Love Me

by Olivia Cunning

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” Chad asked, but she was too focused on Jacob to respond.

  Jacob was crouched next to Gabe, who sat reclining on a blanket next to his Melanie in the wide side yard of Owen’s house. The two of them were surrounded by his family and hers, and both looked deliriously happy. As she watched the couple interact with obvious loving devotion toward each other, Lindsey was glad Gabe wasn’t her baby’s daddy. Not because he wouldn’t make a great father, but because she wouldn’t want to put strain on the newly engaged couple’s relationship.

  Jacob kept looking toward the street, as if expecting a SWAT team to burst onto the scene and arrest him for arming the bomb that had blown up Sole Regret. Lindsey would like to confront him about why he was being so goddamned selfish, but she needed to get him to give her a DNA sample for the paternity test first.

  Jacob clapped Gabe on the shoulder and then stood. He started walking away before Lindsey managed to reach him. She started after him as fast she could go, which honestly was still pretty slow.

  “Shade! Wait! I need your DNA!” Lindsey cringed. Had she really just bellowed that out in the middle of the party?

  Jacob didn’t acknowledge her, only walked faster. She pressed a hand against her belly and started jogging. Just before he stepped into the street, Adam rushed out in front of him, and Jacob drew to an abrupt halt.

  Yes, this was perfect! She could get them to swab their cheeks at the same time.

  “You’ve got some nerve showing up here!” Adam shouted at Jacob.

  “I’ve got nerve?” Jacob shouted back. “You’re the fucking asshole who took off minutes before a set and didn’t tell anyone where you were going.”

  “You know that was an emergency.”

  “Your entire life is an emergency, Adam. Half train wreck, half bomb-shelled aftermath.”

  Lindsey stopped several feet away, waiting for an opening so she could request cheek samples.

  “You’re so arrogant, you think the entire world revolves around you and your wishes. News flash, Jacob, you’re not God’s gift to humanity.”

  Gabe had risen from his relaxing spot on the side lawn. “Can we not do this today?” he asked. “I’m supposed to be celebrating, and so is Adam.”

  “I was celebrating just fine until he showed up.” Adam jabbed an accusatory finger in Jacob’s direction.

  “Um, excuse me,” Lindsey said. “I was wondering if I could—” She was cut off by the hard glares of three pissed-off rock stars. “Maybe later.” She retreated several feet, and the men turned their glares on each other.

  “I’ve had more than enough of this bullshit,” Kellen said as he approached. “Why don’t you all apologize to each other and we can put this shit behind us?”

  “If anyone needs to apologize, it’s you!” Owen bellowed at Kellen.

  “I already apologized,” Kellen said. “I’ve apologized a thousand times.”

  “But never for the right thing!”

  “I don’t know what the right thing is, Owen! You won’t fucking talk to me.”

  “You know what you did!”

  Lindsey wasn’t sure who threw the first punch, but without warning she was watching a full-out brawl. She was so stunned, she didn’t react at first, but someone shoved Jacob so hard that he stumbled into her and she fell backward on the lawn, landing on her ass with a hard thud. Several people rushed to her, making sure she was okay before helping her to her feet. The five members of Sole Regret were going at each other like mad men. Chad barked orders for them to cease the insanity—completely ignored—while girlfriends, parents, and roadies tried to break them apart, only to get caught in the crossfire.

  Within ten minutes, the cops were there. Two patrol cars at first, and then another couple a few minutes later. A concerned neighbor—likely Mrs. Worth, who was watching the scene from behind her picket fence next door—had called them, and by the time they managed to subdue everyone and put each of them handcuffed, bruised, and bleeding into the back of several squad cars, everyone was pissed off and taking sides. The police made the mistake of putting Adam and Jacob into the back of the same car and had to break up a kicking fight between them before finally driving off.

  The remaining partygoers stared after the cop cars in stunned silence.

  After a long moment, Joan asked, “What just happened?” She rubbed both temples with her fingertips. “Can someone explain this to me? I honestly don’t get why they’re fighting.”

  Joan wasn’t the only one confused by Sole Regret’s rapid deterioration. Everyone started talking at once to try to make sense of what had become of the once close-knit group. Lindsey just wanted to curl into a ball and cry.

  Chad wheeled up beside Lindsey and said, “Great fucking party.”

  “What the hell got into them?” Lindsey said, not able to fully comprehend what had just happened.

  A few officers had stayed behind to question everyone, but each witness had a different story.

  “Was anyone there when it started?” a cop called out.

  Lindsey raised her hand hesitantly. She’d been front and center when the brawl began, yet she wasn’t sure how it had escalated so quickly. She told the cop what little she remembered.

  “It sounds like they’re all at fault,” the officer said.

  Lindsey didn’t want any of them to get into trouble. “They’ve been having some issues,” she said vaguely. “But not one of them would hurt anyone on purpose.”

  “I was at that Silverton character’s house just a couple of weeks ago,” a different officer said. “Breaking up a fight between a pair of sisters.”

  The officer taking Lindsey’s statement sighed. “Violence is not the answer, people.”

  “Depends how pissed you are,” Chad said under his breath.

  “Let’s go bail our idiot men out of jail,” Caitlyn said.

  “I say let the fools rot in there for a while,” Dawn said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Maybe they’ll be able to talk this out now that they’ve gotten the anger out of their systems,” Madison said, standing sideways to keep her cast out of the way.

  Lindsey sincerely doubted that a single one of them had worked out his anger. She knew, as a longtime fan of the band, that Shade and Adam had always been at odds. She was surprised that Owen and Kellen weren’t getting along, and poor Gabe always seemed to get caught in the middle of the chaos.

  “Do you still want DNA samples from those immature asses?” Chad asked her, a smirk twisting his gorgeous mouth.

  A new bruise blossomed on his left cheek.

  “Did you get hit?” she asked, fingers moving to rest just beneath the mark.

  “A couple of times,” he said. “Nothing major. Did you?”

  “I got knocked down, but I wasn’t hurt. Plenty of cushioning back there.”

  “Very nice cushioning,” he said, his gaze traveling down her body before returning to her face. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “You didn’t answer my first question.”

  What had he asked? She’d lost her train of thought when he looked at her like he needed a special treatment. Oh yes, her samples. Did she want to know if Jacob or Adam was her baby’s father even when they were acting like a pair of infants themselves?

  “Yeah. I guess if they’re locked up in jail, they won’t be able to get away from my swabs.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Should we take Owen’s Jeep?” Lindsey asked. Her heap had arrived from Oklahoma a couple of days ago, but it was in the shop since a few parts—and many of the belongings she’d had stashed in the back seat—had gone missing between there and Austin. The rear passenger side window needed to be replaced as well. More expenses on her I Owe Owen list.

  “He won’t mind.”

  “I don’t know where the jail is,” she said.

  “I think I remember the way.�
��

  “Is that because you’ve been there before?”

  “I had a few buddies back in high school who insisted life wasn’t worth living if you didn’t spend a few nights in jail.”

  “And you agreed with that?” she asked, starting toward the house to collect her purse and Owen’s keys. Several cars had already pulled out. She wasn’t sure how many of them were going to the same place she planned to go. Maybe all of them.

  “If you’re asking if I served time, the answer is no. I was too afraid of my mom to get into much trouble. If you’re asking if I egged them on, yes. A little.”

  “Instigator.”

  “Not all of us can be angels,” he said.

  She knew he wasn’t talking about her. She was far from angelic. She’d eagerly participated in an orgy on a tour bus, gotten herself knocked up, and was now on her way to the jail to collect DNA samples from potential fathers. No one with that rap sheet could ever be called an angel.

  By the time she and Chad arrived at the county jail in downtown Austin, bail had already been set by the magistrate and the guys had been put in holding until the paperwork could be filed, court dates set, and fees paid. When Lindsey explained to the officer in charge why she wanted to speak to Adam and Jacob—Adam who was already being bailed out by Madison, and Jacob who’d been left to rot—the guy blinked at her in disbelief and shook his head.

  “As if these guys don’t have enough problems to sort through,” he muttered under his breath. But he pulled Adam aside before he could escape.

  Lindsey couldn’t look Adam in the eye. She never could. He had always been over the top intense, and the only band member who might be on par with him intimidation-wise was Jacob. But she’d worry about him in a minute.

  “I . . . uh, sorry to bother you, A-Adam um, Mr. Taylor, but I still haven’t figured out who the father of my baby is, and you haven’t taken the paternity test yet.”

  “It isn’t mine,” he said before stalking away.

  She might have let him go if she hadn’t caught Chad watching her. If he could be brave, so could she.

  “If you don’t do it willingly, I’ll have to subpoena you for a sample,” she called after Adam.

  He stopped dead in his tracks and turned in her direction, icing her over with a glare so cold, the sunshine streaming through the window behind her shivered.

  “I said, it’s not mine,” he said, enunciating every word as if she were too stupid to comprehend what he was saying.

  “Just give the lady her sample,” the police officer said. “She’s going to get it eventually. Why be stubborn about it?”

  “I have better places to be,” he said. “Are you going to arrest me again, force me to take her ridiculous test?”

  The officer gave Lindsey a sympathetic look but shook his head. “I can’t force you against your will unless there’s a court order.”

  Madison reached out the arm not in a cast and took the swab from Lindsey’s hand. Before Lindsey could thank Madison, Adam took his cooperative fiancée by the elbow and tugged her toward the door.

  “Adam, you can’t keep running from responsibility,” Madison said.

  “Watch me.”

  Lindsey took a deep breath, praying he wasn’t the father, and if he was, that irresponsibility wasn’t a genetic trait. She turned to the officer. “Can I talk to Jacob Silverton, please? He’s still in holding, I think.”

  “You need to swab him too?”

  She nodded. Technically, she only needed one sample to know who’d fathered her baby. If Jacob was positive, it was obviously his, and if he was negative, that left Adam. The way her luck was going, she didn’t even need a conclusive test to guess who had birth control–defying sperm.

  Jacob didn’t protest when the guard swabbed his cheek for her, but he looked so defeated sitting by himself in that little room that she wanted to cry. Where was the badass rock star who effortlessly rallied a crowd of thousands with the flick of his wrist?

  “Didn’t anyone come to get you?” she asked through the open door.

  “I didn’t call anyone,” he said, his blue eyes weary. “I’d rather be here than home, to be honest.”

  Lindsey bit her lip. She idolized this man and didn’t know how to help him. She didn’t have the funds to bail him out even if he’d asked. “Shade, if you need to talk—”

  “Go on home, Lindsey.” He stared down at his clasped hands. “You got your DNA sample. What more do you want from me?” A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I don’t think I can handle any more bad news right now.”

  “Me having your baby would be bad news?” He opened his mouth to respond, but she didn’t want to hear it, so she hurriedly said, “The clinic will let you know if it’s yours. But whatever the results say, you never have to see either of us again, if you don’t want to.” She held her head high as she walked out of the holding area, but inside she was dying. She wanted her daughter to have a father who was happy she existed, not one who considered her bad news or an unwanted responsibility.

  “Are you crying?” Chad asked when she returned to the area where releases were processed.

  She wiped a tear from her face, but shook her head.

  “What did Silverton say to you? I’ll kick his ass if he hurt you.”

  “He didn’t say anything to hurt me. I’m not crying for me.”

  “Surely you’re not crying for me again.”

  She cradled her belly. “I’m crying for her. She hasn’t even been born yet, and she’s already been rejected. Nobody wants her.”

  “You do.” Chad placed a hand on her belly.

  “Yeah,” she said, but the tears fell faster.

  “I do,” he added.

  “Chad . . .”

  “I do,” he said, his tone more convincing. “I don’t care that we don’t share DNA, I want her in my life.” He tilted his head back to look up at Lindsey. “And I want you.”

  “I can’t ask you—”

  “You didn’t ask me. Now stop crying. Your baby hasn’t been rejected. She’s wanted by two pretty terrific people.”

  He winked at her, and she laughed through her tears.

  She stroked his hair and gazed down at him, knowing her heart was on full display, but she couldn’t help it. She loved the guy. Too fast, she knew. But how could she not love him?

  “You’re wonderful.”

  “I’d do anything to make you smile, angel.”

  She licked her lips, unable to ask him for anything more than he’d already willingly given, but she could ask for something for someone else. “Could you do me one favor?” She lifted a finger.

  “Anything.”

  “Could you bail Jacob out of jail? I don’t think anyone is coming to get him. I’d do it, but I can’t afford to.” She might be able to put up her car as collateral for a bond, but she doubted the piece of shit would even start.

  Chad held her gaze for a long moment, considering her request. He surprised her by saying no.

  “That’s something you need to ask of Owen, not me,” he said. “If this band is ever going to get back together, they have to help each other.”

  “Won’t that just make Shade feel indebted to Owen?”

  “The egotistical prick needs to feel indebted to someone. He’s so pissed at Adam for being selfish and irresponsible that he doesn’t see he’s behaving the same way.”

  Chad Mitchell, big brother to all. Lindsey smiled at the thought.

  Lindsey called out to Owen, who was sheepishly thanking Caitlyn for vouching for him as she signed off on his release paperwork.

  He glanced at the officer in charge for permission to leave Caitlyn’s side. Lindsey foresaw a lot of make-up sex in their future. Maybe Joan wouldn’t mind if Lindsey came over for an extended visit. She could hide out at Joan’s place until Owen and Caitlyn’s pheromones cleared.

  Owen looked at his brother instead of Lindsey when he came over. “Something wrong?”

  “Lindsey wants to ask you for a fav
or.”

  “Not for me,” she said. She already owed him a thousand favors. “For Shade—Jacob.” Jacob seemed like a more personable name. It felt a bit presumptuous of her to call him that—they weren’t friends, even if they might be parents together—but his given name humanized him. She hadn’t called Owen by his stage nickname—Tags—for ages now. And that story she’d read about Owen always wearing those dog tags to honor his brother had a lot deeper meaning now than it had before.

  “He’s not on the top of my list of people I’m willing to help at the moment,” Owen said. “Starts a fight at my house. Ruins Caitlyn’s party. Gets me arrested. Ends my career.” He ticked off each crime on his fingertips.

  “Actually, I think Adam started the fight,” Lindsey said. She wasn’t sure if Adam had thrown the first punch, but Jacob had been leaving the party when Adam confronted him. Maybe if Lindsey hadn’t called after Jacob while he was trying to escape, Adam wouldn’t have noticed he was there. She wasn’t sure. Maybe the whole fight was her fault. Whoever was at fault didn’t really matter. She just couldn’t stand the thought of Jacob Silverton being so alone that no one was willing to bail him out.

  “To be fair, I wouldn’t bail Adam out either,” Owen said

  “Or Kellen?” Chad asked, his head tilted to one side.

  Owen scowled. “Why don’t you call Shade’s wife?” He stalked off before Lindsey could plead her case.

  “I’m sure someone already called her!” she yelled after him.

  “Can’t he just bail himself out?” Chad asked.

  “The magistrate said someone had to claim responsibility for each of them,” she said. “I don’t know why he put that condition on their release.”

  “Probably because they’re rock stars and can’t be trusted to take care of themselves.”

  Chad rolled his eyes, but Lindsey figured that was probably exactly what that magistrate had been thinking.

  So Owen was out. Lindsey glanced around for another potential benefactor. “Gabe!” she shouted gratefully.

  Gabe, who was in line to be released and flanked by Melanie and Nikki, turned at the sound of his name and cringed when he saw who’d called for him. Jeez. Lindsey had thought they were all past the point of her mere presence causing distress.