Chapter Seventeen
Landry
“Are you sure you feel okay?”
Brody kissed the back of my hand, the one he’d been holding since we’d gotten in my car fifteen minutes ago. “I feel great, I promise.” And I did. I’d taken the anti-nausea medicine about two hours ago, I’d eaten, and I hadn’t puked yet.
“There is something I need to tell you before we go inside.” Brody whipped my sporty little car into a parking space. He turned toward me in his seat, looking me in the eye. “Luke wants you to fuck Talon.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
He nodded, short quick movements. “He does.”
“I highly doubt that my uncle is trying to get Talon to have sex with his pregnant niece, Brody.” Usually I got a kick out of Brody’s crass wording and blunt outbursts, but this one was too much.
“Luke asked Talon to keep an eye on you. He said you weren’t doing well and that you needed a friend. And he asked Talon to go to your OB appointments with you.”
“Is that why he sent me a pizza the other night?”
Brody’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Talon ordered you dinner? When?”
“The night you found out about the baby. I texted him to check on you because you’d mentioned you passed out.” I took my hands from his grasp, waving them around. “Never mind about the pizza, I puked it back up anyway. Go back to the Luke thing. He asked Talon to be my friend? And go to my doctor appointments with me? Why?” My uncle was making me sound like a loser that needed a hand to hold to get through life. And that wasn’t the case. At all.
“He was worried. And, he wants you and Talon to bang.”
“Brody, my Uncle Luke does not want Talon and I to hook up. You’re being ridiculous.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car, grabbing my tote bag. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
Once he swiped the doors locked, Brody came around the front of the car, taking my hand and walking by my side up to the rear entrance of the studio. “You said it yourself, your family doesn’t want you to raise the baby on your own. And I think Luke has nominated Talon for the role.”
I snorted. “I’m sure Talon would be super pissed if he knew he was even auditioning.” I let Brody lead me through the winding hallways, our footsteps quiet on the dark red carpet.
“Speak of the devil.” Brody rolled his eyes.
Talon came jogging down the hall, taking my free hand and pulling me away from his friend. “Landry, I need you to walk in with me, not Brody.”
“What? Why?” Brody held my hand tighter, refusing to let me go.
“Luke is here already on holo, he wants to listen in on rehearsal since Brody sucked so much dick the last time the label watched.” Talon took my bag off my shoulder, putting it on his. “Luke thinks I’ve been taking care of you. It wouldn’t make sense for Brody to be bringing you tonight.”
“Told you he wants you to fuck Talon.”
Talon jerked back like he’d been slapped. “What?”
“Brody thinks that my uncle wants you to be the baby’s father.” I sighed and let Talon lead me down the hall. Suddenly, I needed a nap. “I told him he was being ridiculous.”
“Am I? Am I being ridiculous?” Brody crossed his arms over his chest, looking pointedly at my hand in his best friend’s.
“Yes.” Talon and I answered him at the same time. Talon continued, “But unless the two of you want to come clean to Luke right now, tell him that you’re together and that Brody is possibly the baby’s father?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t handle my family in the middle of all this right now.” I leaned to the side, placing a soft kiss on Brody’s cheek. “Not yet, okay?” There would be a day that my family would know the whole truth, would know everything that happened before and during my pregnancy, but today was not that day. I didn’t have it in me.
I waved at my uncle as we walked in, but then sat on the long leather couch in the corner of the room. I seriously doubted Uncle Luke was trying to get Talon and I together. Why would he want to do that to Talon who was young, single, and had his whole life ahead of him? Like Brody. Only it was too late for Brody; he was already in this. Already worrying over me, going to OB appointments for a baby that might not be his. He’d held my hair back so many times over the last few days it wasn’t funny. He’d made me laugh. He’d taken care of me. I was sure Talon was a good guy. But Brody? Brody was a great guy, and I hated that my family only saw a crazy musician when they looked at him.
I sighed and leaned my head back, closing my eyes. The band started rehearsal with a slower song, a ballad that was quickly lulling me to sleep. My stomach was doing much better, but I was still exhausted. I silenced my cell when it started to ring, and then opened a text to let Beau know I was busy.
Landry: Can’t talk, at Clashing Swell’s rehearsal.
Beau: Are you dating Talon Roberts?
Landry: No. Why?
Beau: At dinner earlier Uncle Luke mentioned that you two had been hanging out. He went to your doctor’s appointment with you? Is he the new guy? The other guy? The one that could be the baby’s father?
My life sounded like a lame made for TV movie. Or like a torrid Hollywood tabloid headline. Holy shit. I really hoped the media didn’t get wind of all this. The press was constantly trying to get stories on me, and the rest of the Devil’s Spawn. We were all good kids, for the most part. But this? Two possible fathers and a web of lies? They’d have a fucking field day.
Landry: No. He’s not the new guy, I swear. We’re just friends. Uncle Luke asked him to keep an eye on me.
Beau: Who is the new guy then? I NEED TO KNOW.
Landry: Number one, stop yelling at me, Sir Caps Lock. Number two, this is the first night in weeks where I’ve held down my dinner. Please don’t ruin it by asking that question.
Beau: Since when do we keep secrets from each other?
Landry: Cry me a river baby brother. You think that guilt trip shit is going to work with me? I’m the one that taught it to you.
Beau: I’m not trying to guilt trip you. I’m worried about you. You’re thousands of miles away, pregnant and alone. Uncle Luke is trying to set you up with random musicians and you won’t let anyone come see you. Something’s gotta give.
He was still guilt tripping me, only now it was working. No one could hit me in the feels like my baby brother could, and he knew it. He was right. We rarely kept secrets from one another. And I really did need someone to talk to, someone who knew more of the facts. But I still wasn’t telling him Brody was the guy I’d been seeing.
Landry: The new guy found out about the baby, and I came clean. I told him that the baby might not be his.
Beau: Holy fucking shit. What did he say?
We were all going to have to clean up our language before this baby learned to talk. We cussed as much out loud as we did in text messages.
Landry: He’s sticking around, he’s taking care of me. He wants to be with me, and he wants the baby…if it’s his, he wants to be in the baby’s life.
Beau: But if it isn’t his, he’ll bail? Sounds like a world class prick Landry.
Landry: No, he never said he’d bail. He just said he didn’t know 100% how he’d feel. And I don’t blame him. We’re both trying to figure all this out, okay? But I can’t tell you who he is. I don’t want anyone hating him if the baby isn’t his and he can’t handle it.
Beau: What the hell is there to handle? Either he wants a future with you or he doesn’t, either he wants to be a father or he doesn’t. Blood means nothing.
Landry: You and I know that, we’ve lived it. He hasn’t. My ex is a dick, our family is insane and the new guy and I were just a fun fling two weeks ago. He’s trying to adjust. We both are.
Beau: He hurts you? I’ll kick his fucking ass.
Landry: Which is why I’m not telling you who he is. Not yet.
I put my phone on silent and shoved it to the bottom of my bag. I didn’t want to argue with my protective little brother. He didn’t understand what Brody and I were going through. He didn’t understand that things weren’t nearly as simple as they seemed. He of all people should know better. But since his epiphany and soul cleansing about everything that went down with him and Halen, Beau wanted all truths out in the open. He wanted everyone to come clean so we could face all our challenges as a family. It was commendable. It’d worked out for them.
But they had history, and they were family already. Brody and I weren’t in love. We weren’t set in stone, we weren’t promising each other forever. We were one day at a time, figuring our shit out the best we could. This pregnancy wasn’t easy; the circumstances surrounding it weren’t easy. And I’d be okay with whatever Brody decided in the end, because I’d know that we both did the best that we could.
I curled up in a ball, my head resting on the arm of the couch. The perfect beat of Brody’s drum, putting me to sleep.