watching Lindsey in the mirror. She didn’t know what she expected the pregnant woman to look like—a giant, walking vagina capable of engulfing six cocks in a single bound? a filthy dumpster with a CUM logo painted boldly on the front?—but she looked deceptively innocent and normal, with wide blue eyes and an angelic face. She couldn’t be much over twenty years old. Madison wanted to hate her, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do so. She didn’t exactly pity her either. Lindsey had spread her legs willingly—Madison assumed—and repeatedly. The woman had to know that pregnancy was always a possibility even if the sex was merely recreational.
Lindsey noticed Madison trying to glare a hole through her reflected tummy and she lowered her arm, rubbing her lips together to spread the gloss evenly. She no longer had Owen to cling to, since she’d had to release his arm long enough to enter the women’s restroom. Even Jordan had restrained himself from following her in here. Alone for the first time since Madison had laid eyes on her, Lindsey looked particularly vulnerable as she fumbled to get her lip gloss in her bag so she could get out of the bathroom as quickly as possible.
Lindsey’s lip gloss missed her bag and bounced off the tile floor before scuttling into a stall. She didn’t bend to retrieve it. Wary eyes on Madison, Lindsey headed for the door. She pressed her back against the wall and slid toward the exit, keeping as much distance between herself and Madison as possible. She acted as if she thought Madison had an incurable infectious disease or was going to beat her to death or something.
Madison couldn’t let the opportunity to talk to the woman in private pass her by. She hurried to block her exit. Standing in front of the door, Madison turned to face her and lifted both hands in front of her chest to get Lindsey to stop.
The woman flinched and shied away. Weird.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Madison said and lowered her hands. “I just want to talk to you.”
“Punch me in the face, you mean?” she said.
“No, just talk. Has someone punched you?” Madison asked. Lindsey’s behavior was setting off all kinds of warning bells. Madison might no longer have a job as a counselor, but she couldn’t shut off the instincts.
“No one here,” Lindsey said, “but I keep expecting someone to.”
“So someone did hit you? Who was it?”
Lindsey bit her lip and lowered her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. Did you need something from me?”
Madison wondered if Lindsey realized she was slowly backing away. She obviously felt threatened.
“I just want to talk.”
Lindsey gazed longingly at the blocked door. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
“Adam and I—”
“I don’t think it’s his,” she said hastily, her arms tightening around her belly.
“You don’t think it’s his or you don’t want it to be his?”
She cringed. “Both. I don’t think he’d make a very good daddy. He’s kind of . . . harsh.”
“But Owen would make a good father?”
Lindsey smiled and stroked her stomach with both hands. “I think so. Don’t you? Owen’s so sweet. The best of the bunch.”
Madison scowled, wholeheartedly disagreeing with Lindsey’s opinion. Of course she was a tad partial to Adam. And even though he didn’t seem keen on having kids, she knew he’d be a great father if he opened himself up to the love a child offered. And how could he not?
Lindsey gave the door one last look of longing and then took several steps backward to lean against the wall beside the paper towel dispenser.
Madison took a few steps forward, but kept some distance. She didn’t want to spook the woman into silence. “I happen to think Adam would make a fine father,” she said. “If he’d just trust himself. Lots of people have trust issues. They don’t trust other people. But Adam doesn’t trust himself. Once he gets past that . . .” Madison realized she was prattling on, as if trying to convince Lindsey that Adam would be the best father for her baby, and that was the opposite of how she felt. “So you’ve latched on to Owen because he’s the most sympathetic to your cause. Does that about sum it up?”
“He was the first.”
Madison’s jaw dropped. “You were a virgin?”
Lindsey snorted on a laugh. “Uh, no. He was the first that night. With Kellen. And then Shade. And after that it really got out of hand. But Owen was nice to me. Even afterwards. And he doesn’t have to love me to be a good father. I’m not pursuing him for myself. I just want our baby to grow up knowing his daddy, that’s all.”
Our baby. Lindsey really was convinced that Owen was the father. And Madison didn’t buy that Lindsey wasn’t interested in Owen for herself. It was obvious that she had a crush. Whenever Owen was in the room, she lit up like a laser show and made sure she was close to him at all times. Heck, she was surprised Lindsey hadn’t dragged him into the bathroom with her. How devastated would Lindsey be if she found out Owen wasn’t the father of her child? Madison was certain she’d be crushed. But wanting something—no matter how strongly—didn’t make it a reality.
“What are you going to do if the paternity test shows that Owen is not the father?” Madison played devil’s advocate.
“I’ll worry about that after the baby is born. But I know this baby is his. I can sense it.”
More like she was fixated on the idea. And Madison wasn’t sure that even a paternity test would change her mind about the parentage of her child. Madison wondered if Owen had it in him to be mean to the woman, because he was going to have to take the initiative to break Lindsey’s unhealthy attachment. There was no way Lindsey was going to give up on him if he kept being so nice to her.
“Has he talked to you about having a paternity test before the baby is born?”
Lindsey’s face went ashen. “Before?”
Madison nodded. “He hasn’t mentioned it?”
“No. We haven’t had much time to talk. I never realized how busy he would be on tour. I’m already exhausted just trying to keep up with him.”
He was probably being difficult to keep up with on purpose. Madison didn’t know who she should feel sorrier for—Owen or Lindsey.
“Have you been talking to Owen a lot since . . . the night it happened?” Madison asked. If they’d been corresponding secretly, Lindsey’s infatuation might make a little more sense.
“Only in my dreams.”
Obsession could turn ugly quickly. Madison needed to warn Owen. Surely if he knew what he was dealing with here, he’d stop encouraging Lindsey to think he was the moon and stars. Or maybe they were meant to be together. As disturbing as Madison found that thought, such a solution would make things easier for everyone. If Owen actually loved this girl and wanted to be her baby’s daddy, then she wasn’t going to be a buttinsky. Madison just got the feeling from what Owen had said earlier that this was entirely a one-sided love affair. Which meant someone would get hurt. She hoped it wouldn’t be the child.
“Is there really a paternity test that can be taken before the baby is born?” Lindsey asked, staring down at her knotted hands.
“Yeah. Two types, actually.”
“I’ll have to look into it.” Lindsey released her grip on her own fingers and wrapped both arms around her belly.
“I wish you well and hope your baby is loved by both of his or her parents,” Madison said.
Lindsey lifted her head, locking gazes with Madison, and then smiled.
“But if that’s not possible for whatever reason, you can do this alone, Lindsey. Lots of women do.”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed, and her careful smile vanished. “But they shouldn’t have to raise a child alone. I shouldn’t have to.”
She had Madison there.
“I know everyone thinks this pregnancy is all my fault and I somehow deserve what happened because I not only had sex for fun, I enjoyed every minute of it with every last member of the band. But every man on that bus was having sex for fun. And if they say they didn’t enjoy
it, they’re liars. So how is it any different when I do it? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m supposed to be the responsible one? Why doesn’t any of the responsibility fall on any of these men? Because they’re rock stars and it’s expected that they sleep around? Or is it because people have it in their heads that I’m a gold digger?”
Madison forced herself not to nod and to just listen to the woman’s tirade. Lindsey shook her head at her as if she could read Madison’s thoughts.
“I don’t give a fuck about money,” Lindsey said. “I just want what’s best for my baby. I tried to do it by myself and I failed, okay? I can’t even afford a place to live. No one will hire me in my condition. Would you rather I go on public assistance instead of making one of these men own up to their responsibility? Is that what you want? The taxpayers to be punished for what we did? Yes, we. It takes two to make a baby.”
Or in this case five. Or was it six? Madison opened her mouth to speak, but Lindsey still wasn’t finished with her tirade.
“Sheezus, why do these guys get to play the victim because I’m pregnant? No one forced any one of them to put his dick in me.”
Madison couldn’t argue with her logic. It happened to be true. There was a gross double standard in the world when it came to sex. And it wasn’t fair.
“Besides,” Lindsey continued, throwing her hands out for emphasis. “I was safe! I was on fucking birth control pills, and I took them every day like I was supposed to. Despite what people are saying about me, I did not try to get pregnant. I did not want to get pregnant. But I am pregnant, and I’m sick and tired of trying to be nice to all these dickheads and their jealous girlfriends while I take all the blame and responsibility for the entire situation!”
Madison wasn’t sure if she should admire or be leery of Lindsey’s sudden backbone. She’d been hiding it all evening—Madison wasn’t sure why—and this woman wasn’t all she seemed. “Lindsey . . .”
“Screw you.” Lindsey shoved off the wall and strode toward the exit, apparently too angry to waddle. “And if you really think Adam would make a good father, you need to have your head surgically removed from your ass.”
Lindsey shoved Madison aside, wrenched the door open, and slammed it behind her, leaving Madison to gawk. Did she really come across as having her head up her ass? Madison wondered if the reason she so enjoyed anal sex was because she was so used to the feel of her head up there and she got off on it.
Madison used the restroom, taking a moment alone to get her thoughts in order. Perhaps confronting Lindsey had been a bad idea, but at least she knew where the woman stood.
By the time she joined the band, crew and guests for dinner, all of the food had been claimed. She noticed that Owen had saved a plate for Lindsey though. Bizarre. Madison was sure he was just looking out for the baby, but she’d never encountered a man as thoughtful as he was. Especially toward someone he claimed not to be interested in. It was no wonder Lindsey clung to him.
Adam beckoned Madison to sit beside him and share what little was left on his plate. “I didn’t know you would be so long,” he said. “I would have stopped Jacob from getting thirds.”
“You might have tried,” Jacob said to his plate of empty crawdad shells. “But you would have failed.”
“Crawdad populations dwindle drastically when Jacob’s in the region,” Owen said from beside her.
“And your point would be?” Jacob asked, reaching across the table to steal a crawdad off Lindsey’s plate.
Madison wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t sure how he could stomach more spicy food. Just thinking about eating more crawdads made her want to hurl. “I’m not that hungry anyway.”
“I’m sure Adam could offer you a protein shake to tide you over—” Owen’s words were silenced by Adam’s hand in his face.
Lindsey was concentrating so hard on her plate—and not looking at Madison—that it was a miracle the piece of plastic didn’t melt beneath the heat of her gaze. Madison would never say anything about their private conversation in front of all these people. She could only imagine how hard it was for Lindsey to sit among them knowing what everyone must be thinking of her.
Madison stiffened when Adam’s hand slid up her leg, pushing her skirt up until she felt a cool breeze against the heated flesh between her thighs. If anyone’s head had been under the table, she had no doubt they could have seen parts of her normally concealed by her panties. The panties she’d left on the bus.
His thumb rubbed circles over her aching labia, causing her to swell and grow wet with anticipation. She opened her legs beneath the table, surprised by her own brazenness and even more surprised when her action was rewarded with the tip of Adam’s finger sliding down her seam and dipping into her slick opening.
Her mouth fell open and a small gasp escaped her. She snapped her jaw shut and glanced around, seeing if anyone had noticed her reaction and guessed its cause. She stiffened when she noticed Jacob’s knowing smirk. Did he suspect she was getting fingered right there at the dinner table?
“Okay, guys,” the band’s impossibly sexy tour manager, Sally, said from the doorway. “It’s time for your meet and greet.”
“We’ll finish this later,” Adam promised, sliding his finger an inch deeper before withdrawing it. He dropped a kiss on her cheek and left her sitting there all flushed and aroused.
Damn, how she wanted him.
Madison squeezed her thighs together and tried to collect her thoughts. One thing was clear: Adam was attempting to kill her via lack of sexual fulfillment. She’d never have believed it was possible to actually die from horniness, but the man was determined to prove her wrong. As she glanced around the room, trying to think about anything besides the incessant throb between her thighs, she spotted Lindsey whispering something into Jordan’s ear. He nodded and tripped over his feet as he hurried after the band. Lindsey followed him out of the room a scant moment later.
Well, that did the trick. Madison’s excitement fizzled out like a soggy firecracker. What was Lindsey up to? She better keep her meat hooks out of Adam or heads were going to roll. Or maybe Madison would do something slightly less violent to her.
Madison glanced up when Melanie sat beside her in the seat Adam had recently vacated.
“So what’s the story with Lindsey?” she asked, without warning.
Gabe hadn’t told her anything yet? Madison didn’t want to spread rumors and divulge secrets, so she shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently she got knocked up by Owen, and she didn’t have anywhere else to go. They’re not a couple or anything.”
Melanie stared at her. Could she tell that Madison was withholding information? She was such a bad liar. Her belly was quivering as she waited for Melanie’s next words.
“So Owen is the father?” Melanie asked. “Gabe sounded unsure.”
“As far as I know,” Madison said. “She hangs all over him, so I just assumed… Why? Did you hear differently?”
If Melanie already knew the shocking truth about Lindsey’s pregnancy, Madison was more than ready to talk shit about her, but if Melanie didn’t know anything, then Madison didn’t want to get Gabe into trouble. She really liked Gabe. There had to be a reason he hadn’t explained things to Melanie yet.
Melanie shook her head. Well, damn. Madison had no one to gossip with then. She wondered how Melanie would react when she found out that Gabe might be the father of Lindsey’s baby. Or that it might be Adam’s . . .
Madison couldn’t imagine Adam trying to fit raising a baby into his already full life. Something would have to give. And she couldn’t deny she worried that the thing that would have to take a backseat was herself.
“So where are you from?” Melanie asked.
Madison was glad that Melanie had switched the direction of their conversation to small talk. She’d wanted her weekend with Adam to help her forget about her problems, not add more of them. And as far as problems went, Lindsey’s condition was a whopper. With cheese.
And extra bacon.
Chapter Six
Adam closed his eyes briefly as the full brightness of the stage lights hit him in the face. The crowd roared as his fingers raced along steel guitar strings. There were only two places he knew he belonged—on stage with his four faithful friends and in Madison’s arms.
When the intricate guitar work of the intro segued into the more repetitive riff of the first verse¸ Adam glanced to where Madison stood in the wings. Even though she was watching the performance, he couldn’t help but notice her preoccupation. He knew she had a lot on her mind, but he hoped she’d let it go for a while and enjoy herself. He had every intention of having a blast tonight—both during the concert and afterward. If he couldn’t capture her attention with his guitar playing, he was sure he could find a way to keep her distracted from real life when they were alone in his hotel room. But until then, he’d do his damnedest to put a smile on her face.
When the first song ended and while Jacob waited for the crowd to quiet enough so he could start his typical banal greetings, Adam dashed offstage, took Madison’s hand, twirled her around until she giggled, patted her on the butt, and then raced back to stand next to Jacob.
“It’s a little known fact that Adam started as a blues guitarist,” Jacob said into his mic, his eyes concealed by his trademark shades.
Actually, Adam’s beginnings in blues had once been a little-known fact. But seeing as Jacob shared the same fact every time they toured the South, it was now a rather well-known fact. Especially in New Orleans.
“It’s true,” Adam said, playing a string of notes that sounded
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