“Ethan?” I’m relieved when Amanda answers.
“Hey, baby sis. Where the hell are you? Everyone is here except you. This is your party, get your ass here.” I frown when I’m met with silence. “Amanda?”
“Is Lindsay there?”
“She is.” Amanda doesn’t sound right. Now I’m starting to worry. “Are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah. Put Lindsay on the phone, will you?”
I hand the phone to Lindsay, who looks at me enquiringly. I shrug. It must be a female thing. I listen to the one-sided conversation, watching the expressions play across Lindsay’s face. Something is definitely wrong.
“Okay, Amanda, just calm down. I know, honey. Stay where you are. I’m coming.” Lindsay hangs up and hands me the phone. “She’s in the restroom. I’m going to her.”
“I’ll come too,” my mom says, her tone filled with concern.
“Um, she asked me to come alone.” Lindsay shrugs apologetically and moves off.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask, quietly.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” mom responds.
I glance toward Nathan suspiciously. He’s chatting animatedly to a group of people who seem quite bored. He’s probably boasting about something or another, the braggart.
“So, what’s going on with you and Lindsay? She’s a good girl, you know.”
My eyes shift to my mother. “I know she is. Why does it sound like you’re warning me off of her?”
Margaret sighs. “You’re my son, and I love you. But you have a certain reputation.”
“Suppose I have changed? Suppose I have met a woman who is worth changing my ways for? Worth settling down with?”
The shock on my mother’s face is quite evident. Of course she’s shocked. I’ve never sounded like this before. “Oh. Well, I suppose that would change everything, then.”
“Yes, it would.” She gives me a warm smile, which I return.
“Your father will never believe you want to settle down. He’ll blame your sudden turn around on being hit too hard and too many times on the football field.”
I let out a laugh. Maybe my father would have a point. I, too, am a bit surprised by the way I have fallen.
Chapter Twelve
Lindsay
“Amanda, slow down and tell me what happened.” I try futilely to get her calm down.
“I can’t marry him, Linds. You and Ethan were right. Nathan is a complete asshole.”
I can’t disagree with her on that one. “What did he do?”
She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “He doesn’t love me. I heard him on the phone talking to one of his lawyer friends. He said I would be nothing but a trophy wife, too young and stupid to realize why he really married me.”
I gasp. “He said what?” I want to take a swing at Nathan with a baseball bat. Amanda bursts into tears. “I’m so sorry, Amanda,” I console, wrapping my arms around her. “He’s wrong, you know. You’re a smart woman, and too good for an imbecile like Nathan.”
Her lips twitch. “He is pretty dumb, isn’t he? Who wouldn’t love me? Look at this face.”
We both snicker. “You want me to sneak you out of here?”
Amanda sniffs. “No. I’m going to march out there and give Nathan a piece of my mind in front of everyone.”
“That’s my girl.” If my best friend is going to exercise such bravery, so will I. “Um, Amanda. I slept with your brother,” I blurt out, before I lose my nerve.
“What?”
“More than once.”
“Oh my God. I’m going to kill Ethan. Did he seduce you? Charm you into his bed like he does all those other women?”
I gape at her. I assumed she would be disgusted with me and tell me to get out of her sight. Such anger at her brother was not what I expected. “Er, actually, I was the one to seduce him the first time.”
Amanda blinks, surprise flickering in her eyes. A knock sounds, stopping her response. “Amanda? Lindsay? What’s going on in there?” It’s Ethan.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Amanda calls, her eyes still on me.
“Amanda, please don’t hate me,” I beg.
“Did all this start since Ethan got here for my wedding?”
My eyes shut briefly. I’m going to have to tell her the entire truth. “The first time was after our graduation.”
Her mouth drops open as I continue to look at her, my eyes pleading. “Casey is three, isn’t she?”
My heart is pounding in my chest. “Yes.” I force the word out.
“Lindsay, of all the stupid, selfish things to do. You never told any of us your baby belonged to Ethan.”
“What did you just say?”
Amanda and I wheel around, our expressions of surprise identical. Ethan has pushed the door open.
“Ethan! This is the ladies room, for goodness sake,” Amanda scolds.
It’s too late. I can tell by the look on his face that he heard Amanda. He’s staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and hurt. “Is it true, Lindsay? Is Casey mine?”
I can’t look him in the eyes. “She’s yours. I’m sorry, Ethan. I should have told you, but-”
“Save it, Lindsay. This isn’t the time or the place to have this conversation.” His jaw is clenched, and his shoulders are stiff with tension as if he’s making great effort to hold on to his temper. “Amanda, your guests are waiting.”
“Well, they might as well go home. There will be no wedding tomorrow,” Amanda grumbles. She turns to me, sympathy on her face. “I don’t hate you, Lindsay. I’m pissed as hell, but I’ll get over it. I’m going to go out there and fix my problem, and you fix yours. We’ll swap stories tomorrow over strong drinks.”
I grab her hand and give it a squeeze, grateful for forgiveness from at least one person. “Thanks. Good luck.”
“You too.” She leaves the bathroom, leaving me to face Ethan’s wrath alone.
He glares at me. “I don’t know what that was all about, but if the wedding has been called off, I guess there’s no need for this dinner. Let’s go.”
“W-where?”
“I drove you here, so I’m taking you home.” He turns and leaves without waiting for a response. My shoulders droop with defeat. Great, he’s going to drop me home and drive off as soon as I step out of the car. He hates me, and I can’t blame him. I follow him, dragging my feet, feeling like I’m on my way to the gallows.
***
Ethan parks in front of my building. He still hasn’t said a word to me. I suffered through what must have been the most uncomfortable drive in history. I would feel better if he had said something to me, anything, even words of anger. But all I have gotten is silence, torturing silence. “Ethan-”
“Let’s go inside.”
I sigh. Finally, he speaks. “Will it be safe to be alone in my apartment with you?” I ask sarcastically.
I’m given a withering glare. “You really shouldn’t be a smart ass right now, Lindsay.”
Pulling my lower lip between my teeth, I slide out of the car and march up the steps with Ethan on my tail. I can practically feel his anger. Once we are inside, and he has closed the door, I turn to look at him. My heart twists, seeing his pained expression. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something, throwing it down on the center table. I stare at the small box with confusion.
“Why, Lindsay? Why would you keep the fact that you have a child from me for three years?”
I take my eyes off the box. “I didn’t want to hold you back, Ethan. You had just been drafted to the NFL. It was your dream. I just wanted you to have a future. If I had told you about Casey, you would have hated me.”
Ethan runs a hand over his face. “Are you listening to yourself? Why would I hate you because of our child?”
I shrug. Now that he says it, I feel like a complete fool for keeping something so big from him. My lower lip quivers as I fight back tears. “I didn’t want to ruin your life, burden you with the responsibility of a child. I thou
ght at least one of us should live our dream.”
“You should have told me. We could have made things work.” He falls silent. “I have a daughter,” he whispers. It’s as if he still can’t believe it.
“I suppose all I have managed to do is make everything worse by keeping such a secret. I kept it from everyone. My mother suspects, but she doesn’t say anything. She looks like you.” He looks at me with sad eyes. My conscience berates me for hurting him this way. Because of my stupidity, he missed out on three years of his child’s life. “I’ll understand if you never want to speak to me again.”
“I was going to ask you to marry me.”
My eyes widen. “What?” I eye the velvet box once more. “W-why?”
He looks at me as if I’ve lost all sense. “Because I love you, Lindsay. I fell in love with you, okay? I think I did when you approached me at your graduation three years ago.” I’m gawking at him at this point. His lips twitch. “Yeah, I was just as surprised at the discovery too.”
I blink rapidly. Ethan is in love with me? Well, hallelujah, because I love him too. “I love you, too. I always have.”
Ethan gives me the full intensity of his stare. This time, there is nothing sexual about it. What I would give to know what he’s thinking right now. Is he condemning me? Planning to take me to court and sue for full custody of his child? My mind is racing, and I’m on the verge of panic. “Please don’t take her from me, Ethan. I’ve already given up so much in my life.”
He frowns. “What are you talking about?”
“If you’re contemplating taking Casey from me, please don’t. We’ll work something out. You can see her whenever you like.”
He lets out a laugh, taking me by surprise. “Take her from you? I’m planning to take away the both of you.”
Huh? “I- I don’t understand.”
He moves toward me, and I instinctively take a retreating step back. “I have a family. I’m not leaving you or Casey. You’re both coming back to Texas with me.”
My heart jumps excitedly, but I’m a bit apprehensive. “We can’t just uproot our lives, Ethan.”
“What’s here for either of you, Lindsay? If you come with me, Casey will have everything she’ll ever want and need and so will you. You’ll be able to go to the best art school in the country if you wish. I’ll take care of both you. I’ll pay for your mother to visit anytime she wants.
Wow. I honestly thought things would go much worse. He’s offering to take Casey and me with him. I didn’t see it coming. I’m starting to feel a little bit like Cinderella, and I hate that damn fairy tale. “Ethan, I don’t know what to say. This is all so-”
“Just say yes. And say yes to marrying me.”
“That’s not a very romantic proposal,” I murmur.
Ethan swallows a grin. “Give me a break, here. I’m still in shock. I’ll wine and dine you later and pop the question again. How about that?”
I can’t help but smile, elated that he still wants me in every way and incredibly relieved that I’ve been forgiven. “I don’t care about wining and dining. I’ll marry you.”
He lets out a long breath. “Good. Let’s go get Casey now. I need to meet her. I don’t want to waste another minute.”
“Of course. Let’s go.” I move toward the door, but Ethan snags my wrist, pulling me back.
“You’re forgetting something.” He reaches for the box on the table and opens it, revealing an intricately designed ring with a solitary stone. It’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen. My breath hitches in my chest. This is really happening. My dreams are starting to become reality.
“I love you, Lindsay. You have no idea how much you have changed me. You make me a better version of myself.”
A face splitting smile spreads across my face. “You never needed any improvement. You’ve always been perfect in my eyes.”
He swallows hard. “It’s dangerous for you to say things like that to me. Now I want to take you to the bedroom. But there will be plenty of time for that later. Let’s go get our little girl.”
As we head through the door, I glance down at our intertwined hands. My time has finally come to be wholly happy.
*****
THE END
Contemporary Romance Collection
Played by the Rock Star
Description
I’m a good girl, I don’t like hot, famous rock stars. All I have to do is pretend that I’m dating one...
Brent Jacobsen is living the life of a rock star.
Sold out concerts.
All of the girls that he could ever want.
Parties and fancy hotel rooms.
It’s just too bad that he’s broken and self-destructing. After destroying another hotel room, his best friends come up with a brilliant idea on how to deflect the negative press: date their younger sister out in public and feed off of her sweet and clean life. They already know each other, so it will be easy enough.
It sounds so simple, until it isn’t.
Riley is beautiful and smart. Brent watched her grow up but now, at twenty-two, she is mature and compassionate in ways that he doesn’t understand. They both agree, but soon know that it is more than just a news story.
Can Brent find it in himself to give Riley what she deserves? Can he be what she needs?
Will his friends ever forgive him for what he’s about to do to their sister?
Will he ever be the same again after he tastes her lips?
Chapter One
The sun glared into the room. Brent Jacobson raised his hand to block it and turned onto his stomach in the king sized bed. “What the fuck? It’s so early.”
“Poor baby. What they hell are you up to, Brent?” the sharp voice of his publicist responded, as his head started to pound. “Nice room. Too bad the rest of it is trashed.”
“Trashed? What happened?” Brent groaned as the full effects of his hangover started to kick in and make him feel like shit.
“Jesus fucking Christ. You’re lucky the band is doing well,” McKenzie Adams grumbled, as she stared at the man who was making her life a living nightmare. “A few girls went scrambling out of here when I knocked, since you wouldn’t answer your cell. I got a call from the hotel due to a report of noise sometime this morning and had to catch a flight here from Philadelphia. It was my daughter’s fifth-grade graduation today. Thanks a lot for that, Brent.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” She snorted at his apology as she paced the room.
“The rest of the band doesn’t even want to answer their phones anymore. Do you think there’s a problem?”
Brent turned in the bed and kept the sheet over his body, even though he knew that Kenzie didn’t care. When she wasn’t babysitting him, she was a happily married mother of two kids. “The gig was great, and we partied afterward. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, except that you have another bill from another trashed hotel room. It’s in the thousands of dollars, this time, Brent. That TV was quite large. Judging from the mess of bottles, you owe on the mini bar as well.” She looked at him with worried, jade green eyes as she ran a hand through her wavy, chestnut hair. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Kenzie. I wanted to have some fun after a show, and the girls were hot.” He looked at her with dull blue eyes that before covering his handsome face with one thick, tattooed arm.
“You know it’s more than that,” she said, before letting out a sigh. “Are you going to stay calm for a while? I have to do damage control.”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“I am going to call Declan and have him come be here with you.” Her brother was a roadie for Nothing Lost and staying in the same hotel, but she hadn’t made the call yet. She knew how late he’d been up, and this was her job. Technically. Declan just helped her out.
Brent groaned as he saw her shadow leave the room and pulled the sheets over his head. He had no recollection of last night apart from the girls and the drinks, but Brent was well aware that
he could lose control quickly these days. His life was successful, and he was doing well on paper, but inside he was a mess.
Brent had wanted more for himself at thirty, but things had just happened to bring him down. He rode the high that was being lead singer of one of the most popular bands in 2016 and tried not to think about the rest of it. Brent knew that he was awake for the day and got up to hit the toilet and pull on some shorts before he walked out into the living area of the suite.
Kenzie was right. It was destroyed. He looked around at the broken and upturned furniture and the shattered television on the floor, not to mention the general mess from the party that he’d thrown at the last minute. He pushed a reddened hand through his dirty blond hair, which was hanging down into his face, and closed his eyes slowly as he heard a knock at the door.
Brent made his way through the destruction and opened it to find Declan Keller standing there in board shorts and a t-shirt, looking as though he’d partied as well. He just didn’t look or probably feel nearly as bad as Brent did. “Were you here last night?”
“I did the after party with the opening band. Cool guys.” Declan walked inside and whistled as he looked around. “Is Kenzie pissed off? It was Scarlet’s graduation today and she scheduled hard to be there. She could’ve just called me.”
“I think she wanted to scream at me in person. Hopefully, she can write a check and get back in time for some of it,” Brent replied, as he walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. Declan followed him and grabbed some water as he looked closely at his best friend. “I think she’s done with me this time.”
“This is…five rooms?” Declan asked, and Brent nodded. “You guys are making bank, but you’re dragging the band’s name through the mud right now. The media is all over your shit, and the other guys didn’t ask for any of this.”
Hungry Cowboy Page 33
