Stricken Unveiled (Stricken Rock #2)

by S. K. Logsdon

  I so want to hug him right now!

  “Yeah, she came highly recommended to work with multiple births and celebrities. And I thought the fact that they are you know whose babies, it might be good to stick to a place this discrete.”

  How have I gotten so lucky in life to have such an amazing best friend? He might be a little mixed up in the relationship department because even after reading all those letters from Kyle he’s still holding back calling him. Well, it’s not like we’ve had a lot of time on our hands. But I sure hope he does it soon because he needs to get it out of the way. Plus I’m kind of excited to see what comes of it. If I can’t have romance someone sure as hell better.

  She wheels in a state-of-the-art machine.

  “You’re twelve weeks now so I should be able to get a good view without having to do an internal ultrasound. If you could please lie back and lift your shirt. Leaving it rest just below your bra.” She instructs with finesse only a doctor could possess.

  “Okay.” I do what she asks, rolling my shirt up neatly and tucking it underneath my bra line.

  Hovering her hand over me she squirts a little bit of warmed jelly on my bump. Stacy gets off his comfortable chair and comes to stand by me. I hold my out my hand and he wraps both of his around it. His face is bright with a lovely smile that only Stacy could have. This must be just as exciting for him as it is for me. My heart is pounding hard in my chest. This is so much fun!

  She places a white probe on my stomach and swirls it in the jelly. It’s warm and it kind of feels good. On the screen my uterus pops up with two little sacs and two little beings in those sacs with both of their hearts beating fast. I can see it all clearly this time. And it’s all in 3D, which is so much better than the 2D before. I can see little hands and legs and they’re so beautiful. Those are my babies on that screen!

  “Wow that looks different than the last time.”

  Dr. Golds smirks. “Yes they grow rather fast at this stage. Looks like we have two little healthy babies.” She says clicking around on the machine and dragging lines over the screen. I assume for measurements.

  She doesn’t explain things as well as Dr. Shells always had, but, it’s fun watching the little babies move in my belly on the monitor. It’s almost surreal. Stacy has a death grip on my hand and I turn to look at him and his blue eyes are glowing and he has the biggest smile I think I’ve ever seen on his face.

  “You okay Stace?”

  He shakes his head like he’s clearing water out of his ears. “Oh yeah, I’m perfect. This is so awesome!” he nearly screams.

  I can’t help but laugh and the doctor joins in. And here I thought I was excited to see the babies. This appointment was more for him than it was for me in some ways.

  “I’m glad you like to see the babies.” I giggle with a huge smile.

  “Would you like to hear your baby’s heartbeats?” Trisha my doctor asks.

  Stacy bobs his head like a fool without saying a word.

  “Yes please.” I say with another giggle. He’s cracking me up over here. I can’t believe my best friend is this thrilled to see the twins. It’s fun for me because I’m the mom. He’s just the uncle.

  She clicks a button the cart and fast thudding sounds fill the room.

  “This is baby A’s heartbeat.” She says positioning the probe over my first baby. It’s fast and strong.

  “And this is baby B’s” she moves the probe over and it’s a little slower than baby A’s but it’s almost the same.

  I’m so happy I could almost cry. Two beautiful babies in my belly growing like they should and I’ve yet to have any real complications. Thank god!

  She pulls the probe off my belly, and wipes my skin with a soft cloth.

  “What? Where’d they go?” Stacy mopes, sadness swelling in his voice.

  “She took the ultrasound probe off my belly honey.” I pat his hand. He looks lost and sad. He was too focused on the screen that nothing else in the room was even registering. My sweet-sweet best friend.

  “Here are some pictures of your babies.” She hands me a long strip of twelve pictures all in 3D. “Now I’d like to have you back here in four weeks and we can find out the sex of the babies then. If you’d like. Being pregnant with twins means after that visit I will have you back every two weeks and once you hit twenty eight weeks we will have weekly appointments. I don’t want to scare you but I want you to be prepared because a lot of times with twins once you move into your third trimester you might be in here a lot to do stress tests and examinations. I’ve had to bring some women in upwards of four times a week to make sure we are moving right along. But we will talk about that more once we get you closer.” She offers me a friendly smile and pats me firmly on the leg. She’s stronger than she looks.

  “Okay thanks. So can we go now?”

  “Yep. Just check out in the front to schedule your next appointment.” She instructs and ducks out of the room.

  I hand Stacy over the pictures of the babies because I can see him eyeing them.

  “So….” I say hopping down off the table. My feet landing on the marble creating an echo in the examine room.

  He nearly dashes over and swoops me up in his arms. His body crushing into mine. I let out a barking laugh as I pat his back.

  “It’s okay big guy.” I pat again.

  “That was like the coolest thing ever!” he shrieks excitedly.

  “Yeah, well, I’m glad they are growing steadily and I’m going to get fat pretty fast.” I try to push him off of me but he won’t let go. “Stace we need to leave. Can you let go so we can.” I pat his shoulders and he releases me.

  “Sorry. I’m just so happy! You have to let me come to all the doctor appointments.” He exclaims nearly jumping up and down like a two-year-old hopped up on sugar.

  “I won’t be having an ultrasound each time silly. But I will make sure I have you here for all the ones I do. Okay?” I giggle.

  He’s being such a dork. Who would have thought my best friend might enjoy this whole pregnancy thing more than I do. That is how I wish all dads were. From what I hear they’re usually excited. But I’m certain Stacy’s blows them all out of the water. God love him!

  Chapter Three

  What a great day it has been so far. Baby appointment and now Stacy and I are lounging on his suede beige sectional curled up with a giant king-sized blanket together, paper plates in our laps full of pizza and hot wings. I’ve always loved pizza but ever since I’ve gotten pregnant I crave its deliciousness even more so now. I ordered it with mushrooms, banana peppers; okay in Cali they have pepperoncini’s which are almost the same thing, and black olives. I used to hate black olives but for some reason now I love them and the saltiness is what draws me in like a moth to a flame. The hot wings with ranch are fabulous. I hear some woman crave sweets; well I’m a salty kind of gal. Potato chips, black olives, mozzarella cheese and these Vero mango Mexican suckers Stacy introduced me to. They are mango flavored but they have salt and chili on them too and they’re a delicious mix of salty, spicy and fruit. I can’t go a day without eating a few.

  “What do you think of the pizza?” Stace asks, his mouth stuffed.

  “Didn’t my mother ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?” I tease.

  He opens his mouth. YUCK! It’s full of chewed food. He closes it with a sly smile.

  “You’re really disgusting you know that?”

  “Hey, don’t hate it’s part of my charm.” He says taking another bite.

  “That’s not charm. If you think it is we need to have your head examined pronto.” I kid and bite into a wing. Yum! Spicy food in Cali is so much better than Indiana’s. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it.

  The TVs on with some news program. Stacy watches the local news a lot. It makes my skin crawl so I put it on ignore. Right now I focus on eating while he checks the football stats and who gunned down who in the slums this morning. Back home the news consists of ‘There was a man suspect
ed of loitering outside of Walmart today.’ But here it’s real news; shootings, stabbings, carjacking’s, event headlines, the occasionally do-gooder story and healthy eating tips.

  It’s amazing how much different living in LA is compared to Indiana. I’ve been exposed to a lot with living in New York City but its way different here. The main difference is that it is less crowded per capita and it’s cleaner. New York City may have upsides but cleanliness isn’t one of them. Everywhere around here has greenery and trees and its bright and sunny all of the time. It has yet to rain since I moved in, and the bug population is zilch. The people are less friendly and even less polite. Just like New York in that sense. But in Indiana they willingly let you talk in line at the supermarket for twenty minutes with the cashier who you’ve just met. It’s slower paced and more innocent in some respects. I wouldn’t say it’s better than living in places like New York City or LA, it’s just different. It will be a total culture shock for my mom when she eventually fly’s out to visit. It’s a great melting pot in America with a vast amount of ethnicities, races, religions, and sexual orientations. Which I love! Living in Indiana I had one African-American in my entire school. The worst part about rural ultraconservative America is that homosexuality and racial couples are frowned upon. It’s gotten better since I was a kid. But it’s ridiculous if you ask me. The rest of the world can accept it and have gay pride parades but good ol’ backwoods USA is still the home of outlandish 1800’s views and prejudices.

  What I don’t get is how I can accept and love my best friend who how he put is ‘an equal opportunity sex connoisseur’. Or that’s what he has been reiterating to me the past few weeks when I give him shit for bringing another female home to fuck in his bedroom right down the hall from mine. It’s not that I care if he dips his stick in a plethora of pussy. I’ve known that for years. But it’s the Kyle thing that bothers me. He’s putting it off and I hate it. If I can accept him for who he is, I think the rest of the world should too. But hey that’s my two cents. I’ve said my peace.

  “Are you going to eat that?” he asks reaching his hand over to my plate to take the crust of my pizza. Which I hate.

  “Yeah, it’s all yours.”

  He snatches up the two ends and dips them like a bread stick into the ranch from the wings on his plate. Feeding them into mouth one crunch at a time. He’s a barbarian when he eats. I’m surprised he ever uses silverware. Elegant and refined in some way’s Stacy is. Eating is not one of them.

  I hear a car door shut outside. I sit up to listen if it’s the neighbors or if James is back from the errands I sent him on today, to get him away from me long enough that I could go to the doctors without him. He’s still my bodyguard. Why I need him? I have no idea. I’m in no danger. But Stacy refuses to relieve him of his duties and Johnathan has no say until he gets out of Passages on Monday. I have to pick him up at eleven.

  What the hell! Someone is pounding furiously on the front door.

  “I’ll get it.” Stacy says throwing back the blanket, setting his plate on the end table, and padding his way to see who’s here.

  “Hold your horses.” He shouts.

  “Open the fuck up dude. Let me in.” I hear a less than pleasant person say on the other side. I want to vomit at the sound of his voice.

  Stacy pulls the door open, and Deacon pushes past him into the house.

  “What the fuck D? Why are you here?” Stacy asks with a less than happy tone.

  “You haven’t been picking up your damn phone. Have you seen the news?!” D nearly screams, he’s breathing hard and his face is flush. Did he run here? No. I heard his car. He must be that worked up over something. This is about to get interesting.

  “It’s on the charger and it’s after work hours. I shouldn’t need my phone. I left it in the bedroom. Now tell me what’s going on?” Stacy orders firmly. His mouth in a grim taught line. I guess he despises D almost as much as I do.

  Deacon runs his hands through his brown hair and slows his breathing down. Stacy shuts the door and comes back over to sit by me, pushing the blanket out of his way.

  “Oh hey Em.” D waves just realizing I’m here too. Gee thanks I must be invisible.

  “Hi.”

  “Out with it D, you come barging into my house at seven in the evening. I want to know what’s up.” Stace says, calmer this time.

  Another car pulls up, a door slams and I hear loud footsteps rapidly coming up the sidewalk. The front door crashes open and ricochets against the wall. James dashes through it, his gun out, locked and loaded pointed straight at us.

  I gasp, and slump down into the couch, covering my belly with my hands. Like that’s going to save me.

  Once he sees D and all of us sitting on the couch. He lowers his weapon slowly and holsters it.

  “What the fuck James!” D yells.

  “Sorry guys I just saw a car not on the approved visitors list in the drive I couldn’t take any chances.” James says breathing heavy, his arms hanging at his sides. You can see the bulging of his thick veiny forearms. He’s tense.

  “Yeah well… We weren’t expecting any company or we would have told you. D just pulled up and was just about to tell us what the hell he’s doing here unannounced.” Stacy barks, none too happy.

  Not that I blame him. I almost pissed myself twice.

  “I fucking called, douche bag.”

  “If you’re going to talk to me that way in my house dick wad I suggest you leave.” Stacy eyes the front door. He’s so fucking pissed. I look over and see his hands fisting the edge of the couch. His knuckles are white and the lines on his forehead are showing his age. Which is rare.

  “It’s okay Stace.” I soothe and sit up rubbing my hand along his arm. He relaxes a bit with a loud exhale.

  “Okay sorry. Can I just show you guys what I came here for?” D says waving his hand like Vanna White toward the laptop on the coffee table.

  Stacy reaches over and hands it to him.

  D rounds the coffee table and sits next to Stacy, the laptop propped up in his lap pulling something up to show us. James comes over and sits on the arm of the sofa by me.

  “I’m sorry Miss Bronwyn.” He says lowly, his face sullen with grief.

  I reach out of my hand and lay it on his thick muscled thigh. “It’s okay you were just doing your job.” I smile reassuringly, and he drops his shoulders into a slump.

  “I did get what you requested ma’am, it’s in the car. I’ll go retrieve it now.” He stands and heads outside. His head drooping the entire way. Poor James. He shouldn’t be so hard on himself.

  I return my attention to the men on the couch. “HOLY FUCK!” Stacy yells staring at the monitor.

  “What?” I ask, my heart picking up pace with worry. I have no idea what’s going on and it doesn’t sound good.

  Stacy snatches the laptop off of D’s legs. Placing it on his, he clicks a news clip posted to Entertainment Tonight’s site. I lean in to watch.

  A newswoman in a black dress suit comes on. ‘Is singer and rock star millionaire Johnathan Striker no longer brooding alone in this world? Reliable resources report the rocker is a dad in the making.’

  My heart falls out of my chest and I think I might cry. I gaze up at Stacy and his mouth is open, eyes wide.

  How did they find out!?

  I hold my breath.

  ‘In an interview this morning with the mother to be twenty one year old Cassandra Buckley she has reported to us that she is in fact six weeks pregnant with the famous rock stars baby. After a one-night stand in her hometown of Washington D.C just four short weeks ago. She also provided us with this picture.’ The screen pops up an ultrasound photo of a tiny fetus. Son of a bitch! ‘Mother to be also reports she has explicit photos from the night in question. But those cannot be released at this time. So the question is will Johnathan Striker the lead singer of Stricken be the man we all know him to be? Or settle down and raise a family? I guess only time will tell.’

  I exhale
and tears are pouring down my face. Stacy turns to look at me and I throw off the comforter like it’s suffocating me and dash out of the living room, into the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me. I throw myself down on the floor and lunge my head over the bowl of the toilet and puke my ever loving guts out. Heave after heave of pizza and spicy wings, that burn coming up. My mouth is on fire. My heart is shattered in pieces all over the floor. I think I might have just died. Shit!

  How the fuck is this possible!? I can’t believe he did this! I can’t believe my babies are going to have a baby brother or sister that they are the same age as! This can’t be happening! Oh my god! Why does this have to get worse? Why can’t my life just get better? It’s been going so well with Stacy the past few weeks and now Johnathan has to go fucking it all up again. Like always!

  I sit back from the bowl and wipe my mouth with the hand towel lying on the countertop. I rest my back against the white wall, bending down I cover my face and I bawl and I sob and I weep. Emotions pouring out of me like a tidal wave. Why is this happening? I don’t understand. I’m not a bad person! I’ve never killed or raped or stabbed anyone. I’ve never even gotten a damn speeding ticket. Yet, the man I hate to admit I have some feelings for went and knocked up another woman. I saw her face in the bar that night. It was the same face on the internet clip. Short brown hair, petite, kind of like me except she is carrying Johnathan’s baby and he is going to know about it! Oh god! Now I really can’t tell him about these.

  I rub my tummy cradling it with my hands, tears drenching my shirt over my chest.

  The door to the bathroom clicks open and slowly James’s head peers around the corner.

  “Are you okay? I can hear you from the living room.” He says nicely and comes in shutting the white door behind him.

  I wipe my eyes. “No, I’m not okay.” I sob as my hands tremble. “Where’s Stacy”

  I’m in so much pain. I thought the pain I’ve been through before was bad. This is on a whole different level. I can deal with the fact that Johnathan used me as a one-night stand. I can sort of forgive him for that now. It hurts but he’s been trying to prove me wrong. Plus I know he doesn’t know how to love according to Stacy, so I can’t expect a lot out of such a broken man. I’ve seen his nightmares, his drug addiction and sex addiction. That’s why I’m so glad he’s in rehab to clean himself up. I thought maybe in a few weeks after all the tour was done I might be able to tell him about the babies. I might be able to be honest and come clean. But now! How could I? I can’t do that. He’s already going to have one baby that he’s going to have to take care of. I can’t throw the other two into the mix even if I wanted. First. He didn’t ask for them. Second. I can’t go through all that pain again. Especially if he decides to do the horribly wrong thing and try to date this baby’s mama. Fuck! What if he does?