I hadn’t been able to bring myself to hire a stranger to run our club, but Mitch… Mitch I knew I could count on.
I stood and he mimicked me. I pulled him in for a hug and clapped him on the back. “Thank you.” I told him quietly as we broke apart.
“It’s what brothers are for.” He insisted.
“How quick do you think you can learn the ropes?” I asked, my mind already whirring with the possibilities.
“I can start as soon as Sophia and I find an apartment.”
That might take weeks.
The light bulb flickered to life above my head. “How’s this one?” I suggested, gesturing around the space – it wasn’t anything fancy, but it was clean and tidy and there would be plenty of space for them for now.
Mitch glanced around and shrugged. “Looks pretty good to me.”
“It’s all yours.” I announced. I wouldn’t be needing it anymore anyway.
“Too easy.” He drawled. “So now what?”
“I’ll give you two days.” I offered. “I want to meet this woman of yours, say hey to her and her belly and then get the hell out of Boston.”
“You in some kind of hurry?” He smirked.
“You bet your ass I am.” I replied without hesitation.
It’s going to be a long two days.
27. Lexie
Everything felt wrong without him in my orbit.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t looking forward to getting on that cruise ship today, I wasn’t excited to sing or dance, I wasn’t even really looking forward to seeing my friends on board
All I wanted to do was sleep, eat, look at our photos and listen to the song he’d sung for me; I knew that I was probably heading to a really unhealthy place if this continued. I knew I needed to get out of my apartment, but I just felt hollow inside.
Colt and I had spoken every day, at least once and I knew he was doing it as tough as I was. We were both miserable. I’d nearly booked tickets back to Boston about ten times, but I couldn’t seem to hit accept. I had my job here, I’d worked hard to get here, and I knew that I shouldn’t just give all of that up.
Colt had confessed to nearly up and leaving Boston to come to me too, but his responsibilities to the club made it impossible. He was the one in charge and there was no one to take over for him.
We were both stuck in our own lives.
These had been the longest weeks of my life. I wished that I’d stayed in Boston until my next shift and spent my free weeks there with him instead of here alone, but at the time I hadn’t thought it would be this hard.
I was so wrong.
So here I was, packing for a fifteen night cruise to the Hawaiian Islands, which I didn’t even want to be on anymore.
I probably couldn’t recall a single thing that was in that suitcase, I just didn’t care. The only items of clothing I cared about any more were the t-shirts of Colt’s I’d snuck into my suitcase before I’d left Boston.
I abandoned the packing and decided to call Colt. I needed to hear his voice telling me that everything was going to be okay. He was the only thing that could calm me down now.
Tears threatened to well up in my eyes. I’d been so damn emotional these last two weeks, it wasn’t like me, but then, I’d never been in love like this before. It had changed me in an irreversible way.
“Hey, this is Colt; leave me a message after the beep.”
Dammit. Voicemail.
The shrill beep pierced my ear and I hung up. Colt had been so busy the past few days that we hadn’t been able to talk as much as we usually did. He’d blamed it on some changes he had happening at the club… he’d seemed pretty excited about what he had going on. If I was honest, it hurt to think that he was getting on with his life without me.
I called once more, but got the same message.
Back to packing it is…
I trudged into my bathroom and started poking around for my makeup, toothbrush and paste, tampons, hairbrush…
Woah…
Reality hit me like a slap in the face.
Oh shit.
I held the small pink box of tampons in my hands, my heart thumping in my chest.
Oh shit.
I flew back into the bedroom, pulling up the calendar on the screen of my phone.
My period had begun the Saturday before I’d arrived in Boston. That was about fourteen days before I’d arrived home. I’d been home for over two and half weeks now.
The numbers swirled in my head.
That was too many days. I had a twenty eight day cycle. Always.
I was five days late.
Holy shit.
I can’t be pregnant…
Can I?
Other than that first time, we’d been careful. And I’d taken a morning after pill.
They’re effective… breathe… it’s just a few days.
I wasn’t convincing even to myself.
I grabbed my laptop and flipped it open. I hastily typed ‘morning after pill effectiveness’ into the search bar and hit enter.
I felt my heart speed up as I read the words on the screen in front of me.
This can’t be right…
The first search result stated that if taken within seventy two hours, the morning after pill could reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to eighty nine percent.
Up to eight nine percent?
I couldn’t breathe. Only up to eighty nine percent…
How was that possible?
I had stupidly believed that I was taking something that was nearly one hundred percent effective.
I scrolled further down the page.
Ninety five percent effective if taken within twenty four hours…
Well shit.
After all of our forgetfulness, I certainly hadn’t made it within the twenty four hour cut off.
I clicked on every link the search had found, but the results were still the same.
I am so screwed…
I dialed Colt again, but still got his voicemail.
Oh. My. God.
I needed to take a test. My brain was screaming at me to go and get one, but my body wasn’t getting the message.
No, no, no…
Holy shit….
I didn’t even need to take a test; I was convinced that I already knew what it would say.
Pregnant.
All the sleeping, eating, the emotions… it all made sense now.
Holy shit.
I needed to talk to Colt.
Take a test first, woman…
The sensible part of my brain took over and I grabbed my keys, some cash and my phone.
I was taking a test, right now.
***
The two bright pink lines stared back at me, taunting me.
I knew it.
Part of me was overjoyed at the fact that I was carrying Colt’s baby. He was the only one for me – I had no doubt about that. But the reality of the situation was that we lived thousands of miles apart, and that didn’t look set to change anytime in the foreseeable future.
It was already a complicated situation that had just become one thousand times more complicated by this new addition.
I still couldn’t get Colt on the phone and I was beginning to freak out here on my own. I had to be on the ship in forty five minutes and I still had no idea what I was going to do.
I need Colt.
I needed to let him know what was happening, but I felt overwhelmingly guilty at the prospect of telling him he was going to be a dad over the phone… but I also couldn’t get off that god forsaken boat for two whole weeks to be able to do it in person.
What a mess.
I had no idea how he was going to react to this news.
Will he be happy? Angry? Resentful?
What if he thinks I tried to trap him?
My stomach lurched.
What if he doesn’t want this anymore?
I stared at the clock on my nightstand and knew I couldn’t put off leaving any lo
nger. I couldn’t afford to lose my job now.
I threw the rest of my crap into my bag and zipped it up hastily. I took one last look around before I headed down stairs to get on my bike.
Penny will know what to do.
“Everything I’ve never done, I want to do it with you.”
- William Chapman
28. Colt
The six hour flight had been excruciatingly long. Every hour that passed had me freaking out about not speaking to Lexie, she called me every morning when she woke up and today would have been the first time I hadn’t been able to answer.
Lexie had no idea I was coming, so I had no valid reason to explain my disappearance from cell phone service. When I got the chance to call her back, I was probably going to have to blame being busy at work for being the reason I couldn’t talk.
I hated lying to her. It went against every instinct I had. I was an honest guy, especially with the people I loved, and Lexie was no exception, but Quinn and El had managed to convince me that I should keep this from her. They’d spouted some rubbish about it being a romantic gesture. Apparently the element of surprise was key in romantic gestures.
I wasn’t so sure, but they’d ganged up on me when I was weak.
Majority rules.
It had only been two days of concealing the truth and I already wasn’t coping.
Setting foot outside the terminal in the sweltering heat of L.A., I wasn’t so sure it was such a great plan after all. I would have killed to have Lexie here waiting for me. I could imagine the way she’d run to me, jump into my arms and kiss me senseless.
But she wasn’t here.
I glanced around, not a single clue who or what exactly it was that I was meant to be looking for.
Getting hold of Lexie’s friends on the ship had been a bit of a process, but I’d got there in the end. I’d first had to go to Q and El, they’d then contacted Brooke and Stacey, both of whom had been no help, but we struck it lucky with Jemma. Her and her husband Connor had honeymooned on the cruise ship that Lex sang on, and Jemma had made friends with a woman named Penny, who was apparently very close with Lexie.
I’d called Penny myself and she’d been more than excited to help me with pulling off this surprise. She’d even had her own surprise for me, and everything felt like it was finally falling perfectly into place.
I switched my phone on and saw that I had not only one or two, but numerous missed calls from Lexie.
My heart sped up slightly. I was expecting her to have called, just not this many times.
Is something wrong?
There was a text too.
“I tried to call, but I couldn’t get you. If you get this message soon, call me back, otherwise I’ll call you after the show tonight, okay? I miss you.”
I miss you too.
I love you.
I wasn’t going to call her back now, the message was from an hour ago and I didn’t want to interrupt her if she was getting ready to go to work.
I still didn’t know exactly how this was going to play out just yet, but either way I knew I’d be seeing her soon.
A tooting horn pulled me from my thoughts. I looked around to see a beat up old red hatchback that must have been at least three hundred years old, pulled over, the blinker flashing.
A wild looking woman with bright blue hair popped up out of the door.
“Colt?” She called out to me.
Penny?
“That’s me.” I confirmed.
“Well c’mon now, we’ll be late.” She double tapped the roof of the car before getting back in.
I chuckled to myself, I had not been expecting a sixty-something year old woman with hair the color of the sky, but here she was. I grabbed my bag and jogged over to her car. I didn’t want to be late. Late for what, I wasn’t really sure, but there was only one way to find out.
***
“This is incredible.” I glanced around the space before me. I’d never had the opportunity to set foot on a cruise ship before and it was blowing my mind. I hadn’t expected it to be so big and spacious.
I could see why Lex was so in love with her life on the sea.
“You like it?” Penny asked.
She’d picked me up and driven us straight over to the port, where we were about to depart – I hadn’t realized we were cutting such a fine line, but Penny had promised that the ship wouldn’t be going anywhere without her.
I was still pinching myself that this quirky woman was the cruise director. She was in charge of all onboard hospitality, entertainment and social events. She was essentially Lexie’s boss, and she was about to become mine too.
“I love it.”
“So you’ll take the job?” She pressed, her voice full of hope.
“I’ll take the job.” I confirmed with a smile.
She thought I was helping her out by taking it on such short notice, but really it was the other way around.
“Thank heavens.” She pulled me in for a hug. She was so welcoming and warm; it wasn’t hard to see why Lexie was so fond of her.
“Do you think she’s here yet?” I asked her, not needing to specify who I was referring to.
She glanced at her wrist watch. “She usually gets on at the very last minute, so I’d imagine not quite yet, but she’ll be here very soon.”
I felt a goofy smile spread across my face. I was dying to see my girl. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized I’d come here for her.
“But for right now, we’ve got things to do, lover boy, I need you to meet the bar staff, get you up to speed on protocol…” She looked backwards and forwards between me and the clipboard in her hands. “Oh there’s just so much to do. We’ll leave the sleeping arrangements until later, if that’s okay with you, I’m assuming you’ll be sharing my favorite singer’s room, but we can’t have her spotting your things, now can we?”
She didn’t give me time to get a word in.
“Just put your things in the back room over there.” She pointed behind the bar. “We’ve got a managers meeting in five, so you can meet the team there, after that we’ll get you a uniform and access passes for tomorrow…”
I wasn’t sure if she was still talking to me, or if she was making a mental list for herself.
“I’m assuming you want the same schedule as Lexie?” She asked.
“Huh?” I’d let my thoughts wander.
“Do you only want to work the cruises that Lexie works, right?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, that would be great, thank you, Penny.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She smiled warmly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have quite the soft spot for that girl of yours, and I want nothing more than happiness for her. And if it’s not too forward of me to say, you seem like the kind of man who would make her very happy.”
I refrained from puffing my chest out like a proud peacock.
“I hope I’ll make her happy for a very long time.” I told her sincerely.”
“Well good.” She beamed. “Now let’s get going.”
I chucked my stuff into the back room as she’d instructed and followed after her.
My phone rang from my pocket as we headed into the managers meeting and I had no choice but to ignore it.
I grimaced as I thought about Lexie’s calls going unanswered, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that she needed me. She’d told me she would call after her show, and I knew for a fact that she hadn’t performed yet.
Maybe it’s not even her calling.
“Don’t worry, pet, she’ll be here soon enough.” Penny winked at me, pulling me from my thoughts.
29. Lexie
“Lily, do you know where Penny is?” I popped my head into my neighbor’s room. Lily was a jazz pianist in one of the fine dining restaurants.
“Manager’s meeting.” She replied as she smacked her freshly painted bright red lips together, staring at her own reflection.
“Still?” I quizzed. The manager’
s meeting was usually well and truly done by four.
“You didn’t hear?” She asked, looking at me through her mirror. “She got a new manager for the Alchemy bar. She’ll be showing him the ropes.”
Shit.
I only had two hours until I had to sing, and there was no way I’d get hold of her with a new manager to prep.
“Oh… that’s good.”
“I heard from Kim that he’s a total babe.” She swooned.
“Hmmm.” I murmured, not in the least bit interested in the new piece of eye candy the ship had to offer.
“Is everything okay, Lex?” She asked, noticing my less than enthusiastic response.
I shot her a fake smile. “Yeah, everything is great.”
***
I smoothed my black dress over my hips. I knew it was all in my head, but it just didn’t seem to fit the same anymore. It was like my hips were already widening to make allowances for the baby in my belly.
I’m losing my mind.
I glanced around the restaurant; tonight I was performing a solo cabaret act. Something I did often, but this time I was nervous. I didn’t feel like myself anymore. It was as though I’d left a part of myself back on that small V.I.P. stage in Boston.
With him.
“Two minutes, Lexie girl.” Todd, one of the older lighting guys called to me.
I nodded and my stomach churned.
Not now, little baby, not now.
It was only a thirty minute set.
Thirty minutes and then I can try and call Colt again.
I still hadn’t planned out what the hell I would say, but I knew I couldn’t keep this from him any longer. I’d known only a few hours, and I was dying to not be alone with this life changing news anymore.
I need him.
Just how much I needed him hit me so hard in that moment that I had to sit down to stop my head from spinning.
Breathe… just breathe.
“You’re up, sweetheart.” Todd called to me.
I nodded again and got shakily to my feet.
I can do this.
Chased (Love like Yours Series Book 4) Page 16
