She looked down at her hand. “I guess it’s a contagious habit.”
“Just don’t let Alyssa catch you doing it too often. It drives her nuts.” He chuckled again. “Maybe you should. She’s a riot to tease.”
It brought a smile to her face. “You’re so bad.”
“That’s why you love me.”
There was a mountain of truth in his statement. She had never wanted the boring rich kids that had been at the social functions her father forced her to attend when she was growing up. The next generation of music executives who were always inviting her to corporate functions were stuffy and dull, and the Ivy League types at college had never held her interest. She always knew she wanted a musician – someone raw and gritty who possessed a sweet and gentle side that was hidden beneath the bad-boy exterior.
“Jimmyyyyyy!” A child’s excited wail echoed from the path. Jimmy’s son ran toward him with his arms wide open. The aunt was trailing behind him. So far, Kendall hadn’t made a reappearance since the night she showed up at The Quadrangle. In a sense, Audra was relieved, but she still wasn’t ready to let her guard down.
“Hey, little man!” Jimmy’s eyes lit up at the sight of his son, and his smile was wide across his cheeks. He stood up, and the boy tackled his legs with a hug. Jimmy ran his hand over the crown of his son’s head with affection. “I missed ya, Mason.”
“He hasn’t stopped talking about you,” the aunt stated. She was pleasant and there was a maternal instinct that was detectable in the way she looked at Mason and in the tone of her voice.
“I want you to meet someone,” Jimmy told his son.
Mason spun around to face Audra. The first thing she noticed was his soft blue eyes which resembled Jimmy’s.
Mason giggled at her. “You’re pretty.”
She smiled at the endearing compliment and leaned over so she was at eye level with him. “Thank you. You’re kind of cute yourself.”
Mason brought one fist up to his cheek and giggled. He wrapped his other arm around Jimmy’s leg, hid his face for a second, and then peeked up at her. He had Jimmy’s smile, and it made her heart melt.
The aunt let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, he’s such a little flirt! Look at him!”
Jimmy squatted and put his hand around his son’s shoulder. “I think she’s pretty, too.”
Mason cupped his small fist around Jimmy’s ear and whispered something which made Jimmy laugh.
While Jimmy and his son shared secrets, Audra turned to the older woman and introduced herself. “I’m Audra. You must be Mason’s aunt.” She offered her hand in greeting. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am.”
The woman shook Audra’s hand. “You’re so polite. It’s a rare trait in today’s young people, but there’s no need for formality. You can call me Mary.”
She was warm and sweet, not exactly the way Jimmy described her, and not at all what she was expecting from a member of Kendall’s family.
“What do you have planned today?” Mary asked.
“I thought we’d play on the swings. My father used to bring me and my sister here when we were growing up. This place holds a lot of special memories for me.”
“Well, have a good time. I’ll be going now. Enjoy your afternoon.” She opened her arms toward Mason, and he flew into them.
“Bye, Aunt Mary. See you tomorrow.”
Her brows pinched together. “We talked about that, Mason.”
The smile faded from his happy little face. “But Jimmy said I could have a sleepover next time.”
“I don’t think he meant—”
“If it’s okay with his mother, I’d love to have him spend the night,” Jimmy interrupted.
A stern look transformed Mary’s face into a skeptical, overprotective woman, which was more like the way Jimmy had described her. Mary shook her head. “I think it’s a little too soon for that. You’re a young bachelor. Do you have the things you need to take care of a small child?”
Jimmy looked as disappointed as Mason, with puppy dog eyes and a slight frown. “I have a refrigerator stocked with food and juice. If we need anything, one of us will run out and get it.”
Mason tugged on his aunt’s hand. “Pleeeeeease!”
She pursed her lips together and contemplated her answer as she looked into the child’s eyes. He smiled at her and tilted his head to the side, clearly using his adorable expression to sway his aunt’s decision. He could melt ice with that smile – just like Jimmy.
Mary let out a small sigh of resignation and addressed Jimmy directly. “One night. I want you to call me when he’s in bed, and I’m coming to pick him up first thing in the morning.”
“Don’t you have to check with Kendall?”
Mary shook her head, and the crease in the corner of her mouth indicated annoyance. “He was spending the night with me anyway. Kendall . . . has something to do.”
Audra wondered how much time Kendall actually spent with Mason. Mary acted like she was his mother. Jimmy’s furrowed brow and pensive stare indicated he had the same question.
After Mary left, Audra and Jimmy brought Mason into the playground. He ran as fast as he could toward the swings. Audra laughed at the way Jimmy chased after him like a nervous parent. She stopped about fifteen feet away and watched as Jimmy helped his son into one of the swings with tender, gentle care. It was a side of him that she never expected.
“Come play!” Mason called to her.
She walked over to him and tussled his hair. “I’ll push. Do you like to go really high?”
“Yeah!”
“Good. Let’s see if you can reach the sky.”
“Audra . . .” Jimmy gave her a nervous warning.
She found it adorable and laughed. “I’m not really going to push him as high as the sky. But we’ll try to hit the clouds,” she whispered in Mason’s ear, loud enough for Jimmy to hear. She started slowly at first, but pushed the swing harder when Mason begged to go higher. He squealed with delight and kicked his feet. While Audra continued to push the swing, Jimmy pretended to try to catch his legs. The three of them laughed together until Audra’s arms hurt from pushing the swing, and it slowly came to a stop.
“More! Do more, Awja!”
He could barely pronounce her name. It was heartwarming.
“Let me do it,” Jimmy moved behind the swing to take over, and he stole a kiss from Audra before he started pushing the swing. She had never seen him so happy. The light in his eyes, as he shifted them between her and Mason, could outshine Broadway.
“Catch my legs!” Mason called to Audra, kicking his feet in the air.
She pretended that his feet would slip through her hands every time the swing passed, and she laughed harder than Mason. Fond memories of her childhood were rekindled in her heart. She had forgotten the joy she’d experienced in this same playground when she was a kid. Images of her father pushing herself and Kira on the swings flashed in her head. She would scream for her father to push her higher, and she’d reach for the sky with one hand, determined to catch it. He used to tell her that nothing was out of her grasp. She could accomplish anything, as long as she tried hard enough. Unexpected emotions quickly ballooned in Audra’s throat, and she felt her eyes moisten. The sudden tears were brought on by an intense overwhelming sense of family. She watched Jimmy push Mason in the swing and listened to their happy laughter. Mason’s smile filled her heart with joy. The three of them could be family.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Audra sat in her father’s office and stared at the gossip rag on his desk. From her viewpoint, it was upside down, but she could still make out the headline: Ex-Lover Speaks Out About Love Child with Immortal Angel’s Wild Playboy Drummer. Lower on the page was a photo of Kendall, smiling at the camera. It looked like she’d received a makeover and a professional photo shoot. Next to it was a photo of Jimmy walking in the park with Mason. Ironically, she had been walking next to Jimmy in that photo, but the photographer had cut her out of the frame.
>
She lifted her eyes to meet her father’s. His piercing dark eyes sliced through her, and his jaw was clamped shut. His chest rose and fell with heated breaths. “I won’t bore you with the torrid details of the article. You can read it yourself. You’re just damn lucky your name isn’t mentioned, because I will not tolerate this family’s good name being slandered by the media.” He put his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and picked up the paper to skim the article. “This paints a very ugly picture about Mr. Wilder’s love life which, I have no doubt, is accurate.” He tossed the newspaper on the edge of the desk facing her. “Now you can see the history of the man you’ve chosen. He’s a womanizer. A philanderer. A playboy.”
Annoyance stirred inside Audra’s gut. She hated thinking about Jimmy’s past, and she hated that her father kept throwing it in her face. “I know all about Jimmy’s past. I was in the bars and clubs where he played every weekend.” She leaned forward to challenge her father. “How many times do I have to tell you he’s changed? What does he have to do in order for you to comprehend that he loves me, and only me?”
“Don’t you dare take that tone with me!”
He was on the verge of exploding, but she wasn’t intimidated by him – she never was. “I’m just tired of defending him, and I’m tired of you trying to change my mind about him. I love Jimmy. There’s nothing in the world I want more than for you to accept him as the person I’ve chosen to spend my life with. I’m sorry you don’t approve, Daddy, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” She stood, ending their conversation. “If there’s nothing else you’d like to discuss, I need to get back to work. I still have a million things to set in place for the Australian tour.”
He stood up so fast his chair rolled back and almost hit the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Goddammit Audra! When are you going to listen to reason?”
“I’m listening to my heart. That takes precedence over everything else.”
He grabbed the paper off the desk and flapped it in his hand. “Do you think this is the only article this woman is going to give the press? They’re going to prod her for deeper, more scandalous information. They’re going to dig for dirt on you and possibly our family!” He threw the paper down with so much force, pages flew in the air and sailed several feet before they fluttered to the floor. Her father’s cheeks puffed in and out with air. “Now I have to silence this harlot before she does any real damage. This band has cost me so much God damn money!”
“They’ve made you millions,” she reminded him. With nothing left to say, she slowly turned and walked out of his office. She wished he would have called her name and reached out to her for a reconciliation or compromise, but there was no offer on his part. She had no other alternative or solution to their dilemma. She was sticking by her man, no matter what her father thought.
“Did you see the newspapers?” Jimmy stood in the doorway to her apartment holding the same piece of trash that was on her father’s desk earlier that afternoon.
She nodded and opened the door wider to allow him to enter.
“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with Kendall. She thrives on this shit.” Jimmy threw the paper down on the coffee table and sat on the couch with his hands clutched together and his elbows resting on his knees. “I’m sorry you had to read that shit. Most of it’s exaggerated.”
She picked up the newspaper and tossed it in the garbage. “I don’t care what it says.” She actually never read the article. She had no interest in reading about Jimmy and Kendall’s sexual encounters. The thought made her want to vomit – not because he’d been with other women – because he’d been with Kendall.
She sat next to Jimmy, and he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry she showed up and ruined everything.” Jimmy’s voice dripped with pain and regret.
“She didn’t ruin anything. I commend you for taking responsibility for your son.”
He sighed. “Yeah, well, I didn’t really have a choice in that. He’s my kid. I take that seriously.” He wrinkled his brow, lost in pensive thought. “I had a feeling Kendall might blab something to the press. I’m surprised she kept your name out of it, though. I’m glad she did, because I would have hit the fucking ceiling if she said anything bad about you.”
“If she had, my father would have nailed her with a lawsuit. I think she knew that. I’m surprised she was smart enough to steer clear of slandering the Abelman name.” Or maybe it was the publication who knew better. The media was well aware of her father’s influence and power. She paused while the confrontation with her father played over in her head. “My father saw the article.”
Jimmy jumped and turned toward her, then submitted by melting into his seat. “I’m so sorry. I was so worried about your reaction that I didn’t stop to think about your father reading that garbage.” Jimmy blew air out of his lungs and rubbed the back of his neck. He started to fidget and nervously bounced his foot on the floor. “This is bad. Real bad. Any chance I had with him is probably shot to hell now. What did he say?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Audra didn’t want to rehash the argument with her father. She didn’t want to be reminded that he looked at her with contempt now, or that he was disappointed with her choices in life. She had always made him proud. Now she was tarnished in her father’s eyes. He barely spoke to her anymore, unless it involved business. The impromptu father/daughter lunches at the Marriott Marquis they had shared on occasion were no longer offered to her. He had grumbled at her as they passed each other in the elevator bank today. There was horrible friction between them, and she didn’t know if their relationship could ever be repaired.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“There’s a Miss Rose here to see you. Her name is not on the visitor’s list. Shall I send her up?”
“Who?” Jimmy asked the concierge on the other end of the phone, confused by the unfamiliar name.
“Miss Kendall Rose.” There was a pause while Kendall babbled in the background. “She said she’s the mother of your son, sir.”
Shit. Why was Kendall here – at his apartment? “Does she have my kid with her?”
“No, sir. She’s alone.”
Jimmy knew her well enough to know this wasn’t a social visit. Kendall’s visit meant trouble. He gritted his teeth and prepared himself for the encounter. “Send her up, but have security on standby in case I need you to escort her out of here.”
He paced through his apartment with an unpleasant suspicion lurking in the forefront of his mind. What the fuck did Kendall want? He stared out the window into the view of the park. He remembered the joy on his son’s face when Audra pushed him on the swings and the sound of his son’s laugher. The memory brought a smile to his lips and momentarily calmed him. He was elated to have Mason in his life. If Kendall tried to take him away, he’d fight her. He’d take her to court and sue for visitation. He didn’t care how ugly it got – she wasn’t taking his son away. The thought ripped his heart out.
A knock on the door made his gut clench with impending doom. He tried to push all the negative thoughts from his head on his way to answer it, but the sight of Kendall brought them all back.
“Hello, Jimmy.” Kendall sauntered into his apartment without waiting for an invitation. The smug smile she always wore grated on him like nails on a chalkboard. She glanced around the apartment and stopped to stare at the view. “You got some fancy place here. You’ve certainly come a long way since we first met.” She turned to face him. “I’ve read all about your wild nights. You’re really living the rock star life.”
He had a gnawing suspicion that she was going to use his past against him, as evidence that he was an unfit parent. It would portray him in a horrible light if he needed to bring her to court. “I put that lifestyle behind me. Now I have a steady lady and a kid. I’m trying my best, and I think I’m doing a damn good job.” The fear that she was going to tell him to stay away from Mason boiled in his gut. Kendall hated seeing other people happy. He knew she was here to sabotage h
is life, and it made him angry. “Man, don’t come here to try to ruin everything! Don’t take Mason away from me! I love that kid!”
“And he loves you.” A jealous sneer covered her face. “You’re all he talks about. You and that . . . Audra.” The dislike for Audra rolled out of her mouth like poison. “I’m his mother, yet all he does is talk about you and her.” Kendall’s narrowed eyes bore into Jimmy, and he waited for the inevitable sledgehammer that was about to cave in his chest.
He hardened his stare. “You’re not taking my kid away.”
“I have no intention of taking him away.”
Jimmy shook his head with confusion. “Then why the hell are you here?”
“I told you that I was tired of being a single parent. It’s your turn. I want you to take Mason – for good. I have a lot of money now from the interview I did with the newspaper. I want to travel and make something—”
“Wait. Stop.” Jimmy advanced toward her, filled with heat and rage. “You’re gonna abandon your own kid? You think you can just discard him like an old fucking shoe or something? Man, you are so fucking selfish. You’ve really lost your fuckin’ mind this time. You can’t dump your kid off like he’s disposable. He’s a little kid!”
“I know that.” She got righteous and defensive. “I’m his mother. I’m not walking away from him. I just want you to take him so I can live my life. Just because you came into his life with your fancy drums and musical connections, and that girl who acts like she’s better than everybody, doesn’t mean I’m gonna be pushed out of my son’s life. He’s better off with you.” Her voice softened with the last sentence, and she actually sounded sincere. “I tried to be a good mother, but I’m not. I know that. If it wasn’t for my aunt, I have no idea how that poor kid would have turned out. I can’t offer him anything, even with the money I just got. You can give him what he needs.”
Panic made Jimmy’s heart thud in his chest. He wasn’t prepared to take care of Mason on a full-time basis, and he was afraid he’d fail as a parent. “I’m leaving for Australia in a week and I won’t be back for a month! What the fuck am I supposed to do now? You can’t just drop this on me!”
Rock Star Redemption Page 18
