“What was that?” I asked while trying to convince my queasy stomach not to erupt.
“That was part of the security issues I tried to warn you about. Mel, I hate that we waltzed into your life and flipped it upside down completely, but there’s no going back and changing things now. When we get back to the rooms, I’ll fill you in on everything and we’ll make some decisions, okay?”
A nod. That was all I could manage in response. It wasn’t until Gabe’s hand squeezed my own reassuringly, that I realized our fingers were still entwined and he didn’t seem willing to let go quite yet. That was, until I brought attention to it by staring at our hands. Then, Gabe pulled away and offered a sheepish smile.
“That was crazy,” I murmured.
“That is my normal. It’s why Chevy had his girlfriend go to New York so she could get an understanding of what life with him would be like. He keeps saying what happened is his fault, but I’m the one who convinced him it was necessary. I didn’t want him to lose the girl the way I did, or because she wasn’t prepared, you know?”
“I think you both need to let go of the guilt. Bad things happen every day. It wasn’t on you or Chevy.”
“I’m pulling into the underground emergency entrance. You should have an easier path from there. I’ll radio security too. They can escort you to your floor, just in case.”
“Thanks, Officer…” Gabe left it open so the officer could fill in the blank with his name.
“Godfrey,” he told us as his warm, brown eyes seemed to smile through the rearview mirror at us. “My pleasure. Though I will ask that you take more precautions next time. I’d hate to have to roll up to a different kind of scene. You’re lucky I wanted tacos today instead of Lorna’s Lasagna from down the street.”
“You’re right. I forgot for a minute.”
“Seeing what you just went through, kind of makes me happy that I only sing in the choir on Sundays.” The officer grinned as she spoke while letting us out of his cruiser.
“Thank you, again, for saving us from that craziness,” I told him before security met us at the door to escort us to the floor where Chevy was reaping the benefits of Gabe’s fame. On the one hand, his celebrity status was frightening and awful, on the other, it opened doors that most people didn’t even know existed.
Gabe and I didn’t speak again until we were safely deposited on the secured section of the floor where Chevy was a patient. “We still need to talk,” he told me once we were there.
“How about we go chat with Chevy since this has to do with him more than anyone else?”
Gabe smiled brightly, almost like he had a secret. “You’re right. He should be included in this conversation. Kendra probably should too, if she’s still here.”
When we entered Chevy’s room, Kendra and Ford were both still present, though Josh wasn’t. “Hey guys. Did you have a nice lunch?” Kendra asked while trying to hide a knowing smile.
“Right up until a police officer rescued us and gave us a ride back across the street,” I deadpanned.
Kendra’s smile slipped. “Oh no. You were recognized?” Oddly enough, she was talking to me and not Gabe. I just shrugged my shoulders as flashes of memory came back to me. People were asking if we’d been fucking the whole time and talking about me being pregnant. My head slowly turned to Gabe who looked away guiltily. “What exactly has been said about me?”
“She doesn’t know?” Kendra gasped.
“Oh hell, shit’s about to get real!” That was from Ford.
“Uh, listen, Mel, you can’t leave us,” Chevy managed to get out in a panicked voice.
“We’ll talk about that later. First, we need a family discussion with Mel about what everyone wants and needs to happen once Chevy is released from here.”
“Well, that’s obvious, she’s coming home with us,” Chevy commanded with zero hesitation. “I don’t want another nurse, especially one that will be in our homes. We all trust you, Mel. Besides, you need to think about your security too. It won’t be safe for you to be in your own place just yet.”
I glanced back at Gabe again, promising him we would be having a conversation about that safety issue very soon. Still, I didn’t know what to say about Chevy’s vehemence that I stay with them.
“If you’re uncomfortable because you’ll be staying with two men, you can always take Chevy’s old room at my house. We’re just down the road, and it won’t be an inconvenience at all,” Kendra offered.
“That’s very sweet of you, but I promise it’s not a problem. I didn’t know that anyone out there in the world knew who I was before today.” I held my phone up and shook it. “I’ve been looking for places of my own and planned to just go over to wherever Chevy was staying during my shifts. You guys have already been too kind.”
“Too kind?” Gabe scoffed.
“We literally got you fired from your job and made you move to another state. I’d say we’ve been unkind. I’d understand if you want to walk out that door and never see any of us again, but I really hope you don’t do that.”
“Chevy,” I muttered his name in response to what he’d just said. “You’ve been one of my best patients. It’s not like that, and honestly, I’d already been looking for new employment anyway. This situation only expedited that process.” I waved away his concerns. “I don’t have a problem sticking things out with you, but I also don’t want you or your family to feel like I’m some guilty burden you have to take care of.”
“Are you kidding? We’re keeping you,” Kendra told me before coming over to wrap me in a hug. She was a smaller woman than I was, but her hug made her feel so much larger. Gabe was oddly silent again, just watching as his son’s family embraced me. That lasted right up until Ford tried to dip in for a hug as well. Then, Gabe reached over, palmed Ford’s face, and simply said, “No.”
Ford threw his hands up in surrender and laughed as he backed away from me. “One more year and I’ll be legal, then I’m coming for you,” he promised me with a saucy little wink.
“One more year and I’ll be 35. I’m pretty sure that’s almost your mom’s age.” Ford just shrugged.
“You’re still hot.”
“Lord, boy. What am I going to do with you?” Kendra asked him as she started to drag her son out of the room by his ear. “We’ll be back with Dinner, Chev. Mel, I’m bringing some for you too.”
Then there was just me and the two overbearing men left in the room. “So, you’ll be staying with us when I get sprung from this place,” Chevy commented. “You should tell Dad how you want your room decorated.”
“It’s only temporary and I have my own things so there’s no need.”
“We’ll see,” Chevy called to me before leaning back and closing his eyes. After checking everything I needed to, and logging his chart, I moved back out to the lounge area beyond his room to give him a little semblance of privacy.
~*~
By the end of the week, Chevy was discharged, and we were all three moved into the sprawling estate Gabe had purchased. The home itself was five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and another separate mini house out on the back lawn by the pool. That house had two bedrooms, one bath, and a full kitchen and living area. Chevy called dibs on that for himself, but Gabe said he couldn’t have it until he could get himself walking again.
While Chevy had been given a first-floor suite in order to make sure he had access to everything he needed, my bedroom was upstairs, as was Gabe’s. The bedroom I had been given also had its own balcony that faced out towards the pool and the bright green lawn beyond. It was magnificent and I knew, the moment I unpacked my things, that I would miss it terribly when the time came to finally leave.
“Everything okay? Is there anything you need that you don’t already have?” I turned to see Gabe standing in my open doorway.
“You can come in,” I told him as I turned back to finish surveying the grounds. “This place is absolutely gorgeous,” I mentioned as he approached to stand beside me.
&
nbsp; “Do you swim?”
“I do, but the bigger benefit will be to Chevy. Pool therapy will aid significantly in his physical therapy. I bet when his PT sees that pool, they will immediately adjust to include it.”
“Mmm,” he hummed. The scent of his cologne, body wash, or aftershave wrapped around me and felt very much like a sexy hug. I shivered at the thought while wishing I knew what it was, so I could buy bottles of it to sniff whenever he wasn’t around. “You chilly?” He asked when he noticed me shiver.
“No,” I answered honestly. We both stood there on the balcony, just taking in the scenery, for a few more minutes before Gabe spoke again.
“I hired Adam. He’ll be here later this evening so I can introduce you. He will be your driver if you need to go anywhere and he’s also your security, so I don’t want any arguments about accepting the use of a driver. My lifestyle is why he’s needed.”
“Okay,” I agreed. No argument was necessary after I saw the way the fans were swarming outside of the hospital the day Chevy was discharged.
“No argument?” Gabe asked, sounding a little shocked.
“None,” I told him. “Your fans are crazy.”
“They can be, for sure.” Gabe turned to leave, taking that heavenly scent of his with him. “John and the boys are coming by later to say hello to Chevy. I think they’ll be sticking around so we can work for a bit too.”
“No problem. I’ll stay out of your way. Chevy and I can work out a system so I’m not always underfoot downstairs.”
“What? I was telling you about the band so you wouldn’t be caught off guard by guests, not so that you would know to hide from them. Mel, this is your house too. You live here. Make yourself at home.” I nodded, not really knowing what else to say. When silence hung in the air a little too long, Gabe moved to my bedroom door. Before he stepped into the hallway beyond, I called out to him.
“Gabe, thank you for being kind enough to see that I was taken care of too. I know it would have been easier to leave me behind to deal with everything on my own. You didn’t. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it.”
“That’s not the type of man I am, and you should never have to thank someone for doing the right thing, Mel.” He tapped the frame of the door twice before walking away. Somehow the echo of that sound kept replaying along with his words. “You should never have to thank someone for doing the right thing, Mel.” It’s funny that he said that because he’d thanked me numerous times for having his son’s back when that was not only the right thing to do, but my job.
7 – Watching, Waiting
Mel was always there. She was also always on my mind even when she was out of sight. The problem was that she fit in so well with my world. My band loved her. Chevy loved her. Chevy’s whole family adored the woman. Hell, Kendra had become her new best friend, or so it seemed since they always talked and drank tea together when Kendra was by to see our son. It was like the universe kept shouting at me that it would never get better than this. Having Kendra close was one of the reasons I was holding back though. What if I found another perfect woman in this life, and the lifestyle that I led fucked it up all over again? While I could have given up the whole dream back then for Kendra, had I known what would happen, I’m not so sure I could do the same for Mel. There were too many other pieces to the puzzle now, too many people counting on me and what I brought to the table. Every day with Mel around was a mixture of hopeful anticipation and damn near crippling self-doubt.
Mel stood over by the pool in her little purple one-piece, that I shit you not, was sexier than any bikini I’d ever seen on a woman. She watched as the physical therapist worked with Chevy on his mobility and strengthening, or whatever it was they did in the pool. Mel watched and waited like a mother hen seeing her baby swim alone for the first time. There was a mixture of pride and trepidation that made the sight completely alluring. She was literally on standby to jump in and save my son from drowning if he couldn’t do a particular activity that was required of him. His physical therapist rolled his eyes many times, but I also caught the asshole checking her out too.
“Hey Mel,” I called while waving a hand at her in greeting. The damnable woman barely glanced up, then simply threw a hand up in a half-assed wave while training her eyes right back on Chevy. A feminine chuckle rang out from behind me. I turned to see Kendra walking up.
“I bet that never happens to the Gabe North,” she declared, while using air quotes for my name, her voice laden with humor.
“What?” I asked innocently, trying to play the encounter off.
“‘What?’ He says,” she teased. “As if you don’t know. How long are you going to just keep watching her? Long enough to let her slip through your grasp and into someone else’s arms?”
“Like you?” I asked.
Kendra just shrugged her shoulders. “You were always a wonderful man, Gabe. You deserve to find happiness and I think she’s right over there, waiting for you to realize.”
She might have a point, but I wasn’t sure if Mel would see it that way. Kendra wandered away from me after squeezing my bicep on the way. I felt like she was trying to encourage me to go for Mel, but I still wasn’t sure that was the best bet.
“Hey man!” John called out to me as he came out to the backyard too. That was my cue to turn around and make my bandmates follow me back into the house. I didn’t want them to see my woman – Mel – in her purple bathing suit. Damn Kendra for putting that thought in my head. She wasn’t my woman, but there was a part of me that wished she was. No matter what, most of my bandmates were just as single as I was and there was no way they were going to stand around watching the beautiful nurse waiting in her bathing suit to save my son if he needed saving.
“Let’s go,” I called when they hesitated to watch.
“Looking good,” John called out, but tacked on, “Chevy.” At the last minute while laughing his ass off as he followed me back inside.
“Dick,” I muttered. I had never been worried about John though, at least not where Mel was concerned. He was totally swept up in his wife, and after the problems they’d had recently, there was no way he would jeopardize that.
“I think a certain shade of purple is my new favorite color,” Alex tormented.
“Also a dick,” I murmured. My bandmates laughed at me as we moved through the house to the stairs that led to the basement where we were still setting up our own recording studio. I’d had a similar setup in my home in LA, but since I’d most likely be living in John’s Creek more than anywhere else from now on, I figured I would need it repeated here. The men in my band still all lived in California, but they had been kind enough to rally close by while Chevy was recuperating so that we could get work done and be near my son while he also remained close to his family.
“Kendra seems to have made herself at home here too,” Tim Whitehall, my band’s drummer, mentioned.
“Her son is here, and healing after a major accident. I gave her a key and the codes, so she has access whenever it’s needed.”
“Sure, there’s nothing going on there between you two? I saw the way she felt up your arm on the way to the pool,” Wen put in his two cents. “Looked like that nurse of yours took notice too.”
She had? Well, shit. That wasn’t the message I wanted to send her at all. I blew Wen off because my friend didn’t exactly have the best track record with women. He was currently split from his wife again while dating the lead singer of the all-female rock group Dusty Rose. Both of those relationships had been off and on for years because Wen didn’t know how to ditch his wife since she always threatened to take his daughter with her. He was truly in love with the rock goddess, Calista, though. The sad part was, he always chose Janet, the mother of his child, in the end and ran back to her every time she threatened to go hide their daughter away somewhere. It was a messy situation all around.
“She probably came over to hang out with Chevy and Mel,” I finally told them.
“So, she�
��s friends with the nurse then?” Wen asked. I nodded my response and he just chuckled. “Sounds like a crap situation waiting to happen. The ex can never be friends with the current,” he warned me.
“First of all, Mel isn’t my current anything. Secondly, why the fuck not?” I snapped. “I don’t mind Hash being around,” I told him, as if to prove a point.
“Pretty sure his road name is Hex, and that just makes what I said even truer,” Wen laughed, and the rest of our band joined in because they were assholes.
“Seriously though, are you going after the nurse, because if not…” Alex started to ask. I cut a glare at him instead of answering right away. I knew the fucker had been interested. I’d caught him trying to chat her up a few times when Chevy had still been in the hospital and the guys came to visit.
“She’s off limits,” I demanded.
“Is that off limits to everyone, or everyone who isn’t you, Gabe?” Alex asked, and there was no mirth along with his words. He really wanted to know what my intentions were.
“This isn’t some celebrity dating game. She’s here to work, end of story,” I told him. Alex didn’t say another word, but I definitely saw the challenging gleam in his eyes. He would try my patience on this point. Kendra’s words from earlier came back to bite me in the ass. What if I waited too long to express interest and one of my bandmates ended up winning her over? Jesus, what a fucking mess that would be.
A couple hours later, when we were happy with the changes that needed to be made, and had fucked around with the music for the new song I’d written, we all went back upstairs to put together some stuff to throw on the grill. The minute I rounded the stairs, another conversation caught my attention.
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