The Rockers' Babies (The Rocker... Series) by Terri Anne Browning
The phone stopped ringing and I breathed a sigh of relief as I relaxed against the pillows once more. Drake was at work and I was supposed to meet him in the city for dinner later. That was hours away though and I just wanted to sleep…
When the phone started ringing almost immediately after it stopped I pulled the pillow close and screamed into it even as I reached blindly for the cordless. Without glancing at the caller ID I put it to my ear. “Yeah?”
“I actually have a day off!” Dallas informed me with a laugh. “I can breathe. I can breathe. Want to do lunch?”
I raised my head enough to see the clock on Drake’s bedside table. It was ten after ten. I sighed, feeling sleep slip away from me. I hadn’t seen Dallas since the wedding and I really missed her. We hadn’t really hung out in forever and I missed the bitch. “Sounds like fun. I’m craving Greek anyway. I’ll meet you.”
“I’m not a fan of Greek, but since it’s for the little demon princess growin’ inside of you, I’ll force it down.”
“Aww.” I sat up in bed. “So it’s only for your niece and not me? I feel so loved…” Dallas snorted and I grinned. “I’ll see you in about an hour. Don’t keep me waiting, woman.”
“Hurry up, ho. I’m hungry.”
I took my time getting ready. I was really feeling the jet lag and the baby was punching me from all angles. By the time I walked out the door of the house we had bought just a few months ago, the town car that Drake made me use whenever I went into the city without him was already waiting. During the twenty minute ride I caught up on my text messages. There were several from Shane, Harper, Emmie, and Layla. Two from Lucy that I immediately answered back.
There was a text from a number I didn’t recognize so I didn’t even open it right away. Probably some random wrong number. It wouldn’t be the first time. For privacy’s sake we all had unlisted numbers so that crazy fans wouldn’t be able to terrorize us. Of course that hadn’t stopped at least two female fans from getting Harper’s number and sending her threatening texts.
A few blocks from the restaurant where I was meeting Dallas, my phone buzzed with yet another text. A goofy smile lifted my lips when I saw it was from Drake. The smile turned to a frown, then a glare when I saw that it was him canceling our dinner date for this evening. There was a meeting.
Part of me wondered if it was yet another fake meeting set up by Bethany. That bitch was trying her damnedest to get Drake’s attention. The rational part of me knew that Drake wouldn’t ever do anything like that. The irrational part—the part that seemed to grow bigger and bigger with each passing day—couldn’t help but wonder if he was tempted. I was getting huge, and Bethany was decently hot.
Instead of answering Drake’s text—because I was suddenly in raging bitch mode—I turned my phone to silent and tossed it into my purse. When the car stopped I didn’t wait for the driver to open the door for me. Instead I stepped out and slammed the door behind me. Then I just stood there, my nostrils flaring and my hands fisted at my side.
Damn it! Now I was acting like a stupid, petulant little girl. Mia acted more mature than I was at that moment. Angry, frustrated tears burned my eyes and I closed them to keep the damn things from falling. Slowly I sucked in a deep breath and counted to ten.
“Are you havin’ contractions?”
My eyes popped open to find Dallas standing a few feet away. She was wearing a pair of pink sweats with a matching top and jacket. Her hair was in a messy knot on top of her head and the left pant leg was rolled up to her knee, showing off the tattoos on her calf of a Cinderella all inked up. I knew for a fact that Ariel was on her right calf just as bad girl tatted. Focusing on the tattoo I started to gain control over my emotions. Leave it to Dallas to be girly enough to want a Disney princess tattoo—and to punk it up.
“Lana? Are you okay?” Dallas stepped in front of me and I lifted my eyes from her leg to her face. The piercing in her nose and above her lip glittered in the November sunlight, her blue eyes full of concern.
I gave her a grim smile. “Just being stupid. My tolerance has been little to nonexistent lately. I’m crazy jealous of dumb bitches.”
The concern didn’t leave her face but a smile lifted her lips. “You’re an idiot. Let the hos look and drool all they want. Drake would never do something like that to you. The man is your slave. Relax. Stop stressing yourself out. You’re only going to make that baby mad at you.”
“You’re right.” I sighed, she really was. Drake loved me more than anything or anyone. I knew that all I had to do was say I hated him working for America’s Rocker, and he would quit. He would move mountains for me if I asked him to. Stupid pregnancy hormones screwing with my head! “Let’s go eat. Maybe my blood sugar is low and that’s why I’m so grumpy.”
It was the lunch hour and my favorite little Greek place was packed. It didn’t bother me that we had to wait ten minutes. While we sat by the entrance, the owner came out and gave us glasses of ice water and bread to snack on. She knew how much I adored her restaurant and knew me by name because I had eaten here so many times.
When we were seated I was in a better state of mind and even fished my cell out to text Drake back. I told him that I was just going to order a pizza for dinner and we could have our date another time. He didn’t text me back so I assumed he was busy doing whatever it was that he, Axton, and my father had to do the day before a live episode of America’s Rocker. Rehearsing? Going over itineraries? Discussing what they were going to wear? If that was the case then Drake was probably bored out of his mind. No doubt he was just sitting around sketching, ignoring everyone around him for the most part.
I forced my thoughts away from Drake and his work and focused on Dallas. She looked tired but content. I knew she loved her job, even if it was more hectic than she would have liked. Working in one of the world’s busiest city’s biggest hospitals was hard work. The ER department where she was currently working to fill in for someone on maternity leave kept Dallas on her toes and nearly dragging with exhaustion by the time she got home every night.
“What have you been up to in your free time?” I asked, feeling like a horrible friend for not knowing what was going on in her life at the moment. We had texted several times over the last few weeks, but it had been mostly me doing all the talking. Dallas hadn’t mentioned one thing that was going on with her.
Dallas winced and picked up her water glass with slices of lemon and lime floating around in it. “Just working, mostly. I’ve been filling in for a few other people who’ve had the flu. Today’s the first real day I’ve had off since I got back from Harper’s wedding.”
“I thought you had Sundays guaranteed off?” She had stipulated that when she had signed her work contract with the hospital for the few months she was filling in. Sundays were her down days, always had been for as long as I had known her. She didn’t do anything on Sundays unless it was life or death, sometimes not even then.
“I’ve been busy on Sundays too.” When she didn’t elaborate and wouldn’t meet my gaze I couldn’t help but be curious.
“Doing what?”
“Visiting a friend…” she trailed off as the waiter put our lunch in front of us, but I pushed the plate away. When the guy was gone I just sat there staring her down. At first she ignored me, pretending to eat her lamb. But I was just as stubborn as she was, more so. Finally with a muttered curse she told me what she had been doing. “I go visit Liam Bryant on Sundays. They are the only days that family and friends can see the patients in the rehab he’s in. No one else goes to visit him and I don’t want him to feel like no one cares…”
Out of all the possible excuses she could have given me, that one had been light years away from what I had been expecting. My biggest guess was that she had been sneaking around with Axton Cage and Sundays were their crazy sex days. Really all the possible answers I’d come up with had involved Axton. Liam hadn’t even entered my mind.
I had heard that Liam was in rehab again. Devlin had told
“So you and Liam..?” It was a question that needed answering. He wasn’t Dallas’s type at all. She needed a man with a stronger personality than Liam currently had. I thought the guy was an asshole, the worst out of OtherWorld and any other band I had come across during the time I had been with Drake.
Dallas glared at me. “No. No, of course not. We’re just friends. I think of him as I would Linc. I helped him get into the rehab he’s in, and it was actually his decision this time. He’s doing pretty well now that the detox stage has passed. He just needs someone to show him he isn’t alone. Everyone he loves has turned their back on him, even his sister won’t come visit him.”
“He’s given them reasons to do that, Dallas. He’s treated his entire family like pure shit. Marissa blames herself for his addiction because he really started going hardcore when she was sick all those years ago. And maybe it was one of the reasons, because from what I heard it got pretty intense at the time and she nearly died.” No one liked to talk about that time, especially anyone in OtherWorld who cherished Marissa almost as much as Demon’s Wings did Emmie. “And his bandmates? He’s screwed them over a hundred different ways. Costing them personal and professional relationships along the way.”
“I’m not excusing his past, Lana.” Dallas pushed her food away, giving up on pretending to eat. “But he needs someone right now and I’ve promised him I will help him all that I can. Right now he’s just happy that I remember to come see him for an hour or two every Sunday.”
My hunger getting the better of me, I finally picked up my fork and took a bite of the feta-heavy salad. “I know how Harper feels about the whole Axton issue so I haven’t mentioned him, but I’m dying of curiosity.” I glanced at her through my lashes to watch for her reaction to the rock god’s name. Dallas’s face was set in stone and I was worried she was going to chip a tooth the way her jaw was locked so hard. “So that was just a weekend thing? Or have you talked to him since the wedding?”
“That was less than a weekend thing.” Her tone was as cool as her blue eyes had gotten. “It was a crazy stupid mistake. One that I don’t plan on making ever again. I thought that he wanted to get back together… And as soon as she called, he went running back.”
I didn’t need to ask who ‘she’ was. I knew Dallas meant Gabriella Moreitti. Every female in my family hated her and I honestly couldn’t say that I was the exception to the rule. I had more reason than most to dislike the woman. Finding her in Drake’s bed in the middle of the night had not endeared her to me in the least. Axton picking her over Dallas only made him an idiot in my book. Who would want that little Italian when they could have the blonde goddess sitting in front of me?
“I never should have gotten involved with him in the first place. It was supposed to just be sex in the beginning.” She pushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face. “Instead I had to go and fall for a man who had someone else’s name tattooed on his skin. I’m as stupid as my mother says I am.”
I tossed my fork into the salad dish and grabbed my friend’s hand with both of mine. “Don’t ever say that again!” I hated Dallas’s mother just as much as Dallas did. And as hard as Dallas had tried over the years to not let her mother get to her, to not let her berating and degrading comments get to her, they still had on some deep dark level. The woman had used Dallas’s looks to get recognition for herself. The mother of Miss Texas. The mother of the most sought after face for clothing lines and cosmetics. That was all Dallas was good for—or so her mother had said repeatedly all of Dallas’s life. She wasn’t smart enough to do this or attempt that, just stand there and be pretty.
“You are the smartest, hardest-working person I know. You got into the country’s top rated nursing school and passed at the top of your class. You work at one of the biggest hospitals where they only take the best of the best in your field. Dallas, don’t let one stupid jerk do this to you. He isn’t worth it.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, but she let me hold her hand for a while. Then she pulled free and started picking at her food again. “So, Harper and Shane finally left for Mexico last week.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes but I let her change the subject. “I haven’t heard a word from her.”
Emmie had urged Shane and Harper to finally go on their honeymoon. With the threat of losing custody of Lucy to Vince Grady no longer an issue and the twins doing so well they could finally go and enjoy themselves. They had left last Saturday and were expected to be home in a few days and no one had heard from them except Emmie who had gotten a few texts from Shane. I hadn’t expected to hear from them. Those two were probably destroying beds left and right the way they went at it. And the way Harper had gotten into the whole public sex thing… Yeah, I was surprised that they hadn’t shown up in any tabloids. Yet.
“Don’t expect any pictures of beautiful Mexico,” I said and laughed. “Actually don’t expect any pictures unless you want to see them going at it like rabbits.”
Dallas snorted and her smile was more genuine this time. “I’m pretty sure they have a few sex tapes floating around the house in Santa Monica. I tried looking for them when I was out there but they keep their room locked up. Makes me wonder if they have a whole Fifty Shades thing going on in there.”
Of course I had to be taking a sip of my water when she said that. It nearly came out of my nose. Struggling between coughing and laughing I reached for my napkin just as my phone started buzzing with an incoming text. Seeing it was from my dad I hesitated for just a second before picking it up to respond.
Cole Steel and I had gotten considerably closer since he had found out he was my father. No one outside of my circle of friends and family knew who he was to me, and I still wasn’t sure if I ever wanted that to change. Maybe it was selfish of me but I didn’t want to be known as Cole Steel’s daughter. I really didn’t want my half-brother to know about me either. The guy was a serious douchebag, something I knew first hand since I had met him twice. Once at a movie premiere last year and then at a charity event I had represented Emmie at a few months ago here in New York.
“Is it Drake?” Dallas asked as she stuck her fork into an olive on my plate.
“Nope. My dad.” She whistled and I shrugged. “He just wants to know if I will sit with his new girlfriend tomorrow night at the show.” Cole had told me he was seeing someone, but I hadn’t a clue who she was. Probably some model or actress that liked old men, although Cole really wasn’t that bad-looking for his age. It just seemed really gross to me when he dated women who were only a few years older than I was. “It must be getting serious if he’s bringing her to the show.”
“I still can’t get my head around the fact that he’s your dad. When I think of fathers all I can picture is someone like my daddy. You know, middle-aged and with a little potbelly. Not long hair, lean, and sexy…” I gagged and she laughed. “Come on, Lana. He’s still got it. Old man or not, Cole Steel is fuckin’ hot.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Twenty minutes later when we parted ways, I got back into the town car and told the driver to take me to the studio. More than likely I wasn’t going to see Drake until late tonight and that just wasn’t acceptable to me. I was addicted to my husband and needed a kiss to get me through the rest of the day without him.
The guard at the front of the building waved the driver through as soon as he saw me sitting in the back seat. He gave me a smile and I waved at the older man as we passed him. Everyone who worked here knew who I was and not to keep me away from Drake for any reason. Not only would they have to face a pissed off Drake but a pissed off me, and really the latter was a much scarier sight.
When I entered
Opening the side door to the set I found Drake and the other two judges sitting at their table watching the rocker going through his set. Having seen all of this more than a few times I wasn’t in awe by the behind-the-scenes stuff, not that I had really been to begin with. I wasn’t easily impressed with the rock-n-roll lifestyle. I was in love with Drake the man, not the rock star.
While Drake and the other two men watched the performer, several other people were moving around on the sidelines. I saw the producer, a big-bellied man who had disliked me from the very first time he had met me. I still didn’t know his name and didn’t care enough to learn it, the dislike was definitely not one sided. Beside him stood his executive assistant and unconsciously my hands fisted at my sides.
Bethany was hot in a smart chick kind of way. She wore her hair in a simple ponytail more often than not and she had big brown eyes behind her dark-rimmed glasses. She was slender with curves in all the right places that she showcased in tight jeans and tops that always revealed just how much of a woman she really was. Seriously, those fake tits were about to pop out of that little top she had on today.
Of course her eyes were burning into the back of my husband’s head. Any time that skank was in the same room with Drake she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. It had always irritated me, but in the last few months it had started bothering me more and more until I nearly couldn’t stand it. It made me irrationally jealous and messed with my head… Could Drake ever want this chick?