On the other end of the line, Brit sighed. “Well, Aurielle had a bit of an accident, about an hour ago. She… passed out.”
“Passed out?!” I shrieked, and felt the eyes of the few patrons in the restaurant come to me. I gave them an apologetic wave, then turned my attention back to my call. “Passed out?” I repeated, in an urgent whisper. “What happened?! She’s not… she didn’t take anything did she?!”
“No,” Brit answered quickly. “At least, I don’t believe so. I’m at the hospital with her right now, and she’s sleeping while she gets fluids through an IV. This is my second day back with her, after being gone to check on my mother. I don’t know what she’s been doing to herself, but she was clearly exhausted, and the doctor isn’t telling me much, but she was definitely dehydrated.”
I swallowed hard. “Uh… okay. Okay. Where was tonight’s show? Chicago, right? Is that where you are?”
“No, we cancelled Chicago once I saw the shape she was in. Her voice needed rest, and she needed rest. But… we’re in your city, actually. Since she wasn’t performing, she wanted to surprise you. But then this happened.”
“Wait, you’re here?” I asked. “What hospital?!”
When she told me, I nodded. “That’s just up the street from where I am. I’m coming now.”
I hung up with Brit and packed up, glad for the fact that the storm seemed to be taking a little break. I tried not to let my mind run with the worst possibilities for why in the world Auri had passed out, especially since I knew she had it in her to work herself to exhaustion. I just thought she was taking better care of herself than that now.
Thanks to Brit’s directions, once I was at the hospital I found my way to her room quickly. It was a testament to the professionalism of the staff that the hallway wasn’t lined with paparazzi, waiting to catch a bedraggled picture or a juicy story. In fact, the only person sitting outside was Kev, her bodyguard.
Or rather, Kevin Lesley, who we’d known since we were kids.
“Kev,” I called out to him, and when he looked up, the concern in his eyes was stark. It caught me off guard a little, and confused me even more when he stood up from his chair to approach me, without his usual easy smile.
“My favorite afro-gi,” he teased, as he pulled me into a hug, but I could tell he wasn’t feeling it. “Do you know what’s going on? The doctors aren’t really saying anything, Brit isn’t saying anything. Auri can’t say anything, but man… I need to know. She just… collapsed, right in front of me.”
I shook my head. “I thought we had a deal, Kev, after what happened with… him. You were supposed to call me anytime something crazy happened with her.”
“My bad Astrid.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Everything was just happening so fast, and trying to keep the press out of her business, then Brit mentioned that she’d already called you, so I just… I don’t know man. But I know I need to know what’s going on with Auri. I need her to be okay.”
“She will be,” I told him, ever though I had no way of knowing that. My usual set point was more pragmatic, but the desperation in his voice made my chest hurt, made me want to encourage him of something I needed reassurance about myself. To others, Kev was imposing, with his large frame and natural scowl. But to know him meant knowing he was incredibly laid back if he wasn’t “on”, and knowing that he was, especially when it came to Auri, a teddy bear.
A natural byproduct of the crush he’d had on her basically forever. Auri was the only one who didn’t see it.
“I hope you’re right,” he sighed, pushing his hands into his pockets. “Brit is in there with her right now, and a doctor. A different one than before.”
Right on cue, the door to the room swung open, and a huffy-looking Brit quietly stormed out, tossing an ugly look inside as the door eased closed.
“Can you believe she just put me out?” Brit asked, crossing her arms.
I frowned. “Who? Auri?!”
The sound of my voice made her head snap up. “Oh! Astrid, you made it,” she said, pulling me into a quick hug before she stepped back. “And no, not Auri. The doctor. Said she wanted to speak to her patient alone, as if there’s anything Aurielle keeps from me, as if there was something I couldn’t hear. I’ll tell you what though – if all of this is because Donnie left her with some itchy memento of their time together, curable or not, he is a dead man.”
“Brit, relax,” I told her, grabbing her shoulders. “I need you to breathe with me. And come on Kev, you too. I’m serious, come here.” Reluctantly, Kev took a few steps closer, and I grabbed both of their hands, walking them through a quick guided breathing moment that I used in some of my classes. When we were done, I looked back to Brit. “Okay, now… what in the world makes you think this has anything to do with Donnie?”
“Because that doctor is a gynecologist, and she’s not one of the doctors who saw her when she first came in. Why else would they send her?”
“Excuse me.”
A familiar voice made me turn away from Brit, to see the familiar face that went with it. The doctor – my doctor, as a matter of fact – was peeking out of the door to Auri’s room. She smiled when she saw me.
“Just the person I need. She’s asking for you. Please, come in.”
I didn’t hesitate. I followed Dr. Porsha Morris through the door she was holding open for me, and deep into the room where I found Aurielle sitting up in the bed, surrounded by pillows and blankets. She didn’t look sick, just very, very tired, and her eyes were glossy and rimmed in red as if she’d been crying.
“Oh, Superstar,” I said, hoping to make her smile. And it did, a little bit. She motioned for me to join her on the bed, and I did, closing her in my arms. “What the hell happened?” I asked, then looking up at Dr. Morris, wondering why she was still there.
Auri’s gaze dropped to her hands, and Dr. Morris gave her a sympathetic smile. “Do you want me to tell her for you, Aurielle?”
My heart clenched when Auri nodded. What the hell could be so bad that she couldn’t even say it herself?
“Your sister is pregnant, Astrid. Only a few weeks, but enough that it’s already beginning to take a toll on her body. Add that to the stress of being on tour, as well as not taking care of herself as she should… equals a shut down, to force the issue. We only know because of the blood tests. It’s too soon to show up in a traditional urine sample.”
My eyes had gone wide as soon as the word “pregnant” left her mouth. I turned to Auri, who was looking at me now, her face soggy with tears, as if she were expecting me to tell her what to do.
“I… I can’t have a baby right now, Astrid. Can you imagine what the headlines will look like? They’re already calling me a phony, saying my new “good girl” image is fake. Just think about what they’ll do with an unwed pregnancy, especially since Donnie is already being photographed at strip clubs while they cast me as some stupid, desperate woman who’ll just accept anything. I cannot do this right now.”
I shook my head. “I… Auri…. If you don’t want to have this baby, that’s something we can talk through, but concern about what the media will say isn’t a good reason. It’s stupid.”
Auri’s mouth dropped open like I’d smacked her, and I could swear I heard Dr. Morris mutter “Oh, shit.” under her breath before she spoke up. “Well, I’m going to let you ladies talk through this alone. Aurielle, I’ll be sending up the appropriate nutrient supplements for you to keep you healthy for now, and get you some information about your options, okay?”
Auri nodded. “Okay.”
I didn’t speak again until I heard the low click that confirmed the closing of the door. “I’m not about to sit here and judge you, okay?” I asked her, putting my hands on her shoulders to get her to face me. “And I’ll love you, no matter what you do.”
“Just get to the point, Astrid,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t need you to sugarcoat it for me, I have other people for that. I need my sister to just tell me the truth.�
��
I nodded. “Okay. Well... I’ve known you… basically forever, right? And you’ve always been a nurturer, always wanted to be the mom when we played, always wanted to be around the babies at daycare, all of that. And when we got older, you always talked about wanting to be a mom, cause while Auntie Sandra did what she could to take that role after we lost mama and daddy, we didn’t really have that. Right?”
“Right.”
“So,” I continued, “Because of that, because I know you… I think you want the child you’re carrying. I think you’re just scared. And I think that what you’re scared of is valid, but I also think it’s stupid, and you’ll never forgive yourself if you decide not to have it because of that. Whatever the hell they have to say, it doesn’t matter. What matters is your real life happiness, not the headlines. At least, that’s my take on it.”
She sniffled as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You’re right though. I just… that’s so much easier said than done. And it’s not just that, either. I’m at the beginning of a tour, which is already stressful. I’m trying to bounce back from all of that… mess. This is just the worst possible timing.”
“I understand,” I told her, pulling her in for another hug. “But you won’t be alone. You have people who love you, who’ll take care of you. And, well… Donnie is going to have to do some growing up, and taking responsibility here too. When do you think you’ll tell him?”
Auri sighed as she pulled herself up. “Well… that’s another issue. I’m only a few weeks pregnant.”
“Okay… how is that an issue?”
She shook her head. “Astrid… I haven’t slept with Donnie since I first started thinking something was up with him again.”
I frowned. “But… you mentioned that to me a few months ago.”
“Right.”
Again, my eyes went big. “Wait a minute! So… Donnie isn’t….”
Again, she shook her head, then pushed out a heavy sigh. “And it really wouldn’t be fair to let the media think he is, once they inevitably get ahold of this. Which means, I might have to out the person who… is.”
“Which is who, Auri?”
Contrary to her “Pixie” image, Aurielle was a serial monogamist. Casual sex wasn’t her thing, not usually, but she’d just broken up with Donnie, and had been too busy with her tour to start a new fling, so…
“Kev.”
I bolted up from the bed, placing my hands to my temples. “Kev?!” I shrieked. “Our Kev?! O’Shea Jackson lookalike, Kev? Your bodyguard Kev?!”
She gave me a wry smile. “Yep. That’s the one.”
I closed my eyes, and shook my head. “I…when?” I asked, stepping back up to the bed. “And why would you keep something like the fact that you’d slept with Kev from me?!”
“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes. “You still haven’t told me who had you all bubbly and glowy on our video chat last week. And just looking in your face… whoever it was got to you again!”
“But this is you,” I explained. “And Kev, who you swore up and down was not crushing on you, when I tried to tell you this two years ago!”
She laughed, just a little. “Well, there’s no denying it now. I guess… I didn’t want to see it. I needed him to be that familiar face I could come back to, that kept me grounded. But he was tired of playing that position, I guess.”
“Yeah, I see. So… what happened?”
Her smile grew a bit more as I sat down beside her on the bed. “It was really sweet, actually. You remember that night I talked to you right before I went on stage? When Donnie was supposed to be there, but I didn’t know where he was?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well… he didn’t show up until almost midnight, drunk again, back in the suite at the hotel. We had a huge, huge fight, and Donnie was screaming at me, and grabbing me, so Kev got pissed. Put him out. I went to take a shower and got in bed, but then I got a text from Kev, asking if we could talk, which… isn’t like him, you know? But I agreed, and I got up to let him in my room. He was nervous.”
I laughed. “Wait – Kev? Nervous? Seriously?”
“Yes,” she giggled. “He was nervous. He just stared at me for a little minute, like he didn’t know what to say. But then… “You know he doesn’t deserve you, right?” That’s what he said to me, and… I don’t know. From him, it gave me chills. And then he told me how much it had burned him up to see me with Donnie in the first place, because he was a little boy, not a man. And then Louis… he still hasn’t forgiven himself for any of that, even though it wasn’t his fault. He still blames himself for leaving that night. But… anyway. Donnie, then Louis, and back to Donnie, who still hasn’t grown up. He said, “you deserve so much better… and I wish you’d give me a chance to show you that.”.”
“Awwwwww,” I squealed, then quickly clapped a hand over my mouth, but she shook her head.
“No, no, I get it, because that was my first reaction. But then, I was like… this is Kev. Dude, stop fucking with me, you know you don’t want me like that. And when I said that… Astrid… oh my God. You know his ass is big, right? He like, swept me up in his arms, and kissed me. Like… kissed me.”
I let out the dreamiest possible sigh as I scooted closer to her. “Like in a romance?”
“Exactly like that,” she answered, before an even bigger smile bloomed on her face. “And I just… melted. I don’t know how something I’d never even considered could feel so amazingly natural, and right, but it did. And I mean… I was never blind. Kev is fine.”
“Been fine,” I agreed, with a nod. “So… you know what my next question is, right?”
She put her hands over her face, then peeked at me between her fingers. “It was… phenomenal. Like… unrealistically good. After, I was kinda convinced I’d dreamed it up, but then… we did it again. And it was just as good, maybe better.”
“Ewwww,” I teased, shaking my head. “I’m not sure I needed to know Kev could get down.”
She rolled her eyes. “But you asked!”
“Technically, I didn’t, but that’s irrelevant. I have something else.”
“What is it?” she asked, eyes wide. “Say it.”
“How the hell did you get pregnant? I mean, I know how you got pregnant, but you aren’t using protection?”
“No, we do,” she insisted. “Just… that first time. We were so caught up, that… we made a baby apparently. Which is super unfair, when you think about it. The first time should be a freebie.”
“Silly ass,” I laughed. “So does he know? Are you going to tell him?”
She shook her head. “No, he doesn’t know. Hell, I didn’t even know until maybe two hours ago. Nobody knows yet, except you and Dr. Morris. I haven’t started feeling sick yet or anything, but I guess my body is just already working on it behind the scenes.”
“That sounds about right.” I put my hand over hers and squeezed. “So what do you think you’re going to do? What’s your instinct?”
Aurielle turned her hand over, putting it in position to thread her fingers through mine. “Instinct is… to keep it. Now that you’ve calmed me down some…instead of ugly headlines, I keep seeing this image of Kev holding a baby, and it just makes me feel… warm.”
“I can definitely imagine Kev as a father. How do you think he’s going to react to the news?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. Whatever this is between us is so, so new. I wasn’t even officially broken up with Donnie until what… two or three weeks ago?”
The same day me and Eddie…
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I told her, shaking the thought away. “You don’t think he’s going to be stupid about it, do you?”
“With my track record, I don’t feel remotely confident to answer that.” She pushed out a defeated-sounding sigh, and I squeezed her hand.
“Hey, wait a minute now. We’ve known Kev since before you made it big, right? His father owned the big-time celebrity security service,
and you hired Kev because we knew him, and because that’s all we could afford, remember?”
She laughed. “I remember.”
“Then remember that Kev has seen it all with you, right? Good, bad, ugly. He knows those bad decisions, big mistakes, and ugly, scary flaws, because he’s been pulling you out of shit and protecting you for years. He knows pretty much all of your stuff. But he looks at you and sees… beautiful. Worthy. Desirable. His. And he’s always seen you as that, so nothing changed. And there’s beauty in that too.”
“But what about—”
I waved her off. “But nothing. A man who wants you will always make those intentions clear, and from what you told me, I don’t think the man could be any clearer. Just talk to him. And if you need his head busted, I know a guy. Wait… shit, he is the guy that I know. If you’re dating my “guy”, I guess I need a new guy, damn.”
“You’re so stupid,” she laughed, which brought a smile to my face. After that, I went and retrieved Kev from the waiting room, now that I understood how anxious he probably was to see her. I wanted to give them time alone, but I lingered for a moment, just wanting to see the new dynamic for myself.
He immediately rushed to the side of the bed, and leaned in, then caught himself, and his gaze flickered to me.
“She knows, Kevin,” Aurielle laughed, and I nodded when he looked to me for confirmation.
My heart swelled about fifty sizes when he looked at her like a man in love, leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips, then said, “Tell me you’re okay.”
She gave him a small smile, and then nodded. “Yeah, but… we need to talk about that.”
I left them to it.
As much as I wanted to stay and talk to her, it felt more important to let them have their moment first, and maybe make a decision about what they would do. That way, I’d know if I was going to be talking to her as a soon-to-be auntie of her first child, or… supporting her through something else.
Something Like Love (Serendipitous Love Book 6) Page 7
