RUSH

Dean walked over to the sofa and sank down on it before pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Shit. He was not what I wanted to deal with right now. “Can’t smoke in here or around Blaire, for that matter. It’s bad for the baby.”

Dean cocked one of his eyebrows. “Hell boy, I’m pretty damn sure your momma smoked cigarettes when she was pregnant with you.”

I had no doubt that she did that and more. No way I’d expose my kid to that stuff. “Doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Blaire is nothing like Mom.”

At the mention of her name, Blaire walked into the living room carrying two beers. I hadn’t asked her to get them. I didn’t like to see her wait on anyone. But she did it anyway. I walked over and met her halfway. “You didn’t have to get these,” I told her taking them from her as I placed a kiss on her temple.

“I know. But we have a guest. I want him to feel welcome.”

The sweet smile on her lips made it hard to concentrate on my dad. I wanted to take her up to the bedroom.

“Bring me the beer boy, and stop being so damn overbearing. You’re gonna smother the girl. Don’t know what the fuck has gotten into you.”

A small bubble of laughter came from Blaire’s lips and I decided since he’d made her laugh I’d overlook his words.

“Here,” I said, shoving the beer his way. “Now, why’re you here?”

“What? Can’t a dad come see his son when he wants to?”

“It’s Rosemary. You never come here.”

Dean shrugged and took a swig of his beer, then threw an arm over the back of the sofa and propped both his feet up on the coffee table. “Your sister is a crazy bitch. She’s fucking insane. We need help.”

It was about Nan. I’d thought it might be. I sat down on the chair across from him and held my hand out to Blaire. I didn’t want her standing and I wanted her to feel welcome in our conversation. She walked over to me and I pulled her down to sit on my lap. “What has Nan done?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Dean took another long swig of his beer. Then ran his hand through his long shaggy hair. “Question is, what hasn’t she done. Damn girl is raising hell. We can’t get any rest. We finished up the tour two weeks ago and came back to LA to enjoy some down time. She showed up and all hell broke loose. No one is getting any down time. Kiro doesn’t know what to do with her. We need some help.”

I knew Nan had been quiet but I hadn’t expected her to go to LA and search Kiro out. She knew my dad and Kiro shared a Beverly Hills mansion. They’d been living in it when they weren’t touring all my life. Kiro had been married a couple times and he’d moved out during those times but after each divorce he came back. It was known as the Slacker Demon mansion. No one was ever really sure which band members were in residence at any given time.

“Is she staying at the mansion?” I asked.

Dad raised his eyebrows. “Do I look like an idiot to you? Fuck no, she isn’t staying there. She just shows up all the damn time. She’s making demands and shit. Kiro has tried to smooth things over and form some sort of relationship with her but she won’t let him. She won’t listen and she... well, she found out he has another daughter. Didn’t go over well.”

Apparently she didn’t know about Kiro’s son yet but then Mase never came around.

“She must be so upset,” Blaire said with actual concern in her voice. How Blaire could feel any sympathy for Nan I didn’t know. “You need to go see her. Help her deal with this and see if you can’t help her and Kiro form some sort of relationship.”

I started to disagree but Dean cut me off.

“I like her already. That’s exactly what you need to do. Your room is empty and you know it’s comfortable. Bring Blaire with you and that’ll give me a chance to get to know her and spend time with you as well. If you don’t Kiro may end up killing Nan.”

Blaire squeezed my shoulder. “I think we should go. Nan needs you.”

I tilted my head back and looked up at her. “Why do you care what Nan needs?” I asked in awe.

“Because you love her,” was her simple reply.

“This one’s a keeper. Now, enough about Nan. I wanna know when this baby is due and when the wedding is,” Dean said with a cheerful tone. Much different from the one he was using when he spoke about Nan.

Blaire looked over at my dad and smiled. “I’m twenty weeks pregnant. The baby isn’t due until mid-April. As for the wedding we were going to get married in two weeks but I don’t want this to be weighing on Rush. I’d rather put the wedding off and let him deal with family issues first. We haven’t mailed out invitations or anything. So changing the date isn’t a problem.”

“No. I’m not waiting any longer to change your last name,” I argued but Blaire put her finger over my lips.

“Shhh. I don’t want to argue about this. I can’t enjoy our wedding knowing you have family issues to deal with. Let’s enjoy Thanksgiving with our friends like we’d planned and then go to LA and deal with Nan. Once you have all that behind you then we can focus on our wedding.”

I didn’t want to wait. I hated the idea of her still being Blaire Wynn while our baby grew inside her. I wanted her to have my name and for the world to know I wanted her and my baby. But the determined gleam in her eyes told me I wasn’t going to win this argument.

“I just want you to be happy,” I finally replied.

Blaire kissed the tip of my nose. “I know you do. One of the many reasons I love you.”

“If you’re waiting until after Thanksgiving to head back to LA and deal with that sister of yours then so am I. Besides, it’s been years since I spent a Thanksgiving with you,” my dad announced.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“We would love to have you here, Mr. Finlay,” Blaire informed him, smiling brightly like she really meant it. Fuck. I was gonna have to let this happen.

“Just call me Dean, sweetheart. We’re already family.”

The pleased look in her eyes made me smile. Maybe having my dad around for Thanksgiving wouldn’t be so bad after all. If he could make Blaire smile then I’d deal with it.