Montgomery Billionaire Series

by Michelle Love

  That son of a bitch!

  I can’t believe he’d give it back to me just to take it and sneak away. What a rat bastard. Why’d he even bother coming here and getting my hopes up that he could be a normal human being?

  I may as well get up and get ready for this day. It’s going to be hard not to break into tears of disappointment all day, but I have to try. After the book signing I can get on a plane and go back to my parents’ house and cry for a month like I did last time.

  It’s my bad, really. I knew he can’t be what we need. I knew he’d flake and freak and take off. What an idiot I feel like. I just let him jump right back into bed with me like I could trust his ass.

  Idiot!

  Oh, look the jack ass left me a note. What a prince. I should just crumble it up and toss it in the trash. There’s no way he could’ve found the perfect words to let me know why he’s left me again.

  With a quick squeeze I ball the paper up and throw it away. I really don’t need to know why or what he thinks is why. I know why. Because he’s a spoiled little rock star who has never had to do a damn thing, and this scares the crap out of him.

  Well, it scares the shit out of me too!

  I have no choice though. It’s me who has to have this baby and raise it, I guess on my own now.

  How could he? What a complete crap-head!

  I wish he would’ve never found me. This is so damn much harder than it was yesterday before he came back into my life. All sweet and adorable looking. All, I promise I’ll never freak out again.

  The liar!

  I’ll take a warm shower and cry for a little while then I’ll get dressed and go find something to eat. Then I’ll throw it all up and start the process over.

  Uh! I hate Kip Dixon!!!

  Kip

  Life is great again. Peyton and I are back on track and things couldn’t be better. I called my parents and told them the happy news about us having a baby and they were over the moon about it.

  I called the Tesla dealership in Austin and they still had the car I bought her there, so I bought it again and it’s going to be delivered out here in a few days. That should make her happy.

  Tonight is the last gig on this tour and after that I’ll be free. I started writing on my own this morning and hopefully by the end of the coming year I’ll have a few songs done. For the first time in a long time I’m looking at the future with such a different mind-set.

  I’m going to be a father!

  A glance at the clock on the wall of my bedroom lets me know it’s ten o’clock. Peyton should be up by now. I’ll just give her a quick text and see if she’s up. Maybe she’ll feel like breakfast.

  -Are you up-

  Poor thing, she was dead to the world when I got up this morning. I suppose our activities of the night wore her out. She’s been without for six months. I’m sure her body was exhausted.

  My bedroom has a little room attached to it. I have a bunch of guitars in it right now, but we can change it into a nursery for the baby. My phone makes a little ding and I see Peyton’s texted me back.

  Now, how’d she even find an emoticon that shoots the finger like that? And why did she send it to me? Does she think it’s funny or something?

  -What’s that about???- I text back.

  Her sense of humor is a little crazy. I’ll go ahead and leave to get back to that rat hole of a motel and pick her up.

  Peyton

  Wow! What a prick!

  I can’t believe he asked me if I was up. What the hell does he care?

  The cab is stuck in traffic and I have to pee again. The baby loves to lie on my bladder the little meanie.

  After crying for the entire shower, I called my agent and told her I was sick and would it be okay for me to go ahead and go home and miss the last book signing. She let me go, so now I’m on the way to the airport.

  I can’t get out of this town quick enough. My phone makes a noise and I see he’s sent me another text. What a dumb ass. He wants to know what my emoticon of a smiley face flipping the bird is about.

  I text back – Fuck you-

  There, that should spell it all out for him. Why can’t he just leave me alone? Why would he bolt on me and then want to keep in contact?

  Oh, I bet he thinks he can still be a part of the baby’s life and that we need to get along for the kid. Well good luck with that. We’ll see how often he comes to Texas to see the baby.

  How am I supposed to see Kip and not cry my eyes out? I can’t do it. It’s impossible.

  No, we’re both better off if he leaves us completely alone. My phone dings again and I look at it to find a bunch of question marks. So I text back –Just leave me and the baby the hell alone!!!-

  I turn my phone off. I can’t take any more of this. I’m about to burst into tears again and the cab driver will most likely think I’m insane.

  I feel a bit insane anyway.

  Why do I have to love his ass so damn much?

  This would be so much easier to take if I didn’t crave the man. His touch set me right back on fire and my body still goes into hot mode when I think about the things we did last night.

  But that will never happen again and now the tears are flowing and I know the sobs will follow.

  Oh, Lord, I’m a mess!

  Kip

  I have no idea of what the hell is going on with Peyton. She texted me to leave her and the baby alone and I have no idea why she’d tell me that. She must’ve turned her phone off because it goes straight to voicemail.

  Like a maniac I’m driving to the motel to catch her before they leave again. At least if nothing else I can find her at the book store she’ll be at to sign her books at two this afternoon.

  What could have sent her into such a state of mind?

  I left her the note that told her to call me when she woke up. I even ended it with an, I love you. So why the sudden change in attitude?

  Is she done with me for some reason? And why?

  The daft girl, we’re having a baby. She can’t just write me off.

  Why would she do that?

  The tour bus I see pulling out of the motel parking lot up ahead. I’m too damn late. I’ll have to follow it and see where they’re going. Back onto the freeway we go.

  Maybe I’ll luck out and there’ll be a traffic jam on the 405 like there usually is. I’ll just stay right in back of the bus and if we all get stopped I’ll jump out of my car and run up to it.

  Please let there be traffic!

  Peyton

  I don’t know if it’s because I’m all hormonal from being pregnant or what, but I can’t quit crying. I’m hiding in a bathroom stall at the airport and cannot seem to stop the tears from falling out of my damn eyes.

  My heart keeps telling me to call Kip and beg him not to leave me again. But my pride says I can’t do that. My head is all mixed up about what the right thing to do is and it tells me to just go back to Texas and forget about him.

  How am I going to do that?

  In three months I’m going to have a constant reminder of the man. My little baby will probably look just like him and I’ll cry every single day. Poor kid’s going to think its mother is a crazy person.

  To top it all off, my flight couldn’t be moved up because of stupid holiday bookings. All flights are completely full and I have to wait for my original flight out at eight tonight.

  Stupid Thanksgiving!

  So here I am, stuck at the airport for the next eight hours. I need to talk to someone. Mom, maybe. I’m a little afraid to turn my phone back on as Kip must have blown it up. Or maybe he didn’t.

  I turn it on and call mom straight away without checking anything else. I don’t even want to see if he has tried to talk to me anyway.

  “Hey, baby girl!” Mom answers.

  “Mom, I….” I start bawling.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks.

  The words won’t come out. Only big sobs and sniffles.

  “Peyton Gail Reed! You suck that u
p and tell me what’s wrong. You’re freaking me out!”

  “Kip, he, I saw, oh, Mom!” I wail again.

  “Kip did what? Did you talk to him?” she asks.

  I did more than that and he still left me again!

  “Uh huh,” I manage to get out. “And he left.”

  “Stop crying!” she shouts through the phone. “Damn it, Peyton!”

  I try to suck it up and I grab some toilet paper and blow my nose. I flush the paper and try to speak again. “Mom, it’s really over. He knows about the baby and he spent the night with me and gave my ring back to me. But he was gone this morning and so was my ring. He bugged out on me again.”

  “Oh, baby! I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

  “I just want to come home and I can’t yet cause of stupid Thanksgiving travelers.”

  “So, where are you?” she asks.

  “In the bathroom at LAX.”

  “Is it nice there,” she asks.

  “In the bathroom?” I ask, confused. “I guess it’s pretty nice as far as bathrooms go.”

  “No, in L.A. Is it nice in L.A. silly?” she laughs.

  “I haven’t really noticed. We came in after dark and I couldn’t see much on the cab ride to the airport on account of I was crying the majority of the time.” I sniffle and grab some toilet paper and wipe my eyes.

  Somehow just having Mom on the phone is making me feel a little bit better. At least the tears have stopped and I’m getting the sobbing under control.

  “Okay, now tell me why Kip would come and find you just to dump you again.”

  “I don’t know!” And the tears are back.

  Crap!

  “Okay, stop crying. It’s all going to be okay, Peyton. Sweetie, you’ll be home soon and I’ll hug you and make you some hot chocolate and everything will be fine, you’ll see,” her sweet voice tells me, but I’m having a hard time believing her.

  “Fine? I don’t think I’ll ever be fine again, Mom. Why does this have to hurt so much?”

  My phone makes a little sound and I know I have a text but I can’t look at it or I’ll go into a new round of tears and I don’t know how many I could possibly have left.

  “Peyton, look, wipe your eyes and blow your nose then wash your face and go out and find you something to eat and drink. I bet you haven’t eaten at all if you’re this upset and that’s not good for you or the baby.”

  “I tried to eat, but I can’t. All I want to do is curl up on the sofa next to you. I need my mommy!” And here I go again.

  “Stop that crying, girl! Come on, it’s just a man for Heaven’s sakes. You can get through this.”

  “What if Dad left you? Wouldn’t you cry?” I ask through bouts of sobs.

  “Don’t even talk like that, Peyton! Now, listen here, young lady. You dry those tears up and do what I told you too. You’re a mother yourself now and we moms have to keep our shit together. Crying is not a thing we mothers do. Now you have to pull it together and get yourself and that baby something to eat. Do you hear me?”

  I sniffle and blow my nose some more. She’s right. I have to pull myself together. This is a minor setback. I already had my plan for this baby and it was only changed for a matter of hours. It’s just back to the original plan now. That’s all.

  So what if I love Kip with every fiber of my being. So what if life looks bleak without him in it. So what if I feel more empty than I ever have in my entire life? Whoa, okay, going back off the deep in, let me reign it back in.

  I take in a deep breath and let it all out. “I’m going to be okay, Mom. Whew! Thanks for setting me straight. I about lost it for a minute, or a few hours, whatever.”

  “Now, you should give me that man’s number so I can give it to your brothers and they can give him a lot of shit for you. Doesn’t that sound nice, baby?” My mother’s angelic voice asks me.

  “It does. But in all honesty, I just want no more to do with him. I can’t take thinking about him. It’s too hard. I need to put him way out of my mind, forever. I’m doing better now, Mom. Thanks.”

  “Good, sweetie. Now do what I said and get yourself something to eat and we’ll see you later on tonight. I love you, baby girl.”

  “I love you too, Mom. I’m turning my phone back off again so don’t freak if you call and I don’t answer. Just while I’ve been on the phone with you I can hear Kip has texted three times and tried to call twice. I don’t know what his angle is, but I don’t wish to discuss a thing with the man right now.”

  “Maybe you should though. You are in the same town as he is right now. Maybe you two should decide if he’s going to take part in this child’s life or not.”

  “I can’t right now. I just can’t handle it. I’ll get myself straight then try to talk to him about it, but right now I can’t do it,” I say as I leave my bathroom stall to find a bathroom full of women who openly stare at me as I look in the mirror at the black streaks that are running down my cheeks. “Oh, Lord, I’m a mess Mom, gotta go. See you tonight.”

  The girl washing her hands at the sink next to me asks, “You okay?”

  I shake my head. “Not one tiny bit. But I guess I’ll get okay.”

  She turns around and crosses her arms over her chest and smiles. “Does it have anything to do with that baby bump you’re sporting?”

  “In a way it does, but not entirely. Its daddy doesn’t want us anymore. A typical story, but it’s a first for me,” I say as I take a make-up wipe out of my purse. “The damn man gave me hope then ran out on me again. I’ll survive.”

  “What a dick!” she says. “Where are you headed?”

  “Back to Texas. And you?” I ask as I run the wipe over my tear soaked cheeks that burn.

  “Texas too. Austin to be exact.”

  My eyebrows raise and I smile. “That’s where I’m headed too. Are you on the next flight out?”

  She nods. “Yep, off to visit my grandparents for the rest of this week.”

  “Are you traveling alone, or with a group?” I ask, trying to decide how I’m going to ask her to trade flights with me.

  “Alone. Everyone else is already there.” She pulls a lipstick from her purse and puts it on.

  “My flight doesn’t leave until eight tonight. That’s like seven hours or so from now.” I look over at her to see if she has any sympathy for me.

  Her eyes twitch a little. “That’s a long time to be sitting here.”

  “It is. I thought I’d be able to trade my flight easily, but the damn holiday is messing up my plan to get the hell out of L.A. quickly.”

  She turns and looks at me. “Mine is leaving in an hour. How about I trade you?”

  “Really?” I ask and nearly pull her into a hug. “That would be so nice of you. And you’ll be happy to trade with me, my ticket is a first class one.”

  “Looks like I got my reward for helping out a fellow Texan right off the bat. Come on, let’s go get this ticket thing straightened out and get you on the way back home and away from the idiot of a man who knocked you up,” she says as she takes me by the arm and leads me out.

  Finally, a little help!

  Kip

  Just my luck, we hit no traffic, and it seems Peyton had turned her phone back on for a few minutes then it went right back off again. I can’t believe she isn’t even reading any of my texts.

  The bus has its blinker on and it seems the little group of new authors is about to go eat Chinese food. Finally, I’ll have my chance to get a hold of the stubborn woman. That’s all I need is to be able to touch her and she’ll come back around.

  I have no idea what’s sent her off like this, but I’ll get to the bottom of it. Pulling in right behind the tour bus, I wait for her to get out. She may just keep her ass on the bus if she realizes I’m here.

  One at a time I see the people leave the bus and then the driver and that’s it. No Peyton.

  I jump out of the car. “Hey, can any of you tell me where Peyton is?”

  A woman turns back and looks a
t me. “And you are?”

  I jog up to her. “I’m her fiancé.”

  Her eyebrows go up. “Didn’t realize she had one of those. She actually told me she was single. So who are you now?”

  I grin. Another person trying to protect her. Does the girl have no end to her guardians? “We got back together last night. But something’s happened to her. I left this morning to go get some things set up and let her sleep. Things have gone awry since then. So if you know where she is, I really need to talk to her and see what has her being so crazy.”

  The woman narrows her eyes at me as if trying to figure out if she should tell me anything about Peyton or not. “She was feeling sick and has gone home.”

  “Sick? Home?” I ask feeling quite confused.

  “Home, yes and sick. Okay, so there you go,” she says then turns to leave and calls back over her shoulder. “So if you do know her then you know where home is for her.”

  I thought it was with me, but I guess I was wrong. With a quick turn I go back to my car and off to the airport. She must be flying home.

  I hope I haven’t missed her!

  Peyton

  “Wow! So that’s Kip Dixon’s kid you have there?” the young woman who traded tickets with me asks. Her name’s Rachelle Stone, and I found out she’s originally from Round Rock, just outside of Austin and not too far from where I live.

  “Yep,” I answer as we sit in the waiting area. Only thirty more minutes then I’ll be out of here.

  “You know you’ll be rich when he has to start paying child support.” She takes a bite of her sandwich. She brought some with her and gave me one. She’s going to college at UCLA to be a chef and rarely eats anyone else’s cooking so she takes her own food everywhere.

  “Nah, I don’t want his money. I want him. If he doesn’t want us then I’ll just let him go,” I say and feel my heart filling up with heavy sorrow and hope I don’t go to crying again.

  “Don’t short change the kid because of some misplaced pride, Peyton. I was a kid who grew up with no father. My mother was young when she had me and it was her parents who really raised me. Times were tough, and I even had to be placed in a children’s home once.” She stops and looks away, I suppose remembering the bad times.