My eyes skated across her face, but I didn’t recognize her. She didn’t look familiar at all. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.”
“You don’t know me, but I saw a Shadow Phoenix show last week at the Echo Club. You guys are incredible. Would you mind signing this for me?” She held out a marker and gestured toward her shirt.
My eyes widened as I slowly took the pen from her hand. “What do you want me to write?” I was confused as fuck. Why would someone want me to sign something for them? We were still practically nobodies. I probably looked as shocked as she did nervous.
“I dunno. Maybe just your name?”
I could do that. She dropped into the sand next to me, and I scribbled my signature across the front of her shirt, trying to avoid hitting her tits with the marker before I clicked the lid on and handed it back. “There you go.”
“I can’t believe I met you,” she squealed with a huge grin on her face.
I had no fucking idea what to say to that. Yeah, me, too? There was no right answer here. “Well, I’ve gotta get back to my friends,” I finally managed, gesturing vaguely behind me.
“Oh, right. Well, have a good day!” She jumped up and jogged back to her friends, and I stared after her, running my hand absently along my jaw. This fame shit was actually starting to happen. First the radio, now some random fan on the beach. Adrenaline rushed into my veins as I realized we were closer than I thought to becoming something massive.
I stood up, gripping my board and hoisting it up under my arm. I moved toward the water and paddled out quickly, meeting my friends over the break. We floated on our boards, and I didn’t think any of them had any intention of actually surfing. But being out here was peaceful, and I loved it. They knew I loved it and came along with me, even if it wasn’t their thing. I think we were all happy for the quiet, the solitude, the chance to decompress.
“Who was the chick?” Maddox wondered, stretching out on his stomach on his board.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But she wanted my autograph. Said she saw one of our shows last week and was a fan.”
Zen sat up straighter and leaned forward, resting his palms in front of him on the board. “Really?”
Jericho lifted his hand to his forehead, trying to shield his eyes as he scanned the shore. “I don’t see them anymore. But it looks like we should get back to the beach.”
“What are you talking about?” I shielded my own eyes and examined the beach.
“Sophie, dude. And it looks like she’s about to fuck up our day.” Jericho flattened himself onto his board.
“What the hell would she be doing here?” I wondered as I kept looking for her but not seeing her.
“Fuck that bitch. How long has it been since you broke up with her?” Maddox barely moved a muscle, and I watched as his arm floated in the water by my board.
Twisting my nose ring, I counted backward in my head. “I don’t know, about four or five months, I guess?”
“Yeah, we need to go.” Jericho shot us all a look before he started paddling, and we all reluctantly followed. So much for our day off.
When we hit the sand, Jericho pulled his board out of the water and buried it upright in the sand to drip dry. We all followed and then stepped up beside him as Sophie walked over to us. Zen’s gasp and Maddox’s curse were like echoes on either side of me, but my brain hadn’t registered what was happening yet.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jericho asked her, folding his arms across his chest.
Sophie looked past him, and her eyes locked onto me. “I’m here to talk to True.”
Maddox stepped a little closer to me, so close our shoulders were touching. “It better not be about that,” he snapped, gesturing to her obviously pregnant stomach.
No fucking way could that baby be mine. Not a chance in hell.
“And what if it is?” She tilted her chin up and glared at the four of us.
“It can’t be. There’s no way.” My stomach sank all the way to my toes.
“We had sex, True. That’s how it works.”
“Interesting timing, Soph. Just as we’re getting more popular, suddenly you come along for the first time in months claiming that baby is True’s,” Zen pointed out.
“I’ve had a hard time tracking him down,” she explains, and I scoff.
“I’m still living at my parent’s Sophie. It’s not like we’re on tour or anything.”
“Can we talk in private?” She ignored what I said and held my gaze, pleading with her eyes for me to give her this.
But that wasn’t how things worked between my boys and me. We didn’t keep secrets, and I had a feeling whatever Sophie was cooking up with that baby of hers, I’d need their help to make it go away.
“No. Anything you tell me, I’m just going to repeat back to them, so you might as well just say whatever you came here to say.” I folded my arms across my chest, waiting for her to get on with it.
She deflated and rubbed her hand over her swollen stomach. “Obviously, I’m pregnant. I hadn’t been with anyone but you when it happened, so I know he’s yours. We’ve got a couple of months, but I’m starting to need some stuff for him, and I hoped you could help us out.”
I eyed her with open suspicion, but Maddox and Jericho were both shooting death glares her way. “T, did you take my advice?” Maddox wondered, never pulling his eyes away from Sophie.
I nodded. “Always double bagged and pulled out.”
Jericho took a step toward Sophie, and she tilted her chin up to look him in the eye. “You will get a paternity test before True gives you a single penny for that baby.” He didn’t leave room for her to argue.
“But that doesn’t happen until after he’s born,” she tried.
Jericho held up his hand to stop her. “No. They can do it with a blood test. The results will take a week. And I swear to Christ if you’re lying about this, I will destroy you, so you better think real fucking hard about whether you want to put True through this test.”
I didn’t want to know how Jericho knew about prenatal DNA tests, but I was thankful he did. The pounding of my heart slowed as I let my friends’ strength and protection bolster me. “He’s right. I’m not doing shit for your baby until I know for sure it’s mine. And I get to pick the place we have the test, and we go together so you can’t mess with it.”
Fear crept into her eyes as they darted between the four of us, looking for a weak link or sympathy or whatever else she could exploit. That was a big part of why I knew Sophie wasn’t the girl for me. Her manipulation had no limits. I halfway expected something like this to happen, which was why I never fucked her with a condom that had been out of my sight, and I always used two.
“If that’s how you want it, we can do that,” she reluctantly agreed, dropping her head so she was looking at the sand. But I knew better than to feel bad for her. “We’ll text you an appointment time.” Jericho looked at her with so much anger, I was surprised she hadn’t cowered and ran away. I had to give it to the girl; she had balls.
“How’d you even find out where we were?” I wondered when Jericho turned his back to her and stepped over to whisper in Maddox’s ear. They were having a hushed conversation, but I tried to ignore them and focus back on Sophie. They’d tell me what was going on later.
“Some girl posted it on social media and hashtagged your band,” she explained, playing with a loose string on her shirt.
“Okay, well, thanks for the info. Now you can leave,” Zen waved her away with his hand and tugged on my arm, pulling me toward where Jericho and Maddox were whispering.
“Dick,” Sophie snapped under her breath, but she turned and stalked off, leaving the four of us in a huddle on the beach.
“You know this is complete bullshit, right, T?” Maddox asked, scanning my face with concerned dark eyes.
I bobbed my head, feeling a little numb. “It can’t be mine. Unless my swimmers are so powerful, they got around two condoms and me never coming inside her.
”
Zen smirked, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “You better hope you don’t have super sperm, my friend, or you’ll be chained to that harpy for life.”
I blew out a breath and ran my hand through my hair. “Fuck.”
“It’s not yours. Before you two broke up, I heard some shit. Sophie’s not the innocent she wants to pretend she is.” Maddox pulled out his phone.
Jericho’s voice became menacing. “I’ll make an appointment for the test, but as soon as we know it’s not yours for sure, we’re going to talk about how to ruin Sophie for this. We need to make an example of her, so no one else gets the same bright idea and tries this shit again.”
“Agreed,” Maddox and Zen both echoed Jericho’s sentiment, and I reluctantly nodded my head. We needed to take a stand now before things got out of hand, and girls were coming out of the woodwork claiming all sorts of shit.
“And after this is all over, I’m scheduling us all for vasectomies,” Maddox added with a lopsided grin.
10
Jericho
Pulling the door open, I waited for the three other guys and Sophie to step inside before I followed and let it close behind me. The past two weeks had been tense with Sophie attempting to constantly pull the fucking wool over True’s eyes and the three of us blocking every fucking one of her efforts.
True had always been a nice guy with a good heart, better than the rest of us, and she’d been trying to get under his skin. To sway him to her side, convince him to tie himself to her and accept her baby as his. Fuck that.
My jaw ticked as I locked the irritation down. Keeping my mind clear and focused on this test was essential. There would be no leaving that room until the samples were taken, no switching out of tests or low-paid employees being bought off. Not on my watch.
The guys were already aware of how this was going down, so I followed silently with my head on a goddamn swivel, watching. Always fucking watching. I watched as we’re ushered into a tiny back room, and Maddox and Zen broke off to wait in the hall. They’d be following the person who took the samples to make sure they’re entered into the system and not fucked with before we leave.
We weren’t taking any chances.
Leaning against the wall, I crossed my legs at the ankles and adopted an expression of complete disinterest, but inside I was seething at the fact we were even here. My eyes burned into the side of Sophie’s skull, but she pointedly ignored me, which was probably for the best. If she engaged me, I might not be able to keep from snapping back at her. Until I knew for sure her baby wasn’t True’s, I’d hold my tongue.
No one spoke, and the only sound in the room was the faint buzz of the fluorescent lights overhead. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long before a middle-aged woman in colorful scrubs pushed her way into the tiny room. There wasn’t really enough space for all of us, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going anywhere.
She cast me a disapproving look before refocusing on Sophie and True. “Okay, hon. I’m just going to take a blood sample. It’ll only take a second.” She pulled rubber tubing out of the little container she’d carried in with her, stretched it out, and tied it around Sophie’s upper arm. The nurse or whatever she was leaned over Sophie’s arm and inspected it closely before deciding on a spot she liked.
She reached back into her little kit of torture devices and grabbed out an alcohol pad, tearing open the package and swiping it over Sophie’s skin. Then she grabbed a needle and attached an empty vial to the back. “You’ll feel just a little pinch,” she soothed as she pushed the needle into Sophie’s arm. She flinched as dark red syrupy liquid quickly filled up the vial, and the nurse pulled the needle out only seconds later. Placing a bandage over the wound, she patted Sophie on the arm and gave her a smile far kinder than she deserved.
I held my glare focused on her.
The nurse lady turned to True and reached back into her kit, pulling out a clear plastic tube that had what looked like a long cotton swab in it. She ripped off the seal and pulled out the swab. “You get off easy,” she chuckled. “Just open your mouth for me.”
True complied, and she ran the cotton swab along the side of his cheek a few times before dropping it back into the plastic tube and sticking everything back into the box she’d carried in with her. She stripped off her plastic gloves and tossed them into the trash before picking up the box. “Okay, results will be available within a week. We’ll mail a copy, but you can call in after seven days, too.”
They both nodded, but I didn’t take my eyes off the nurse until she left the room. Sophie tried to reach out to True, but I took one step and slipped between them. Thank fuck for tiny exam rooms. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
He chuckled and led the way out of the room; Sophie trailing us both. Zen nodded at me from down the hall where he stood outside the door to what looked like the lab. I assumed Maddox was inside.
Once we finished up, we congregated outside. None of us spoke until Sophie had climbed into her car and driven off. True deflated a little once she was gone. “What if that baby is mine? No matter what precautions I took, I still fucked her.”
“There’s always a possibility, but I have a strong feeling that baby isn’t yours,” Maddox dropped cryptically into the conversation.
“What the hell does that mean?” Zen wondered, asking what we were all thinking.
“Let’s just say I heard rumors about Sophie before graduation, but I didn’t have proof, so I didn’t say anything. Then you broke up with her, and it didn’t matter.” He shrugged. “But if the rumors were right, she was fucking around on you, dude. Sorry.”
True rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I’m heartbroken. I didn’t love her, and if she was cheating on me, even better because that means that baby is definitely not mine.”
“If she lied about this, what are we doing about that?” I questioned because I sure as fuck wouldn’t let that shit stand. She fucked with one of my brothers, and she needed to pay.
Maddox pulled his phone out and glanced down. “I’m working on that as we speak,” he confirmed before sliding it back into his pocket.
I nodded. “Fine. Once you get something, let me know. What are you guys up to now?”
“True and I are working on rewrites this afternoon.” Zen looked at True, who reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, spinning the ring around his finger.
“Mind if I catch a ride with you?” I asked Maddox, and he lifted his eyebrow. I lived in the same neighborhood as True, so he was probably wondering what the fuck I was up to. I needed to talk about what he had planned for Sophie, and I didn’t want True interfering and telling us to leave it alone. She had to pay for what she was doing, and he had a soft heart.
Don’t get me wrong; True could fuck anyone up that he felt deserved it. The dude wasn’t weak. But when it came to getting revenge or making someone pay? That wasn’t really his style.
But me and Maddox? We were all about vengeance.
We said our goodbyes and hopped into Maddox’s Jeep. “Okay, what’s up, dude?”
My hand gripped the Jeep’s frame as Maddox accelerated out of the parking lot. The tires squealed because he was an aggressive as fuck driver. “What are you digging up on Sophie?”
His casual grin turned sinister as he glanced over at me. “You’re going to fucking love this.”
My lips twitched as I prepared myself to hear whatever twisted shit Maddox had come across. “I’m sure I will.”
His fingers curled around the steering wheel as he leaned back in his seat. “Do you remember Mr. Jennings?”
My eyebrows shot up. “The history teacher from school?”
He laughed. “That’d be the one.”
I thought back to last year. Mr. Jennings was a new teacher who started last year fresh out of school. He was almost as young as we were, and all the girls looked at him like they wanted to fuck him. He quickly became the most popular teacher last year, and that was saying s
omething considering he taught fucking history. That shit could bore anyone to tears.
“What does fucking over Sophie have to do with Mr. Jennings?” I wondered, staring straight ahead at the palm trees lining the street.
“Oh, nothing except for Mr. Jennings fucking Sophie.” Maddox laughed, and I turned and stared at him.
“Sophie was fucking the history teacher?” A rare smile crept across my face. This could fucking work.
“If the rumors are true, and my connections tell me they are, there supposedly exists photographic evidence, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’m working on getting it.”
“Picture or video?” I adjusted my grip on the frame as Maddox took a turn that I swear to fucking god almost put us on two wheels.
He shrugged. “Won’t know until I get my hands on it. But what’s suspicious as fuck is Mr. Jennings quit right after graduation. Makes me think someone gave him a heads up evidence was floating around.”
I grunt my agreement. “When you find something, let me know.” He agreed, and we sat in silence for a few beats. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
He shifted his eyes away from the road a second to look at me before looking straight ahead again as we pulled up to a red light. “What?”
“That party a couple of weeks ago, the one where you got Kayla to go the fuck away?”
“Yeah? What about it?”
I brushed my hair back off my forehead as he hit the gas, and the wind picked back up. “I saw you go downstairs with Zen and a blonde.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Right.”
“You haven’t fucked a girl since I’ve known you.”
“Mmhmm,” he agreed.
“And you’ve had a crush on Zen for forever, too.”
“Congratulations on pointing out the fucking obvious.” He pulled his hands off the wheel long enough to slow clap a couple of times.
Shadow Phoenix: A Rock Star Romance Prequel Page 8
