

  “Be where?” Panic clawed through his chest.

  “The hospital. Dax, Jo is in labor.”

  A string of curses flew from his lips. “How long?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll be there late tonight. We scored a non-stop flight. Ben is in the waiting room on the labor and delivery floor.”

  “And Drew?”

  “He’s on his way too and should be there in a couple hours. Again, not at Jo’s request. She seems to think she’s doing this on her own. But we’ll all be there.”

  “Thanks for not listening to her.”

  “Just don’t let her be alone right now, okay?” Before he met Stella and fell for Melanie, the best thing about the scandalous Noah Clarke had always been how much he loved Jo.

  But he wasn’t the only one. Saying goodbye, he hung up. “Marco, I need to leave.” He stood and started shoving sheet music into his bag.

  “Is something wrong?”

  That panic he’d felt before… it never left. This day scared him, even though he knew it would come. What if she had birthing complications because of the preeclampsia? “Jo’s in labor.”